51 Reissue P-Bass Pickups.Which One's???

[jonday30]

I'm currently struggling to bond with my CS 51 pbass. I had a 2013 custom shop 51 pbass that came stock with fender 9050 flats and the stacked Seymour Duncan humbucker. It was insane, sold it and regretted it.

So I pulled the trigger on a 2018 CS 51 pbass. Love it but it just sounds so harsh, yeah I can roll back the tone but I loose a tone of volume. So I though I'd grab the Duncan stacked pickup since this one is wired the same with the 0.1 fender cap and the 15k resistor.

Installed the pickup and hey it's quiet and sounds pretty much identical to the stock 55 single coil just less hum. Still harsh.

I've had this for almost a year now and swapped strings from Ti flats, fender flats, la bella flats, back and forth. Finally settled for the la Bella's just because these are the least harsh on this bass.

So what are you guys setting the pickup height at? Low? I want to love this thing but I'm ready to pass it on and grab a 63 vintage reissue pbass.

 

[Rnr..........4]

I actually think that the '53s sound a bit sweeter with a bit more character and woodiness to the fundamental. Really, a lot more desirable than the '51s.

When you say '53. What company makes this pickup?

 

[Rnr..........4]

Rio Grande Muy Grande is a good pup, especially for the price.

The one I will be going for I think but hopefully the hum isn't too bad.

 

[timeconsumer]

I installed the Bootstrap Palo Alto last weekend and I've been having a lot of fun with it. All pole pieces are evenly staggered, so it's heavier on bass and has a bit more treble bite than the stock pickup. I also got a .0047 cap and switched out the linear tone pot for an audio taper pot. It still has that single coil character, but sounds a lot fatter.

Honestly I can't believe this pickup was only $35. Quality-wise it's easily on par with Fralin or Fender at a quarter of the price. I also installed a set in my Telecaster and I doubt I'll ever buy another brand again.

 

[don21480]

I have the Fralin split '51 P and its a little bright for me as a pick player. I swapped the cap to a .104 but would love to find a fuller more traditional P Bass sounding pickup and if it was hum cancelling that would be great too!

 

[kodiakblair]

I swapped the cap to a .104 but would love to find a fuller more traditional P Bass sounding pickup and if it was hum cancelling that would be great too!

A few I use, all folks in Europe and all with 104 caps.

Martin Herrick.
Invalid Link Removed

Jess Loureiro.
P-bass® 51 coil-split Tele-bass

Dave Boshell. The humcancelling single is in the drop down menu.
Jazz and Precision Bass Pickups — Bloodstone GuitarWorks.

Had both ALNICO 5 and Neodymium from Martin, holy smokes the Neo was loud
Been well impressed with Jess's split single. Sadly he's not too great at answering emails and the Spanish postal service is even worse at operating as a postal service
That leaves Dave Boshell. First pickup from Dave was the traditional single and very nice it is too. While chatting to him about a Filtertron I happened to mention another single I fancied trying , namely an overwound similar to the Duncan Stinger. Having never wound a single to 29.9k ohm, he was keen to try.

This monster arrived about 4 days later

 

[CaseyVancouver]

I just picked up a Squier '50s reissue Precision.

Playing around with it on various amps from a Ampeg b15n to 800w Yorkville XS with Mesa 410, I don't hear anything lacking in the stock alnico pickup. No hum, it seems to do what it is supposed to. As good as any other bass I have, some are 20 times more expensive. I don't use any pedals.

I can't see or hear any reason to change it out.

There are a huge number of replacement pickups available for the '51 P.
Am I missing something?

 

[kodiakblair]

here are a huge number of replacement pickups available for the '51 P.
Am I missing something?

Nope, you're missing nothing

Some folks seem to think pickup brand X costing $$$ will make major changes to this the most basic of bass designs

Have more than a few in the drawer myself. My excuse that I was building single coil P-basses doesn't really hold water, the first 6 should have told me there's very little difference between x,y and z

 

[CaseyVancouver]

Thank you @kodiakblair!

 

[WillyW]

Chinese ebay $30 single coil and a duncan quarter pounder. love em both

these are such a simple design it's super difficult to make a bad one.

