is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

XSSIVE said:
it's not the pickup. the C5 is my favorite duncan and in 5 of my guitars and i have a very 80s abuse of pinch harmonics playing style and i can get them to scream on any of my guitars with no effort at all. it's actually harmonic happy which is one reason i like it so much.

-Mike
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Maybe your guitars are more harmonic friendly!!!
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

I just bought my old Hamer Special FM back from another forum member who put a C5 and A2 Pro in it, and the harmonics just drip out of it!
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

what type of guitar is it walt?
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

jeremy said:
what type of guitar is it walt?
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Am Stand. Strat. Maple neck, floyd, body don't know maybe alder

I can get some pinch harmonics but not the same way as on a jb, 78 vhpaf. They just seem a little harder to get on the C5
 
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Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

i might try a patb3 if you get along with the look
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

Every time I play my Jackson SL3 I'm shocked at how easy it is to get pinch harmonics - not just using the bridge JB, but the neck and middle Hot Rails too.
It just seems to be a guitar that makes harmonics very easy to achieve.
I can get pinch harmonics from that guitar even easier than I can with my Jackson RR3 which has Blackouts!
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

Micah said:
I think I know what you're hearing here-- Maybe try putting some inverted allen screws in the screw side bobbin (like the full shred and demon have in them). I ordered 100 of them from fastener express for about 5 bucks plus 5 bucks shipping. They are the 5-40 x 1/2 size in the alloy metal (they come black just like the duncans have). I have a bunch of them if you'd like me to mail you some, just PM me! The custom 5 is essentially a Full Shred pickup (14K wind with an alnico 5 magnet). The difference in the 2 pickups is the pole pieces. The standard slotted screws and slugs are the bench mark for the humbucker sound. Buy lowereing the mass of magnetic material in the center of the windings you end up placing more of the magnetic field up towards the string instead of down by the base plate. What happens to the EQ of the pickup is the highs get sweeter and the bottom end is reduced a bit. The C5 B-M-T is 6-3-8 and the Full Shred is 4-4-8. The FS is described to be chunky and clear with screaming articulate highs. By putting these screws in just the screw side bobbin you'll get kind of a half-breed of the C5/FS. I tried it--Wow! Great highs that seem to be more harmonically rich and still very tight and chunky. Try these screws!
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+1 , i tried thoses screws and it is better for the C5 .
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

walt said:
Hey Butch,
I been thinking about that one, don't know what to match it with in the neck. I'll have to ask on the DMZ board. Good suggestion
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You don't have to go to another board :smack:

PAF Joe - one of the DMs I like.
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

I'll use the analogy; "garbage in, garbage out". Good pinch harmonics start with your technique. That is the first on the list. If your technique stinks, there is nothing a pickup or amp can do to help you. However, if you have good technique, the pickup is the second most important item on the list. A good or the "right" pickup will sense all the neuance of your technique and effectively transfer this signal to the amp. Thirdy, less critical but still important is the amp. The amp will take the characteristics of both previous items in the chain and deliver it to your ears. I guess the amp can be considered icing on the cake (you can have great cake but if the amp is to rich, or lacking something, it spoils the cake or it doesn't make it as good as it could be.

Bottom line, if you have a weak link in any one of the 3 items, it will not maximize the sonic characteristics of this technique.

BTW, I have a duncan custom in one of my axes and it is excellent for pinch harmonics.
 
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Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

kevinT said:
I'll use the analogy; "garbage in, garbage out". Good pinch harmonics start with your technique. That is the first on the list. If your technique stinks, there is nothing a pickup or amp can do to help you. However, if you have good technique, the pickup is the second most important item on the list. A good or the "right" pickup with sense all the neuance of your technique and effectively transfer this signal to the amp. Thirdy, less critical but still important is the amp. The amp will take the characteristics of both previous items in the chain and deliver it to your ears. I guess the amp can be considered icing on the cake (you can have great cake but if the amp is to rich, or lacking something, it spoils the cake or it doesn't make is as good as it could be.

Bottom line, if you have a weak link in the any one of the 3 items, it will not maximize the sonic characteristics of this technique.

BTW, I have a duncan custom in one of my axes and it is excellent for pinch harmonics.
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If I'm able to get pinch harmonics on a HS-3 without any problems along with many low/med output pickups, there is nothing wrong with my technique. I believe that lack of mids in the C5 is part of the problem, btw the problem I have is the quality of the pinch harmonics not the inablility to get them. I don't play with so much gain that my guitar sounds like an angry bee hive, I just dont find that musical at all. I prefer more of an 80's rock/metal tone and believe that the lack of mids is whats missing here. I will look into adjusting the settings on the amp (which is a Boss GT-8 into the effects return of a custom made pre amp into a BBE 482 into a Carvin TS-100 feeding 2-2/12 cabs with Celestions 75 watters)
 
Re: is there a harmonic friendly verson of the c5?

walt said:
I believe that lack of mids in the C5 is part of the problem, btw the problem I have is the quality of the pinch harmonics not the inablility to get them.
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i consider a pinch harmonic as a term that defines a particular way in which you hit the string to create a specific tone/effect. The quality of a pinch harmonic would result in the actual physical outcome of hitting the string and whether or not it is pleasing to one's ear....What one would consider a good pinch harmonic is subjective like tone in general.

IMO the quality is directly related to one's technique. As mentioned above, if the pickup doesn't maximize the tone that your getting from your techniqe, the pickup in not the "right" one for you. However, the C5 may be the right one for me that maximizes my tone/effect when i pluck the string in this manner.

I guess there really is no right or wrong way or pickup and it just depends on the player and what works for him/her.
 
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