Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

daenius

New member
We love making hybrids here. I have some very stupid ones, what do you guys think? Maybe I should run a poll and whichever gets the most upvote, I'll order and tell you guys about it.

1. Hot Rodded Hybrid
Our beloved Hot Rodded set, BUT IN ONE PICKUP!

2. Slash Lover
One coil each from Seth Lover and A2Pro Slash. Vintage PAF Swirl!

3. Invader at the Gates
Sort of like the 59/Custom Hybrid of combining a coil from a high output monster and a vintage level pickup

4. Greek Alphabet
Hybrid made from Alpha and Omega!

5. Hyper Distortion
This is the most stupid of all. One coil from the Dimarzio Super Distortion, one coil from the Duncan Distortion, together to make ULTIMATE Distortion humbucker.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

We love making hybrids here. I have some very stupid ones, what do you guys think? Maybe I should run a poll and whichever gets the most upvote, I'll order and tell you guys about it.

1. Hot Rodded Hybrid
Our beloved Hot Rodded set, BUT IN ONE PICKUP!

2. Slash Lover
One coil each from Seth Lover and A2Pro Slash. Vintage PAF Swirl!

3. Invader at the Gates
Sort of like the 59/Custom Hybrid of combining a coil from a high output monster and a vintage level pickup

4. Greek Alphabet
Hybrid made from Alpha and Omega!

5. Hyper Distortion
This is the most stupid of all. One coil from the Dimarzio Super Distortion, one coil from the Duncan Distortion, together to make ULTIMATE Distortion humbucker.
I would personally like to see #2-4

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Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

2 and 5 would come out very good, you should make them. Probably 4 as well. 1 and 3 could suck.

My current hybrids are:

Ant/Seth A3
JB/Custom RCA8
59/Jazz A5
Ant Jaguar/Ant Duo Sonic; both A2
 
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Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

2 and 5 would come out very good, you should make them. Probably 4 as well. 1 and 3 could suck.

My current hybrids are:

Ant/Seth A3
JB/Custom RCA8
59/Jazz A5
Ant Jaguar/Ant Duo Sonic

YOU HAVE A JB CUSTOM?! TELL ME MORE
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

YAP! It's great. It has everything I want. Big, round and bassy from the RCA8 and Custom, some grit from the JB, some Tele sound from the JB for partial split in bridge position, and the mismatch coils make it quack really nicely with the neck pickup.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

I did a post on this concept a while back. Some interesting things came up = Definitely the Duncan Super Distortion
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

I'm going to try making my own hybrid, as soon as I get the cash. Focusing on finishing some builds and indeed the money firehouse currently, although I'll have to try number 4 and variations of it.

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Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

I know a lot of people do it and have success, but to me a hybrid is a bit too much "rolling of the dice..." I guess part of the appeal is being surprised at how certain combinations sound and eventually one must get a feel for it, but there's only so far I myself want to tread into the waters of dissecting and analyzing every component of the guitar, bit by bit.

Once you start swapping magnets/coils etc., that's too many variables at play for me to feel like I have any control over the result. An unpopular opinion I'm sure, but after choosing a pickup, a guitar, hardware, a brand of strings, a brand of tubes, and an amp, speakers, pedals, cables... I don't need to go out of my way to look for anything else to **** with :D
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

I know a lot of people do it and have success, but to me a hybrid is a bit too much "rolling of the dice..." I guess part of the appeal is being surprised at how certain combinations sound and eventually one must get a feel for it, but there's only so far I myself want to tread into the waters of dissecting and analyzing every component of the guitar, bit by bit.

Once you start swapping magnets/coils etc., that's too many variables at play for me to feel like I have any control over the result. An unpopular opinion I'm sure, but after choosing a pickup, a guitar, hardware, a brand of strings, a brand of tubes, and an amp, speakers, pedals, cables... I don't need to go out of my way to look for anything else to **** with :D

I wouldn't say it's unpopular opinion. Personally I've never swapped a magnet either! I don't even swap pickups often on my guitars, I spend my time getting to know that guitar the way it is and how it responds to my playing. I only change things when I can clearly identify something that does not work for me after that process. For example, a pickup that's always fuzzy sounding despite amp EQ settings, or a bridge design that I just can't get used to, like the Fender American Standard 2-post bridge.

The way I view magnet swaps, though, is that I view them as different pickups. Sure you can say everything else is the same but the magnet is a big part of the pickup sonic design, change that and you basically have a new one that's based on changing something about the previous.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

I totally understand that. I've been modding for a year now and everything is finally coming together with my custom string sets, tuning, guitars, pots, pickups, hybrids. And I don't even have a pedal board. I have to do it though. It isn't a gamble because you can always put the pickup back how you found it. It's a big positive for me because it brings nice complexity to the neck position humbucker that can sound too warm otherwise. Also 4 mismatched coils sound fantastic in middle position one you get them right.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

It's a successful gamble if it works, but the "chance" comes in play as far as predictability, not dollars; at least if I'm looking for a stock pickup there are ways to know somewhat what I'm getting. Sure, I get the fun of experimenting if you happen to have time and a bunch of pickups (I have no such time though.) And so many times I feel like when people post about their hybrids, they've already convinced themselves it's going to be "better" no matter what. That "nothing is good enough from the factory" syndrome which is only sometimes justified.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

It's a successful gamble if it works, but the "chance" comes in play as far as predictability, not dollars; at least if I'm looking for a stock pickup there are ways to know somewhat what I'm getting. Sure, I get the fun of experimenting if you happen to have time and a bunch of pickups (I have no such time though.) And so many times I feel like when people post about their hybrids, they've already convinced themselves it's going to be "better" no matter what. That "nothing is good enough from the factory" syndrome which is only sometimes justified.

