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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on August 28, 2025, 10:42:06 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.

This is especially true with DiMarzio pickups in general since air bucker, virtual vintage and dual-resonance technologies effectively render DCR numbers useless.

That out of the way I’m not sure why this is being raised.

The mV value is a better indicator.

The 36th Anniversary model that is spec'd with a DCR of 8.6k is spec'd with an output level of 285mV.

The Air Norton is spec'd with an output level of 270mV.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by darkbluemurder 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

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on August 27, 2025, 10:39:33 PM »

Okay, I am not great with guitar electronics but I cab use a meter. AM comes in at 12.5k ohms and the 36th neck at 8.5.

https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/vintage-paf-output/paf-36th-anniversary-neck

Check the resistance specification of the 36th Neck.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by Zoo Keeper on August 27, 2025, 09:43:42 PM »

That someone might have a problem pairing the 36th neck with an AN in the bridge doesn’t come as a big surprise to me. It is no wonder that you would have to bottom-out a 36th bridge in the neck position, assuming that is what you have.

I have a DP103 36th Anniversary  neck pickup in the neck.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on August 25, 2025, 05:10:32 PM »

The spec for the 36th Anniversary Bridge model is 8.60k. The neck model is 7.31k. 8.60k connected to a 500k pot will measure 8.45k.

That someone might have a problem pairing the 36th neck with an AN in the bridge doesn’t come as a big surprise to me. It is no wonder that you would have to bottom-out a 36th bridge in the neck position, assuming that is what you have.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by Zoo Keeper on August 25, 2025, 04:10:18 PM »

Okay, I am not great with guitar electronics but I cab use a meter. AM comes in at 12.5k ohms and the 36th neck at 8.5. From what I can compare to a wiring diagram it looks to all be wired up correctly in 50's wiring. On the pots, would I just connect my probes on the end lugs of the pot?  If everything else is good, something is off with the AN to be fairly overpowered by  the 36th.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on August 24, 2025, 02:29:10 AM »

The PAF 57 is likely going to be closer to the Duncan Seth Lovers. The wire used on the APH (and Jazz which is the same pickup but with an A5 magnet) has a different insulator which reduces the inter-wind capacitance. I have no reason not to believe that the wind pattern is also significantly different between the APH and a traditional P.A.F. as this is something that I regularly see attributed to the design.

It doesn’t sound like you’ll be pulling the Fred out of your Ibby to try with the 36th, but do try The Breed Neck in the bridge if you haven’t already. Even if you don’t keep it, I think the experience is worthwhile.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by Zoo Keeper on August 23, 2025, 11:38:45 PM »

Thanks gregr!  I have looked at the Air Classic set in the past.  The more I look into this the more I am thinking about a new set. Another set I have looked at in the past is the Duncan Alnico II Pro set. Seems that the PAF 57 set might be in that category.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on August 23, 2025, 07:41:11 PM »

Set neck guitar or bolt on?

As a point of reference, the Full Shred Neck is the leanest Duncan humbucker which is also quite bright. It would probably be my first choice to pair with an AN, though I also like the EJ Custom Neck. That said, I’m under the impression that you don’t want a bright pickup so i didn’t mention these.

The other pickup that came to mind was the Air Classic Neck, which like Fred for the bridge to pair with the 36th Neck in the neck, I thought it might also come up as a suggestion to pair with the Air Norton in the bridge.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by Zoo Keeper on August 23, 2025, 05:51:25 PM »

Not typical at all of my experience with AN in the bridge, which I have in quite a few guitars.

I suspect something is wrong with your wiring or pots.  No way should a 36th neck overwhelm an AN bridge, especially backed off.

Check your wiring, measure your pots.

I use the duncan full shred neck with AN bridge, which is typical PAF output.  Even very close to the strings, it doesn't overwhelm.

AN is on the hot side of PAF output, similar to 36th bridge.

Thank you for that info. I didn't think it would when I decided to put those in the guitar, so I was puzzled. I will look into the wiring. The guitar has  '50s wiring, that shouldn't be the cause? I will measure the pickups on my meter as well.