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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat
« Last post by LPBII on April 28, 2026, 11:58:45 AM »I plan on trying the Chopper in an upcoming HS build, mainly because I have one in the parts drawer.
Recent Posts
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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review
« Last post by nienturi on April 25, 2026, 03:39:23 AM »It took me a while to read your review. Many thanks for posting such a detailed review with specs and pics included, very much appreciated.
Cheers Stephan
My pleasure buddy
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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review
« Last post by nienturi on April 25, 2026, 03:37:39 AM »I just read your review, and coincidentally I read it the day after I 1/2 aired my vintage Tone Zone. Your finding that the factory AZ still contains the spacer and so is a 1/2 aired TZ came as a surprize. Nonetheless, your detailed comparision discription is spot on to what I am observing. You nailed it.
I had to change the pickup height settings and the pole piece adjustments slightly to get back to the sound I liked so much in this guitar all these years. This would seem to confirm your thoughts about resonate peak differences.
The reason I decided to try the 1/2 air mod was because of the lower mids congestion. With this guitar I play mostly single note solo stuff and I always loved how the TZ made singles notes played up higher on the neck not sound thin, but still have a PAF vibe. But the lower mid congestion always made chord work a little less than ideal. I can run it in parallel and it clears up, but then series works better for an overdriven solo tone. It's kind of PITA to switch back and forth. The difference between the stock TZ and the 1/2 aired TZ is subtle, so I don't think I will need to go to the hasle of reversing the mod. It's a win win.
Btw, I did try the AT1 before trying the 1/2 air mod on the TZ. Nope. Hated it. I don't want to disparage the AT1, it's a good pickup, but it has no PAF vibe at all. And its so dry. I will take a TZ or an AZ, for fat plus PAF type tone, thank you. I have kind settled into the PAF tone area for all my humbucker equiped guitars, and I love the 36th B, but for this rather bright guitar I need a little more.
Thanks for the great feedback! I’m glad my comparison matched your experience with the 1/2 air mod. It’s interesting how that one small spacer change clarifies those lower mids while keeping the fat PAF vibe we love in the Tone Zone.
AT-1 is the brother of JB so, yeah, it could be heard a bit of dry, i can understand
Glad the mod worked out for you, and thanks for reading!
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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review
« Last post by LPBII on April 23, 2026, 11:45:27 PM »I just read your review, and coincidentally I read it the day after I 1/2 aired my vintage Tone Zone. Your finding that the factory AZ still contains the spacer and so is a 1/2 aired TZ came as a surprize. Nonetheless, your detailed comparision discription is spot on to what I am observing. You nailed it.
I had to change the pickup height settings and the pole piece adjustments slightly to get back to the sound I liked so much in this guitar all these years. This would seem to confirm your thoughts about resonate peak differences.
The reason I decided to try the 1/2 air mod was because of the lower mids congestion. With this guitar I play mostly single note solo stuff and I always loved how the TZ made singles notes played up higher on the neck not sound thin, but still have a PAF vibe. But the lower mid congestion always made chord work a little less than ideal. I can run it in parallel and it clears up, but then series works better for an overdriven solo tone. It's kind of PITA to switch back and forth. The difference between the stock TZ and the 1/2 aired TZ is subtle, so I don't think I will need to go to the hasle of reversing the mod. It's a win win.
Btw, I did try the AT1 before trying the 1/2 air mod on the TZ. Nope. Hated it. I don't want to disparage the AT1, it's a good pickup, but it has no PAF vibe at all. And its so dry. I will take a TZ or an AZ, for fat plus PAF type tone, thank you. I have kind settled into the PAF tone area for all my humbucker equiped guitars, and I love the 36th B, but for this rather bright guitar I need a little more.
I had to change the pickup height settings and the pole piece adjustments slightly to get back to the sound I liked so much in this guitar all these years. This would seem to confirm your thoughts about resonate peak differences.
The reason I decided to try the 1/2 air mod was because of the lower mids congestion. With this guitar I play mostly single note solo stuff and I always loved how the TZ made singles notes played up higher on the neck not sound thin, but still have a PAF vibe. But the lower mid congestion always made chord work a little less than ideal. I can run it in parallel and it clears up, but then series works better for an overdriven solo tone. It's kind of PITA to switch back and forth. The difference between the stock TZ and the 1/2 aired TZ is subtle, so I don't think I will need to go to the hasle of reversing the mod. It's a win win.
Btw, I did try the AT1 before trying the 1/2 air mod on the TZ. Nope. Hated it. I don't want to disparage the AT1, it's a good pickup, but it has no PAF vibe at all. And its so dry. I will take a TZ or an AZ, for fat plus PAF type tone, thank you. I have kind settled into the PAF tone area for all my humbucker equiped guitars, and I love the 36th B, but for this rather bright guitar I need a little more.
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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review
« Last post by darkbluemurder on April 22, 2026, 05:18:30 AM »It took me a while to read your review. Many thanks for posting such a detailed review with specs and pics included, very much appreciated.
Cheers Stephan
Cheers Stephan
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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The Bluesbucker
« Last post by mmmguitar on April 14, 2026, 02:01:59 AM »Bumping to report that I've spent some time with a modified neck position Bluesbucker which has had its ceramic screw coil magnets replaced with AlNiCo Vs. As one would expect, the magnet swap mellows the pickup's defining, aggressive character. Though its unbalanced coil design prevents it from having the throaty midrange of a proper PAF-style pickup, the appeal of its coil split and performance in 24 fret guitars remains.
I'll eventually audition the mod in a bridge position Bluesbucker, and report those findings.
I'll eventually audition the mod in a bridge position Bluesbucker, and report those findings.
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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review
« Last post by nienturi on April 13, 2026, 09:22:40 AM »The PAF Joe neck pairs great with the Air Zone as well. The note bloom and sustain is one thing I love about the Air Zone. The old Atomic Humbuckers that Fender put in the HSS Highway One Strats were similar to the Air Zone, but with a bit more presence. I've always thought those two were very well balanced pickups. The Air Zone fattens up a thinner sounding guitar very well.
Fender Atomics have that kindo tone? Gosh, i had a chance to try them and i refused
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The Pickup Place / Re: Telecaster Tone in a Humbucker
« Last post by gregr on April 11, 2026, 01:52:21 PM »The Lollar Novel T completely slipped my mind before. It isn’t cheap but it’s a better solution than the others I mentioned previously.
Edit:
It looks like there are other manufacturers which I’ve never heard of that make the same thing.
https://magnetodesignlab.com/store/tsc-h
https://revelcustompickups.com/revel-guitar-pickups/revel-telecaster-pickups/the-six-t/
https://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-other-single-coil-pickups/novel-t
Edit:
It looks like there are other manufacturers which I’ve never heard of that make the same thing.
https://magnetodesignlab.com/store/tsc-h
https://revelcustompickups.com/revel-guitar-pickups/revel-telecaster-pickups/the-six-t/
https://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-other-single-coil-pickups/novel-t
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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat
« Last post by greenlion on April 10, 2026, 08:15:36 PM »Yeah, the Cruiser Bridge is great in the neck, but the Air Norton S might balance the outputs better.
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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review
« Last post by greenlion on April 10, 2026, 08:11:45 PM »The PAF Joe neck pairs great with the Air Zone as well. The note bloom and sustain is one thing I love about the Air Zone. The old Atomic Humbuckers that Fender put in the HSS Highway One Strats were similar to the Air Zone, but with a bit more presence. I've always thought those two were very well balanced pickups. The Air Zone fattens up a thinner sounding guitar very well.