Description
The PBF-51 is Bartolini’s take on the humbucker tone that started it all — that woody, articulate vintage growl players have been chasing for decades. It’s the bridge half of a design collaboration between Bill Bartolini and Ed Reynolds, a Chicago-area guitar builder and repairman whose sharp ear for detail carried through into these pickups.
Wound to just over 8K-ohm, the PBF-51 leans into the classic bridge-position balance: enough bite to cut through a mix without losing the low-end definition that separates real vintage tone from muddy imitations. Pair it with the PBF-49 in the neck for Bartolini’s full Vintage Pair combo, tuned specifically to recreate the earlier-era humbucker voicing players associate with late-’50s and ’60s gear — tight lows, sweet top end, and a midrange that stays musical no matter how hard you dig in.
Every PBF pickup is epoxy-cast to keep unwanted feedback and microphonics out of the equation, so you get the vintage character without the vintage headaches. This particular unit comes with a gold-plated cover, giving it a clean, upscale look that suits everything from a well-worn ’79 Les Paul to a semi-hollow jazz box.
- Bridge humbucker, vintage-style winding (~8K-ohm)
- Designed by Bill Bartolini with Ed Reynolds
- Epoxy-cast construction for reduced feedback and microphonics
- Gold-plated cover
- Pairs with PBF-49 neck for Bartolini’s Vintage Pair voicing
Also available in chrome, nickel, and uncovered ABS (black or white) if gold isn’t your style.
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