 

[okabass]

Have you considered a dual rail humbucker built for the Telecaster guitar neck position? They mount right in! A pup is a pup, and there are some high impedance (10K - 16K) screamers out there.
View attachment 3540110
(I'm aware that impedance is a pretty much meaningless spec, but many people equate high impedance with high output)

I have one cheapo Chinese (8 €) just now on my Telecaster Bass. 9,5 kΩ, 4,4 H. Changed the ceramic magnet to alnico. It has now quite low magnet strength, on to the rails about 259 Gs. Sounds quite powerful and good. Maybe I'll try to modify the rails.

 

[James Cassidy]

I'm currently struggling to bond with my CS 51 pbass. I had a 2013 custom shop 51 pbass that came stock with fender 9050 flats and the stacked Seymour Duncan humbucker. It was insane, sold it and regretted it.

So I pulled the trigger on a 2018 CS 51 pbass. Love it but it just sounds so harsh, yeah I can roll back the tone but I loose a tone of volume. So I though I'd grab the Duncan stacked pickup since this one is wired the same with the 0.1 fender cap and the 15k resistor.

Installed the pickup and hey it's quiet and sounds pretty much identical to the stock 55 single coil just less hum. Still harsh.

I've had this for almost a year now and swapped strings from Ti flats, fender flats, la bella flats, back and forth. Finally settled for the la Bella's just because these are the least harsh on this bass.

So what are you guys setting the pickup height at? Low? I want to love this thing but I'm ready to pass it on and grab a 63 vintage reissue pbass.

Hey bro!

So when you say you were struggling with your CS 51 P-Bass, and it being harsh, did you find that even like the E, and A string would almost sound like they were distorting on some hits? Also let me sort of explain. So on my Fender 51 RI, and a handful of other basses Ive played, I've noticed this thing aside from just the overall Tone, and EQ character, where on some of them it will actually sound kind of like certain hits are distorting, and almost like crapping out, and whenever I try to explain it to people, they look at me like I'm an idiot lol. I even noticed it on a new USA P-Bass I was playing in the store one day, through an amp, and then tried 2 other ones that were either exact models, or very close, and only the one did it. It's like say your just picking or plucking the E or A by itself, but consistently, it's like random hits will sound distorted, even when playing really fairly light, but on basses that don't display that, I can wail on it, and it's consistent, clear, and articulate, know what I mean? I even notice on recorded waveforms in the DAW, that when it's a distorted hit, theirs a spike in the waveform, almost like it's clipping, but it's more of a farty, distorted sound. We're you getting that with your CS 51 at all, and also does anyone else out there kinda know what I mean? Like I've literally tried every pickup height, and the Fralin Splits, and both sets of pickups do it. I like my Fralins better, but it didn't resolve that weird random distorted thing. I've had people say, that's the sound of a P-Bass, but I've played lots of P-Basses, and other basses like my Sting Ray for instance that when your playing, it's a consistent clear note coming through, not every 3rd-5th hit sounding like it's pooping the bed lol. And it's not fret buzz I'm talking either hah. I've been on a mission to figure this out, and thought maybe it was my pickup, but so far I'm 2/2 pickups that do it on this bass.

Cheers.

 

[jonday30]

Hey bro!

So when you say you were struggling with your CS 51 P-Bass, and it being harsh, did you find that even like the E, and A string would almost sound like they were distorting on some hits? Also let me sort of explain. So on my Fender 51 RI, and a handful of other basses Ive played, I've noticed this thing aside from just the overall Tone, and EQ character, where on some of them it will actually sound kind of like certain hits are distorting, and almost like crapping out, and whenever I try to explain it to people, they look at me like I'm an idiot lol. I even noticed it on a new USA P-Bass I was playing in the store one day, through an amp, and then tried 2 other ones that were either exact models, or very close, and only the one did it. It's like say your just picking or plucking the E or A by itself, but consistently, it's like random hits will sound distorted, even when playing really fairly light, but on basses that don't display that, I can wail on it, and it's consistent, clear, and articulate, know what I mean? I even notice on recorded waveforms in the DAW, that when it's a distorted hit, theirs a spike in the waveform, almost like it's clipping, but it's more of a farty, distorted sound. We're you getting that with your CS 51 at all, and also does anyone else out there kinda know what I mean? Like I've literally tried every pickup height, and the Fralin Splits, and both sets of pickups do it. I like my Fralins better, but it didn't resolve that weird random distorted thing. I've had people say, that's the sound of a P-Bass, but I've played lots of P-Basses, and other basses like my Sting Ray for instance that when your playing, it's a consistent clear note coming through, not every 3rd-5th hit sounding like it's pooping the bed lol. And it's not fret buzz I'm talking either hah. I've been on a mission to figure this out, and thought maybe it was my pickup, but so far I'm 2/2 pickups that do it on this bass.

