Want to get a new neck pickup. Don't know where to start...

[CRay]

I play a blue Yamaha Pacifica 521 (pretty much a fake strat, not bad though). Couple of months ago I upgraded the stock bridge pickup to Seymour Duncan Invaders. Now looking to upgrade the neck pickup. Any recommendations? I play a little bit of everything. Mostly rock.

[thrashmetl]

Check out Rumpelstiltskin Pickups, Aaron has the best customer service is the business hands down and winds amazing pickups at a great price. I would start there. Needless to say, I'm a very happy customer and will definitely be ordering more stuff from him in the future, he makes my favorite Tele neck pickup on the planet. Just tell him what you're looking for and he'll wind it for you.

http://www.rumpelstiltskinpickups.com/Strat_Pickups.html

[Wayne Alexander]

What strings do you use, what amp(s)? Do you tend to play dirty or clean or semidirty? At what volume level (bedroom, small gigs, big gigs). What neck pickup is in it now? Is your guitar a single/single/humbucker model so you're looking for a Strat-format neck pickup? What do you like and not like about what you've got in it now? What do you want it to sound like? Do you need it to be noiseless or are you looking for a single coil?

[CRay]

What strings do you use, what amp(s)? Do you tend to play dirty or clean or semidirty? At what volume level (bedroom, small gigs, big gigs). What neck pickup is in it now? Is your guitar a single/single/humbucker model so you're looking for a Strat-format neck pickup? What do you like and not like about what you've got in it now? What do you want it to sound like? Do you need it to be noiseless or are you looking for a single coil?
Normally I use these: http://store.daddario.com/category/339125/EXL117_Medium_Top__Extra_Heavy_Bottom_11_-_56. I like to play semi-dirty? I love distortion, but I don't want the sound muddied. The neck pickup is the stock yamaha pickup it came with. The pickups are H-S-H with a 5-way switch. I like how the humbucker in it now sounds more smooth, but I want better quality and volume. It just sounds weak compared to the seymour duncan I have in bridge.

[wilblee]

Since you play a wide range of music, I'd get something that goes where the invader won't. My personal SD picks would be, in descending order, a Seth Lover, a Pearly Gates, a '59 or a Jazz.

[memiller]

Second on the Jazz.

[speedyone]

I concur with a Pearly Gates as well.

They sound fantastic both on clean and distortion.

[shan564]

I say go custom. Contact one of the many great boutique builders around here (I like Smits pickups) and tell them what you have in mind, and they'll wind you something perfectly suited to your tastes at about the same price as you'd pay for a Seymour Duncan.

Or stick a Lace Sensor in there... not a humbucker, but hum-to-single adapters are pretty cheap on eBay (or just a new pickguard), and I think that'd probably do what you have in mind.