SoundAt11
New member
Maybe someone else has thought of this, but I wanted to share. I have used The Mag and Stag Mag humbuckers for almost 20 years and love them. In my number one guitar, the neck humbucker slot always has really fat and bassy tone. I’ve tried at least 20 neck humbuckers there and they never fit me.
It occurred to me that an Invader humbucker uses 12 slugs, which are the same diameter as .187 rod magnets. So, I wanted to experiment by making my own lower output neck “Mag” humbucker. I have tried the normal Jazz neck with all the different magnets, as well as the Full Shred neck and 59/Jazz Hybrid with all magnets. But, none of them worked. I bought a cheap Duncan Designed HB108N neck model. I didn’t want to possibly screw up a more expensive Duncan Invader neck model. I took out all the big hex screws, pulled the big ceramic magnet, erased the Duncan Designed logo, loaded in 6 of Alnico 4 rods under the plain strings and 6 of Alnico 3 rods under the wound strings (to soften the bass response), tightened the baseplate back to the bobbins, and wired it up.
BAM! After 15 years of owning this guitar, the neck position is usable! I know the Invader neck and Duncan Designed version is based on the Jazz neck. I don’t think the Duncan Designed version has the bass-filtering capacitor that the SH8N has.
anyway, the wound strings are polite and not boomy, the plain strings are clear and crisp. BMT Scale would be roughly 4-5-7. As a series-wired humbucker, you can play chords without any booming bass (even when you have the bass up on your amp to beef up a bridge pickup) and there is a little extra sparkle, presence, and clarity from the rod magnets. Split, it’s pretty nice and close to a proper single coil. If you want to try, get: AlNiCo Rod Magnets,.187X.630",Magnetized
It occurred to me that an Invader humbucker uses 12 slugs, which are the same diameter as .187 rod magnets. So, I wanted to experiment by making my own lower output neck “Mag” humbucker. I have tried the normal Jazz neck with all the different magnets, as well as the Full Shred neck and 59/Jazz Hybrid with all magnets. But, none of them worked. I bought a cheap Duncan Designed HB108N neck model. I didn’t want to possibly screw up a more expensive Duncan Invader neck model. I took out all the big hex screws, pulled the big ceramic magnet, erased the Duncan Designed logo, loaded in 6 of Alnico 4 rods under the plain strings and 6 of Alnico 3 rods under the wound strings (to soften the bass response), tightened the baseplate back to the bobbins, and wired it up.
BAM! After 15 years of owning this guitar, the neck position is usable! I know the Invader neck and Duncan Designed version is based on the Jazz neck. I don’t think the Duncan Designed version has the bass-filtering capacitor that the SH8N has.
anyway, the wound strings are polite and not boomy, the plain strings are clear and crisp. BMT Scale would be roughly 4-5-7. As a series-wired humbucker, you can play chords without any booming bass (even when you have the bass up on your amp to beef up a bridge pickup) and there is a little extra sparkle, presence, and clarity from the rod magnets. Split, it’s pretty nice and close to a proper single coil. If you want to try, get: AlNiCo Rod Magnets,.187X.630",Magnetized
