Modding an Air Norton

[JB_From_Hell]

The Air Norton has turned out to be a really interesting pickup. I used one in the neck of an Ibanez RG about 15 years ago (like everyone at the time), and really liked it mated with an Evo bridge.

Recently, I got an older PRS CE24, which had already had the pickups swapped. I put the AN and an Air Zone in the bridge. Liked it, but wanted a tamer setup. Put the AN in the bridge, Air Classic in the neck. Liked it a lot, but wanted a little more ass from the bridge.

Removed the spacer, and stuck a couple lengths of .074” string in to make it connect with the poles, more or less making it a Norton. Really liked it this way. Decided to use the PRS for more metal stuff, replaced the A5 mag with ceramic, and wow… thrash city. With the Mesa MkIV setting on AmpliTube, it nails those older Lamb of God tones.

Incidentally, the Air Classic in the neck has been great through all of it.

[Juanhanglo]

The norton wind is a great one, and works well with a2, as, as, and now apparently ceramic! Lol

Good to now.

Try the air norton in parallel in the neck. It's nice to have a too fat neck sound and one that is a little brighter.

[Demanic]

I remember putting a Distortion set in my RG ~12 years ago. Never thought about using an Air Norton. How does it and the regular Norton sound?

[eclecticsynergy]

The norton wind is a great one, and works well with a2, as, as, and now apparently ceramic! Lol

Good to now.

Try the air norton in parallel in the neck. It's nice to have a too fat neck sound and one that is a little brighter.

That's a great idea. I have the AN in neck position on an all-mahogany Les Paul Custom. It's warm & fat there.
Sweet, liquid lead voice. But I sometimes wish for a dryer neck with a little more bell tone.
Had been considering replacing it with a lighter wind of some sort.
But wiring it normally-parallel with a pull-for-series pot might be a good option.

[JB_From_Hell]

I remember putting a Distortion set in my RG ~12 years ago. Never thought about using an Air Norton. How does it and the regular Norton sound?

The AN is a dark but smooth neck pickup. John Petrucci used it prior to his signature pickups.

The Norton in the bridge is a versatile rock pickup that can easily go blues or metal as well. For primarily aggressive metal tones, I like it better with ceramic, which is pretty consistent for me. Tighter bass, more immediate attack.