replacement neck single coil

[yabba]

so I finally got around to replacing the hideous purple tone zone in this guitar

 

 

with a duncan custom

 

and I'm wondering about options for replacements for the neck single coil. I'd like a true single coil (it's got a blade-style humbucking dealie in there now) that will work well with the duncan custom; mostly for clean to mid-gain sorts of things, probably with the most time spent on slightly-breaking-up-mostly-clean. I play single channel amps, and like to roll back the guitar volume to clean it up.

 

Do I need to worry about the neck pickup being slanted in this guitar?

[cratz2]

Wow... you rarely see Robin lovin' here in HC. One of the guys that got me into electric guitars had 4 or 5 Robins when we lived in the Houston area. GREAT guitars.

Why would you worry about it being slanted? It's just to get more bottom end out of the bass strings while keeping good articulation on the higher strings.

I'd personally consider something from BG pickups. I'll be honest and say I've never heard them in person or played them, but they get rave reviews and the Vintage 60s seem to be EXACTLY what I'm all about. You also might be able to get a good deal on a used Fender pickup on the bay. I got a neck position 57/62 for like $16 shipped. I love it. I'd also consider a CS69 from Fender.

[yabba]

Wow... you rarely see Robin lovin' here in HC. One of the guys that got me into electric guitars had 4 or 5 Robins when we lived in the Houston area. GREAT guitars. Why would you worry about it being slanted? It's just to get more bottom end out of the bass strings while keeping good articulation on the higher strings. I'd personally consider something from BG pickups. I'll be honest and say I've never heard them in person or played them, but they get rave reviews and the Vintage 60s seem to be EXACTLY what I'm all about. You also might be able to get a good deal on a used Fender pickup on the bay. I got a neck position 57/62 for like $16 shipped. I love it. I'd also consider a CS69 from Fender.

yeah, this guitar is a monster, I haven't really played anything else since I got it

re: the slanting thing, I was thinking of pole piece alignment with the strings.

Is this something that I don't really have to worry about it making a significant difference? (like f-spaced vs non f-spaced pickups - I've never really noticed much of a difference in sound, even if the pole pieces weren't perfectly lined up with the strings)

thanks for the recommendations! I'll keep those in mind and keep my eyes out for them

[cratz2]

I don't think you'd have to worry about a slanted neck pickup quite as much as a slanted bridge pickup and there are a couple strats and teles around with slanted bridge pickups.



I think anything intended for a strat would be fine. A lot of Asian guitars have narrower spacing on the poles and I'd probably avoid those, but then I assuming you're looking for something a bit more high end that a used ceramic pickup out of a Chinese Squier.

What kind of music do you mostly center around? I know we all want the ultimate in versatility, but are you talking George Lynch 80s cleans? Surfy cleans? Or edgy blues/Gilmour cleans?

[yabba]

What kind of music do you mostly center around? I know we all want the ultimate in versatility, but are you talking George Lynch 80s cleans? Surfy cleans? Or edgy blues/Gilmour cleans?

 

I definetely lean towards more edgy bluesy cleans/semi-cleans. maybe hendrix's neck pickup sound would be a good example.

[thecornman]

Dimarzio Area 58 is a great noiseless single coil.