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The Pickup Place / Re: NGD - Ibanez JS1000
« on: September 16, 2025, 10:03:00 AM »Good thing you have a Breed Neck lying in a drawer.
BNIB + PAF Pro FTW!
I didn't see where he said that but I second that recommendation.
Cheers Stephan
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I didn't see where he said that but I second that recommendation.
Cheers Stephan
2
The Pickup Place / Re: NGD - Ibanez JS1000
« on: September 15, 2025, 04:56:29 AM »
There is a substantial difference in a neck pickup in a 22 fret guitar vs a 24 fret guitar but not so much in the output. The tone will be warmer in the 22 fret guitar - all else being equal - due to the fact that the pickup is positioned further away from the bridge and picking up a different spot of the vibrating string. That tonal shift to more warmth can make the bridge pickup brighter in contrast than it would be on the same guitar if it had 24 frets.
Now - FRED and PAF Pro are about the same output. This in itself should not be a problem as in the 50s and 60s there were no calibrated sets or humbucking pickups wound specifically for bridge or neck. Nevertheless, as you said that the neck pickup is as low as it will go you might benefit from a stronger bridge pickup. Before jumping at a pickup change I would check if the wiring is correct and measure the bridge pickup's DC resistance with a multimeter to see whether it is close to the specified resistance.
I have experience with all of the pickups you listed except for the Satchur8. If the FRED is far too thin for you I would discard the Mo' Joe and the Norton as the Mo' Joe is not more powerful and the Norton can be quite bright (depending on the guitar), so can be the Super Distortion. The Tone Zone was standard on many Ibanez guitars so that would be worth considering, or the Air Zone if you don't want/need a high output pickup.
BTW I have the FRED in one HSS strat but I use a 250k volume pot with it, and it does not sound thin at all. Assuming that your volume control is a 500k audio, you could wire a 470k resistor from the switch to which the bridge pickup is connected to ground. Thus the neck pickup sees a 500k load, which is optimal for the neck humbucker, whereas the bridge pickup sees a load of approx. 235k, which will make it warmer. The "both position" will also have the lower load but usually it is fine. That would be the cheapest option to try.
Cheers Stephan
Now - FRED and PAF Pro are about the same output. This in itself should not be a problem as in the 50s and 60s there were no calibrated sets or humbucking pickups wound specifically for bridge or neck. Nevertheless, as you said that the neck pickup is as low as it will go you might benefit from a stronger bridge pickup. Before jumping at a pickup change I would check if the wiring is correct and measure the bridge pickup's DC resistance with a multimeter to see whether it is close to the specified resistance.
I have experience with all of the pickups you listed except for the Satchur8. If the FRED is far too thin for you I would discard the Mo' Joe and the Norton as the Mo' Joe is not more powerful and the Norton can be quite bright (depending on the guitar), so can be the Super Distortion. The Tone Zone was standard on many Ibanez guitars so that would be worth considering, or the Air Zone if you don't want/need a high output pickup.
BTW I have the FRED in one HSS strat but I use a 250k volume pot with it, and it does not sound thin at all. Assuming that your volume control is a 500k audio, you could wire a 470k resistor from the switch to which the bridge pickup is connected to ground. Thus the neck pickup sees a 500k load, which is optimal for the neck humbucker, whereas the bridge pickup sees a load of approx. 235k, which will make it warmer. The "both position" will also have the lower load but usually it is fine. That would be the cheapest option to try.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul
« on: August 28, 2025, 05:43:57 AM »
You cannot compare the DC resistance of the Air Norton to the 36th for output because the coils are wound with a different wire. 36th uses 42 AWG, and one of the AN coils uses 43 AWG which is thinner and has a higher DC resistance. The mV value is a better indicator.
