Demon neck magnet swap?

[audiocheck]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

To me you can do slight height adjustments in the neck to compensate for your mag. .

I disagree. I did everything possible to like the Jazz neck in two different LPs. It wasn't until I put an A3 in it, that made me love it.

Lowered it / raised it (more than a dozen times)
Raised the poles / lowered the poles
replaced the poles with shorter screws

 

[audiocheck]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

I'm really starting to think the Demon was made to pair with a Single Coil in the neck. That was Lynch's setup when this pickup was designed.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

A9 is the wrong direction for the OP.

Lower output and more top end = A3

Could also stick with the A5 and try doing a "half-air" mod to the Demon.

Hate to quote myself, but it's the best advice in this thread as far as the OP is concerned. If you want "less output" and "more clarity", you can ignore all the suggestions for mags hotter than the stock A5

Half-airing is where you remove the metal spacer beneath the screw coil and place a small strip of plastic (or some other non-magnetic/non-ferrous material) between the magnet and the poles on one side. On a standard pickup, you would usually move the magnet over so that it touches the screw poles once the metal spacer is removed and place the plastic strip on the slug side, but you have options with the Demon...you can try moving the magnet to both screw types to see if one yields a better response than the other. Either way, the result of the "half-air" mod is slightly reduced output and better clarity. I highly recommend sticking with the A5 if you're going to do this.

You can also try the "Frank Falbo" air mod, which is to slightly angle the magnet (i.e. I/I) , so that it touches one set of poles at one end and the other set of poles at the other end. You just have to wedge something in to keep it held that way. The Demon is a solid candidate for this version, as well.

I think Clint 55 got confused when you mentioned "bite". That's a very subjective term, but I believe you aren't meaning more output, just more top-end presence and clarity, correct?

Also, what pot values are you running? Anything under 500K and you're potentially smothering the pickup.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

Oh, and the Demon is a medium-hot pickup to begin with. In the neck, it's clear, but creamy and plenty warm by default. That's just the nature of the beast.

There are a LOT of other pickups that are brighter and less powerful for the neck position. Still, mag mods are cheap and the "air" mods are essentially free, so if you're not afraid of popping off the baseplate, have at it!

 

[audiocheck]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

I think Clint 55 got confused when you mentioned "bite". That's a very subjective term, but I believe you aren't meaning more output, just more top-end presence and clarity, correct?

Also, what pot values are you running? Anything under 500K and you're potentially smothering the pickup.

Correct!!

I am running stock Gibson pots from 1989. I assume they are 300K.

 

[audiocheck]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

Half-airing is where you remove the metal spacer beneath the screw coil and place a small strip of plastic (or some other non-magnetic/non-ferrous material) between the magnet and the poles on one side. On a standard pickup, you would usually move the magnet over so that it touches the screw poles once the metal spacer is removed and place the plastic strip on the slug side, but you have options with the Demon...you can try moving the magnet to both screw types to see if one yields a better response than the other. Either way, the result of the "half-air" mod is slightly reduced output and better clarity. I highly recommend sticking with the A5 if you're going to do this.

You can also try the "Frank Falbo" air mod, which is to slightly angle the magnet (i.e. I/I) , so that it touches one set of poles at one end and the other set of poles at the other end. You just have to wedge something in to keep it held that way. The Demon is a solid candidate for this version, as well.

.

Is this the same tone as splitting, but keeping the noise cancelling aspect?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

Wait, you want more top end from the Screamin' Demon in the neck? I run it in both positions in one of my Frankenstrats and use a single 250K volume pot. It was a little too much top end with 500K for me.

But, since you have it in a warmer sounding guitar and running 300K pots most likely, change the neck volume pot to 500K. Simple and cheap to do which should help solve the issue. You can also disconnect the tone pot completely with the stock volume pot first and see what that does. There is an ever so slight effect on the tone even with the tone control on 10, unless it is a no-load pot then it is completely out of the circuit on 10.

My recommendations: 1. disconnect the tone pot. 2. change the neck volume pot for 500K.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

Is this the same tone as splitting, but keeping the noise cancelling aspect?

I see why you'd think that, but no. It still very much sounds like the stock full humbucking pickup, but a little "less". The second coil still gets a decent signal, but because the magnetic field on that coil isn't quite as strong, the signal is weaker. The other coil is essentially full power as from stock, so the offset is minor, but noticeable. A proper coil split is much more drastic and has a different character.

Also, I'd definitely go with 500K for the neck pickup. 300K is likely to be knocking off your presence quite a bit.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

A3 isn't brighter than A5, it's warmer.

 

[NoOnesFang13]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

I see why you'd think that, but no. It still very much sounds like the stock full humbucking pickup, but a little "less". The second coil still gets a decent signal, but because the magnetic field on that coil isn't quite as strong, the signal is weaker. The other coil is essentially full power as from stock, so the offset is minor, but noticeable. A proper coil split is much more drastic and has a different character.

Also, I'd definitely go with 500K for the neck pickup. 300K is likely to be knocking off your presence quite a bit.

This is similar to how a Dimarzio Bluesbucker works, except it uses 2 half width magnests on either side of one coils poles and the other does not have a magnet, so the magnetic field still influences the second coil but its not as strong making it sound "more p-90ish". though compared to my actual p-90 it sounds more like a humbucker, so somewhere in between

As far as suggestions for your problem i would recomend an A4. It might not be high end that youre missing but an absence of mids. I put an a4 in my 59 and it really made the pickup sound more present to me.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

Some very good suggestions:
500k pot
1/2 air mod
A4

 

[audiocheck]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

Thank you all for the suggestions.

The A4 might be the easiest for me to deal with, since I have one lying around.

The 1/2 air, I'm not sure I understand that mod fully, but will look into some more

Changing the pot, I would like to leave it stock.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

The 1/2 air, I'm not sure I understand that mod fully, but will look into some more

http://www.lonephantom.com/2010/07/modifying-pickups-the-half-air-mod/

 

[Despair]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

A3 isn't brighter than A5, it's warmer.

True, but it has less bass to lower mids. If the problem was the lowend growl making it too loud/bassy, it'd fix that, while keeping a nice, smooth high end that still has a good sparkle. It's a great neck pickup magnet... If your bridge pickup doesn't completely overwhelm it, outputwise, which is easy given it's drop in output even compared to A2.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Demon neck magnet swap?

What I would do is put A9 and a 1 meg vol in the neck, and double thick A8 or A6 and a 500k vol in the bridge. Just what I would do.