Pickup mods: Magnet-Swaps and the "Half-Air" mod demystified

[jhale667]

Pickup mods: Magnet-Swaps and the "Half-Air" mod demystified

Mag-swap BUMP

I did the A8 swap with the ceramic Duncan Custom in the bomber Charvel, it was EASY - and after playing around with it for a coupla months, I like it better than the ceramic OR the A2! It has nearly if not all the low-end whack of the ceramic (not flubby like an A2), better mids, and the highs aren't jagged or spikey sounding, they're more pleasing like an A2. It cleans up well, the split sound is excellent, and under high gain it's awesome. Great rhythm and lead tones. I still wanna try the UOA5 someday, but I can't imagine it sounding better than the A8!

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[jhale667]

Another pickup mod that's catching on is "hybrids" - taking one coil each from pickups with mismatched output to combine the best tonal features of each. Dimarzio's been doing it calling it "dual-resonance coils" for a bit, but Seymour Duncan just came out with one popularized on their own user forum...the '59/Custom hybrid. Word has it that it NAILS VH tones as well. Here's Lone Phantom's review:

Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid – review

by Stephen Smith

http://www.lonephantom.com/2012/04/seymour-duncan-59custom-hybrid-review/

Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid – review

An awesome blend of vintage and modern humbucker tone.
The new Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid has an interesting beginning compared to many other humbucker designs. First created by a member of the Seymour Duncan community forum, it was born from two different pickups. The classic 59 Bridge screw coil, with thicker 42 gauge wire, and the modern Custom slug coil, utilising the thinner 43 gauge wire. The end result of this is a bridge pickup with the vintage warmth of a classic PAF style pickup, and the modern edge of a modern high output pickup.
Once again I installed this in my test guitar, the Japanese-made Ibanez RG450DX. It’s basswood body and maple neck/rosewood fretboard provide a fairly neutral tone, great for testing pickups. In the neck I currently have a DiMarzio Dominion neck humbucker. I’ll be testing 59/Custom Hybrid with the Dominion in split and series modes.

The 59/Custom Hybrid is a medium output bridge pickup, with a tight bass, a rich midrange, and crisp, but not piercing treble. It is a harmonically rich pickup, thanks to its mis-matched coil winds, and sounds particularly amazing with some dirt. With a resistance of 11.5KOhms the 59/Custom Hybrid is a very dynamic pickup, responding nicely to a players touch. Natural and artificial harmonics pop out with ease with this pickup.

Distorted, rhythm playing sounds great with the 59/Custom Hybrid. The tight bass response, and rich mid-range offers a great tight crunch, while still retaining a full woody tone. Lead work at the low end of the fretboard really cuts through the mix, and pick attack and angle can clearly be heard and used to its full potential. Things may get a little too shrill for some higher up the fretboard, but blending the 59/Custom Hybrid with a suitable neck pickups reduces the high end, and still retains some of the bridge pickup’s great tone.

Switch to a clean tone and the 59/Custom Hybrid provides a dynamic range in which to really express yourself. Play softly and a beautiful warm tone is present, dig in hard and everything gets brighter and more focussed. Hit the strings really hard and things start to crunch just enough to give you some edge to your tone without it being overdriven. If you find that the clean tone of the 59/Custom Hybrid is a bit too bright and gritty it sounds great combined with a neck humbucker. A great thick rhythm tone which never gets to muddy can be found here. It’s also useful for clean leads at the lower end of the fretboard.

Splitting to the Custom slug coil, and the inside coil of the neck humbucker yields great strat-like tones with some nice twang. This works nicely with clean and slightly overdriven tones. It might also suit some country players.

Seymour Duncan recommend the 59/Custom Hybrid for blues, rock, pop and classic rock, but I think this is selling the pickup a bit short. Sure it’s all good for these genres, but the pickup is capable of offering a fantastic platform for heavier rock, and some less extreme styles of metal. Eddie Van Halen tone chasers may dig this pickup quite a bit as a middle ground to cover his earlier and later guitar tones. I also found the 59/Custom Hybrid a great tool for great modern punk rock tones.

Overall the Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid is an extremely versatile bridge pickup, capable of covering many styles. It’s blend of vintage warmth and openness, combined with a modern edge makes it quite a unique pickup that should become very popular. We have to thank both the members of the Seymour Duncan community forums for creating and popularising the design amongst DIY types, and Seymour Duncan for recognising this for what it is, a really fantastic pickup.

[Nitro Express]

Yeah I can remember reading that was Ed's big secret. You wind one coil hotter than the other one and you get the best of both worlds. You get more single coil type dynamics with more humbucker beef. Then of course no 60 cycle hum.

