What pickups in this guitar?

[friendship]

My main guitar is a Fender Big Apple, a Strat with two tappable humbuckers. I got a Squier Cabronita over the winter which I haven't stopped playing for months, but I picked up my Strat and it's a significantly better-feeling guitar.

I don't really use humbuckers much any more so I was thinking about getting a new pickguard and loading it up with some different pickups as an easy way to revive this instrument while still being able to pop its stock stuff back in later if I want to.

Since I already have the Cabronita, it's probably redundant to load it with Filtertrons, right? I was thinking maybe humbucker sized P-90s because I like P-90s, but I think covered humbuckers look terrible in a Strat for some reason. So I was thinking maybe a pair of Dimarzio Bluesbuckers?

I dunno.

Is this entire idea stupid?

[Chankgeez]

Lipsticks.

[friendship]

Lipsticks.

Wisdom. I've never really used them before but I like biting gnarly sounds. I've heard they're thinner sounding than more common single coils, is that true?

[skullservant]

I always think of it as tele pickups < strat pickups < lipsticks <p90's

[Chankgeez]

I do think lipsticks can be thinner sounding than a lot of other single coils. (Danelectro did use them in their basses as well. Not that Dano basses are very deep sounding though.) They can also be pretty open sounding. They're generally lower output than most modern single coils.

I think P-90s are pretty versatile, but gold foils may also be something to consider as well.

[friendship]

So I got a little daunted at all the options and the prospect of having to buy pickups unheard with no way of knowing if they'll be right for me.

So I got out the screwdriver and started fucking with the pole pieces and pickup height on the bridge humbucker and actually made the sound way more awesome to me. So much clearer, articulate. It almost sounds like a P-90 now, which I didn't think was possible, even with vintage-output humbuckers.

The lesson I guess is always go back to basic techniques before trying to drop a bunch of money on a problem.