'51 Fender P-Bass replacement Pickup with less noise and great tone?

[echo unit]

I just bought the Fender Japanese made '51 P-Bass. It's the one with one single coil pickup and it's buttercotch blonde on ash with the black pickguard.

It's an awesome instrument with a lot of bottom end but the pickup is very noisy.

I am looking for the best replacement Pickup that has the same amount of output and gives a classic vintage style sound without all the noise. I don't want one of these hyped up modern sounding ceramic pickups or the ones that boost the output so much that you get distortion at the amplifier.

If you think the stock Fender single coil pickup is the best sounding one please let me know so that I don't go chasing somehting that isn't there.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

[mybusinessmy]

Dimarzio has a couple of noiseless models, I believe.
I have never heard a noiseless pickup that didn't compromise the sound somewhat.

If you get the bass adequately shielded, it should make a nice difference.

[mainsale]

SD and Lollar make replacement pickups for this bass but single coil pickups can be noisey, from any manufacturer. Shielding the bass is probably your best bet. Also, I have one of these too and I just stuck a set of Wilkinson compensated brass saddles on it. It was a very nice upgrade for small money

[The Golden Boy]

I love that pickup.

I use one of the SD Basslines SCPB pickups in my EB-0. It's unfair to give a comparison to whatever else I'm using as it's in a short scale, mahogany bodied, set neck instrument...

[echo unit]

Could someone tell me how to properly SHEILD this 51' P-Bass re-issue or point me to a place that will give me all the info I need to know in order to do this?

Also, do flatwounds sound better on this bass? Do they sustain at all or are they pretty dead sounding?

What string manufacturer makes the best Flatwound strings for the money?

Where do you buy those compensated bridge saddles?

Thanks guys!

[tonedaddy]

Originally Posted by echo unit

Could someone tell me how to properly SHEILD this 51' P-Bass re-issue or point me to a place that will give me all the info I need to know in order to do this?

A Google search on:
shielding guitar

will get you lots of hits.
Here's a few of them:

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guita....shielding.txt
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guita....grounding.txt

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-0029.html
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-3789.html

[mybusinessmy]

Originally Posted by echo unit

Also, do flatwounds sound better on this bass? Do they sustain at all or are they pretty dead sounding?

What string manufacturer makes the best Flatwound strings for the money?

The last time I used flatwounds, they sounded very dark, probably suitable for jazz or mellow stuff. I am not a fan of them, they are not versatile (at least to my ears). D'addario makes a half round which is a cross between the two, and is a bit brighter.

[echo unit]

Any other replacemtns that will retain the tone but cancel the noise?

[woof*]

these are great basses!
any type of pickup designed to eliminate noise is going to be a tradeoff for tone. just like a strat and tele, single coil on that bass is gonna make a little noise. the lollar is a killer upgrade but it will still make noise. get some thin copper sheeting made for this... cover the back of the pickguard with it. solder some braided wire(like fender cloth PU wire stripped of it's insulation) to the copper near the control plate and run the wire under the control plate..into the cavity and solder it to one of the pots. this should take out 80% of your problem. if it doesnt, play with your EQ on your amp and try to dial out more of it. really.. this should take care of any unacceptable noise. beyond this your never going to be happy with single coils. i have a very early version of this bass (90..the blonde/non yellow one) with the above mods and run it thru an eden 550 with two cabs. the noise is minimal and never an issue playing with anyone.
hope this helps
rand

[echo unit]

So what's the best 51 P-bass reissue replacement single coil pickup right now?

Is the Lollar still the best or has somehting better come along?

[echo unit]

is the Lollar version of this pickup any better than the stock Fender one?

Is the Lollar still the best passive replacement version of this single coil '51 P-bass pickup?

thanks for any further info or suggestions gus and gals!