Can A Stratocaster Sound Like A Telecaster?

In today's video, I look at turning my Stratocaster bridge pickup into a Telecaster bridge pickup.
I recently bought a Custom Shop 50s strat, Its a great guitar but ever since I've owned it I haven't been enamored with the bridge pickup. The 50s style strat bridge pickup is very bright sounding and in my opinion the least usable pickup on a strat. What I decided to do was to buy a Seymour Duncan TwanG Banger which is a telecaster-style bridge pickup that fits into a Stratocaster.
Not only that i decided to change the neck and middle pickups to Lollar 64's and put in a Montys wiring harness.
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs.

[@jrenner325]

This is literally the best demo of the SD Twang Banger. The side by side comparison, consistency of the riff, with zero mindless noodling was perfect. Thank you. I’ve been considering this pickup for over a year and this video just helped me make my decision.

[@artekm8089]

For me the Strat with the new pickup still sounds like a Strat and not like a Tele, although slightly "fuller". This was a very informative test. Thanks a lot!

[@WestlehSeyweld]

you are listening with your eyes

[@jrthomson1001]

I noticed it more on the higher gain riff, the Strat w/ the new pick ups does sound more like the telecaster, but you can still hear the strat characteristics popping through a little bit. I'm definitely considering doing this myself.

[@matthewleger5605]

Thanks so much for this. I'm sold -- have always despised my Strat bridge pickup! Time for a change.

[@paulbrown6263]

That is a fantastic driven sound. Great video again. Thank you.

[@keithfranzen9209]

That original Middle pickup sound was amazing !

[@scke3717]

Nice demo of that SD bridge pickup. After doing a lot of these I came to realize it makes sense to try to purchase a "pre-loaded pickguard" with the options already installed: you can easily sell the old pickguard and you save on a luthier doing the soldering or butchering it yourself. Fender only has a few such preloaded options; hopefully the ranks of folks doing the aftermarket loaded pickguard will grow, as its just a matter of replacing screws and one grounding wire.

[@stevenellis8365]

I have had similar experiences with my Strats. On the one I ended up with a Fralin Steel Pole bridge pickup, tonally very close to your SD. On the other, I added an Emerson Blender circuit which allows me to add in as much neck pickup to the bridge as i want (and vice versa) as well as connecting the bridge to the now single tone pot. Different paths, yet both yielded results that are very pleasing. Love your results too.

[@timothy5974]

Successful to my old ears and I think it sounds Fantastic. I really enjoy your playing and channel. Thanx.

[@bernie_smith]

My Strat is USA V62 re-issue I purchased in 1989. I put the Kinman harness in which adds tone on the bridge PUP but crucially allows you to blend in the neck PUP with any selected selector position using the second tone control. I mainly use bridge position one with some neck blended in to taste. I love this set up.

[@brianeckert774]

new SD Twangbanger sounds great, I have that on my wishlist for my strat, great video!

[@MrPaolo101]

Nice one, a few years ago I went through this and I brought it up on one of your live streams. I will say that I went for the Dimarzio injector, which to me is very ‘beefy tele’. The one thing Id love to see your reaction to is doing the ‘blender mod’, which means (surprisingly’) that you can blend in he neck or bridge pickup to the other settings.... essentially meaning that the two combinations that cant be found on normal strats is now available. The neck and bridge, and the all three pickups on. This for me has been a game changer and I think you would love it!.

[@EJBGuitar]

Sounds killer with the new pickup!

[@T.m.K]

Wow 👏 that change was a very good idea! S is much more similar to T, but still "strati" sound. Thank you for sharing.

[@SergeiVlassov]

To my ears with new pickup it sounded not only better than with an old one, but also better that a tele. Great tone! I only miss the comparison of bridge+middle position comparison before and after.

[@StickMan...77]

Thank you very much this is the exact video i was looking for.

