Mag swap for SD ‘59’s

59s take mag swaps very well indeed. Actually a great platform to showcase the response of various mags.
Any alnico works well in them and the results are generally predictable, without unexpected quirks or anomalies.

Years ago one forum member even posted about using a ceramic in his 59B.
He called it a fire-breathing monster.
 
I tried the 59n with a UOA5. I didn't like it. Too nasally and it lost a lot of volume when split. I liked the A4 much better. My UOA5 was rough while the A4 is polished. So that probably contributes to my preference.

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So, I wanted to report back on what I did etc….my guitar is a very bright semi hollow body - D’angelico Kurt Rosenwinkle dig model. Maple + spruce top. It had a very cheap plastic nut and I upgraded it to a bone nut. Predictably, that actually increased how bright it was. I swapped out the A5’s for A2’s and put the covers back on. That really helped take the edge off and warm the tone up. But it was still a tad bright for my tastes.

changed the pots to 250k CTS with .047 caps - that was exactly what the guitar needed. The tone is now very evened out and very full and rich with ringing second order harmonics. A very lush sounding tone now. Does jazz and blues extremely well She’s a tone monster now.

I think If it didn’t have a spruce top I wouldn’t have needed to go with 250k pots. It’s a bit unconventional for HBs I know but that switch really allowed the tone to balance out and just sing now

thanks everyone for your input and help!
 
EC Strat said:
So, I wanted to report back on what I did etc….my guitar is a very bright semi hollow body - D’angelico Kurt Rosenwinkle dig model. Maple + spruce top. It had a very cheap plastic nut and I upgraded it to a bone nut. Predictably, that actually increased how bright it was. I swapped out the A5’s for A2’s and put the covers back on. That really helped take the edge off and warm the tone up. But it was still a tad bright for my tastes.

changed the pots to 250k CTS with .047 caps - that was exactly what the guitar needed. The tone is now very evened out and very full and rich with ringing second order harmonics. A very lush sounding tone now. Does jazz and blues extremely well She’s a tone monster now.

I think If it didn’t have a spruce top I wouldn’t have needed to go with 250k pots. It’s a bit unconventional for HBs I know but that switch really allowed the tone to balance out and just sing now

thanks everyone for your input and help!
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I bought an old '59b a few years ago to swap a double-thick A2. The base plate screws were too stripped to remove so i didnt pull it off. You should throw together a demo video and let us hear it if youre able
 
PDC said:
Would love to hear clips of the ceramic magged ‘59 Fire Breathing Monster … intrigued.
Click to expand...

I wish I could remember who it was that wrote about that. Have tried searching for the actual post, but it was long ago and I suspect it might not have survived the various server migrations over the years.
 
I remember when I was doing a lot of mag swapping/experimenting many years ago. I didn't much care for the 59 but found that it sounded a little better with a UOA5...not great, but better. I found it tolerable with an A2 and an A8. I felt like I needed to soften the highs and increase the mids. I never would have consider putting any ceramic mag in it...that would just be going the wrong direction, imo. "Fire breathing monster"? Well, yeah, but I'm not too fond of monsters, myself.
 
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