[SuperFuzz]

Hi. I'm looking to replace the Area T neck pickup in my Tele with a DiMarzio noiseless Strat pickup. It has the Area Hot T bridge. I read elsewhere on this forum that people were happy with the VV '54 Pro neck in combination with the Area Hot T bridge, but when going over the specs and some other forum topics I suspect that the Area '61 might be an even better match as it's supposedly slightly brighter and less compressed.

What do you guys think would be a better match? Has anyone compared the VV '54 Pro with the Area '61 in the neck position? Thanks!

[HarlowTheFish]

The Area's a little brighter and has a bit more of that open strummy vibe, whereas the VV 54 is a little less trebly (I wouldn't say dark, just kinda smokey up top). Other than that, they're not super different pickups, just depends what flavor you want. Either one would be a good pair.

[darkbluemurder]

Had both in the bridge position of two different strats, and they sound very similar. The main difference is the attack, which is stronger on the 61, so for the bridge position I preferred the VV54.

Cheers Stephan

[SuperFuzz]

Thanks guys, I'm going for the '61. I'd probably be happy with either though.

I guess we're living in a good time since we can finetune our sounds with all these different pickups, but sometimes it can be difficult to choose with all these options that are so similar.

Also, I need to mention that I don't dislike the Area T neck. It's a great pickup, but the match with the Hot T bridge could be improved.

[SuperFuzz]

I did it! See attachments. I do prefer the look of the original neck pickup, but the new one is not ugly at all. I needed to enlarge the pickup cavity to be able to fit the Area 61. I did that by hand with some sandpaper and small files. For me it's an improvement. I prefer the sound of the Area 61 by itself to the Area T neck. The balance between the two pickups is also much improved. I still need to tweak the pickup heights to find the sweet spots, but I know already know that this was a good decision. I also changed the control plate so the volume knob is further away from the switch, making it easier to operate.

[darkbluemurder]

Very cool, congratulations! Now enjoy.

Cheers Stephan