Recommendation for a newbie, please

[Chuffy]

I've bought my first guitar with humbuckers, but I want to upgrade the pickups. I have played single coil guitars for many years, but never had the jones for humbuckers till I started taking online lessons from Paul Gilbert. I really like the guitar I bought, a Squier Bullet HH - I figured it would be a good way to dip my toe in the water. But the neck pickup is pretty muddy. I'd like to get a tone closer to what Paul has - if you're not familiar with him, most of what he does is a pretty complex gritty hard rock kind of tone. I've gone through a lot of the samples on the Seymour Duncan pages, but I'd love to get a recommendation or two. Thanks!

[jeremy]

welcome to the forum!

paul is a beast for sure. almost any of the duncan neck buckers will sound better than what you have. is this the squier bullet mustang HH or a different model? if you want clarity id go for the jazz or sentient neck models. the 59 is great too but pauls tone is a little more modern so the jazz or sentient would be closer to that.

[Masta' C]

Paul is a long-time DiMarzio PAF Pro user in the neck position, as I recall. Kinda hard to replicate that sound on the Duncan side, but I'd suggest a Jazz "Bridge" model, aka: SH-2b. It's a little less common than the regular Jazz neck model, but will get you closer to what he plays in his guitars and still stay plenty clear.

[MudTaco]

I'd say, don't go for vintage output humbuckers with similar characteristics to the single-coil sound you are used to. There is a reason why you got an HH guitar, for the humbucker sound. Plus, since you are putting them in a Squier Bullet (a less than meaty sounding guitar) if you went with polite humbuckers, the outcome will be weak sounding. Get a set with some balls.
I'd say if you want versatility, the Alnico Pro II (APH-1) in the neck and the JB (SH-4) in the bridge will sound big in just about anything, but using the volume and tone pots will yield all sorts of usable tones and split, that set sounds close to a Telecaster.
The Saturday Night Special set (disclaimer - which I have not personally tried) I think would be great if you are looking for classic rock to hard rock, but could do cleaner and heavier stuff when called to. This set, having A4 mags and tonally being balanced, I think would probably work well with just about any amp or pedal too.
One other thing, being new buying pickups, you may not know of Seymour Duncan's 21 day exchange policy. Check it out. Another reason to go Duncan.

[jeremy]

if this is the mustang hh, its 24" scale which sounds pretty different than a 25.5" strat.

i really like the sns neck, the sns bridge can be a little thick/dark in some guitars but really nice in others

[Chuffy]

Thanks for the replies, and the welcome. I shoulda mentioned that the model I bought is the Mustang. I'm not sure I even understand what is meant by "clarity", but I do understand what is usually called "crunch", and that's sort of what I want. Versatility isn't particularly what I'm looking for, since I'm just mucking about playing at home. I actually play the bass in the band I'm in. There are already two fantastic guitarists, and no real opportunity for me to play electric guitar anywhere other than at home. I was already leaning towards the JB, although frankly it's difficult for moi to differentiate.

Last bit of feedback which might be helpful. I'm a klutz when it comes to fixing stuff, and a slob with the soldering iron. I watched the video on how to install pickups. I'd have to buy a new soldering iron, and I'm not sure I'd be continually changing pickups in my new guitar. A guitar tech here would do it for $50, and that seems like the better deal. Am I making too big of a deal about this, or am I right in thinking I should just give it to the guy who knows how to do it right?

[jeremy]

changing pups is pretty easy but there is a little bit of a learning curve. duncan actually has very thorough wiring instruction if you care to try

i stand by my sentient recommendation.

[CaptainWhizz]

The Duncan Hot Rodded set of the JB and Jazz are often available cheaper than other pairs of Seymour Duncan humbuckers, and should be a very good starting point for ‘80s rock, as well as being versatile. The Distortion Mayhem set kind of doubles-down on the rock/ metal side of things.

[Mincer]

Here is a link to the free pickup installation course.