EJ strat users: ever change your bridge or PUPs?

[mac336]

thinking about maybe swapping out the PUPS. Maybe change the bridge as well


wondering if anyone has done this for better or worse. any regrets?

EJ PUPs arent doing it for me. thinking about swapping to a more "scoped" sounding set

 

[direwolf]

Try an EP booster.

 

[Sigmund]

The EP booster is great, especially with a strat, but it doesn't make the guitar sound more scooped.
Check out Lollar and Suhr pickups.

 

[hgmcelroy]

I'm in the same boat and have thought about changing out me EJ pickups as well. I've been using a slight gain boost to bump the output up a bit but it's not the same. I did attemp to install a set of Fender Hot Vintage Noiseless pickups but the EJ's pickup route channels are not deep enought to allow the extra height that noiseless or stacked humbucker single coils have.

 

[sideburns]

Had 2 of them and never wanted to change the pickups but I did want to swap out the necks--just to fat for me

 

[joesnewmatch]

thinking about maybe swapping out the PUPS. Maybe change the bridge as well


wondering if anyone has done this for better or worse. any regrets?

EJ PUPs arent doing it for me. thinking about swapping to a more "scoped" sounding set

I replaced the bridge on mine, with a Callaham bridge assembly, the Vintage Narrow one. Did this after thinking it over for more than a year. My high E kept rolling off on me. The problem is now solved. No complaints about the bridge. Though I must admit that I always keep the trem locked down.

I am in the same boat about the pickups. I'm much more of a humbucker guy, at least at the moment, so I'm not sure if I'm just not feeling stratty. Maybe that's it. I did a post like yours a year ago and caught a lot of flack from people saying the pups were so good, and that I should be satisfied. Not constructive.

Sometimes I think that I liked the EJ before because it was fatter than a typical strat, but now that I have plenty of thick tones covered, that maybe I want a more stratty tone? Not sure.

Someone I trust once recommended Fralin Vintage Hots with a SP43 in the bridge. Maybe I'll try that one day? What exactly are you going for? What do you play?

 

[Jim Collins]

I've replaced a few things on my EJ. I took off the original pickguard, with all the electronics. I replaced that pickguard with an 8-hole, three-ply pickguard, with an aluminum shield, underneath. (Both are Callaham.) This completely eliminated that static electricity problem I was having. (Wiping the old pickguard down with a Bounce sheet also stopped the static problem, but the fix was only temporary.)

The new pickguard has a Lollar Dirty Blonde set, with blender wiring, and a Greasebucket circuit for the tone control. I was only moderately enthused with the stock pickups, and I don't like any Strat pickup with no tone control. (EJ wiring has the middle pickup with no tone control.)

I also replaced the stock trem assembly with a Callaham assembly. The inertia block really isn't much different from the EJ stock block, but the rest of the trem assembly is. I prefer the shape of the Callaham arm, and the manner in which it is mounted in to the trem (delrin insert). To me, it makes the trem usable. I have always considered the stock, vintage style trem somewhat unusable, because the arm always has too much play. (I don't like the spring insert, either.)

Why have an EJ Strat if I'm going to change so much of it? Well, I got it because I loved the neck. The stock neck makes me want to play that guitar, but the parts I swapped out did not make we want to play it.

 

[danelectro]

I replaced the stock pups in my EJ with a set of Fralin Blues Specials and they sound ever so slightly better, however I only did so because I had them on hand. The stock pups sound fantastic and they actually ended up in a MIM Strat, which made a huge improvement.

 

[mac336]

I replaced the bridge on mine, with a Callaham bridge assembly, the Vintage Narrow one. Did this after thinking it over for more than a year. My high E kept rolling off on me. The problem is now solved. No complaints about the bridge. Though I must admit that I always keep the trem locked down.

I am in the same boat about the pickups. I'm much more of a humbucker guy, at least at the moment, so I'm not sure if I'm just not feeling stratty. Maybe that's it. I did a post like yours a year ago and caught a lot of flack from people saying the pups were so good, and that I should be satisfied. Not constructive.

Sometimes I think that I liked the EJ before because it was fatter than a typical strat, but now that I have plenty of thick tones covered, that maybe I want a more stratty tone? Not sure.

Someone I trust once recommended Fralin Vintage Hots with a SP43 in the bridge. Maybe I'll try that one day? What exactly are you going for? What do you play?

was thinking about going with duncan antiquity II surfs. I really like the sound of those

 

[stratotone]

put duncan hot rails in the bridge of both of mine (rosewood and maple board). I'm just not a strat bridge single coil kinda guy

 

[teleman1]

The stock EJ sounds great. When I want a different sStrat sound, I go to my other Strat. The neck is why I have the guitar.

 

[jazzrat]

Also put the Callaham Vintage narrow on my EJ Rosewood. I don't hear any tone difference but the mechanical features and the narrower string path of the Callaham are
great.