HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

[King IzzO)))]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Two pickups I keep coming back to are Pearly Gates and Screamin Demon. How might these pair up in a hybrid, and would you go A5 or A2?

I've got a Demon/490R hybrid, I use an A5. It's pretty Fred-like, but a little more vintage sounding, real nasty if I want it to be.

 

[DougGuy]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Way to go BTR! ^^^^^^^^^^555555555555's

A5 mag in the hybrid is frikkin insanely over the top tone. Seriously so. The highs are nothing short of awesome. This pickup is in it's own league in that it is very dimensional. If there was such a thing as 3D sound, this would be it.

I am an old school player of 45+yrs, I remember 1950s Les Pauls for sale under $500 and PAFs were laying around in repair shops and boxes of used guitar gear like spare strings cause people were yanking them out and dropping in Dimarzios. I grew up on classic/southern rock and blues and tonally that's where my roots are.

That said, A5 is too much for my Les Paul bridge position and the music I play so I use A4 which tonally is somewhat between A2 and A5 but it tames the hybrid down just the right amount so the guitar is still plenty versatile. Slightly less obnoxious than A5 but it doesn't lose ANY of that multi-dimensionality, and in fact adds to it since it can now cover a wider range of tones and musical styles.

Dial the amp in a bit and you got sledge hammer slamming hard edge metal as you would want. Thick, pounding, hard driving rock. Clean the amp up a little and you got classic rock utopia from Skynryd to Zep and ZZ Top with a very cool singing crying vocal quality up the neck when you bend notes that you simply don't get out of box stock pickups. It sounds almost like a cry baby cocked half back in some parts of the higher register. With the same settings, playing the early VH riffs still gets that classic/elusive brown sound with the harmonics and chirps and that trademark snarl. Very cool!

I might also add that a certain "Frankenstein" pickup that is on the market these days CANNOT touch the hybrid, hands down no comparison!
______________________________

Use these for bridge position, they match with un-modded neck position pickups quite well. 59/C5 + Antiquity neck is a match made somewhere down in the mud of the Rio Grande.. Just let me know, if ya wanna go, to that home out on the range.......

 

[IanBallard]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I'm going to put together a 59/Custom Custom and have a few questions.
1) If I like it with a particular mag type, can I get another mag like it so I can put two of the same together ?
2) Has anyone tried this with an alnico 8 ?
3) How do you know what gauge wire is used in the different PU's ?
This sounds very intriguing and I can't wait to try it.

1) Yes. Go to AddictionFX on eBay. They got everything, even weird stuff like Alnico 9, etc.

2) Yes. I liked it for a while, but I got tired of the over-the-top mids. It was more middy than a Tone Zone and the magnet is so strong, that it caused lots of feedback....as soon as I switch to an A5 (degaussed slightly from leaving it in a drawer with other pickups I suppose), the feedback problem went away and the sustain was better. I'm no longer an A8 fanboy.

3) The '59 uses 42awg like a typical PAF type and the Custom uses 43awg plain enamel.

It's a cool pickup and has great dynamics, tone and more harmonics than either one by itself, but it does hum almost as much as a single coil, because the coils are so different in resistance. Something to consider. I may be swapping out this pup for an Air Zone soon, since I fell in love with a guitar I played recently (American Standard Strat) with that pickup.

 

[orpheo]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

@Ianballard: hum? really? I don't notice it at all. No hum with me whatsoever. But maybe you have that cause you Americans have a 50hz cycle and we Europeans 60hz? (or vice versa, can't remember, but thats the only thing I can think off).

 

[MarkinKC]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

just made a killer sounding hybrid.

I had a custom custom (Alnico2) that I have been playing with into my plexi. Been trying higher output pickups lately. Got a dimarzio 36th paf that sounds good but lacks balls, hence the custom custom.

The CC is white, so I had a white 59 neck.

I used the CC base and screw, 59 slug & alnico 2. It really cleaned up the low end. You can hear the articulation of low string chords and leads still sound good. It has a nice "snarl", bright without being harsh.

Is there a cleaner option for the slug coil? What would an Alnico 5 do to the sound?


thx

OK, made a proper hybrid out of a black trembucker CC (used CC A2 and screw coil) + 59 trembucker B slug coil.

It sounds weak, like something is not right compared to the first hybrid I made.

Is the neck 59 fundamentally different than the bridge in output/tonality?

Anyways, gonna try the other half of the hybrid I made (a5 59 screw coil + CC slug coil) and see how that sounds.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

@Ianballard: hum? really? I don't notice it at all. No hum with me whatsoever. But maybe you have that cause you Americans have a 50hz cycle and we Europeans 60hz? (or vice versa, can't remember, but thats the only thing I can think off).

PAL (Euro) = 50hz
NTSC (US) = 60hz

It could be my crappy wiring or some other factor, but in theory, only a pickup with similar resistance in the off-phase coil will completely send the noise to ground. You may not notice it, but it's there. If you swapped in a symmetrical coil pickup, you'd see what I mean, or if you have a neck pickup that is symmetrical, it would be more obvious.

