Moderate output bridge humbucker that won't greatly overpower a Seth Lover neck?

[ragamuffin]

So I've got a really nice partscaster that I built based around the Music Man Albert Lee; it's a 25.5 scale length strat-ish guitar, mahogany body, wenge neck with ebony fretboard, and Hipshot tremolo. In the neck I have a Seth Lover with an A4 magnet and it sounds absolutely great, but I've been struggling with finding a bridge pickup that I like to go with it.

I tried the SL bridge with different magnets and found it too honkey and thin, and then I tried a Vineham pickups Brown Noser (9k, potted, A2 magnet) and liked it slightly better, put an A8 mag in it and liked it slightly better yet... But it's still thinner and a little more nasally than I'd like. I think I want a slightly higher output humbucker, something fatter, but won't overpower the Seth Lover too badly

I play classic rock through modern alternative and post rock, and some fingerstyle jazzy stuff (but that would be on the neck pickup). What bridge bucker would you recommend? I've been looking at the Bare Knuckle Abraxas, or maybe Duncan Saturday Nights, not sure what others.

 

[pittbull]

Check out Kolev Pickups Kris Kolev is a excellent pickup builder and will take the time with you,explain to him what your looking for

 

[beaubrummels]

Have you considered a Saturday Night Special, or Whole Lotta Humbucker? Custom Custom or Custom 5 work well with Seth also.

 

[Mincer]

The Whole Lotta Humbucker sounds like the right one to me. It doesn't have that honky Seth sound (which I really like). The WLH is really like a more powerful PAF with maybe more high end in there.

 

[Tone Mechanic]

A bridge pickup with an A4 with a DCR in the realm of a P.A.F. might do the job.

 

[Ascension]

Whole Lotta might work. I would think a Perpetual Burn or a Saturday Night Special bridge might be a better match for the Seth though. The Perpet is a pretty big sounding smooth pickup. Dont let the name scare you it one of my favorite humbuckers to run with a pair of singles split or full on. Here is a clip in my 2017 Kiesel DC at first split with the AP 11 in the middle then full bucker by itself in the end.

 

[Ascension]

Same rig same guitar this is split with the AP 11 clean.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

In the vintage-hot-output category, there's also the Screamin Demon.
Good in Stratlike types, and definitely wouldn't overpower a Seth at the neck.

A little more modern sounding than a PAF. Does well with gain, can still cop vintagey tones.
It has mids - certainly not scooped. Still, it's never seemed honky the way Seths or Ants can be.

 

[Cdwillis]

Have you considered the regular ceramic Custom?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Definitely the Demon!

 

[misterwhizzy]

I agree with GuitarDoc. Demon should fit the bill.

 

[jeremy]

the demon always sounds weak and thin to me in the bridge

 

[ragamuffin]

Thanks guys! Hmm, sounds like I've got a lot of options

 

[Mincer]

There is usually more than one right answer.

 

[ragamuffin]

So, to my wallet's disdain I ended up going with my initial feeling and ordered a Bare Knuckle Abraxas. It's a 14k, 43awg, A4 humbucker and it sounds pretty great in this guitar! It's clear and fairly tight with a pretty balanced eq. Output is slightly higher than the SL A4 neck pickup, but not a lot. It has a just little bit of a nasal quality to it, but much less than the other pickups I've tried, and I think that may just be the nature of this guitar.

I'm sure one of the Duncan options would have served me just as well, but I'm very happy with the new pickup.

 

[jeremy]

glad you found something that works for you

 

[ragamuffin]

Update: after the initial honeymoon period with the Abraxas I decided that while it liked it better than previous pickups, I still wasn't totallyhappy with it. I just wasn't hearing what I wanted to hear. It still had that nasal quality, not enough bass, and I decided that I might want to go a little hotter too. I'm sure it would be great in some guitar, but in my guitar it's just too midsy without enough thump.

So, I decided to try a Custom 5: THIS is what I wanted! It's fat, punchy, and CLEAR. No honk! Woot! Also it doesn't overpower my Seth Lover A4 neck too much, though the tone is markedly different. With a little drive it's instant Chon type tones in this guitar, which I didn't know I wanted, but works out perfectly. It's been in there for a week now and I don't think that's going to change.

Purely for the sake of tinkering I may experiment with a UOA5 or A4 magnet at some point. :beerchug:

 

[Artie]

That makes sense. I associate "honk" with midrange, and the C5 is definitely scooped. Sounds good.

 

[ragamuffin]

So today I decided to tinker and tried out A4 and UOA5, both rough cast

A4 was just thin, flat and kind of bland. I took it out pretty fast. Funny being that I really the A4 in my neck pickup.

UOA5 was nice; slightly less tight in the bass and more midsy than the stock A5, kind of "bouncy", and really rich in harmonics. It sounds great and a little more "rock n' roll" than the stock.

I liked the U0A5 quite a bit but I think the regular A5 is going back in. It just fits better for the sound that I want out of this guitar.

Does rough cast vs. polished make much of a difference? I'd like to try a rough cast A5 but I don't have one on hand.

 

[beaubrummels]

Something else that might make a difference is leaving the magnets in for a week, or use a tape head demagnetizer on the metal parts in between having the magnets in. All the other metal parts could exhibit residual fields from the previous magnet. I swapped a UOA5 bridge / A4 neck in a set of 59s and it sounded different the first hour as opposed to days later. I don't know how much time it actually takes, but there was a difference between the first moments it was swapped and days later.