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50's style P-bass pickup replacement

#21
Rugaar said:
Give the original a fair chance before automatically replacing it.
Click to expand...

I got my Squier 50s P bass a couple days ago.

I think i'm going to replace the volume/tone controls before the pickup. The ones that are in it are a little scratchy near the ends of the knob travel, until you rotate the knob a little.

I may try to change the value of the tone pot because I have to turn it very very lightly between 0 and 1 to get just the sound I want. The majority of the travel of the control produces roughly the same treble sound from 1 to 10 - not my style. So the control range I have is basically from full CCW to "1" and by brushing against the knob it will move.

Sounds great otherwise - the low end is very big. Only complaint I have about the bass is of the 3 I have tried, they all have problems with the nut for the A string. Someone at the factory is cutting the notch in the nut too wide for the A string and it rattles/vibrates. I put a thin shim of plastic in the side of the cut and fixed the rattle. After the newness wears off i'm going to get the nut replaced.

The tonal richness and gorgeous sound from the bass make it worth whatever it takes. I checked out some CIJ 51' re-issue P basses and don't like them as well as the squier. Other than the nut and tone controls the Squier is a great bass - in my opinion :)
 
#23
joplin said:
I got my Squier 50s P bass a couple days ago.

I think i'm going to replace the volume/tone controls before the pickup. The ones that are in it are a little scratchy near the ends of the knob travel, until you rotate the knob a little.

I may try to change the value of the tone pot because I have to turn it very very lightly between 0 and 1 to get just the sound I want. The majority of the travel of the control produces roughly the same treble sound from 1 to 10 - not my style. So the control range I have is basically from full CCW to "1" and by brushing against the knob it will move.

Sounds great otherwise - the low end is very big. Only complaint I have about the bass is of the 3 I have tried, they all have problems with the nut for the A string. Someone at the factory is cutting the notch in the nut too wide for the A string and it rattles/vibrates. I put a thin shim of plastic in the side of the cut and fixed the rattle. After the newness wears off i'm going to get the nut replaced.

The tonal richness and gorgeous sound from the bass make it worth whatever it takes. I checked out some CIJ 51' re-issue P basses and don't like them as well as the squier. Other than the nut and tone controls the Squier is a great bass - in my opinion :)
Click to expand...

Yes, right from the factory they sound very good and amazing for the money. I replaced the pickup in mine because I wanted a specific sound. Now that I've had it for more than 2 months I can see if there's anything else that needs work. No-there isn't. The controls on mine are perfect and do just what they're supposed to. They may fail sooner than the expensive ones but I'll worry about that later. The bridge is fine as it is. Plenty of mass, nice downward string angle which I like and it adjusts easily. The nut on mine seems to be cut well too and even though I've switched the strings to Thomastics they sit in the slots fine.

There is a little bit of fret sprout starting but it's Ontario, the house is now dry as a bone and I haven't had a bass that didn't suffer some of that here. I'll dress the ends and take care of that soon myself.

I'm still pleased with the bass and it's the one I play most often. My old Fender P is looking neglected.
 
#24
I installed the Fralin 0% normal wound single coil pickup for my Squire 50s P bass...

The two biggest differences I noticed between the stock pickup and the Fralin are:

The Fralin is more mellow, more round, richer and fuller and not as thin.

The Fralin is balanced for both output and tonality across all the strings because the pickup magnets for the A and D strings match the arc of the strings at the bridge. The stock pickup has less punch for the A and D strings because the pickup magnets are flat across the stock pickup.


As koobie mentioned earlier in the thread, the bottom part of the winding bobbin at the front needs to be filed/ground down to give you full range of mounting distance. I didn't have to grind mine down since I got the pickup height I wanted without doing this, but if you like the pickup real close to the strings you might want to ask Zach or someone at Fralin to do this for you if you suspect you might want to return it for exchange.


Bottom line - it's a helluva nice pickup.
 
#25
Another thing I've noticed with the 50s P single coil pickups is they sound rounder and more even when lowered down a lot. When close to the strings you can get a very biting sound that you might not like that's hard to control. The stock pickup is pretty hot and will do this. The aftermarket ones that are hotter will do it more.

With my Vintage Vibe custom pickup I've got it lowered as much as possible. It sounds best that way and there is still plenty of output.

Strings make a huge difference to the sound you wind up with. For my playing style and the sound I like I use Thomastic flat wounds. If you're a roundwound guy you probably won't like them. I like the flats because it suits my idea of what an original P should sound like. The original P basses came with flat wound strings. I prefer that sound over the bright round wound sound.
 
