HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

[swissmountain]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Late to the party but last week I put two 59/Custom hybrids together from a 59 and a Custom. I used the 59 screw coil and the Custom slug coil with the 59 magnet and used an A4 with the Custom screw coil and the 59 slug coil. Both pickups went into Les Pauls.

What can I say - these pickups have the low output DNA but with much more power in the low end. They are clearly not shy of midrange - power chords on the D and G strings sound really fat. Top end is clear and very bright - I brought the brightness down by putting resistors in parallel to the volume pot (1.5 meg and 2.2 meg in parallel with a 500k pot) - the hybrids respond very well to that. In both Les Pauls they gave me the bridge tone I always wanted but could not get with other pickups. The PAF clones were mostly too thin in the bridge spot, the overwound PAF clones not clear enough and in some cases still thin, and the high output stuff was not what I really wanted from a LP.

Many thanks to BachToRock for bringing this up. Now it's on to neck hybrid pickups. I got a 7k and a 8k PAF clone which are just waiting to become 7.5k neck hybrids ...

 

[swissmountain]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Just a small update because the question has been asked several times.

It really does make a difference which coil sits where. If the coil from the Custom is closer to the neck the tone is noticeably fatter, whereas if the coil from the Custom is closer to the bridge the overall tone is brighter. I got this result from flipping the pickup which had the Custom screw coil so that this coil now faces the neck.

 

[deci belle]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Bach2Rock's thread is 8 years new— amazing.

I just converted to hybrids yesterday, and put the jazz/59n I made in an es175. I'd always wondered why the jazz neck pu sounded so thin and trebly compared to the '59 bridge. Now that noise is gone and what's left is… ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎❤︎❤︎ ❤︎!!

Thank you for the article you wrote with the pictures, orpheo.

Gee, I wonder what I should do with the bridge pu?!!

 

[swissmountain]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Further update: I now made two hybrids out of a 7k and an 8k PAF style humbucker. I kept the magnets (the one with the hotter screw coil has an A4 while the other has an A2). I have only installed the one with the A4 magnet right now in the neck spot of a Les Paul (which has a 59/Custom hybrid in the bridge spot). It replaced a 7.2k A4 PAF style humbucker which was very good to begin with. The A4 neck hybrid is noticeably higher output and fatter in the midrange while retaining lots of edge. It is quite tight in the low end for a full size humbucker although not quite as tight as I had hoped for. But the overall tone especially for leads is so good that I can live with the slightly loose low end for now. Anyway - playing that hybridized Les Paul is more fun than it ever has been - highly recommended.

 

[BreakingAllTheRules]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Any one here interested in helping me build a a couple of hybrids? For payment of course.

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Duncan REALLY needs to market the 59/Jazz Neck Hybrid... it's pretty much the perfect neck humbucker with A2/3/5 for fine tuning. The JB and/or Duncan Distortion/Custom Hybrid is an interesting beast as it sounds great with Alnico or Ceramic magnets... a lot of flavors available from the premiere pickup company... find YOUR tone!

 

[jake_xms3_punk]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

^it really is an awesome pickup, and a perfect match to be 59/c hybrid! Really want to try a jb/custom too! Hybrids just have some extra magic that matched coil humbuckers don't have.

Side note: what's Happened to the pictures in the original post?!

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Duncan REALLY needs to market the 59/Jazz Neck Hybrid... it's pretty much the perfect neck humbucker with A2/3/5 for fine tuning. !

I have long championed this. I've seen all the tone scientists here struggling to design a neck pickup when the perfect one exists already. My exhortations are always met by stone silence. Obviously most people haven't even heard the 59/Jazz, but it's ridiculous to be trying to design a neck pickup before hearing the 59/J.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

*** rumors of squeaky cogs turning inside my head ***

*** image of a lightbulb lightning up ***

Stay tuned, folks!

 

[blueman335]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I have long championed this. I've seen all the tone scientists here struggling to design a neck pickup when the perfect one exists already. My exhortations are always met by stone silence. Obviously most people haven't even heard the 59/Jazz, but it's ridiculous to be trying to design a neck pickup before hearing the 59/J.

Is this with two neck or bridge coils? In the neck hybrids I've made, pairing a 'vintage output' bridge and neck coil (like a '59B + '59N, SethB + '59N, etc.) make the best neck hybrids. With about a .4K difference in resistance between coils, the top end opens up & the mids and lows back off a little.

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

With neck coils... I believe the combo of Poly and Plain Enamel coils also adds some special harmonic juice...

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

BachToRock,are you getting your commision/royalty checks?

 

[Fusion1]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I would be cool if the new forum pickup neck companion pickup to the 59/Custom hybrid is none other than the Jazz/59 hybrid no matter what they call it. A very nice "match" to the bridge hybrid.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I would be cool if the new forum pickup neck companion pickup to the 59/Custom hybrid is none other than the Jazz/59 hybrid no matter what they call it. A very nice "match" to the bridge hybrid.

If they decide to use the same relationship among coils found in the '59/Custom Hybrid, the basis for the neck "companion", taking a somewhat "educated guess", should be around 5000 turns of AWG42 PE wire for the screw coil and around 6000 turns of AWG43 SPN wire for the slug coil.

HTH,

 

[blueman335]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

If they decide to use the same relationship among coils found in the '59/Custom Hybrid, the basis for the neck "companion", taking a somewhat "educated guess", should be around 5000 turns of AWG42 PE wire for the screw coil and around 6000 turns of AWG43 SPN wire for the slug coil.

Right. The Jazz/'59 hybrid is another issue, another project. The neck to the '59/Custom bridge hybrid needs a greater difference in coils than that to be a good fit. A bridge with a 7K and 4.1K coil should have a neck with a difference in coils somewhere in that ball park. The beauty of the '59/Custom is the big mismatch.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Just a question not a critique, but does a big mismatch = a good sounding pickup when used in the neck position? I know it works well for that mismatch in the bridge, but not sure if that same rationale works in the neck position.

 

[blueman335]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Just a question not a critique, but does a big mismatch = a good sounding pickup when used in the neck position? I know it works well for that mismatch in the bridge, but not sure if that same rationale works in the neck position.

It works better in the neck slot. When coils are matched, treble is reduced and mids are added: the humbucker effect. With a 5% difference in resistance in neck coils, there's a little bit of mismatch effect, but not much. At around 10% difference the real magic starts. You get more clarity and definition, and any low end mud cleans up. Much more versatile.

Many bridge PU's are bright and on the thin side because of the slot location (reduced string energy). Mismatched bridge coils reduce the humbucker effect and add more treble and thin out the mids further, basically adding in some single coil sound. That's why I use warm magnets in my hybrids, both bridge and neck.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

great explanation Blueman335.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Any sound clips or videos with the neck Jazz/59 hybrid in action? Is it a competitor for the Screaming Demon in neck or do these two are champions on different games really?

 

[LtKojak]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Any sound clips or videos with the neck Jazz/59 hybrid in action? Is it a competitor for the Screaming Demon in neck or do these two are champions on different games really?

What do you mean by "these two are champions on different games"? Can't really make a sense of that statement...