pickup for a squier '51

B

BG00

New member
Hey guys,
I've had my squier '51 for about 7 months now and am considering changing the pickups and electronics. I know I will for sure get new electronics and a new neck single coil. Not sure about changing the bridge bucker yet.

What single coil would work well in the neck? I primarily use my neck position for playing leads and like a good tone for solos on high gain. Alnico mag preferable.

For some reason I really like the bridge humbucker in this guitar, it is a vintage hot bucker that really just burns in any tuning. I generally like my humbuckers to be about 10-11k. I love the smooth sound this one gives and am pretty sure it has an alnico II mag. Only thing that comes to mind to me to replace it with would be an EVH but I can't justify spending 160 bucks on a pickup to put it in a $100 guitar that already has something I like...

So what do you guys think? I play mostly alternative metal, usually drop tuned at that. Single coil suggestions would be most helpful cuz I really have little experience with them. I am "well versed" in humbuckers.
 
Re: pickup for a squier '51

Hmm, for single coil that goes for metal... 1/4?? Hot Rails might be neat, though it's ceramic, it could do the trick. I say be bad-ass and get Tom Morellos tone, that's right, a Tele neck pup in the neck slot!! That way when you have the bucker full on for twangy Tele sound (I've played a couple '51s) you can mix it with the Tele neck and be Raging Against The Machines in no time!! (yes I know I switched Rage to Raging).

Other than that, maybe an Alnico 2 Pro?
 
Re: pickup for a squier '51

I've thought about a tele neck pickup a little bit, main problem I have with the single coil thats in there is that it doesnt have enough output to even keep up with the bridge when its split. So I definitely need something a little hotter than a normal tele neck pickup. The classic stack looks interesting from the duncan site.

The other thing I was wondering about is if I need a reverse polarity model in order to get no hum when I combine it with the split bridge bucker.
 
Re: pickup for a squier '51

If I had a Squier 51, I would probably want a Fender Texas Special for the neck position.
 
Re: pickup for a squier '51

Hadn't really thought about any of fender's single coils to be honest. Will the texas special handle high gain well enough?
 
Re: pickup for a squier '51

Any other suggestions? Pearly gates or VHPAF bridge, with custom flat or FS-1?
 
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