[@kjneese]

Brilliant comparison! I've been transitioning to Teles over the past couple years (a lefty Ron Thorn Masterbuilt was my gateway Tele) and now I have three. I'm now down to a couple Custom Shop Strats (which I LOVE), but the bridge pickup, is "USELESS" because my ears are now accustomed to the incredible Telecaster Bridge sound. I was aware of the Twang Banger, but until now, had no idea if it was worth the investment. I will be ordering one immediately for one of my Strats in order to remedy this issue. Thx as always!

[@natemoore6760]

Strats bridge screams, Tele bridge punches - that’s the description I’ve heard that seems to work

[@RedRose4711]

The new Strat bridge pickup sounds tremendous. Good choice!

[@jakesmith4506]

Everything sounds great! Geez! rock on. Good MOJO to you from Detroit!

[@felinekaiju4517]

It's always worth the time for an experiment to see the differences. I prefer the twang Banger than the original Strat pickup, but the actual Telecaster pickup still had more growl and rounded highs than the twang banger. thanks for the demo, at least I know what I'll be getting into. I'll be doing a guitar building course next year, so I think I'll go for building a hybrid Strat rather than use the Twang Banger in a typical tele set up.

[@Lou_cypher]

It’s close, sounds a bit warmer, definitely sounds better. I wire the bottom tone pot to the bridge pickup on all my strat’s giving you the ability to take some of that treble away. Another option is fitting a base plate to the bridge pickup, both Callaham and lindy Fralin make steel base plates.

[@idontgrillonwed]

Soldering is just a skill. Honestly just takes an hour with some scratch wire. I’ve been making “tele plates” to push magnetic fields on the bridge of strats for 20 years. Instead of buying an entirely new pickup, just go to Ace Hardware, Lowe’s, or even just a junk yard for the metal plate. 10 minutes with a drill press, hack saw or band saw, and a dremel tool or files. Coolest ones I’ve ever done was from the fenders and doors of a ‘57 Corvette and of a ‘65 Mustang, matching the year of the guitar. Paint intact except for the ground wire. Great video.

[@boro5xl]

The improvement is really great! Actually, I've done a similar thing many many times for way less cash just adding an iron base plate under the original Strat's bridge pickup - it does amazing job, and it would set you back only a tenner or so! Give it a try!

[@rickbiessman6084]

That’s CRAZY. I would’ve never thought of that. So cool! :D

[@IamMusicNerd]

Yep, I did the same thing to my Strat, by installing a Lindy Fralin set of pickups and harness, which improved the bridge tone a lot, and sounds much more like a Tele bridge now. It’s awesome.

[@maraviyoso8473]

If I want a Tele sound. . . I'd go for a Tele.

[@MaPa60]

Well I have a tele, and don't want my Strat to sound the same. But, I did add a base plate to my Strat bridge pickup for 5€ and added a wire to the tone pot, so I now can use the tone pot on the bridge. Cost maybe a 10ner and I found that worth while. However, I do like the very bright bridge pup on my my Strat - I associate that with a more 50s sound. In your case, the Strat did get the more mids and the more balanced top, but the Strat still sounded slightly cleaner. That seems to be the nature of the beast.

[@rafalstachura]

I was not aware of exitence of these Tele-style-Strat-singlecoils. Very interesting concept. Not sure I like the end result, but glad it works for you.

[@ianparr1533]

On my Strat I wired the second tone pot to act on the bridge pickup as well as the middle. The pot was replaced with a "no-load" type so when it's on 10 the bridge pickup sounds as it would without the pot wired in.

[@johnlavery7311]

I have Texas specials in my strat and added a double base plate from Monty’s Guitars to the bridge pickup. With the tone control set to around 6-7 I can get some pretty thick tones!

[@thetanman2233]

I typically wire the bridge pickup to a tone control. I have one strat I built with a set of 57/62 pickups and master volume/master tone/blender control layouts. Hardly use the blender knob, but I back off the tone to around 7/8 and it takes the perfect amount of brightness out

[@Shashli4ok]

Nice video. It would be great to hear original pickups with Seymour in a bridge. Specialy how it sounds in combination with middle pickup. Thanks for content.

