HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE:

All of my guitars with the 59/Custom Hybrid in them also have a Spin-A-Split potentiometer installed...

The other day I re-wired an old Kramer with just a 500k volume pot and the resulting tone was not what I was used to hearing... not quite as full...

The situation is that the 500k potentiometer used for the Spin-A-Split presents an additional load to ground and smooths out the resonant peak of the pickup...

I wired a 500k resistor to ground from the Red/White wires that are used to coil tap... and... PRESTO... the tone and response was back!

I suggest anyone using this pickup should do this mod... it makes a subtle yet essential difference to achieve what I consider PERFECT tone...

 

[WGTP]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

So it is like using a single 250K volume pot?

 

[Micah]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE:

All of my guitars with the 59/Custom Hybrid in them also have a Spin-A-Split potentiometer installed...

The other day I re-wired an old Kramer with just a 500k volume pot and the resulting tone was not what I was used to hearing... not quite as full...

The situation is that the 500k potentiometer used for the Spin-A-Split presents an additional load to ground and smooths out the resonant peak of the pickup...

I wired a 500k resistor to ground from the Red/White wires that are used to coil tap... and... PRESTO... the tone and response was back!

I suggest anyone using this pickup should do this mod... it makes a subtle yet essential difference to achieve what I consider PERFECT tone...

What are you referring to when you say Spin-a-Split pot? A brand? Or is that a different type of pot all together?

 

[Ozram]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

What are you referring to when you say Spin-a-Split pot? A brand? Or is that a different type of pot all together?

It's just a way to do variable coil tapping.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/choosing-installing/tech-tips/spinasplit/

 

[Ozram]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

So it is like using a single 250K volume pot?

No, not exactly. You are actually doing more like a very slight coil tap - i.e. putting a 500k resistor in parallel with one of the coils (thus very slightly reducing the characteristics and contribution of that coil I guess). A 250k volume pot loads both coils.

Btw: I seem to have broken one of the coils in my Custom (without even opening it :31. But now I'm looking forward to making and trying a 59/Custom hybrid instead. I wonder if I will be able to hear the influence of the 500k coil tap or not with my equipment

 

[alkeys]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Isn't that the whole Dimarzio trip- the mismatched coil thing that's patented so we have to go hacking up our Seymour Duncan's? Has anyone tried just using a Dimarzio and be done with it? I like both Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups but I'm just saying...

 

[Micah]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Isn't that the whole Dimarzio trip- the mismatched coil thing that's patented so we have to go hacking up our Seymour Duncan's? Has anyone tried just using a Dimarzio and be done with it? I like both Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups but I'm just saying...

I think theres something typicly way-different about Dimarzio pickups that give them their tone. I know they do have that Dual Resonance thing that is essentially a miss-matched coil configuration. Most of their pickups have a signature rolled-off top end which enhances the mid-range. Duncan pickups typically have a more defined top-end which gives them clarity that the Dimarzio's dont ave in the top end. Overall, your looking @ a honkier sound with the dimarzio's. Im not sure if this is a result of overwinding or what have you--?? Anyone know??

 

[uOpt]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Isn't that the whole Dimarzio trip- the mismatched coil thing that's patented so we have to go hacking up our Seymour Duncan's? Has anyone tried just using a Dimarzio and be done with it? I like both Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups but I'm just saying...

DiMarzios patent does not cover different-coiled humbuckers in general.

The patent is specifically narrowed down to the aspect of having the same number of winds on both coils so that you still get close to 100% hum suppression.

 

[uOpt]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I think theres something typicly way-different about Dimarzio pickups that give them their tone. I know they do have that Dual Resonance thing that is essentially a miss-matched coil configuration. Most of their pickups have a signature rolled-off top end which enhances the mid-range. Duncan pickups typically have a more defined top-end which gives them clarity that the Dimarzio's dont ave in the top end. Overall, your looking @ a honkier sound with the dimarzio's. Im not sure if this is a result of overwinding or what have you--?? Anyone know??

I am more thinking of the baseplate or other metalwork.

The shape of the magnetic field is everything in pickups.

 

[Micah]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I am more thinking of the baseplate or other metalwork.

The shape of the magnetic field is everything in pickups.

Very interesting! So are you thinking that their baseplates are heavier or thicker? Maybe they have more iron mass in the center of the bobbin?

I know this changes things considerably. I swapped the slotted screws out in a C5--WOW! Huge difference in bottom end response and an increase in top end (or @ least an accentuatuation in the top end) that brought grat harmonics off the top end. Someone said it brought the magnetic field closer to the string and further from the base plate by doing this.

 

[uOpt]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Very interesting! So are you thinking that their baseplates are heavier or thicker? Maybe they have more iron mass in the center of the bobbin?

