Alright, so I had/have a set of Dimarzio 36th Anniversary’s, the neck had already been in and pulled back out during this pickup hunt, and the bridge was in my mutt Kramer partscaster.
I plugged in the Kramer into my rig, WITHOUT changing any settings, and A/B’d it and my #1 back and forth several times, and the partscaster with the 36th Anniversary just felt SO much better to me, on high gain, clean, low gain, all of it.
After playing two church services this morning on the 59/C (Thornbucker was in the neck), and everything feeling all wrong and not being able to “play” my gain stages like I usually do (those pickups were playing me this morning, I wasn’t playing my guitar…I just felt so unsure of myself and just wasn’t able to play like I usually do), I decided this afternoon to pull the 36th Anniversary bridge pickup out of the partscaster, desolder both the 59/C and the Thornbucker, and install the set of 36th Anniversary’s in, as an experiment.
I told myself, that if get that “Yes!” factor and that comfortable feeling when playing them, then that means that either that guitar, or me, or both…just prefer a low-wind PAF style pickup.
The 36’s have Alnico 5, the 78’s have Alnico 2.
The 36’s spec at 7.31K neck, 8.6K bridge
The 78’s spec at 7.8K neck, 9.0K bridge
So, they’re in the same family/same category. Interestingly, the 36’s, even with Alnico 5 magnets, have a very round pick attack and a softer top end than the 78’s, but even still, I liked the feel and sound of them better than the 59/C, they just have that…low wind PAF “thing” that I (or my guitar, or both of us) apparently like, they just have this sizzle and snarl that I like, and I like the 78’s feel and sound even better than the 36’s. So…there it is.
Point being, I think I’ve decided to stop hunting, at least for now. I’m going to email (and then call) Seymour Duncan tomorrow, and if it’s not too late, tell them to just send me a TB-78 (the neck pickup for the RMA already is a 78).
On the one hand I feel like a shmuck for changing my mind so many times, but on the other hand, I learned, at the end of the day, that 78’s are my pickups, and that’s a valuable thing to learn.
I still have those UOA5 magnets coming (and a couple A2’s), so maybe I’ll try a UOA5 in the 78 and see if I like that or not.
Either way, my guitar will still get a new look from how it’s been since I built it, and I’m going to get my set of Custom Shop 78’s recabled. Final final answer (I just hope I can catch them tomorrow before they fill my RMA order, but they’re Pacific time, so I’ll be up LONG before their work day starts).