Hybrid ideas would be your brain child, you are somewhat primed to liking them.

I would say that with Duncan's Custom Shop and people's ability to mod their pickups also puts people in a spot where "omg, I could be the one who dreamed up the next floor model that Duncan sells!" Look at the Custom 5 and the 59/Custom Hybrid. They are great examples of this community taking it upon themselves to experiment and give the feedback to Seymour Duncan and now the consumers like you get to benefit: you don't need to feel nervous about making your own 59/Custom Hybrid, it's now tried and true by many users, and you can now have one for $99 as opposed to paying $160 Custom Shop price.

As to nothing is good enough from the factory... Sure, some brands are like that, but I think we know to avoid those brands. I've never had a disappointing Duncan, be it stock in a guitar or one that I bought to replace a pickup with. The JB and the Custom have never failed me, EVER. If anyone asks me for a better humbucker to replace their crappy cheap stock pickup in their $150 guitar, I ALWAYS point them to one of those, and I've never heard anything negative from their results.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

We love making hybrids here. I have some very stupid ones, what do you guys think? Maybe I should run a poll and whichever gets the most upvote, I'll order and tell you guys about it.

1. Hot Rodded Hybrid
Our beloved Hot Rodded set, BUT IN ONE PICKUP!

2. Slash Lover
One coil each from Seth Lover and A2Pro Slash. Vintage PAF Swirl!

3. Invader at the Gates
Sort of like the 59/Custom Hybrid of combining a coil from a high output monster and a vintage level pickup

4. Greek Alphabet
Hybrid made from Alpha and Omega!

5. Hyper Distortion
This is the most stupid of all. One coil from the Dimarzio Super Distortion, one coil from the Duncan Distortion, together to make ULTIMATE Distortion humbucker.

A few practical things worth pointing out...

Hybrid makers have discovered there is a sweet spot in the difference between the coils when making them, so it's worth paying attention to the number of turns of wire on the specific bobbins you plan to put together. Taking one coil from the neck and one from the bridge doesn't necessarily work if the number of turns is too different.

The DiMarzio Super Distortion and the Duncan Distortion are different size bobbins, so you would need to make a custom plate to put them together.

The marketing of a pickup is different from how they really sound as a pickup through various amps, and further different from how they will sound mixed with something else. For example, even the Slash pickups don't guarantee you sound like Slash to start with - you would need his whole signal path and settings. Putting a patent-spec Seth bobbin with the A2P may not end up PAF-ish or Slash-ish at all. Or it could end up where one bobbin overtakes the other in sound. For example, I have an A2P / Pearly Gates hybrid neck that sounds closer to an A2P than a 'best of' both pickups.

Care in choosing which coil is the slug coil and which one is the screw coil matters with hybrids.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

A few practical things worth pointing out...

Hybrid makers have discovered there is a sweet spot in the difference between the coils when making them, so it's worth paying attention to the number of turns of wire on the specific bobbins you plan to put together. Taking one coil from the neck and one from the bridge doesn't necessarily work if the number of turns is too different.

The DiMarzio Super Distortion and the Duncan Distortion are different size bobbins, so you would need to make a custom plate to put them together.

The marketing of a pickup is different from how they really sound as a pickup through various amps, and further different from how they will sound mixed with something else. For example, even the Slash pickups don't guarantee you sound like Slash to start with - you would need his whole signal path and settings. Putting a patent-spec Seth bobbin with the A2P may not end up PAF-ish or Slash-ish at all. Or it could end up where one bobbin overtakes the other in sound. For example, I have an A2P / Pearly Gates hybrid neck that sounds closer to an A2P than a 'best of' both pickups.

Care in choosing which coil is the slug coil and which one is the screw coil matters with hybrids.

Absolutely agree, which is why this thread is called crazy dumb hybrid ideas! XD They are more supposed to be "fun and hilarious" than "actually sound all that amazing". For example Dimarzio's F-Space and the Duncan Trembucker are differently sized, so yeah I'd definitely need custom bobbin and plate to actually fit a coil wound to spec from each. As to whether it'll sound good together? Well... They're both ceramic, but that's about where the similarities end too haha. It's more of a play on ZOMG MOAR DISTORTION. Similar idea for "Slash Lover" haha, combining essentially an A2P and Seth Lover... eh, probably like you mentioned the A2P Pearly Gates Hybrid. But the idea of a "swirl ice cream" of PAFs does sound like fun.
 
Re: Dumb Crazy Hybrid Ideas!

"I have not failed. I've just found 10000 ways that won't work."
- Thomas A. Edison

That's the spirit about going for dumb and/or crazy or both.

Didn't I know what I know today, I don't think I would even consider the idea of making a "hybrid" at all, really.

God bless folk that would willingly go down into some unthinkable rabbit-holes, and still have the willingness to share their experiences, good or bad, with the rest of us, just for the sake of feeling good doing it.

Having quite a bit of experience into the modding of p'ups, nowadays my approach is going with proven "recipes" for p'ups, not so much about "hybrids" per se, but to "coil mismatch", contained between a set of parameters.

HTH,
 
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