Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

Do you remember having to drill or otherwise modify baseplates?

Didn't drill anything


Otherwise, it's literally been maybe 5-6 years. All I remember for certain is what I've covered and why it'd be cool if someone rattled Blueman loose to maybe help with any questions.
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

One think to keep in mind is that many Dimarzios are already hybrids. Their main patent is centered around this concept. So if you make a hybrid out of a Custom and a Fred, it will make a difference which Fred coil you choose. The ~4K coil of the Fred is basically a PAF Pro coil, the ~5k coil is the uniquely Fred coil.

I did not know this....
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

I did not know this....


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Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

A Super Duncan Distortion?

All the beed and bottom and thick of a SuperD, and the scream and shriek of a Distortion?

My thoughts when you put this up. Or a CustomZone..

This could be an amazing idea. I like some of the Dim specs, but def feel Duncans have a more organic (alive) sound.. So to merge them could be amazing..
I dont know the answer to your question Ace , but better believe Im watching this in anticipation of how things work out..

could go for OVERKILL and create a X2NVADER! Slam an E power chord and the amp blows up!
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

I say JB/Super D hybrid.


They are very similar pickups, as far as how the coils are wound. The JB has a little more wire. Not much. And the Super Distortion has a ceramic magnet and the hex head screws. They have a higher carbon content which tends to sound brighter. The JB has an alnico magnet and the low carbon steel poles, so it's not very bright. If you stick a ceramic magnet in a JB you pretty much have the Duncan Distortion.

I wouldn't think about brands. It's just two differently wound coils and often different magnets.

Many of the pickups I make use two different wire gauges. (DiMarzio's patent expired in 2005), and even old Bartolini Hi-A pickups had very mismatched coils.


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Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

If only the people complaining about the "ice pick" highs thought that way. LOL!

Yeah, I don't understand that thinking. I think it's the way they play, honestly. I hear people on YouTube and they get this "plinky plinky" sound. And that's all from your fretting hand. The timing between that and the picking hand is wrong; they don't hold the notes long enough. And then they are probably using a thin or medium pick so they get a thin tone.

Personally I like bright humbuckers with a lot of snap and bite. I hate that dark tone people seem to be looking for. You can't get any attack or note definition.

The key is to practice with your guitar unplugged. Learn to get a smooth tone that way. From your hands. Not the pickup.

Depends on the size of the ceramic. [emoji6]

Well the strength of the magnet. You can make two pickups that sound very similar, one having an alnico 5 and the other a ceramic. The alnico will have high inductance because it's metallic. I use Neodymium magnets in most of my pickups. You can get a good blend of alnico and ceramic tones with a neo.



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Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

Not too familiar with the tones from many DiMarzios myself. I've had a bridge Tone Zone and whatever was in the neck of the Charvel SoCals from 2008, and had a pair of Evos in an old Jackson SLS (all mahogany with rosewood board) that I did not like (neither the guitar nor the pickups' tones). I've had the SuperD and Super3, didn't like them.
Was the Dimebucker a DiMarzio or Duncan? Can't recall now, but I didn't like it, either.


However, as a mad scientist (the avatar and all) who has made a few Duncan hybrids, this concept intrigues me, and when I got into it, I did find myself wishing I hadn't sold off all those DiMarzios from my SoCals.

What I did like about the TZ in the SoCal was the ease at which I could cop Dave Murray tones from vintage Iron Maiden albums. What I didn't like was that I couldn't get anything I liked except that tone. No Sabbath, no Priest, just Maiden, and only up to Powerslave.

So, I'd suggest making some based on what you'd name them, regardless of their tonal characteristics.
Beck Zone (or Tone Jeff), Double Distortion, Custom Fred, Invader X (X2), D-Activader, Retrovolution (59/Evo), Demon Zone, Full Fred, Synyster (Pearly) Gates (are his DiMarzois? Like I said, haven't kept up with them). Isn't Mark Morton using signature DiMarzios? Maybe make up names and hybrids based on the artist attached to them?
Do they have an endorser named Glen/Glenn? Glen Beck? Somewhat conservative, but can go off the rails if it's pushed? :P

Maybe get a baseplate and combine the YJM Fury with his DiMarzio single coil.
And don't overlook that concept in general, either. Might take a bit more work, what with magnetic rods instead of bars, and the molded baseplates, but I'm sure something could come of it.

Then there's mag swaps in the hybrids, like an R2D2 (Roughcast A2 in the Double Distortion), especially with blue and white bobbins.

So all you need is the fountain of youth and the next Powerball jackpot and you can tell future generations what you've found :lol:
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

Was the Dimebucker a DiMarzio or Duncan? Can't recall now, but I didn't like it, either.

It's a Duncan, but it's a copy of a Bill Lawrence L-500XL. Those are very loud and bright pickups.

The thing about pickups is one might sound good in one guitar, and totally different in another.

I had a customer bring me a Schecter guitar that had a Duncan Jazz neck pickup, and I forget the bridge. He wanted a different neck pickup put in (I swapped pickups between 4 of his guitars that day) and he ended up giving me the pickup.

It sounded fine in that guitar, which was an alder body, and it had a Floyd. I put it in a FirstAct Garagemaster a friend gave me. That's the VW guitar. It's actually a nice playing guitar, but the pickups were crap. It has a basswood body.

The Jazz in that guitar was really boomy sounding! It had way too much low end. So I ended up making a pickup with two different coils, like a hybrid, and it sounded great. A thick but not boomy low end, and a great top end that gives that hollow neck humbucker tone.

So sometimes you have to choose what works for a certain guitar.


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Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

Yeah it was way bright. No low end at all. Sounded like I had a wah on full. Traded it to a friend who swears it's a beast.

We had it in the same make and model guitar: Jackson WRMG. But then I have a naturally bright tone, and I've never had a Jazz or 59 neck that sounded boomy.
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

I made a hybrid with Tone Zone and Pearly Gates many years ago. I don't recall how it exactly sounded now, but it was nothing special, so I did not keep it that way.
On the other hand, my Custom/Pearly Gates hybrid with an Alnico 2 magnet has been my favorite bridge humbucker for the last 10 years. That is one pickup I will always hold on to!
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

Yeah it was way bright. No low end at all. Sounded like I had a wah on full. Traded it to a friend who swears it's a beast.

We had it in the same make and model guitar: Jackson WRMG. But then I have a naturally bright tone, and I've never had a Jazz or 59 neck that sounded boomy.

The 59b that I put in the neck of my Explorer sounded boomy. A4 mag fixed it..
In response to your previous thread. Syn Gates uses Duncan Invaders, but his Sig model has diff colored pole pieces. (He uses a sustainer in the neck most of the time tho)
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

mad scientists........ here it would be more like mad alchemists, except of the f influencer and darth
 
Re: Mad Scientist Hybrid Question Thread

The Force is irrelevant. You too shall be assimilated and your uniqueness shall be added to our own.

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