[Coyote]

The 59/Custom Hybrid is a medium output bridge pickup, with a tight bass, a rich midrange, and crisp, but not piercing treble. It is a harmonically rich pickup, thanks to its mis-matched coil winds, and sounds particularly amazing with some dirt. With a resistance of 11.5KOhms the 59/Custom Hybrid is a very dynamic pickup, responding nicely to a players touch. Natural and artificial harmonics pop out with ease with this pickup.

Distorted, rhythm playing sounds great with the 59/Custom Hybrid. The tight bass response, and rich mid-range offers a great tight crunch, while still retaining a full woody tone. Lead work at the low end of the fretboard really cuts through the mix, and pick attack and angle can clearly be heard and used to its full potential. Things may get a little too shrill for some higher up the fretboard, but blending the 59/Custom Hybrid with a suitable neck pickups reduces the high end, and still retains some of the bridge pickup’s great tone.

Switch to a clean tone and the 59/Custom Hybrid provides a dynamic range in which to really express yourself. Play softly and a beautiful warm tone is present, dig in hard and everything gets brighter and more focussed. Hit the strings really hard and things start to crunch just enough to give you some edge to your tone without it being overdriven. If you find that the clean tone of the 59/Custom Hybrid is a bit too bright and gritty it sounds great combined with a neck humbucker. A great thick rhythm tone which never gets to muddy can be found here. It’s also useful for clean leads at the lower end of the fretboard.

Splitting to the Custom slug coil, and the inside coil of the neck humbucker yields great strat-like tones with some nice twang. This works nicely with clean and slightly overdriven tones. It might also suit some country players.

Aaand, I'm intrigued...

[jhale667]

Yeah I can remember reading that was Ed's big secret. You wind one coil hotter than the other one and you get the best of both worlds. You get more single coil type dynamics with more humbucker beef. Then of course no 60 cycle hum.

That'd depend on HOW mismatched the coils were...apparently if they're too far off you will still get some hum....

Aaand, I'm intrigued...

Me too! Jon from Guitarnoize.com was kind enough to do a quick demo clip for me last night, sounds pretty killer...nice combo of vintage-y woodiness and BEEF.

http://t.co/eNFM3ODe

[Coyote]

Me too! Jon from Guitarnoize.com was kind enough to do a quick demo clip for me last night, sounds pretty killer...nice combo of vintage-y woodiness and BEEF.

http://t.co/eNFM3ODe

Right, I'm saving up for this one. Starting NOW.

[jhale667]

Same here... almost finished with PC rebuild hell, then it's on to the next build...a new S/H Floyded Strat to replace my No.1 Charvel mutt I'm finally retiring after 25 years...was thinking I was going to put another Custom 8 in it, but I seriously wanna check this one out first.

[jhale667]

Here's another demo video...




It comes stock with an A5, but I can't help wondering what it'd sound like with an A8, just because I'm loving that mag these days...

[Coyote]

Based on what I'm hearing (and liking), I'll take one as is...

[jhale667]

Based on what I'm hearing (and liking), I'll take one as is...

Oh, I'll definitely try it with the A5 first! Betcha a UOA5 would be a similar to, but slightly cooler vibe than stock...I have one of those I've yet to try...now that I know how easy it is to do a swap, I may just make an afternoon of it one day and do an A/B/C test.

[jhale667]

Here's another '59/Custom hybrid demo vid by Frank Falbo of Seymour Duncan...

[jhale667]

OK, took a couple of months since I'm currently not gigging, but finally, thanks to getting invited to do a demo for Lang Amplification (which can pretty much nail the VH Brown Sound, btw) - the Custom8 at LOUD volume kicks ass! Harmonics were jumping out, and feedback/sustain is easily obtainable, even at low volumes! I couldn't have been happier with it. There was another GIT guy there also alternating playing VH riffs( and a plethora of other riffs we touched on) with me, video to follow...

[jhale667]

Yet ANOTHER '59/Custom hybrid demo video, this one from Jon @guitarnoize.

[jhale667]

Just did a 2nd ceramic-to-A8 conversion on the Duncan Custom in my black Charvel mutt...2 for 2 total satisfaction on this pickup mod. All the low-end tightness of the ceramic, thick mids, and the pleasing, more rounded highs of an Alnico magnet, no trace of harshness...total improvement in that guitar just like it was in the Bomber. #WIN.



I was really tempted to try the UOA5 instead, but for what I was looking for with this guitar, the A8 was the way to go, so I'll save that mag for another project.

[jhale667]

Here's a cool high-output pickup comparison vid...