HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

[orpheo]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Indeed... a PG coil will add it's mojo to the mix. I am tempted to Hybrid up a Custom/Brobucker.
This morning, I swapped an A4 59/Custom Hybrid for a Brobucker in an old 80's Maple Kramer Pacer Imperial Body/Maple Warmoth Neck. The Hybrid is the early EVH tone!
I think the A4 nailed it tonally... might be my new favorite magnet!

thanks, I think the pg/custom will be the perfect allround hybrid/pickup for me.

so, you put in a brobucker in the kramer? or the a4 59/custom hybrid?

the brobucker is a cool concept, but I'm afraid that the brobucker sounds too fat for me, so thats why I never bought it.

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Replaced the Brobucker with an A4 59/Custom Hybrid... it's the bomb!

 

[orpheo]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

say what? you prefer the hybrid over the bro?! wow. thats really a testament to how great the hybrid(59/custom) really is.

 

[orpheo]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

oh, one more question. I think I'll like the jazz/59 hybrid, but can that pickup in the neck go along a 59/custom hybrid in the bridge? or is the jazz/59 too weak for that?

and do you use a 59n or 59b and a jazz-neck or jazz-bridge for the neckpickup you like so much? I think that a 59b+jazz-b will work best if it has to be matched with a 59b-custom hybrid, but you have made them, so thats why I ask

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Jazz/59 Neck is perfect balance... neck coils from both... awesome pickup!
Tune with A2, A4, A5 to taste...

 

[orpheo]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

@bachtorock I suppose you mean neck pickups in stead of neck coils? cause I don't know what the neck-coil is...?

also, I've been thinking. I want a pickup that sits between the jazz (with alnico8 bar) and the alnico2pro, for the bridgeposition. I like the jazz 8; its dirty, open, transparant, and it brings me directly into the classic rock-territory; MSG, thin lizzy, acdc, aerosmith/joe perry. but it might benefit from a bit of warmth, but i don't want to lose the output. Might a jazz/alnico2pro hybrid with an a8 magnet do the trick?

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Jazz/59 Neck is perfect balance... neck coils from both... awesome pickup!
Tune with A2, A4, A5 to taste...

Absolutely. The Jazz/59 neck pickup is something of pure beauty, particularly in a high-quality instrument. I very much doubt this pickup could be bettered by even a custom scatterwound pickup from the very best of boutique winders.

I reviewed the Jazz/59 neck and Custom/59 pickups in this thread waay back and i re-read what i wrote recently ... gotta say the only way i'd change that post would be to heap even more praise on both pickups.

 

[Rick]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Looking to buy another one of these pups, anyone have one for sale?

 

[bigred]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

i hope they vault this post! it's very informative. i'm gonna try to do this. i just hope i dont destroy 2 perfectly workin' pups.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I got sick of the A8 so I put an A5 in just for kicks. I like it way better. Surprisingly the mids are NOT scooped but the pickup is very even. The A8 was mushy in the mids and higher gain amps sounded muddy and "squishy" playing chords. The bass response is very similar but the reduction in output (A8's are WAAAAY stronger than A5's) makes the tweed amp models less farty and more "classic Fender". The pickup is indeed more PAF-like. Very chimey on clean models. High gain is clearer and surprisingly the treble is not ice-picky at all. Again, very nice and even.

It's POSSIBLE that I inadvertently degaussed it messing with it and it floating around for months and months here and there, so that might be a factor. So maybe that is why it's so mellow.

I like it.

 

[cthroatgtr]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Not sure how active this thread is. I noticed mention of a JB/Custom hybrid but very little feedback on the results. Can anyone that has tried this compare it to a stock JB or C5? For me the JB can get a little dark and the C5 was too scooped and a tad bright so finding a middle ground of the two is intriguing.

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

JB/Custom Hybrid is exactly that... Crunches like a Custom and sings like a JB.
Ceramic for the tightest and most aggressive tone.
A5 is the perfect JB & Custom 5 meritage...
A4 & A2 might get too soft & midrangy for some... depends on taste...

 

[Elfunkenstein]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

So I have a gfs crunchy pat, what gfs do you guys think would go good with that for a hybrid? I'm thinking a vintage 59

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Blues Saraceno/Custom Hybrids...

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

59/Custom Hybrid with Hex Polepieces...

 

[IanBallard]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Dude.... the PATB/fillister combo is awesome, dude! I'd like to see a zebra version of that.

 

[orpheo]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Dude.... the PATB/fillister combo is awesome, dude! I'd like to see a zebra version of that.

I've got one like that, only made of the stagmag and PATB2 I will never ever ever try to make one like that again, but the tone is awesome.

 

[orpheo]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

is it me, or am I the only one who finds it difficult to fit the resoldered leads under or between the bobbins, but neatly enough for a cover to slip on without a hitch?

 

[DougGuy]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Stumbled on this thread not long ago, liked what I read, craigslisted a 59 and a custom 5, both bridge pups, and did the swap on both pickups, then A/B'ed them, along with an ebayed EVH Frankenstein pickup. Man, I'm nothing short of floored with the hybrid!

To begin with, I have owned a bunch of original PAFs over the years, and I was probably the guy who most influenced Lindy Fralin to begin winding his PAF versions back in the late 1980s. I went through a bunch of his prototypes, most of which sounded as good as the best PAFs, quite a few sounded better to me, because we were able to wind hotter, etc.. Suffice it to say that I got a pretty good ear for what I would call the "overwind" tone...

Enter the 59/Custom5 hybrid. Whoa! Holy sheeiat! The bottom is clear, yet fat and strong, but no mud whatsoever, and even after letting the chord decay, it retains it's string balance and character very well. The mids are somewhat scooped as you would expect from looking at the tone charts for the SH1 and the SH14, each having a 6-3-8 rating for bass, mids, treble. The highs this thing produces are stunning! This pickup reaches into a tonal dimension all it's own, I have never heard any single pickup that does the entire tonal range with so much balance and presence. I haven't tried all the big name boutique winds, but I have used a good number of them and nothing comes close IMHO.

Some examples of sounds that this pickup nails would be Billy Gibbons low end, EVH highs and harmonics, Mick Ralphs' solo on Bad Company's "Moving On" comes across very convincingly. Brad Whitford's creamy singing lead tone comes pretty close.

In the A/B of the hybrids, using the '59 slug coil on the Custom 5's baseplate, magnet, and screw coil, the overall output seemed a little stronger than the hybrid made from the 59's baseplate, magnet, screw coil, and Custom 5 slug coil. Although they both have Alnico V magnets, and ohm out at 11.45k and 11.39k respectively, there were slight differences.

Comparing them to the EVH Frankenstein pickup, ALL of these got a really good "brown sound" think You Really Got Me/Runnin' With The Devil, but the scooped mids, clearer fatter bottom and glorious highs of the hybrid kicked the Frankenstein's butt without question.

Thanks to the OP and all other posters, this is truly a remarkable pickup that I will make more of.

 

[skynyrd]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I am really considering making a hybrid out of a PGb and a Custom,,screw coil of the PG and slug coil of the custom. I love the vintage PAF tone but would like hair more meat with the taters.