[@Bluesbreaker-uf8ti]

Great vid! I've had many jams where I brought my Strat and thought damn, shoulda brought my Tele, I've never brought my Tele and thought damn, shoulda brought Strat. I do love playing my Strat too though, might have to try these pickups.

[@evanmiller2579]

Great video. Actually night and day difference. I imagine you are way happier with the new bridge tone. How do the Lollars compare to what was in the OG pickguard?

[@ew6629]

Definitely worth the swap out!

[@lyinking1998]

Beans and cheese? Surprisingly good, father

[@blueeyephil]

I like the sound of the new bridge pickup. I too have changed complete pickguards. And changed them back when I moved that guitar on. For most strats you will not get more out of it with upgraded pickups. So no need to give them away.

[@morganfreeman89]

Thanks, Great video!!!!

[@MP-gq4uj]

I ended up installing a copper coated metal backing plate on my 50s original bridge strat pickup. It cost me $10 Australian and you can keep your strat original because its just held on by wax and the pickups magnetic field and its reversable. It sounds great. Much cheaper than a boutique pickup. Highly recommended cheap mod. I also have a custom shop no-caster for reference. Like Paul says the sound is in between a strat and a Tele. Vast improvement and cheap as chips mod.

[@MrMeik1970]

I love the TexMex Pickups so i changed it in my Telecaster and my Strat. I play stuff from SRV and Hendrix. It sounds amazing 😉

[@ginolamendola4084]

The new pickups sound awesome

[@mariodriessen9740]

I wasn't aware the existence of this pickup. I have an old hardtail strat and I never liked the bridge pickup. I just bought a Fender pickguard with a set of Texas Specials. If I still feel a bit disapointed by the sound of the bridge pickup, this may very well be the sollution I was looking for. Especially since I love the sound of my 50's style Telecaster and I always feel the need to have something different that can function as a good backup in case I break a string (which almost never happens, but still...) So thanks! 😊

[@prophetsofpraise5206]

love the interim music😄

[@Messiah36963]

Hard tail would probably be the closest you get to it with a bigger bridge mount plate. I do like the Seymour Duncan. AGAIN EXCELLENT VIDEO.!

[@livingabovethe12th]

Yep, I did the same exact thing. I started with that SD, but the SD was a touch too dark for me....then ended up with the DiMarzio Red Velvet (DiMarzios 'make a strat a tele' style pickup) and have never looked back. Absolute fan of the Red Velvet.

[@helixworld]

The new pickup sounds awesome. Well done. I think you were right to build a new pickguard from scratch. Mixing the Duncan and Fender pickups can cause issues with phase, and they may not cancel hum in the notch positions.

[@breathtimebreath4934]

Well done!!!!! Thank you 🙏!!!! Love your Matchless!!!!!!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@TheStudioRats]

Thanks again

[@stevebees3992]

I've used a Twangbanger on my G&L Legacy, and it does add a 'Tele-lite' tonality to the sound while still being Stratty. The other alternative for Strat pickups is to go overwound and I think that it loses a lot of the Strat identity going that route. I currently have SD Antiquity Surfers in it now and have once again been contemplating the Twangbanger again. I wish I hadn't sold the last one I had now.... :)

[@tonydrozdjek]

DiMarzio SDS-1 in bridge position, thats what we did in the old days, and I still do!

[@ericmichel]

both sets sound great but I think that the brighter stock pickups may be a plus in a busy band mix situation.

[@maraviyoso8473]

Totally this. For me, it's better to have THAT bridge pickup tone and have tone control for that bridge pickup if someone wants less "harshness."

[@dyakel101]

I think the new bridge pickup sounds great, and yes, arguably better than the stock one. I don’t think it sounds identical to the Tele, but still very good. I would be interested in seeing a follow up video where you show how position 4 sounds with the Twang Banger. Cause the bridge alone sounds better, but I would hope it didn’t compromise the sound of the bridge and middle together. Recently found your channel and really enjoying it! 🤘🏼

[@MP-gq4uj]

Bridge and middle is better

[@felixfranzen7318]

I really liked the Twang Banger too. It the the tele pickup are bound to sound different though. They're different pickups after all have different size (and possibly Alnico type) magnets, different wire and winding, pole piece material and I'm pretty the output differ a bit. There are actual teles that sounds worse and more icepicky and like a bad strat than this strat. I had to borrow a 1970s Tele Custom for a gig once and the bridge pup on that had that ultra-trebbly icepick sound. Does it (the TW) sound exactly the same as the bridge pup on this particular tele? No, but it certainly gets you the tele sound so it would deem the design a success.