I know this changes things considerably. I swapped the slotted screws out in a C5--WOW! Huge difference in bottom end response and an increase in top end (or @ least an accentuatuation in the top end) that brought grat harmonics off the top end. Someone said it brought the magnetic field closer to the string and further from the base plate by doing this.

I don't have any DiMarzio products and don't plan to, so I can't really check. But yes, more or less magnetic material in the baseplate certainly pancakes out respectively narrows down the field, and then (obviously) the different harmonics on the strings are covered with different intensity.

Non-magnetic but conducting material floating around the pickup also isn't harmless as it can induce eddy currents (should be the right English word for Wirbelstroeme) that will pick a fight with the normally induced currents in the pickup coils, aka dampen them. This is why a non-magnetic but metallic pickup cover changes sound.

The most important easily noticeable sound tuning I "discovered" for myself lately is pickup height versus screw height. Lowering the pickup and putting up the screws to be close to the string causes dramatic changes. More so than much of that magnet and coil fiddling.

 

[Micah]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I don't have any DiMarzio products and don't plan to, so I can't really check. But yes, more or less magnetic material in the baseplate certainly pancakes out respectively narrows down the field, and then (obviously) the different harmonics on the strings are covered with different intensity.

Non-magnetic but conducting material floating around the pickup also isn't harmless as it can induce eddy currents (should be the right English word for Wirbelstroeme) that will pick a fight with the normally induced currents in the pickup coils, aka dampen them. This is why a non-magnetic but metallic pickup cover changes sound.

The most important easily noticeable sound tuning I "discovered" for myself lately is pickup height versus screw height. Lowering the pickup and putting up the screws to be close to the string causes dramatic changes. More so than much of that magnet and coil fiddling.

Coo man! I have noticed that there is a definate sweet spot to the pickup height. Its like @ a certain height the pickup will get harsh and loose its air-y sustain-y feel and sound where the best balance of power and clairity are. Above that height the strings seem stiff and feedback is more uncontrolable with higher output pickups. I have a Dimarzio Norton sitting around and I do notice a slight difference in weight to the DMZ as opposed to a run of the mill SD. Maybe they are thicker base plates??!

 

[uOpt]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

I have a Dimarzio Norton sitting around and I do notice a slight difference in weight to the DMZ as opposed to a run of the mill SD. Maybe they are thicker base plates??!

What is really needed here is some aparatus to map the layout of the magnetic field around the pickup. That'll tell you all this stuff.

But it's also a lot of work. Even if you just want to go down the imagined path of the strings, you need a computer-readable gaussmeter and some kind of rails (non-magnetic of course) for it to ride on, and that better feeds the location into the computer, too. My measuring trick with just a compass won't cut it there.

All that to find "yes, Dimarzios are different than Seymour Duncans"

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

BUMP.....for a good reason. There seems to have been a lot of new forum members in recent months, most of whom may not be aware of the hybrid concept, and this is the mother of all threads on the subjects, and the most-ever-viewed thread anywhere on this forum......so.....hopefully a few keen readers will get inspired by this and a few keen tweaker/tinkerer/builder folks will get into making and hearing these pickups.

 

[Truant]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Forgive me if this has already been asked, as I didn't read every page....but why isn't this guide vaulted?

 

[BachToRock]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Hello all... been away from the forum for a long long time...

A2 Custom/59 Hybrid is still the top pickup in my book...

Got 2 Brobuckers which sound almost identical to the Hybrid, but lack a bit of the low end strength and sound a little garbled in the highs.

Have made a few A5 Custom/JB Hybrids that are really great for a more modern tone... the nice big tone of the Custom 5 with a little JB signature midrange presence/punch in the mix...

 

[jimijames]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Welcome back man! I gotta say this thread is the reason that I have a hybrid in my strat now, and the only reason it's getting replaced is to make room for another hybrid of sorts - the P-rails. Fantastic sounding pickups for anyone who hasn't tried them yet.

edit: hybrids, that is. I haven't tried the p-rails yet.

 

[easyrider66689]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

HI wouldn't Iron Filings on a cardboard map out the magnetic field?

 

[jimijames]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

HI wouldn't Iron Filings on a cardboard map out the magnetic field?

Um, yes but I don't see what purpose that would serve...

 

[Majestic]

Re: HOW TO: Make a 59/Custom Hybrid

Doesn't DiMarzio use extra metal slugs in their "Virtual" pickups in addition to the poles/slugs that are already inherent in a humbucker? Increasing inductance, or something like that? To be certain, there must be many tricks that can mess with a magnetic field.

Note: I'm not referring to the spacers they use to simulate an A2 type "warmth". I talking about actually ferrous metallic material added to the pickups. Dammit, I just don't remember.