Dimebucker owners - questions for you

[jmcorey]

Hey all -

Have a couple of questions about the dimebucker design and performance.

Does the dimebucker have a plastic base, or a metal base like a conventional humbucker. Please answer this question only if you have seen one in person.

I've heard people say that the dimebucker is quieter than an ordinary HBer. Is this true, or has anyone who uses one noticed a difference.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Ez74]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

i just installed 1 a few months ago or so and it doesnt seem quieter or noisier than the JB i replaced it with... seems the same.

as for the baseplate i thought it was metal, but i just unscrewed the mounting rings and tried to raise the pickup up and see... and it does look like it is plastic

 

[jmcorey]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

i just installed 1 a few months ago or so and it doesnt seem quieter or noisier than the JB i replaced it with... seems the same.

as for the baseplate i thought it was metal, but i just unscrewed the mounting rings and tried to raise the pickup up and see... and it does look like it is plastic

Thanks, we'll see how others weigh in. Thanks for the input.

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

It's plastic. The same material as the bobbins.

 

[jmcorey]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Sorry - so used to posting in the Guitar Shop that I just put it there.

Thanks for the info, Evan.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Why on earth is it plastic?

 

[jimmy]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

I have no idea why it's plastic, but it is.
The whole pickup is plastic....

It is pretty quiet, though.
It makes less noise than a gibson humbucker.

 

[The JEM Ghost]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Yep, plastic it is, and personally i am very happy with my SH-13 Dimebucker in the bridge position of a RG 620 QM, i love it there...

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Why on earth is it plastic?

IIRC, because Dime preferred the tone. There were experiments started with little brass inserts, but they changed the tone.

I found this hard to believe, until I had to repair one. I just snipped the ears off a normal hummie and glued them to the bottom. And it really DID change the tone, became a bit less defined and more "squishy" :saeek:

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

I found this hard to believe, until I had to repair one.

I think it's pretty funny that we're all skeptical in regards to subtle differences (ie, plastic baseplates), yet time & time again it's proven that the most minute change in the signal chain = tone alteration

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

I think it's pretty funny that we're all skeptical in regards to subtle differences (ie, plastic baseplates), yet time & time again it's proven that the most minute change in the signal chain = tone alteration

I agree fully. This is probably the smallest alteration I´ve EVER done on a guitar, and I was flabbergasted by what I thought heard. Even removed them again (the "replacement ears) and foam mounted the PUP, then did 2 "microclips" to make sure I wasn´t hallucinating :friday:

 

[SABOTAGE]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

the nickle silver metal plates conduct magnetism and plastic does not therefore it changes the pups tone and performance
if the magnet is only sending the magnetism to the poles,blades,etc and not to the entire baseplate it will be more of a strong magnetism right?
dimarzio brass plates also affect the tone.
from duncan,
The secret to the Dimebucker’s hard-hitting crunch is the small amount of metal mass in the core of the pickup. This allows the SH-13 to have both high d.c. resistance and a high resonant peak.
The result is a high-output, aggressive humbucker with lots of treble bite and clarity, as well as punchy bass response and exceptional dynamics.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Is the plastic baseplate reasonably tough?

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

I have a Dime. It may be a just a tad quieter than my JB, but really not by much. It shouldn't be a noticeable or annoying difference in queiteness to another HB, if it is I'd say that HB may be wired or grounded incorrectly.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Is the plastic baseplate reasonably tough?

You don´t really run into problems unless you fiddle with the height on a daily basis. If you just install, set the height and more or less leave it /just tweak it you should be fine

 

[jmcorey]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

IIRC, because Dime preferred the tone. There were experiments started with little brass inserts, but they changed the tone.

I found this hard to believe, until I had to repair one. I just snipped the ears off a normal hummie and glued them to the bottom. And it really DID change the tone, became a bit less defined and more "squishy" :saeek:

Yeah. All Bill Lawrence (billlawrence.com) pickups are made with plastic bases, and Dimabag used these prior to the Duncan model.

Zerberus, can you explain what you did in more detail? What did you glue to the bottom of your pickup, where on the pickup?

Joe

 

[SABOTAGE]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Yeah. All Bill Lawrence (billlawrence.com) pickups are made with plastic bases, and Dimabag used these prior to the Duncan model.

Zerberus, can you explain what you did in more detail? What did you glue to the bottom of your pickup, where on the pickup?

Joe

read this,
What pickups does Dimebag Darrell of Pantera use?
Dime was on a tone quest for a long time before he and Washburn Guitars came to us. He had tried numerous custom wound pickups, but none were giving him the tone he was looking for. At the time Dime and Washburn came to us, Dime was using a custom wound pickup that he called an XXL-500. It was not available to the public. And it was still not giving Dime his tone. That's when Dime and Washburn turned to us. We started with Dime's best-sounding XXL-500 and then made numerous tweaks. We changed the magnet type, the wire gauge, the number of turns, and other factors. Dime tested the pickups on tour, so they got real world "arena" testing. After a few back-and-forth exchanges, we finally nailed his tone. And that's the SH-13 Dimebucker. It's the pickup that Dime uses and -- for the first time -- the pickup Dime uses is available to the public. It works great in Dime's solid state amps as well as tube amps. For more information about Dime and the Dimebucker, read his interview http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/artists/interview_archive.shtml#dime Dime does a great job describing the distortion quality of the pickup.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Yeah. All Bill Lawrence (billlawrence.com) pickups are made with plastic bases, and Dimabag used these prior to the Duncan model.

Zerberus, can you explain what you did in more detail? What did you glue to the bottom of your pickup, where on the pickup?

Joe

I did exactly what I said. I clipped the mounting tabs off a "normal" pup, (a Gibson IIRC), and epoxied these into place under the original mounting tabs so as to be able to make height adjustments again.

I wasn´t going for a tonal change at all, but merely wanted to keep the pup from falling into the rout

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Dimebucker owners - questions for you

Zerb, you clipped the entire legs off, or just the tab with the hole? If you clipped it off, and then re-attached it via epoxy, what net gain or difference is there at all? ::scratching head::