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The Pickup Place / Re: neck humbucker (or BB) to complement PAF type bridge HB

« on: November 27, 2023, 10:17:28 PM »

You can use a standard sized spacer in an f-sized pickup and vice-versa. However the keeper bar is a different story, unless this is the part where the file in the previous post comes into play(?).

That said, if the slugs are tapered then they will need to be replaced.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: DImarzio Area Magnet Swap

« on: November 27, 2023, 07:33:20 PM »

DCR is far from the be-all-end-all but the spec of the Solo is pretty close to that of the Injector Bridge which uses A2 slugs. I’m assuming the same gauge(s) and a similar ratios. It may also be that the Injector has more metal within the coils (by way of the Virtual Vintage tech) in order to boost its output, but this is entirely speculation on my part.

Seeing that you’ll likely damage the coil(s) by removing the slugs, a custom order would be your best bet. I’d get in touch with DiMarzio.

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The Pickup Place / Re: neck humbucker (or BB) to complement PAF type bridge HB

« on: November 19, 2023, 12:06:40 PM »

A3 magnets allow you to keep the pickup close to the strings without generating as much bass as an A2. To my ears the quality in the top end is more like an A5 which I believe has a higher Q factor than that of an A2.

I’m contrasting the A3 with the A2 because the A2 is commonly attributed to enhancing the flute-like tone of the neck position. Between the two I prefer the A3 because I can increase the gain in order to get more saturation and retain clarity without the added flub on the low strings. In terms of quack I think it largely depends on treble response which also favors the A3. The treble response also allows the A3 to clean up really well. You still get the flutey character of the neck position, but whether it is flutey enough is subjective.

I’ve also tailored my tone control to keep from gobbling up everything but the bass when it’s rolled all the way back. The top end is softened but still retains note definition but the main cap is still 22nF so there still is some a drop in midrange as opposed to using something like 1nF. This works really well for warm jazz tones; not so much for the woman tone, however.

Regarding the frequency of the resonant peak, please correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it just depend on the coil?

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The Pickup Place / Re: Mellowing out Air Norton neck in Charvel So-Cal?

« on: November 18, 2023, 10:47:20 AM »

FWIW, the Air Norton wasn’t necessarily intended to be a neck pickup. Rather, it became popular to use in the neck position after a certain someone paired it with a Steve’s Special.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Air Norton Bridge Position

« on: November 16, 2023, 10:04:26 AM »

With the HSS I would have to flip the magnet to use the bridge coil in split mode and be humcancelling with the middle, and I am not looking forward to doing that.

If the singles use alnico rods then instead you can use a neodymium magnet to reverse their polarity.

While he used two cylindrical magnets I successfully used a pair of neo bar magnets on both alnico slugs to reverse their polarity as well as recharge bar magnets. I’m certain a single neo bar magnet will work as well. Just be sure to check the orientation of the magnet field emanating from the magnets.

https://youtu.be/Ig-t5wx3iyw?si=-fBG6Ydo-QqxMExw

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The Pickup Place / Re: Bridge HB to tame bright Basswood guitar?

« on: November 13, 2023, 10:49:58 AM »

I looked at the two usual places I buy pickups and surprisingly there were plenty on hand.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Bridge HB to tame bright Basswood guitar?

« on: November 12, 2023, 08:54:38 PM »

Thanks (I’m being sarcastic because I have more pickups than guitars to put them in). Now I want a Breed Bridge. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Mellowing out Air Norton neck in Charvel So-Cal?

« on: November 06, 2023, 10:31:06 AM »

The next time I put it in a guitar I’ll make sure to try that. Thanks!

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The Pickup Place / Re: Mellowing out Air Norton neck in Charvel So-Cal?

« on: November 04, 2023, 12:08:24 PM »

If you want a beefy PAF in the neck position you might go with a Duncan Whole Lotta Humbucker or a PAF style pickup made for the bridge position like a Duncan 59B or a 30th bridge. If you dare, try the bridge version of the Whole Lotta Humbucker.

I’ve only used the Breed Neck in the bridge with a PAF Pro in the neck. I don’t find it to be overly bright. I’ve also used an Air Norton in the bridge and found it to be very bright, although the guitar itself is quite bright, but that pickup doesn’t seem to have much oomph in the low end.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: DiMarzio Injectors (Paul Gilbert Signature Singles)

« on: October 17, 2023, 12:58:16 AM »

Even when split the pickup is nowhere near as noisy as a true single coil with similar output.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: DiMarzio Injectors (Paul Gilbert Signature Singles)

« on: October 11, 2023, 10:13:58 AM »

It can even hang with a 61 in the neck, though tonally the 67 might be a better choice.