Cheers Stephan
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Pasul
« on: August 20, 2025, 03:28:57 AM »I have a repair tech that I've been going to for quite a while, he was the person that showed me what was going on when I complained about the fret buzz. There is a hump around the 15th fret, where the neck joins the body. My tech says he'd have to pull the frets and plane down the fret board to get rid of it. Even with the action fairly high - which I don't mind - it still frets out a smidge on the wound strings. Still playable but I don't think I'd have the work done. I bought it for $300 about 10 years ago. ( late 90's RG550)
Those are good inexpensive guitars. I agree with your tech but I appreciate if you don't want to spend as much or more for the repair than what you paid for the guitar itself.
Oh and wouldn't you know it, I have a Breed set in my parts drawer as well.
Well then - why not try the Breed neck in the bridge of your guitar first and see (i) whether you like it and (ii) if not, what you want more/less from the pickup.
Good luck
Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Pasul
« on: August 19, 2025, 04:44:33 AM »That guitar is still playable, but even with nut shims and a lot of truss rod and bridge adjustments it buzzes on the higher frets and barely doesn't at the lower frets.
Unrelated to the pickup question but that sounds like the neck has a hump or a rise and needs fretwork - best to have the guitar looked at by a qualified repairperson.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Pasul
« on: August 19, 2025, 04:42:07 AM »Since the AT-1 was mentioned I think it’s worth noting that The Breed set is back on the website. Personally, I would opt for the more balanced Breed Neck (DP165) in the bridge over the AT-1.
+1
Mo' Joe, Breed neck and FRED are all about the same output level.
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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Pasul
« on: August 18, 2025, 07:18:38 AM »
1. Neck pickup
IMHO, Bluesbucker would be a good choice for the neck spot. To me it sounds very PAF-ish, not P90-like at all. I had it in the neck spot of different guitars, and it never was too bright. Furthermore it sounds great split with very little volume drop if that appeals to you. I had/have it paired with the following pickups: Transition bridge, Dominion bridge, Mo' Joe and Air Norton, and it balanced fine in all cases without using extreme height settings.
It is true that the Air Norton is a bit lean in the bass, which is fine with me depending on the guitar.
A FRED in the neck would definitely overpower the Air Norton in the bridge, and so would a PAF Pro.
The HFH is very bright, much brighter than the Bluesbucker, but at the same time it has a lot of low end - too much for my taste. It also has more output than the DC resistance value would make you believe so it may overpower the Air Norton nevertheless, and on top be mismatched in the low end.
2. Bridge pickup
If you want to keep the 36th neck and replace the bridge pickup for something a bit stronger, Mo' Joe is a good candidate for a hot PAF type tone, even though it is probably not much hotter than the Air Norton. Norton would be the next step up. More power and more low end compared to the Air Norton without going to the extremes. Air Zone or AT-1 would even be hotter but with much more midrange. Transition bridge or Super Distortion would still be hotter.
Cheers Stephan
IMHO, Bluesbucker would be a good choice for the neck spot. To me it sounds very PAF-ish, not P90-like at all. I had it in the neck spot of different guitars, and it never was too bright. Furthermore it sounds great split with very little volume drop if that appeals to you. I had/have it paired with the following pickups: Transition bridge, Dominion bridge, Mo' Joe and Air Norton, and it balanced fine in all cases without using extreme height settings.
It is true that the Air Norton is a bit lean in the bass, which is fine with me depending on the guitar.
A FRED in the neck would definitely overpower the Air Norton in the bridge, and so would a PAF Pro.
The HFH is very bright, much brighter than the Bluesbucker, but at the same time it has a lot of low end - too much for my taste. It also has more output than the DC resistance value would make you believe so it may overpower the Air Norton nevertheless, and on top be mismatched in the low end.
2. Bridge pickup
If you want to keep the 36th neck and replace the bridge pickup for something a bit stronger, Mo' Joe is a good candidate for a hot PAF type tone, even though it is probably not much hotter than the Air Norton. Norton would be the next step up. More power and more low end compared to the Air Norton without going to the extremes. Air Zone or AT-1 would even be hotter but with much more midrange. Transition bridge or Super Distortion would still be hotter.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: HSS with Dimarzio Bridge HB
« on: August 11, 2025, 09:30:19 AM »
My ears tell me that with the bridge side coil (or outer coil - viewed in relation to the other pickups) gives a bit more air compared to the neck side coil (or inner coil). However, the standard magnetic orientation is such that the neck side coil and the middle single coil are opposite magnetic polarity and can therefore be combined in a humcancelling fashion. If you want to use the bridge side coil and want it humcancelling there are the following options:
1) Reverse the bridge humbucker by 180 degrees so that the neckside coil is now on the bridge side. Then wire it up as usual. I did this with various DiMarzio models, even some with Dual Resonance (such as FRED and Mo' Joe just to name a few).
