Neck hybrid: 59+Jazz, what to expect?

A

AdrianSD

Well-known member
So, I've got this broken 59 with the screw coil dead (don't ask, ID10t operator error) and a spare Jazz and was wondering if I can marry the screw coil from the Jazz with the 59 slug coil. I mean, of course I can if I don't fubar something. What to expect in terms of tone from the resulted frankenpickup? The screw coil (Jazz) will go on the neck side, does it mean I should expect a 59 with less bass and more mids? Or maybe a jazz with more bass?
 
Nearly a decade ago I made a pair of 59/Jazzes, mostly as a tinkering exercise out of which I'd get two PAFish pickups for the neck position. The one I put in a guitar (24 fret, basswood, bolt-on maple/rosewood neck) was the 59 screw/Jazz slug, with the 59 coil as a split. I kept the stock A5. The bridge pu is what came with the guitar, an oem 12k, triple ceramic thing.

In humbucking mode, it's fat but with good clarity, so it handles playing open chords well even gained up. It has a bit of that Santana type crying tone when playing lead. To me, pu still has a full low/mid but higher overtones are quite present.

I opted to isolate the screw coil for splits as it is closest to the neck. It is weaker in output, obviously, but has a good percussive thing going on. I use it like this quite a lot, actually, maybe more than as a full humbucker.
 
Ashurbanipal thanks, sounds interesting. I'm thinking with an A2 or a UOA5 it would lose some of the sparkle? The guitar it'll go in is rather dark sounding, so I might just have to stick with the stock A5.
 
Hm, maybe have a search around the forum - some people here have experimented with different magnets in hybrids. I guess an A2 might work well in a darker sounding guitar with a shorter scale. Some on the forum have used A3 and A4 also in the neck position.

What guitar are you thinking of putting it in, btw? I should add that mine is in an old Ibanez Roadstar, so the timbre isn't like the classic 'PAF in a 24.75 set neck' vibe.

Maybe Orpheo will chime in, he's made lots of hybrids over the years, and it's his guitar being played in the first link. I think it's a good representation of the overall sound; it does sound fatter than in my guitar, for instance.

There used to be a mega thread on the forum about hybrids, headed by BachToRock, don't know what happened to it - it contained heaps of information, how to do it, what to expect from different coil combinations, magnets, and neck or bridge positions.
 
Last edited:
About 5-10 years ago, this forum went through a Hybrid Pickup Golden Era, with many different combinations of coils and magnets. A few actual Duncans came out of those experiments, too. A search for 59 Jazz Hybrid will probably turn up some things.
 
Mincer said:
About 5-10 years ago, this forum went through a Hybrid Pickup Golden Era, with many different combinations of coils and magnets. A few actual Duncans came out of those experiments, too. A search for 59 Jazz Hybrid will probably turn up some things.
Click to expand...

Those were the days - people trying all sorts of crazy things like 59 and Invader coils, and so on.

Do you know what happened to BachToRock's epic thread? If I remember, it was in the Vault but doesn't seem to be there now. It was a great resource for diy and a reference for what to expect in making particular combinations.
 
The 59/Jazz neck is pretty cool. Really fat, slick, and tone rich. The attack is weird because of the 59's chewy attack and the Jazz's direct attack.
 
Thanks everyone, appreciate it. The hybrid will go into a '96 HSH Jackson PS-4, Floyd 1000 series with fat brass block and a JB 8 in the bridge. For some reason the guitar is very resonant when unplugged and gives me ridiculous harmonics anytime and everywhere, but it's the darkest I have when plugged in. Always used D'Addario EXL120.
 
I've played a few hybrids and a few clones of hybrids (since buying 2 pickups to make one can be a bit expensive)... honestly I think I just prefer the Jazz neck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top