Replacement pickup for 51 RI P?

[spinynorman]

I'm thinking about maybe changing the stock pickup in my Fender 51 RI P. Just wondered if anyone had any experience of or thoughts on the various replacements that are available - Seymour Duncan, Nordstrand, Lindy Fralin ...?? The Fralin's come in several guises - single coil, split coil, overwound. What sort of tonal differences do these make?

Edited March 23, 2010 by spinynorman

[KiOgon]

[quote name='spinynorman' post='782988' date='Mar 23 2010, 12:47 AM']I'm thinking about maybe changing the stock pickup in my Fender 51 RI P. Just wondered if anyone had any experience of or thoughts on the various replacements that are available - Seymour Duncan, Nordstrand, Lindy Fralin ...?? The Fralin's come in several guises - single coil, split coil, overwound. What sort of tonal differences do these make?[/quote]

My '51 came already modded with a Seymour Duncan Bass Lines SCPB-2 :- [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/basslines/progressive-1/scpb2_hot_for_s/"]http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/bass...cpb2_hot_for_s/[/url]
I've got the original pup with but have never tried it so can't say how they compare, haven't tried Fralin or Nordstrand either.

No complaints about it, no reason to change, it's set about 2mm from E & G strings held down at fret 20, gives plenty of output with good balance across all strings.
I'm using GHS Black Nylon 3060's, play almost 100% fingers & getting a real deep down P bass thump - beautiful! I think it retains the true P bass tones which is how I want it, don't know how the others change the sound.

HTH,
Cheers,
John

Edited March 24, 2010 by KiOgon

[Delberthot]

I like the original Fender one although I thought it compressed the sound somewhat. The SD quarter pounder is a very powerful pickup and I used one in my first Warmoth but had to go through the active input cos it was so powerful.

If you want the ultimate tone IMO then you need to look at the Jason Lollar one - its an absolute beast and easily the best sounding one I've tried for the single coil P Bass. This was the same guy that was building replacement Rick horseshoe pickups until Rick put their foot down despite not selling them on their own for years

[url="http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LGP&Product_Code=208&Category_Code=pbass-pickups"]http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant....e=pbass-pickups[/url]


Alternatively, if you want to sound like Sting, apparently his '57 single coil is fitted with an SD humbucker:

[url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/custom-shop/specialized-1/single_coilstac/"]http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/cust...ingle_coilstac/[/url]

[Grand Wazoo]

I've put a Quarter Pound SDuncan in mine and I am estatic about the sound





[size=3][b]Here is a sound clip of it ==>> [url="http://www.captnmoto.co.uk/videos/51Precision.mp3"]Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound 51 RI Precision[/url][/b][/size]

[Toasted]

It looks great

[spinynorman]

I'll take a listen to the clip when I get home, thanks. I like the stock pup sometimes, but in some situations it gets very blurry and seems to overwhelm the mix. I want something a little different from a standard p, but not too much. More thump, less growl (than the stock 51 RI) perhaps (I'm useless at describing tones).

I like that colour. I call mine the Yellow Peril.

Edited March 24, 2010 by spinynorman

[Cat Burrito]

I like the stock one but I won an EBay bargain of a Seymour Duncan Antiquity pup for a mere £26. The bass sounds simply awesome now.

[url="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e125/Tim_73/Basses/?action=view&current=IMGP0818.jpg"][/url]

[stevie]

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='784542' date='Mar 24 2010, 11:38 AM']I've put a Quarter Pound SDuncan in mine and I am estatic about the sound[/quote]

I agree - it sounds really great!

[spinynorman]

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='784861' date='Mar 24 2010, 05:30 PM']I like the stock one but I won an EBay bargain of a Seymour Duncan Antiquity pup for a mere £26. The bass sounds simply awesome now.

[url="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e125/Tim_73/Basses/?action=view&current=IMGP0818.jpg"][/url][/quote]

I won an Antiquity on eBay last week. Had to pay £28 for mine. I'll get the soldering iron out tomorrow, nice job for a sunny Sunday.

[Cat Burrito]

That's unbelievable resale value yet again for a pickup that is not cheap new. I'm sure you'll love the tone.

[spinynorman]

Finally got time to do the swap last night. First impressions are very good, be able to tell more after practice on Monday, but just seems to be smoother than the stock pickup.

I didn't quite realise what I'd bought. I'd found the SCPB-1 Basslines Vintage on GAK for £47 new, so I was bidding with that in mind. The Antiquity is more like £75. Guess I'm not the only one totally confused by the SD range, luckily.