Full shreds and pole pieces

Juanhanglo

Active member
Hey guys,

I was toying around with polepieces today on my full shred loaded ec256.

I'd been running all long slotted poles instead of the short hex ones for years.
And for years, I was scratching my head when everyone says theyre bright when my experience was anything but.

Its the polepieces.

Bridge:
The short hex ones are tighter sounding in that the attack feels faster.
The bottom end seems to be not as full sounding. Not frequency mind you, but thickness.
The long standard poles seem to make them sound not just a bit fatter/smoother, but also more even eq wise.

Neck: the same applies here. The change in attack is more apparent though.

With the standard poles, they feel like dimarzios, which is cool. Its just that I hate the sound of them that way.
Filisters offer a different Flavor.

***please keep in mind I used a pretty high gain to test this, as any attack changes become more apparent. Lower gain or clean tones will be more subtle. ***

Stock, they're ok
With pole change, they're my favorite duncan set.

Another trick is to bump up the bass at the amp. It fills out the bridge pickup, while the neck becomes even more fluid.
Very cool.

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I kinda was around during the whole pole piece/mag swap and hybrid pickup building craze here.
Is it the length that is making the difference here? Or the hex? Or both?
 
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I believe it should mostly be the lenght and how that affects the magnetic field. Although, it might also have to do with the composition of the metals. I'm not sure what Duncan uses for both.

Man, I've wanted to try the Full Shred for a while, but I just haven't been around to. It's relation to the Custom line kinda keeps me from it since I didn't really gel with any of the Custom variations I tried. If you think the low-end thins out with the FS, though, it might be just what the Custom was missing (or had too much of, rather) for me.
 
I believe it should mostly be the lenght and how that affects the magnetic field. Although, it might also have to do with the composition of the metals. I'm not sure what Duncan uses for both.

Man, I've wanted to try the Full Shred for a while, but I just haven't been around to. It's relation to the Custom line kinda keeps me from it since I didn't really gel with any of the Custom variations I tried. If you think the low-end thins out with the FS, though, it might be just what the Custom was missing (or had too much of, rather) for me.
Eq some bass out with a high output humbucker for an idea.

They kinda pre set the eq for you in that respect.

All filister poles reminds me of dimarzios actually. Kinda Fred like? Id say 4, 5, 5.5, 5.5 if you went with dimarzio's eq rating system. Output wise, id say paf pro to norton.

the custom is hot ceramic paf, right?
 
the custom is hot ceramic paf, right?
Yeah. Kinda. The wind itself is 14K with 43AWG and yeah, ceramic. Going by specs, it's just a high-output pickup, not very PAF-like. But the tone is open, dry, and not as compressed as the JB, for example, so it does have some PAF-ish vibe. I honestly would've probably loved the pickup if the low-end wasn't as huge.

The Custom is allegedly the same wind as the Full Shred, just with different poles and an A5 magnet. I can't say for sure, though. Never had a Full Shred, and I spent very little time with the Custom 5 because it just downright wasn't my thing.
 
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I believe it should mostly be the lenght and how that affects the magnetic field. Although, it might also have to do with the composition of the metals. I'm not sure what Duncan uses for both.

Man, I've wanted to try the Full Shred for a while, but I just haven't been around to. It's relation to the Custom line kinda keeps me from it since I didn't really gel with any of the Custom variations I tried. If you think the low-end thins out with the FS, though, it might be just what the Custom was missing (or had too much of, rather) for me.
The FS definitely thins out the low end, while adding a very nice upper-mid grind. For the kind of music that you would imagine playing with a FS, it is very sensibly voiced: a lot of 80s metal tones are all about the fine-tuning of the high end, while having preciously little bass.
 
Bridge:
The short hex ones are tighter sounding in that the attack feels faster.
The bottom end seems to be not as full sounding. Not frequency mind you, but thickness.
The long standard poles seem to make them sound not just a bit fatter/smoother, but also more even eq wise.

Neck: the same applies here. The change in attack is more apparent though.
Totally logical to me... short hex poles = less inductance, less eddy currents. Does exactly what you describe.

Enjoy!
 
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