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#26
I have a Squier CV p51 it´s very nice but have some hum, i think in upgrade this pickup to Quarter Pound for Single Coil P-Bass SCPB-3 (Bass line ) i read about the performance of this pickup and sound good too me, somebody knows about hum or buzz i this pickup ?
 
#27
62bass said:
Another thing I've noticed with the 50s P single coil pickups is they sound rounder and more even when lowered down a lot. When close to the strings you can get a very biting sound that you might not like that's hard to control. The stock pickup is pretty hot and will do this. The aftermarket ones that are hotter will do it more.

With my Vintage Vibe custom pickup I've got it lowered as much as possible. It sounds best that way and there is still plenty of output.

Strings make a huge difference to the sound you wind up with. For my playing style and the sound I like I use Thomastic flat wounds. If you're a roundwound guy you probably won't like them. I like the flats because it suits my idea of what an original P should sound like. The original P basses came with flat wound strings. I prefer that sound over the bright round wound sound.
Click to expand...

I've also found scpb pickups are very sensitive to heigth. Getting it setup right makes a big difference in finding the right tone. I've put a duncan scpb-2 as the neck pu in a jazz and I think it is a good balance between the high mid clarity of the originals and the hotter scpb-3 like alternatives.
 
#28
I've had a bunch of different scpb's Fralin slpit coil. Duncan scbb-2 ,scpb-3 rio grande vintage and the one that comes stock in a fender m.i.j. sting. and squire cv 50's bass. The one I likesd best of the bunch was the Duncan scpb-2.Hotter than vintage but not as hot as the scpb-3.It worked well with chromes on a 54" style warmoth bass I put together.I think I saw a vintage vibe scpb in the classifieds a way back look it up.
 
#34
Sorry for any duplication, but has anyone tried Fralin's Split 51 P-Bass? I'm on this tangent to compare pickup placement. From eyeballing it, the 51 single coil pickup looks to be in the same place as the neck pickup of a J-Bass. So, since I only prefer the neck pickup on a J-Bass, why not just get a P-Bass with a straight single coil, I tell myself. :-)
 
#35
douglasbass said:
From eyeballing it, the 51 single coil pickup looks to be in the same place as the neck pickup of a J-Bass.
Click to expand...
The 51 single coil is closer the neck than on a jazz bass , this does have an effect though not a huge one.

A split coil 51 doesn't sound the same a straight 51 single coil , I'd describe the splits as more polite. Another difference you'll notice from your JB neck pickup tone is down to it's two poles per string instead of just the one found in 51 singles.

These 3 differences will add up .
 
#36
kodiakblair said:
The 51 single coil is closer the neck than on a jazz bass , this does have an effect though not a huge one.

A split coil 51 doesn't sound the same a straight 51 single coil , I'd describe the splits as more polite. Another difference you'll notice from your JB neck pickup tone is down to it's two poles per string instead of just the one found in 51 singles.

These 3 differences will add up .
Click to expand...

Yes, two poles per string would make a difference. In short, like many of us, I'm searching for The Tone that I want to hear. For me it is "warm", "round", "full" with no "bark" or "bite". The 51 single coil may be the tool to get me there.
 
#37
@douglasbass

So you're not looking to replicate your JB neck tone :)

Get yourself to a store , play a few 51 style basses just to see if that is your basic "tone" :thumbsup:

Pickup swapping is fun , and costly , yet will not radically alter the tone. I've been deep down that rabbit hole :laugh:
 
#38
kodiakblair said:
@douglasbass

So you're not looking to replicate your JB neck tone :)

Get yourself to a store , play a few 51 style basses just to see if that is your basic "tone" :thumbsup:

Pickup swapping is fun , and costly , yet will not radically alter the tone. I've been deep down that rabbit hole :laugh:
Click to expand...

Thanks, yeah I need to physically handle a few basses, not just browse online at various shops and drool ...

I'd like to avoid the costly experimentation as well, though it would be fun :-)
 
#40
I only play Squier CV50P , the Fralin split 51 p sound better clarity and less boomy than stock pup.

There are 2 issue here:
I need trim the pickups bobbin to fit into the cavity.

The second is my Fralin pup has raise A and D magnet pole piece. It cause both A and D string sound louder than the rest on Squier 9.5 radius fretboard. To get all string has great balance output , I use hammer to flush on D magnet pole piece and drop the A magnet become 1mm.

I suggest make sure the fretboard radius before you place order, Fralin offer both flush and raise magnet pole piece options.
 
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