I love this pickup and may leave it, but my volume pot has crapped out (EVH bournes low-friction) and doesn't roll down very much at all and at "0", sound leaks out like hell. Basically it goes from medium volume to full volume and that's it. So, I need to re-install a new pot anyway. I already bought the Air Zone used, so I may either put it in here, or save it for another guitar.

I didn't like an AII magnet in this pickup, since my guitar is alder and has a lot of natural mids and I like a fat bass response, which you can't get with an AII. Yes, you can get a decent early Van Halen tone, but that's not what I was after at all.

 

[AlexR]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

OK, made a proper hybrid out of a black trembucker CC (used CC A2 and screw coil) + 59 trembucker B slug coil.

It sounds weak, like something is not right compared to the first hybrid I made.

Is the neck 59 fundamentally different than the bridge in output/tonality?

Anyways, gonna try the other half of the hybrid I made (a5 59 screw coil + CC slug coil) and see how that sounds.

Yes, if you make a bridge pickup and use a neck p/u as part of it, it will sound weak. The neck is usually 10% underwound. Get a bridge '59 and save the neck for a jazz/59n hybrid

 

[MarkinKC]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Yes, if you make a bridge pickup and use a neck p/u as part of it, it will sound weak. The neck is usually 10% underwound. Get a bridge '59 and save the neck for a jazz/59n hybrid

no, the one I made with the bridge 59 sounds weak. The neck 59 on smokes!

I also jacked up the second pickup of the hybrid split. When I removed the CC slug, the white wire came out. To the best I can tell, it should just lay against the copper wire under the tape.

Anyways, that pickup had real low output but sounds really cool, almost quakey like a strat on bridge and middle

 

[MarkinKC]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

the hybrid I made with the black CC & 59 Trembucker bridge and A2 though my plexi was very dark. So I swapped the A5, much better.

So weird, because the hybrid I made with the white CC/59N A2 is bright, not overly, pretty much perfection.

????

 

[big kurka]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Ok so I made a pg/c hybrid A5 pg slug c screw and all I can say is WOW! I've only gotten to play it for a couple of hours so far, but it seems to be friggen awsome! I went from a pg bridge to this hybrid in my Edwards LP. I'm not good at describing things like this but here goes. It seems to still have the pg mid sizzle thing, the lows seem tight and stong. The highs are bright not harsh or ice picky and the output is of corse more. I can go from an early David Bowie to Tool no problem at all. This hybrid has found a permanet home in my Edwards.

Thanks BTR for this awsome p/u.

 

[DougGuy]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

OK, made a proper hybrid out of a black trembucker CC (used CC A2 and screw coil) + 59 trembucker B slug coil.

It sounds weak, like something is not right compared to the first hybrid I made.

Sounds like one of the coils got the lead wires reversed maybe?

 

[austin]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Looks like we won't have to worry about making these ourselves anymore...
-
Austin

 

[IanBallard]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Looks like we won't have to worry about making these ourselves anymore...
-
Austin

Except you only get the combination they make. A JB/Custom? A 59/Pearly Gates? Etc, etc. Plus, they only provide the production model with a full strength A5. If it costs the same as typical production pups, it is a good deal though. Even if you buy two used 'buckers, you're still looking at $100 to make one pickup. You can buy a new Duncan on eBay for $72.

 

[jhale667]

Heck, I'll try one...

Heck, I'll try one...

Except you only get the combination they make. A JB/Custom? A 59/Pearly Gates? Etc, etc. Plus, they only provide the production model with a full strength A5. If it costs the same as typical production pups, it is a good deal though. Even if you buy two used 'buckers, you're still looking at $100 to make one pickup. You can buy a new Duncan on eBay for $72.

Yeah, if it costs the same as a regular production model, I'm goin' for one just to check them out...I've been trying to find a cheap '59 TB on Evilbay for months now to no avail to try making one myself...

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Looks like we won't have to worry about making these ourselves anymore...
-
Austin

I really enjoy making them personally been doin it since BTR first came out with the info on it...

 

[WGTP]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

The '59 and Custom 5 aren't my favorites, I'd be more inclined to try JB/DC or CC, maybe with a A3 or A4. Which coil is prefered at the bridge/neck?

 

[WGTP]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Whoops, meant to ask if anyone has tried JB/FS hybrid?

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

The JB/Custom, JB/Full Shred Hybrids sound great. No real preference as to the coil configuration.
I have tried them with the following magnets... all sound great!
A2 - Like a mix of the Demartini Model and a Custom Custom... buttery mids
A4 - Flatter response... even keeled
A5 - Tighter bass and more agressive treble
Ceramic from the Custom - 80's rock... tight... crunchy mids
Thick Ceramic from the Distortion - as above, but MORE

 

[WGTP]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Thanks for the quick response. I have 2, 4, 5 and 8 mags. Just need to get off my butt.

 

[lazyfinger]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Wow, over 7 years since this thread... now it's a production pup.