[@ReneJacq]

Or wire the bridge pickup to a tone control ( and use it of course ) , works wonders, cheaper and you have still all the high end if needed.

[@trickfinger555]

ohhh really?? i play guitar but i’m still new to the wiring world, could you explain me more in detail pls? thanks

[@ReneJacq]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmmXXoCaqKl8fsksi=n0vfbd6kNQntzDf2 @@trickfinger555

[@TheLowest]

​@trickfinger555 search into youtube "wiring stratocaster bridge pickup to a tone control" and you'll get a far more in depth guide than anyone could give you in a comment

[@williamhsi3597]

I have a Texas special pick up in the bridge position on my CS strat and it sounds nice!

[@Casey3-P-O]

Now you should get an S1 type of thing for your tone knob. The new player plus Stratocasters have them. It allows you to turn the neck pickup on along with the bridge pickup, and you can also have all 3 pickups on simultaneously. I've got a player plus Stratocaster, and I was able to make it sound very close to a Tele in the middle position before I changed my bridge pickup to a hot rail mini humbucker. The S1 sorta thing, and also a treble bleed circuit both came with my strat. Other than changing the bridge pickup, those are the best two mods you can do.

[@richardreyes9604]

Congrats, it does sound better. Iam a big fan of that tele sound. None of my 3 tele sound the same, l wouldn't expect your strat to sound exactly as the tele, its definitely tele enough for me.

[@rogerYT69]

cool video! have the new vintage II 61 strat ...it has a tone control for the bridge pu ...very usable 😉 neck and middle pu is awesome too! 😉

[@aaronwinter1092]

I want to hear those Lollars!

[@stevebees3992]

An update to my previous comment! I've now fitted a double-thick baseplate from Monty's to the SD Antiquity Surfer bridge pickup and can already feel an 'improvement' to the tone of the pickup. It still has a good balance with the other pickups and is probably the cheapest way to sample that sort of change. It still doesn't turn it into a Telecaster bridge sound, but it is much more useable for me now.

[@toddsteele72]

Would love to hear the Lollar's too.

[@joaguilar7]

I really dig the change, it sounds awesome. What are you using for the amp tones???

[@TheStudioRats]

Cheers Josue it was an axe fx 3

[@joaguilar7]

@@TheStudioRats wow! Can you tell me what amp model? I have an FM9. It really sounds great !!!

[@sooparticular]

great video..what model tele is that? and is it stock?/

[@Dreamdancer11]

You can wire the one tone pot as the master tone and the second as a blender pot so you can get the whole telecaster thing going on by blending the neck and bridge pickup in various combinations.....dont like the icepickiness of the strat bridge for example?Roll the blender pot a bit and get a portion of the neck warmth to blend it with the bridge etc etc etc....most versatile strat mod ever and dirty cheap too..either costing...0 dollars or the cost of a new no load pot.

[@raymondjamesrivera]

The new pickups sound great, although still not as good as the tele. What pickup is in the bridge of the tele, is it stock?

[@Ric007Mason]

Sounds ace Paul! Have you got a link where you got this pickup? Just what I want for my strat!

[@TheStudioRats]

It’s a Seymour Duncan twang banger, their available in lists of shops, I got mine from Guitarguitar.

[@iryan9]

What was your signal chain for this video? Sounds fantastic! Great video as always.

[@TheStudioRats]

Cheers Ryan, I was using my AXE FX 3

[@TheAmphibic]

The Twangbanger did the trick. That sunburst Tele is a bit like mine, can give Les Pauls a run for the money. ;)

[@uniqdzign2]

Sounds great with the new pups. Especially the bridge! Your Tele has a little extra mid to it on the bridge pickup . . to my ears any way!

