Strat PU's in a Mustang; which positions for good polarity?

[alwinvrm]

If I want to put standard Strat single coils in a Mustang, which pickups should I buy in order to get the correct polarity and thus humbucking action when both pickups are chosen in the middle position?

I mean should I get bridge and middle or bridge and neck, or else? And what strat pickup when there is a small humbucker, like the SD JB junior, in the bridge position?

Anything else else I should consider because of the slanted position of the Mustang single coils?

Thanks you so much for your help

[tqi]

Bridge, Middle. On some sets the middle and neck will have similar specs so you wouldn't notice a difference other than the hum cancelling - the Mother's Milks I'm using in my Jag-Stang are like this, and I'm putting "Middle" in the neck so that I can use the bridge+neck combo with hum cancelling. If you put a bridge bucker in, the other pickup really doesn't matter - pick one.

As for what to pair with a humbucker, that... really kind of depends. Most single coils will be "unbalanced" against one, but that's often desirable - and using something like a Quarter Pounder in the neck to offset a humbucker will make it sound like "not a Mustang". Cobain just used a normal Mustang pickup.

Speaking of - many/most strat pickups use staggered pole pieces which is both visually (won't fit in a blank cover) and audibly (very, very subtly) unmustang. So if that's a concern, pick flat-pole strat pickups.

Or just use whatever the hell you like. I am! FUCK YEAH MOTHERS MILKS!

[alwinvrm]

Hey thanks, exactly what I needed to know.

[GilmourD]

If I want to put standard Strat single coils in a Mustang, which pickups should I buy in order to get the correct polarity and thus humbucking action when both pickups are chosen in the middle position?

I mean should I get bridge and middle or bridge and neck, or else? And what strat pickup when there is a small humbucker, like the SD JB junior, in the bridge position?

Anything else else I should consider because of the slanted position of the Mustang single coils?

Thanks you so much for your help

In modern Strat sets it's the middle pickup that's RWRP compared to the middle and neck.

If you're going to have a Strat-sized humbucker in the bridge and a regular single in the neck you'll lose the humbucking effect because the single coil will only be RWRP with one of the humbucker's coils.

FYI, Mustang pickups and Strat pickups are actually constructed using the same parts. The difference is that the Mustang poles don't protrude from the top of the bobbin (or protrude very little) but they use magnets the same length as the B pole on a staggered Strat. The coils are slightly taller but also narrower because they're wound a little lighter (5.5Kish vs the 5.7K-6.3K of a Strat).

As such, they are not but yet are different from Strat pickups. The coil being taller and narrower reads a narrower portion of the string, beyond the fact that they're wound a bit less than a Strat.

You're likely to get a fatter tone using a Strat pickup. If that's what you want, rock on! If you're looking to keep the Mustang vibe, there's better options. I won't talk you out of whatever you want, but I just wanted to make sure you have all the information you need to make an educated decision. I'm sure if timtam dropped in this thread he probably has 7,000 times the info that I do.

[alwinvrm]

Thanx Gilmour, I didn't know about the subtle differences between the Start and Mustang pickups. I do like the sound of the Mustang Player pickups, chimey, almost if there is a chorus pedal, but also a bit more presence than vintage pickups I had. So in that respect I bought a 6.6 K Ohm Stat middle pickup.

We shall see. I am still waiting for the new neck of the Mustang VM body, soon to be Classic Series 65 Mustang. I wanted the parts to arrive at least in the middle of December and it turned out that the mish mash of parts I ordered unintentionally leads to a Classic Series 65 Mustang.