Do try the Injector without the dummy coil by itself.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: DiMarzio Injectors (Paul Gilbert Signature Singles)

« on: October 10, 2023, 11:05:32 AM »

Yep! The Injector neck is great in any of the three positions. Shorting the dummy coil brings out some extra sparkle. I was surprised. It makes a fair bit of difference in position 4, though you need to make one RW/RP to get hum cancellation. Reversing polarity is easily doable with a pair of neo magnets.

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The Pickup Place / Re: neck humbucker (or BB) to complement PAF type bridge HB

« on: September 22, 2023, 05:24:25 PM »

I don’t find the output specifications to be any less reliable than the others. They all need to be taken together as a whole. While it is largely reflected by the numbers, the magnet makes a difference. I don’t know if DiMarzio makes any humbuckers with a A2 magnet, but it helps in getting a more pronounced flutey vowel sound in the neck position. It provides considerably less output than an A5, though beyond that it isn’t going to tame the bottom end in terms of EQ.

P90s and other single coils have the advantage of the tonal purity which balanced humbuckers lack due to phase cancellations. I imagine the BB also has an advantage over a regular humbucker as well. The HFH has more purity but it’s also scooped, and as such it doesn’t provide much benefit. At this point I’m wondering if it would benefit from a mag-swap, but that might not be as easily achieved, let alone successful since many DiMarzio designs aren’t traditional.

While it doesn’t sound like a single coil or a P90, the EJ Custom sounds more focused than a humbucker; not quite as much as a minibucker, but it’s more dynamic and detailed. It’s meant to sound like a Filtertron, but I have no personal experience with them. I do know that it has a narrower aperture than a humbucker which is consistent with what I experience with the sound of the EJ. The neck version really excels at giving me a bright flutey character in the neck position in my Tele. I can’t imagine the bridge version wouldn’t work well in the neck position with a PAF style pickup in the bridge. But because I haven’t tried it, this is left for speculation, unfortunately.

I’m impressed with what I’ve heard of the 36th. I don’t care for what I’ve heard of the PAF Master, but I don’t care for the tone of an A4. This leaves the PAF 59 as the remaining DiMarzio which is weaker than the 36th. I don’t think I’ve ever heard one so I can’t be of any help there.

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The Pickup Place / Re: neck humbucker (or BB) to complement PAF type bridge HB

« on: September 20, 2023, 06:00:21 PM »

I prefer lower output bridge pickups and match them with neck pickups that balance in output and tone. Other than the EJ Customs which aren’t medium output I’m not aware of a DiMarzio Custom model pickup.

I recently pulled a Humbucker from Hell in my main 2-humbucker guitar and replaced it with a Duncan SH-1N loaded with an A3 magnet. I also run it with a pot that controls a passive bass shelf, which, along with a treble bleed on my volume control allows the middle and neck positions to clean up really well with a crunchy amp. I would have gone with a Full Shred but decided I wanted a bit more beef on tap for bigger clean tones. I realize that you want a baseplate with triangular tabs, so this was mainly meant to say that the HFH is not all that lean of a pickup. A stock Duncan 59 certainly has more bass than an HFH, but not with an A3. I also like that the SH-1 has more bite in the upper mids, allowing it to drive the amp a bit harder.

Anyway, I digress. I recently installed an EJ Custom Neck in the neck position of my Tele with and Area Hot T in the bridge. It works really well. I think it would be a bit weak with a bridge humbucker, but I think the EJ Custom Bridge might fit the bill.

When checking specs it can be useful to sort by output as well as treble when choosing a pickup that won’t generate too much bass.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The Bluesbucker

« on: September 10, 2023, 11:58:19 AM »

So it’s similar to a typical ceramic single coil.

It’s interesting that the screw coil was the one chosen to be the active coil, whereas humbuckers are typically split so that only the slug coil is active.

FWIW, no magnet is required for hum cancellation. Also, traditional humbucker slugs are made of steel which can only hold an extremely weak charge and are easily demagnetized, as opposed to Alnico rods used in single coils.