[@felixfranzen7318]

The Twang Banger and the tele bridge basically sound the same, but there is still more treble on the strat/SD. A little eq and they will sound exactly the same. With the high-distortion riffing stuff I couldn't tell them apart. I'm sure someone can though since there will be measureable differences between the two pickupw

[@deplinenoise]

That tele is untouchable.

[@jamiebriggs8277]

New pickup definitely sounds better to me. It seems somewhat in between the old and the tele sound. Could probably get a lot of fine tuning from playing with the pickup height still too. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of buying cheaper guitars and buying decent pickups to put in them. You don't have to go all out either...there are some great pickups that are relatively affordable. In some cases I've paid more for the pickups than the guitar. I have been using Iron Gear out of the UK for a couple years now actually. Ship to me in the US about as fast as anything I order from Sweetwater :) I've used a number of humbuckers from them, as well as their P90s and texas loco strat pickups, and I've loved all of them. I have also bought seymour duncans and dimarzios, and love them too, but at more than twice the price usually.

[@SunsetPunk]

If you would like an even thicker bridge sound from the strat, you should try a humbucker sized P90 in the bridge 🤘🏻

[@jksonblkson]

If you buy a strat in an HH pup conifg, you can buy humbucker sized metal plates with holes for tele pickups, so you can just put a real set of tele pickups in at their respective locations

[@joybuzzer]

I know there are a few companies that sell backplates for Strat pickups for this very reason. I've never bought one. I'm really curious how one of those would compare to the Duncan.

[@otaviosmartins1]

Hey Paul! I love your strumming tone! What kind of picks do you use?

[@TheStudioRats]

Cheers Otavio, you’ve just reminded me to order some as mine are all worn out. I use Dunlop flow .88

[@otaviosmartins1]

@@TheStudioRats thanks!

[@jurgen5832]

Well.... I loved the original neck & mid pickup. Really how a strat should sound. Do miss that sound with the new Lolar PU's so I would go with the originals neck & mid and yes, the bridge sounded better so I should only have changed that one. And....add a switch so you can put in serie the neck and bridge PU....love that sound, easy mod, I 'sacrified' one of the tone knobs for it (and made the other tone know the gereal overall one) and put a switch in the removed hole of the tone potentiometer. Give it a try and see if it works for you!

[@petewilson-banks3137]

What do you make of the V-Mod 2 pickups in the pro 2 tele? I'm in 2 minds whether to swap em out for twisted tele pups.

[@ces69]

Have you ever tried fitting a “base plate” to the bridge pickup? It’s a cheap and easy upgrade and in my opinion makes a noticeable improvement! Also it’s easy to reverse if you want to go back to the original setup! I’ve done it to 2 of mine and love the change it’s made!

[@garysmith2983]

I struggle with Strat pickups generally. Recently bought a lovely used CS strat with the hand wound Abby Ybarra pick ups in. This is heresy I know, but they sound so thin and edgy and the B string pole seems to have a lower output and can’t seem to get the lovely cleans that I hear other strat users get. I’d like this to be my gigging guitar in my duo, because the neck is amazing and it’s a beautiful guitar, but it just isn’t working. In fact, when I plug in the 335 I think it’s probably the best balanced guitar tone wise going. Should I swap these much sought after pickup out ? Welcome recommendations for more rounded thicker sounding strat pickups.

[@aaronwinter1092]

Are they CS 69's?

[@traineecanuck]

I put a SD Lil' 59 in my strat bridge, and while it gives a humbucker type tone and balances fairly well with the single coils, I miss the single coil growl on that position, and the split coil option is a bit characterless. I have the extra neck-on switching, so I think your setup here would work really well with that.

[@clausherther]

Apart from the great sound, the 60s 3 layer pickguard on a lovely 50s strat is grating though

[@twistedends]

Interesting project the bridge pick up sounds better, however stating the obvious Strats and Tele's are two different animals. Different wood and bridge mass, the springs on a strat add to the tone. Dare I say comparing them doesn't really work.

