Assuming the guitar is in factory stock condition and....
Assuming noone previously changed pickups or electronics or has it wired in some funky messed up way......
The factory spec for Fender pickup height and most all electric guitars is 3/32nds (2.38mm) measured FROM TOP OF MAGNET TO BOTTOM OF LOWER ESTRING AS YOU HOLD DOWN THE STRING ON THE VERY LAST FRET ,as illustrated in photo:
[img]https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/media/2018/07/8.-Pickups-set-to-3-32-on-bass-side-768x357.png[/img]
AGAIN...HOLD DOWN THE STRING ON THE LAST FRET WHILE MEASURING.
[img]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-cCQqTgo1ANc%2FUx073h0M7wI%2FAAAAAAAAERs%2FVZQ4vkXy0RA%2Fs1600%2FStratocaster-pickup-height-023.jpg&f=1&nofb=1[/img]
On the High E you can set the same or else 2/32nds (1.98mm)
You can put tape on the pickup and mark where you started so you can always go back:
[img]https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/media/2018/07/6.-Mark-Pickups-768x374.png[/img]
So once in that general area, the next thing is the magnetic pole pieces. For a strat they normally follow the radius of the strings as such:
[img]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F510519ace4b0869f641519d9%2F51051a84e4b0a00e2e9133e4%2F5426fe5ce4b0f39bff3155d8%2F1411843643208%2F%3Fformat%3D1000w&f=1&nofb=1[/img]
[img]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F8b%2Fd1%2F60%2F8bd16060f7b6c840d5183c9137a2920b.jpg&f=1&nofb=1[/img]
The photo illustrates the factory pole magnet heights normally found . Do they look close to that?
If not someone was playing with the pickups and screwed them up in some funky messed up way.
You should have a pro luthier look at it.
If the pickups dont even look like anything in the photo...someone replaced the normal strat pickups and you will have to find out what kind they are and if they are "hot pickups".
Strats have a very distinct sound but "Shrill" is hardly ever a descriptive. Should be very clean ,full sounding, smooth and on open chords....chimmey.
One last thing to verify...
When you use the pickup selector switch....Do you get clean separation? Does the switch control each pickup separately and then blend both of them when in the middle position?
If you select JUST the bridge pickup..do volume and tone work?
If you select JUST neck, does volume and tone knobs work?
If not ...someone rewired it in some funky messed up way.
Take it to a pro luthier.
If the guitar is used and had a previous owner , there is a possibility they put in the cheapest pickups they had and kept the stock pickups which would be your problem. Other then hoping the pickups have a label on the bottom, you wouldnt know someone could have installed cheap pickups that never came with the guitar and while the guitar passed an inspection , it isnt really the pickup for the guitar and it was resold into your hands . If its used , people do alot of crazy things to guitars and remove what they think is valueable.
Edited by
LittleWing on October 31 2021 09:05