Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

[Chistopher]

So I've been thinking about getting a Custom Shop pickup similar to both the Stag Mag and 5-2 for a while. It would have similar construction to a Stag Mag, but using different magnets under different strings. What I was wondering about is some of the finer details.
I just wanted some tips on what you thought would make a great pickup. I was thinking instead of a 5-2, it would be more of a 5-UOA5-2 pickup with the UOA5 under the D and G strings. This would make a smoother "stagger" on the tone as opposed to using just two magnets. I've also started to enjoy the 3D tone you get from 59/C Hybrids and was thinking I would incorporate wild coil mismatching into the pickup.

Here's what I was thinking, but I don't know much about winding pickups, so let me know if you think something doesn't sound like the best idea:

59-Custom wind
Stag Mag construction
A5 under E and A, UOA5 under D and G, and A2 under B and e

I know the Custom Shop can help me, I just wanted to run it past you guys first.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

Very cool idea. :fing2:

Continuous radius like the 7 string strat pups?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

I've never heard of continuous radius, what's that? It sounds to me like it's when the polepieces follow the radius of the fretboard.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

I like this idea. Why not go for flat poles, though?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

Yes, that's what I meant about the poles following the radius of the fretboard. That or flat like Mincer said would be my instinct.

 

[Despair]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

Another wacky possibility would be doing A2 for the Custom coil, and A5 for the '59. Make the split variations even more radically different, might be another great pickup for tripleshots.

Could do with other magnets to preference, only problem is not swappable, so every attempt is build a new pickup...

For splitting by string rather than coil, I'd probably just do A5 under wound, UOA5 under plain strings. Don't necessarily want my D string different from EA, or G string different from BE. But if you wind up slanting the pickup so the low side is further and the other side closer, the 3-way stagger might keep things more even in volume.

 

[Davii]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

Stag Mag uses rods, so I'd have thought it's easy enough to do the A5s and 2s, but can you get UOA5 as a rod?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

im sure you can but it might be weird with two wound strings with one mag and one wound string with another but ya wont know unless ya try it.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

The guitar I was planning on using has a wound G, so that would fix the issue with the D and G, but that would still involve the two seperate magnets under the wound strings. But I won't know how well it works until it try. I was thinking I would go for staggered magnets as well, to accommodate for magnet output differences.

I was also thinking of doing what Despair suggested later, but with a different wind then 59/C. I was thinking of doing that with a 59/78 combo.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

Or you know what would have potential as a interesting neck pickup? Take the wind of a neck PG coil with A2 pole pieces and pair it with a bridge PG coil with A3 polepieces. That might make a nice neck pickup.

 

[Despair]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

The guitar I was planning on using has a wound G, so that would fix the issue with the D and G, but that would still involve the two seperate magnets under the wound strings. But I won't know how well it works until it try. I was thinking I would go for staggered magnets as well, to accommodate for magnet output differences.

I was also thinking of doing what Despair suggested later, but with a different wind then 59/C. I was thinking of doing that with a 59/78 combo.

4 A5 rods under E-G strings, 2 UA5 under BE is what I'd do, for that case... but that'd be locking you into that string choice, your 3-way mix works better for flexibility.

I'd worry about coil volume balance on a 59/78 mix with different magnets. But you do wind up with different tradeoffs when they hit different frequencies. I wonder about an A2 bar magnet in one, A5 rods in other?

Mixed PG coils with mixed magnets is an intriguing idea. I wonder about PG bridge coil with A2, and jazz coil with A3.

Cornucopia of magnet combination insanity. Too bad it's harder to DIY...

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

Do bars have a higher volume when compared to coils? Another alternative I came up with is a regular humbucker with two different flanking magnets (like on the Invader) and no middle magnet. I think that it could possibly create issues with phase though. But if it does work the advantage is that it would be easier to mess around with as long as you got the magnets into the right size.

 

[Despair]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

Do bars have a higher volume when compared to coils? Another alternative I came up with is a regular humbucker with two different flanking magnets (like on the Invader) and no middle magnet. I think that it could possibly create issues with phase though. But if it does work the advantage is that it would be easier to mess around with as long as you got the magnets into the right size.

Tend to be higher inductance, so louder and more midrange, IIRC. Using a stock size pushes you to different bobbin dimensions, though, which further changes things. Like the El Diablo from the custom shop.

As far as flanking magnets, it's no more of a problem than when building an Invader... One coil has it's booster oriented North, the other has South.

I don't know if you can readily get boosters of anything but ceramic, though. Some grades of alnico don't hold charge as well when dimensions are wrong, or are brittle if too thin.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

I guess that's true, maybe a the A2 Bar and A5 slugs would be a better idea. This entire thing is starting to remind me of the Fuglybucker...

 

[Demanic]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

How about a pickup like the Slug or El Diablo, but with one A2 bar and one A5 bar?

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

The issue with that is that a A2 is so much less powerful than an A5. That could be fixed by making the pickup a hybrid of two different pickups. I was thinking a bridge coil for the A2 and a coil from the neck model of the same pickup for the A5.

I still like the idea of using A2, UOA5, and A5 slugs under certain strings. I'm not sure however, if this will or won't cause any problems with the strings not keeping a consistent tone. But I think the magnets might "stagger" the tone better than going from 5 straight to 2.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

My guess is that many of the ideas like this have been tried. But it is certainly worth experimenting. Any 'Two single coils combined to make a humbucker' has been pretty thick sounding to me. ven if you are using different magnet rods for each pickup. It simply doesn't sound much like a regular humbucker.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

I'm not actually combining two 5-2's two make a hunbucker, I'm just talking about using multiple different types of magnetic polepieces under different strings. And also a "regular humbucker" isn't the tone I'm going for.

Another alternative could be a 59/C with an A8 under the 59 and an A8 under the Custom. I don't know how well that would work, but that combo works pretty well in bridge P90s.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

I was always under the impression that different strength magnets that close to each other do some weird things. Even with spacers. Personally, I have never tried that, but I would be interested to hear from people who have tried (and how/if the sound changed after a period of time).

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Custom Shop 5-2 Stag Mag?

The people suggesting two half-bar alnico magnets in a HB just because it's possible in P-90s, forget the most important factor in magnet making: MASS, as the resulting footprint-tone is directly proportional to its mass. In a P-90 mag mix-and-match works because two whole-size bars are used.

Two half mags joined together don't make up for one whole. So they actually sound as one pretty degaussed, not to mention the chaotic flux storm found on the joint points of the mags. This is even worse with spacer-sized alnico mags, and that's why you don't find'em listed on the usual p'up parts manufacturers and re-sellers.

There's at least one p'up manufacturer whose name I fail to remember using half mags in their products, but they're cut so they put an say A5 the three lowest strings and an A2 the three highest. This arrangement creates a permanent degaussing effect and a vortex in the way flux circulates, directly found on the two middle strings. Everything else is the same as a normal HB. I haven't personally tried any similar arrangement, mind you, however that's because just I KNOW it's a bad idea.

HTH,