[@ianbrailsford5843]

I've always had Strat bridge pickup disappointment. I've tried loads of pickups but in the end settled on the Kinman Kick in the Arse. It's the best there is.

[@sundroppunk1280]

Plus the cost of Alex’s work (what ever that $ was). I concur with “happy made switch/change”, to my ears, it was a tonal improvement…which, after all, aren’t we all chasing tone (an infinite journey, yet very enjoyable)! 🤙🎸

[@kawmic7]

DEFINITELY WORTH IT!!

[@TheStudioRats]

Cheers Boss, I loved the Huff guitar vid, took me back to my youth when I had hair.

[@mikenorman6697]

@TheStudioRats We didn't get to hear the Lollar Neck and Middle pickups against the stock Fender pickups! Is there a chance that you have improved the sound of the bridge pickup to your liking but perhaps you may prefer the Fender neck and middle pickups to the Lollars? Obviously wiring the tone pot used for the middle pickup to include the bridge pickup could have tamed the high end of the Fender bridge pickup. With the Fender bridge pickup it's a case of knowing how to build the sound through how you use amp and pedals to get a good lead sound.

[@audiodemon]

When you have the backing music over your pick up removal etc part of the video - you should totally use some of your own guitar music for this. I think we would all prefer to listen to that.

[@musicspeaks1074]

I just rolled down the tone a bit and I'm happy with my strat bridge pickups. Great wiring /pots hardware will do so much more than changing pickups. I love you man but I like to keep my “Strat tone” sound like Strat 😊 Either you are Strat guy or Tely 🙌🏻❤️😃

[@yiannistsantilis6458]

Yes! I have the kloppmann ST 60 Tillcaster in my strat. Is what was missing

[@PNWJEEPER01]

Definitely sounds fuller, but not like a Tele. I get the similar fullness out of an emg sa-20 bridge p/u with the mid preamp slightly boosted and the collective tone turned down a bit. Many ways to skin the tonal cat.

[@Junior1385]

That's why many strats have Humbucker on the bridge or Both Pickups its also versatile on that way, i would like you to compare PRS VS Stratocaster on clean and Twangy on single coils vs Coil Splits and PRS vs Les Paul on Dirty Humbucker Tones.

[@slimsantilli4476]

A 7 tone switch gets you in the Tele neck of the woods quick. Gives you the neck/bridge and all 3 sounds. Costs about $5.

[@therewasascene]

What about a neck pickup that sounds more like a tele? I’m seeing all kinds of posts online about trying to get the reverse - strat neck sound on a tele- but not tele sound on a strat! Have you run across anything by chance?

[@giovannionofri9508]

I would have been curious to hear position 2 with the new pickups configuration :/

[@timothy5974]

Paul, Are you still digging the Twang Banger? I have a Mex strat that I hate because of its pickups and was thinking an overhaul. Thanks.

[@TheStudioRats]

Yeah it’s great Timothy, highly recommended

[@chrisyking]

Hi. Can you post links to the parts? I might do that for my Strat.

[@rustymilner3317]

Bridge Pickup does sound better, but how bout the Lollars? Great Video!!

[@georgemacdonald3087]

£100 for a wiring harness!! 3 pots, a 5 way switch, a cap and a jack socket. Jog on.

[@chrisyking]

Have you tried putting a plate on the back of the pickup? Does the same thing no?

[@joybuzzer]

Does Position 2 (Middle and Bridge) still sound Stratty?

[@tomfoolery2082]

Wondering why not all lollar ?

[@sonnywolfblues]

I personally wouldn't have changed pickups in a Custom shop guitar as the original ones sound very vintage authentic to a real 1950s Strat.On my Strats I wire the bottom tone control to the bridge pickup and dial it back a bit whenever I need to smooth out the tone.But it is your guitar and if it serves your music better then great.I do think the new bridge pickup gets closer to a Teleish sound...not exactly a Tele but it does have that smoother and throatier tone similar to one.