2) Flip the magnet in the humbucker. That also flips the phase so you need to reverse input and output of the pickup, and potentially also reverse the wires of the individual coils. To write this as text sounds more complicated than it actually is.
3) Use a single coil with a different magnetic polarity, reverse the input and output wires for the humbucker.
Good luck,
Stephan
1) Reverse the bridge humbucker by 180 degrees so that the neckside coil is now on the bridge side. Then wire it up as usual. I did this with various DiMarzio models, even some with Dual Resonance (such as FRED and Mo' Joe just to name a few).
2) Flip the magnet in the humbucker. That also flips the phase so you need to reverse input and output of the pickup, and potentially also reverse the wires of the individual coils. To write this as text sounds more complicated than it actually is.
3) Use a single coil with a different magnetic polarity, reverse the input and output wires for the humbucker.
Good luck,
Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
« on: August 11, 2025, 09:21:33 AM »
Best to E-Mail the DiMarzio Tech Support with pictures. They are usually quite quick to reply.
Good luck,
Stephan
Good luck,
Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: 3 New Pickups from Dimarzio: Super PAF, Muscle T's
« on: July 03, 2025, 03:28:07 AM »The tele pickups are not humcancelling so they are a non-starter for me. I wished they came up with a good humcancelling tele neck pickup.
What qualities are you looking for?
A tele neck pickup that can step up to the bridge pickup in output and tonal quality. I find most tele neck pickups dull, weak or both. In fact I never quite understood why Fender did not switch to a strat pickup for the neck position after putting the stratocaster in production but different strokes for different folks I guess.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: 3 New Pickups from Dimarzio: Super PAF, Muscle T's
« on: July 02, 2025, 03:15:56 AM »
Super PAF is a nice idea if you want the Super D with a PAF look.
The tele pickups are not humcancelling so they are a non-starter for me. I wished they came up with a good humcancelling tele neck pickup.
Cheers Stephan
The tele pickups are not humcancelling so they are a non-starter for me. I wished they came up with a good humcancelling tele neck pickup.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: Squier Mustang Classic Vibe 60s – Pickup Advice Needed
« on: June 04, 2025, 03:15:11 AM »
This is a great way to personalize the instrument - congrats!
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The Pickup Place / Re: Squier Mustang Classic Vibe 60s – Pickup Advice Needed
« on: May 21, 2025, 08:28:56 AM »in that case that would be the equivalent to 115k/7.8n.The math is more complicated than that.
If the filters are in series, yes. My math assumed (probably incorrectly) that they were in parallel.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: Squier Mustang Classic Vibe 60s – Pickup Advice Needed
« on: May 20, 2025, 03:59:42 AM »
In a strat I’ll use a 5-way super switch and add up to two capacitor/resistor pairs to position 1 in addition to a tone control. The last vintage output strat I did has a Lace Sensor Hot Gold Neck in the bridge with 6.8n/270k, 1n/200k,
Are you saying that you put both combinations from hot to ground? in that case that would be the equivalent to 115k/7.8n.
and 33n on a 250k tone control with a 47k series resistor, also dedicated to position 1.
Are you saying that the 47k series resistor is between the switch #1 connection and the volume control, or is it between the tone cap and ground? In the first scenario it would be permanently in the signal way once the switch is set to #1 and thus reduce highs. In the second scenario it would limit the operation of the tone control so I guess you described the first scenario.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: Which Pickup Features Which Technique
« on: April 21, 2025, 08:52:23 AM »
Done - thanks!