Cheers.

Hey it's been awhile since I've been around here. Can't really help as I ended selling the bass.

However I ended up buying a ampeg svt AV and the fridge. Gotta say I'm on a missing to find that 51 or 55 pbass again.

I think my previous amp might have been the issue. Every bass I've tried in the amp so far has been glorious.

I also have a parts bass with dead notes or notes that would sizzle or ring out with ghost notes kinda thing. It was a new Musikraft neck. A fret level and set up solved that issue. Now I can play up and down the neck and it's flawless.

 

[mikeswals]

Hey it's been awhile since I've been around here. Can't really help as I ended selling the bass.

However I ended up buying a ampeg svt AV and the fridge. Gotta say I'm on a missing to find that 51 or 55 pbass again.

I think my previous amp might have been the issue. Every bass I've tried in the amp so far has been glorious.

I also have a parts bass with dead notes or notes that would sizzle or ring out with ghost notes kinda thing. It was a new Musikraft neck. A fret level and set up solved that issue. Now I can play up and down the neck and it's flawless.

That extra resistor in the CS55 drove me nuts the way the volume goes down when you roll down the tone knob...hated that feature! I simply removed the resistor and moved the pickup lead wire to the volume pot like any 60s thru current P is wired. Problem solved.

 

[Antreoo]

Hi everybody! I found something that might be interesting for some of you

Looking around for some humcancelling single coil P pickups I found this Italian brand that offers various options (classic p51 single coil, split 51, stacked, with rails etc...).
Has anybody heard or tried them?

Handcrafted Telecaster bass/P51 style pickups by Iuso Pickups

Discover our handcrafted single coil or hum-canceling pickups for Telecaster/P51 style basses, made in Italy by Iuso Pickups.

www.iusopickups.com

They are not super expensive and sound promising, and might be especially interesting for Europeans

I think I'll check the split version since I like it more than the stacked from the samples, what do you guys think?





I have no affiliation with the brand, just to be clear!

 

[bassdude51]

I have 2 Fender MIJ SCPB basses.

There is nothing wrong with the MIJ SCPB pickups. Better said, there is everything right with the MIJ SCPB pickups. Switching them out for another vintage type pickup is going to bring about zero difference in sound.

Yes, they are single coils, like the originals and so there is some hum that can be heard depending on how bright one EQs. When rolling off a bit of the high end with the tone control, no hum can be heard.

The Fralin SCPB humbucker is fantastic. They sound like an original single coil but they have no hum.

I've not tried any of the other SCPB humbuckers but buyer beware with the S. Duncan "Stinger". About a 1/16th to an 1/8 inch will have to be removed in the pickup cavity for the Duncan. It is higher than the standard single coil pickup and needs to go down deeper in the cavity.

 

[2saddleslab]

I've not tried any of the other SCPB humbuckers but buyer beware with the S. Duncan "Stinger". About a 1/16th to an 1/8 inch will have to be removed in the pickup cavity for the Duncan. It is higher than the standard single coil pickup and needs to go down deeper in the cavity.

While they are taller I have a Stinger Stack [which is my favorite] in my '51, had them on my Warmoth builds, and didn't have to remove any material in the cavity. Not sure about other makes/ models.

 

[Antreoo]

There is nothing wrong with the MIJ SCPB pickups. Better said, there is everything right with the MIJ SCPB pickups. Switching them out for another vintage type pickup is going to bring about zero difference in sound.

Yes, they are single coils, like the originals and so there is some hum that can be heard depending on how bright one EQs. When rolling off a bit of the high end with the tone control, no hum can be heard.

I totally agree, they sound fantastic and the hum is not that bad (ofc it all depends on the situation/gear etc.).

I will not swap my CIJ 51 pickup, it is just perfect!

The hum cancelling version will go on a jazz bass project (backup bass).
I'll give an update on the Iuso pickups if I end up buying them.

 

[shadven]

Lollar and Fralin are the best. I do believe that whatever you install they should look vintage.

 

[shadven]

Oh ya? Yea the Fralin Split is the one I've been eyeing up the most. Good to know you liked it! How do you find the treble/high end of the Pickup? Do you find it more on the flat side or more on the hyped side? What pickup were you using before and what bass?

The Fralin split coil is a great pickup. I've installed it in a 1955 P-bass. And it is a gigging / recording machine. I've used it on a lot of sessions.