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The Pickup Place / Re: Creating a Fatter Humbucker-Like Voice from a 2-Pickup Noiseless Setup

« Last post by gregr on June 06, 2026, 12:53:35 PM »

[1] will give a nasal/cocked wah sound, not a fatter one.

[2] will introduce signal from the other position and only remove a very small amount of top end and move the resonant frequency down only slightly.

Your best solution is to come from the other direction with a Fast Track 1 combined with a bass shelving filter and reduced loading. For an improved humbucker tone you can use a small capacitor (with a series resistor to ground) and then use a 33n or 39n tone cap.

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The Pickup Place / Creating a Fatter Humbucker-Like Voice from a 2-Pickup Noiseless Setup

« Last post by Lelik on June 06, 2026, 11:51:27 AM »

I'm building a (Jaguar type) guitar with only two DiMarzio noiseless single coils: an Area 58 in the neck and either a Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 or a Virtual Vintage Blues in the bridge (I'm still undecided).

I'd like to use a Super Switch to add an extra "fatter" voice, something closer to a (bridge) humbucker while keeping the normal pickup selections available.

Which approach would you recommend based on your experience?

1) Adding a capacitor in parallel with the bridge pickup to lower its resonant frequency and make it sound fuller.
2) Wiring the bridge pickup in series with only the dummy coil of the neck pickup (not the active coil), so as to add some inductance without combining the actual string signals from two distant pickups.

Has anyone tried either of these solutions? I'd be very interested in hearing real-world experiences, suggested capacitor values, or any alternative ideas for getting a thicker bridge sound from a two-pickup noiseless setup.

I'm deliberately ruling out the usual neck+bridge series wiring because, from my previous experiments (although on different guitars with different pickups), I've never found the sound of two widely spaced pickups in series to be particularly useful. To my ears, it tends to lose definition and clarity.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« Last post by darkbluemurder on June 01, 2026, 05:07:32 AM »

I didn't mention the Satch Track because I don't have any experience with it.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« Last post by gregr on May 31, 2026, 03:10:48 PM »

From his original post I didn’t think the Satch Track would be good fit so I didn’t mention it. I think the Chopper would work better if the goal is a cleaner sound against a Tone Zone because it will saturate a bit better given the same amount of gain.

Neither pickup will deliver shimmering clean tones if that is the goal. The weaker Fast Track 1 can’t really do that either, even with 1M pots.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« Last post by HeyNorton! on May 31, 2026, 03:02:29 PM »

No mention of the satch track?   

Not too bright
Not too warm

Not too tight
Not too creamy

Nice output.  ~240mv

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: 36th neck in bridge?

« Last post by LPBII on May 27, 2026, 10:54:34 AM »

I do like the 36th bridge (DP223) in the bridge position better in guitars with a maple top or a maple neck, or in a strat/tele type.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: 36th neck in bridge?

« Last post by gregr on May 26, 2026, 08:38:17 AM »

Keep in mind that in the 50s when the role model for the 36th was invented (the Gibson PAF) there was no such thing as a "bridge" or "neck" pickup.

Not to mention the Bridge version of the 36th, with its A5 magnet, 8.6k wind, and virtual vintage tech, was designed to be at the hotter end of the PAF spectrum. I don’t have any data but it seems to me that the neck version is more on par with a typical PAF.

Fun fact: the bridge pickup in Jake E. Lee’s blue burst, the one he used to play Killer of Giants was a Pearly Gates Neck. The Pearly Gates being closer to a more traditional PAF than anything DiMarzio had made prior to the PAF 57 and 59.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: 36th neck in bridge?

« Last post by darkbluemurder on May 26, 2026, 04:12:38 AM »

Keep in mind that in the 50s when the role model for the 36th was invented (the Gibson PAF) there was no such thing as a "bridge" or "neck" pickup. It is all personal preference.

Cheers Stephan

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: 36th neck in bridge?

« Last post by LPBII on May 21, 2026, 11:10:33 AM »

I just put a 36th (DP103) in the bridge position of an all mahogany PRS. Really woke up this guitar.  It did the same to an all mahogany strat build several years ago. Read about good results with SGs. It seems to be a repeatable result.  This pickup really seems to work well in the bridge position of all hog guitars.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« Last post by darkbluemurder on May 21, 2026, 04:28:56 AM »

Back to topic: in order to have a suitable balance with the Tone Zone in the bridge, I would also lean to the Air Norton S as a compromise between clarity and high output. The Chopper could be an alternative, even though I only ever used it in the bridge position. Be sure to use pots of at least 500k.

Cheers Stephan