Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

Burnin_UP

Burnin_UP

New member
The bridge in my gibson historic is just a wee bit too vintage for me... :)

While I love the neck pickup, I just find the bridge to be too bright, too thin, and a bit anemic.

I am thinking of replacing it (worst case), doing a magnet swap (best case), or having it wound a bit hotter (no idea what kind of ordeal that would be..).

Anybody been there/done that, have had custom buckers, and have some advice here?
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

Try an A2 mag. About 20% stronger than the A3's in the Custom Bucker and will tame the top end/add the body you're after without losing the vintage flavor.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

Also, kind of an odd suggestion/thought, but with the very low wind of the CB bridge, an A8 mag might be fun to experiment with (think: Ibanez Super 70s) :)
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

A roughcast unoriented Alnico V might work well too.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

yeah get a selection of mags. i like both combos A3/A2 and A3/RCA5 for different guitars.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

I would first try the A8.
This will give you exactly what you're looking for.

Some of the other suggestions are ok, but really won't make much difference...at least not as much as you seem to be looking for. They will give you more subtle changes that you may not even notice. The A2 will come close to the tone you're seeking, but you won't notice a change in the power.

Try the A8 and if it gives you more than you're looking for (which I seriously doubt) then try another mag swap as suggested.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

I plugged into a thicker fatter amp (Laney AOR 50) and it solved the problem. It was too thin in my DSL100.

I didn't want to mess with the pickup because it has a great clean tone, and an awesome fat tone.
 
Last edited:
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

PFDarkside said:
What pickups are in the Historics?
Click to expand...
Depends on the year and model. New ones come with "Custombuckers" that a lot of guys love. Older ones came with Burstbucker 1/2 combos and I believe the oldest ones came with 57 sets, but that part could be wrong.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

I was aware of the Burstbuckers, I'll have to look into the Custombuckers.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

Yeah, sometimes, a change of amp can be just what you need. Before I switch out pickups, I will try one out plugged into many amps to see if it is just the guitar, the pickup, or the amp. Happy you found the solution.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

I have 2 Gibson Historics with Custombuckers. One bridge (2014) reads about 8.5k and sounds fantastic, the other (2013) reads about 7.8k and is quite anemic.

They go for big bucks as some guys love em'! I would suggest searching out a hotter wound Custombucker and swapping for yours, then sell that one. That's what I plan to do!!
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

Are they going for true vintage accuracy where you don't know what you're going to get? ;)
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

Custombuckers are known to be quite variable. A real love/hate thing going on for the most part. The main complaints are like this thread.....thin and brittle.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

DonP said:
I plugged into a thicker fatter amp (Laney AOR 50) and it solved the problem. It was too thin in my DSL100.

I didn't want to mess with the pickup because it has a great clean tone, and an awesome fat tone.
Click to expand...

Red channel on the DSL is a hot mess unless you are downtuned to z. It certainly will cut through a mix....and your eardrums. Im sure when Marshall designed the circuit they were thinking downtuned metal.
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

No comment from me about mag swappng since the results totally depend on the coils involved, on the mag selected and on its Gauss level... two A5's from different makers might sound different and the same bar magnet in two humbuckers won't give the same tone, according to the stray capacitance of the coil. At least that's my experience.

Let's just keep in mind that there's many ways to obtain a rounder and/or thicker tone from a passive pickup without disassembling it:

-lowering the value of its pots or wiring the pickup in parallel with a resistor to ground;
-using a high capacitance cable like they used back in the day (a coiled or long one would do the trick);
-adding a capacitor of small value in parallel with the pickup, in order to emulate cable capacitance. Each time 150pf are added, it's as if the cable was longer of 3 ft;
-putting an inductor or dummy coil (or a dual humbucking dummy coil) in series with the pickup.

I've tried all of these tricks, for myself or for other people. They all work, with more or less effect according to the guitar involved.

Good luck in your quest!
 
Re: Gibson Historic Custom bucker bridge - too thin, seeking advice.

I have a selection of magnets heading my way, and I will try that first. Honestly I don't want to touch the factory wiring on the pots unless the pickups totally sucked - which they don't. If magnet swaps don't do it.. at that point I'll start pickup swaps in which case I'll be tearing out the pots and replacing those too.

What I like about magnet swaps is it limits the "project creep"!

Thanks for the advice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top