[Zhysick]

Hi there, I'm new here, fist post, but I have been reading for a long time just this is the first time I have something worth sharing I guess.

I got a Yamaha Pacifica 611HFM with its stock SD Custom5 and I wasn't liking how bloated in the mids this pickup sounds in an alder guitar: don't get me wrong, in mahogany is amazing but in alder isn't at least for me, I guess the is a notch or a spike or something in the mids of the pickup and the tone wood that just adds or something that make it sound too nasal for my kind of metal. I see it working for more bluesy old rock overdriven stuff but not for modern metal.

I had in the drawer a Tone Zone because I wanted a PAF Pro for another guitar to pair with a Breed Bridge and the guy wasn't selling it alone so I had to buy the PP and the TZ. I installed the PP and the TZ went to the drawer. I have used the TZ in like 3 guitars before and I have NEVER liked that pickup before specially in alder guitars but as it was the only one I had around it I put it in the Yamaha and I was pleasantly surprised: it worked quite good: nice harmonics, nice bit, thick... Just wasn't tight enough. Played with it for a few weeks until I decided to take a step further.

So I had a PAF Pro (too low output) and a Breed (too similar to the Tone Zone maybe?) in another guitar that I wasn't playing. The Breed and the Tone Zone are not that different in tone and while I had the Breed in the strat (similar construction to this Yamaha) it was a bit bloated/loose in the low end for fast rhythms so I just didn't want to try it as it is so... I made an hybrid: one coil PAF Pro and one coil Breed.

The PAF Pro and the Breed are symmetrical humbuckers so both coils are exactly the same with the PAF Pro having two 4.30kOhm coils (aproximately) and the Breed having two 7.9kOhms coils. Very small deviation from coil to coil, small enough to be just the acceptable error in a machine winding.

So now I have a pickup with a 4.3+7.9 and the result is about 12.5kOhms which doesn't mean a shit because the output is measured with the inductance and I have no means to measure that so, that's extra info for nothing.

Here you have a track so you can hear the difference between the pickups sound. The new hybrid is, of course, less output but what you mainly are going to hear is a less pronounced low end (is tighter) and less low-mids so the palm mutes are a bit dryer, less boomy, but pretty thick still.

I am quite happy.

Both recorded with the same amp settings and no post-processing, pickups at the same height for comparison purposes.

I would say that it must be similar to how the Steve's Special must sound but less output and this is still Alnico 5...

Anyway, it is fun to do this things.

Hope you enjoy it!!!

https://soundcloud.com/zhysick/tone-zone-vs-breed-pro-hybrid

PS: as I have the TZ and another PAF Pro coil and it is said around here that the Steve's Special is one coil PO and one coil TZ I may try that. I know the SS is ceramic but if I use alnico in both and it just sound the same as my breed+PP hybrid... You know, just testing.

[darkbluemurder]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Great first post, excellent start, thanks for sharing.

Cheers Stephan

[Aceman]

Hybrid pups are a thing.  Rock on! 

I'll guess it is not as loud as the breed, but more than the PAF Pro...

I have a Duncan 59/Custom that I love.  Never built my own though.

[darkbluemurder]

I have a Duncan 59/Custom that I love.  Never built my own though.

I have two 59/Custom hybrids that I built out of a 59 and a Custom. For one I used the stock A5 magnet from the 59 (screw coil 59, slug coil custom). I used an A4 magnet instead of the stock ceramic of the Custom for the other (screw coil custom, slug coil 59).

The nice thing with hybrids is that you always get two of them

But I never made any hybrids from DiMarzios so far. But I understand that some DiMarzios are hybrids already (Norton, Steve's Special and others maybe as well).

Cheers Stephan

[Zhysick]

Hi and thanks for the replies!

Yes, many DiMarzios are "hybrids" and others we could say are originals but Dual Resonance anyway so each coil is different.

I tried a few years ago a Custom/Jazz hybrid and wasn't actually happy with the result and have tried many many magnet swaps but actually I am really enjoying this DiMarzio hybrid... now I have one PAF Pro coil, one Breed coil and a full Tone Zone... Don't know what to do next but I guess a Breed/TZ hybrid will be pretty much the same or too thick and high output and a PAF Pro/TZ it's suposed to be a Steve's Special (despite the ceramic magnet) so maybe I should try until getting a ceramic magnet until my next hybrid and try the Ceramic TZ first as it seems to be pretty interesting from what I've heard... Time will tell.

Cheers!