Re: Difference in tone. Matched and mismatched coils?
I deleted my little statement about coil location, because you've all covered it well. But here's a huge bloated rant from my experiences:
:wall:
With a normal humbucker, each coil produces the same tonal footprint, positional differences notwithstanding. The PAF is low enough in output that the one coil feeding the other doesn't add a lot of compression. But a high output bridge bucker will overload in the mids, basically because you're cramming 2lbs of mids into a 1lb bag. It's not distortion or overdrive, because you won't "clip" a humbucker coil with any standard wind. But the mids do get packed like a sausage. Again, at a PAF level, we love the fact that the notes "bloom" and that's due to the lower wind. So a mismatch with 42AWG PAF style coils will allow more complex mids, a little dual resonant peaking and combing, and generally more dynamics and depth. But in a Custom/59 situation, or even a Custom/JB, you're actually "solving a problem" in a way. You're allowing the pickup to reach ultra high output levels while reducing harsh artifacts and upper midrange multiplying, by reducing the tonal overlap between the coils.
High output buckers have all sorts of crazy artifacts. That's what we like about them. The JB is in your face because of it's sharp 4-6k peak. With that peak comes hyperactivated harmonics, and basically what I call "stray harmonics" that pop out like firecrackers sometimes, when you get just the right mix of notes while playing. It's sort of random in a way. Like that tightly packed sausage analogy, imagine it spitting out grease bullets while on the grill. The catalyst (or grill in this case) is an overdriven tube amp, I guess. :laugh2:
So while the mismatch can be good for some, it also can remove the distinctive character of a high output bucker. A JB/Custom hybrid may be just the right combination of each pickup to one player. But to another, it's lost the magic of both. It loses the "monster PAF" vibe of the Custom series, and loses the icepick harmonics of the JB. Sometimes owning one of each is better than owning a hybrid of the two.
This is EXACTLY why some find those high output Dimarzio dual resonance buckers bland and uninteresting. They're trying to deliver a "more professional, more balanced" sound. But within that there is a lot of homogenization. They never allow any one narrow frequency band to gain any traction. There's no wild "perfect storm" of mid bands that will give the pickup a strong identity. Instead, there's more subtle differences between pickup models like the Norton, Zone, Breed, etc. It's like a NASCAR race during a yellow flag. Every car is going, but no one is breaking away. Equal wound coils produce more definitive winners and losers when it comes to frequencies.
Back to the PAF range, (up to and including Brobucker levels IMO) There's less exponential mid spike anyway. So here, you've got the freedom with mismatched winds (both 42AWG) to custom tailor your midrange openness, airiness, etc. The mismatch here is almost like the difference between mono and stereo. There absolutely is a 3rd dimension added to the tone. Each pick attack isn't just a repeat of the same midrange thonk. They vary in tonality more. There's more tonal depth when you're playing notes over other notes that are still ringing. I feel there's better string separation too.
