Jb - half air mod and JB Antiquity

[CarlosG]

Hi!
I read larry dimarzio's patent and he patented the air bucker because he wanted to get close to the sound of Alnico 2 but with an Alnico 5 magnet. He didn't like Alnico 2, probably for the loose bass response and more noise.
In a traditional humbucker we can use a half air mod. I wonder if the magnet should stick to the screw or slug polepieces?
I love the classic JB, JB2 was great too but I didn't like the loose bass. Has anyone tried the half air mod JB?
I like Anitiquyty JB sound too.
Is the JB Antiquity just a standard JB with a slightly demagnetized Alnico 5 roughcast?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Is the JB Antiquity just a standard JB with a slightly demagnetized Alnico 5 roughcast?

Allegedly.

I think the Antiquity JB also has butyrate bobbins. That means that the process they use to pot the pickup is different too because the plastic has a different melting point compared to the stuff they use on the production JB. So the potting is lighter, I believe. If not "lighter", then at least different.

I have a CS Antiquity JB that looks brand new, so it doesn't have the aged poles and bobbins, but the magnet is aged. It definitely has some mojo that the production JB doesn't have. Don't get me wrong, though. I still love the production JB, but they are slightly different pickups. Whatever they do to "age" the magnet is very interesting. I don't find the output is much lower, honestly. But it does smooth out the pickup a bit.

As far as the half air mod, I haven't tried, but I do have a DiMarzio AT-1 which is very close to the specs of a JB except the it has the DiMarzio Airbucker technoglogy. If anything, I find the Airbucker tech brightens the pickup considerably because there is slightly less metal because they remove the keeper bar that holds the screws against the magnet. But I find it still has the JB vibe. Another good alternative if you're into your JB's, but want something slightly different.

I have a clip where I compare all three pickups, albeit in different guitars. So take it as a grain of salt.

I have had the Antiquity JB and the production JB in the same guitar at some point. So I do know how those two differ even in the same guitar, and the Ant JB is definitely both a bit smoother and more focused.

 

[Masta' C]

The O.G. half-air mod involved removing the metal spacer on the screw side and shifting the magnet over so it butts up against the screw poles instead of the slugs.

Similar to the DiMarzio Tone Zone that started the "half-air" trend well over a decade ago, the JB is an ideal candidate for this mod, as well.

As far as Antiquity vs standard production JB, it comes down to a slight difference in the wire insulation thickness and the use of a slightly degaussed roughcast A5 vs a fully charged polished A5.

It's also possible that Duncan uses a slightly different pole piece alloy in their "Antiquity" models, but I don't think this has ever been confirmed publicly.

 

[CarlosG]

Allegedly.

I think the Antiquity JB also has butyrate bobbins. That means that the process they use to pot the pickup is different too because the plastic has a different melting point compared to the stuff they use on the production JB. So the potting is lighter, I believe. If not "lighter", then at least different.

I have a CS Antiquity JB that looks brand new, so it doesn't have the aged poles and bobbins, but the magnet is aged. It definitely has some mojo that the production JB doesn't have. Don't get me wrong, though. I still love the production JB, but they are slightly different pickups. Whatever they do to "age" the magnet is very interesting. I don't find the output is much lower, honestly. But it does smooth out the pickup a bit.

As far as the half air mod, I haven't tried, but I do have a DiMarzio AT-1 which is very close to the specs of a JB except the it has the DiMarzio Airbucker technoglogy. If anything, I find the Airbucker tech brightens the pickup considerably because there is slightly less metal because they remove the keeper bar that holds the screws against the magnet. But I find it still has the JB vibe. Another good alternative if you're into your JB's, but want something slightly different.

I have a clip where I compare all three pickups, albeit in different guitars. So take it as a grain of salt.

I have had the Antiquity JB and the production JB in the same guitar at some point. So I do know how those two differ even in the same guitar, and the Ant JB is definitely both a bit smoother and more focused.

It's funny. I never had Antiquity JB, I was mainly guided by this recording.
Antiquity sound the best. It has just the right amount of everything and has a great low end, it doesn't buzz in the high frequencies like the others.
Unfortunately I can't afford it, it costs twice as much as a standard JB.
I've read that it has a Roughcast A5 magnet, which might allow it to get closer to that sound with regular JB.
I wonder if the pole pieces might have an effect since they are slightly different.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

It's funny. I never had Antiquity JB, I was mainly guided by this recording.
Antiquity sound the best. It has just the right amount of everything and has a great low end, it doesn't buzz in the high frequencies like the others.
Unfortunately I can't afford it, it costs twice as much as a standard JB.
I've read that it has a Roughcast A5 magnet, which might allow it to get closer to that sound with regular JB.
I wonder if the pole pieces might have an effect since they are slightly different.

It's probably the sum of many parts, not just the magnet. I love mine. That being said, when I first installed my Ant JB, I didn't immediately think "woah, this is way better than any other JB I've tried". I honestly thought "this sounds like a JB". I even posted a thread about it, LOL. I didn't even know it was an Antiquity when I first got it. I had to ask the CS what was it because it looked brand new without the Antiquity cosmetic treatment.

I'm thinking about replacing the production JB in my Gibson not because I don't like that pickup, but because I kinda want something fatter and smoother for that particular guitar. I'm thinking Suhr Aldrich or DiMarzio Tone Zone. I kinda want the Aldich more, but the Tone Zone is cheaper and easier to find.

 

[Bowtomecha]

An image to show what it looks like in the Norton since it comes half aired, and the Air Norton which is fully aired. Interesting but not surprising to hear that the Tone Zone is is half aired. Really has me wondering about other dimarzios that do the half air thing under the radar.

 

[Bowtomecha]

I’m curious if removing the keeper only applies to regular screw poles and not the headless hex style poles. Without the keeper, the screw poles would stay in place better since the usually go through the baseplate while the headless hex style ones would possibly move about without a keeper and be a bit microphonic maybe, right?

 

[Bowtomecha]

While on the topic, it seems that the half aired pickups generally have it on the north/slug coil. Is this for a practical reason? In a bridge humbucker with the slugs facing away from the bridge, there’s slightly more string vibration and slightly less treble response… has me wondering if these particular pickups sound different if the humbucker was reversed or if the half aired spacer was used on the other coil instead. Or both of these options together.

 

[SweetClyde99]

I don’t know that there’s really a right or wrong way to do it, and you might benefit from some experimentation. I ended up doing it “wrong” on a Tone Zone I put in an HH Tele, and it’s the most I’ve ever liked a Tone Zone. Wrong in this case means attaching the magnet to the slug coil and then having the slug coil face the bridge. It’s a brighter, and to my ears, more balanced pickup this way, and I have no desire to “fix” it in this guitar. It’s got an almost raunchy high end that I’ve never heard in a Tone Zone, and I really dig it.