Overwound C5?

[dreamist]

I got a C5 in the bridge of my mahogany Godin. Absolutely love the clean -- it has the FUNK in it, but I find it lacking on modern metal rhythm tone that I want. So I switched to DiMarzio D-Sonic. Now that's what I really want from metal tone -- HUGE wall of sound. However, the clean on D-Sonic is disappointing.

Now that I think about it, I play more clean than metal. I do miss the tone I got from C5, so I'm thinking about switching back to it, but I know I would also miss the metal tone from D-Sonic.

I think the main problem that prevents C5 from giving such tone is in the mid. But I think it's easier to make a good clean pickup into metal sound than the other way around -- perhaps with the use of some pedals.

A forum member here mentioned overwound C5 which would have a bit more mid. I think it could perform better on metal, too. What do you think? Or maybe I should consider something else?

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Overwound C5?

I have a 14.75k Custom in one of my Les Pauls that started out its life as an over wound C5. I have a couple of other C series pickups in the house but they aren't in simular guitars and it would take a lot of magnet swapping and pickup swapping to get a definate answer as to whether the extra winds will help. MJ can surely wind you a pickup in the 15k range and change the wind to get you more mids but it wont really be a C-5 anymore.

You might want to trey a ceramic magnet in your C5. A Custom definately has more mids than the C5.

 

[dreamist]

Re: Overwound C5?

I've sold the C5 so I couldn't experiment with it without buying a new one.

The D-Sonic is a ceramic pickup, and if the clean on the Custom is anything in the close proximity as the D-Sonic (I mean if the character of ceramic pickup is like this), I'm afraid I wouldn't like its clean much either.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Overwound C5?

The Cleans on the Custom are very nice and extremely useable.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Overwound C5?

JB? Its a A5 humbucker with great cleans and work for me as metall pup as well. Dont forget the split sounds which are simply gorgeous!

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Overwound C5?

BTW what is the Original Parallel Axix Trembucker despite different shaped pole pieces? This is an overwound C5 or did i miss something?

 

[dreamist]

Re: Overwound C5?

I'm not sure, but from sound samples the PATB-1 sounds quite dark, which is not quite the impression I got from C5. Actually, what I love about the cleans on C5 is its bright/percussive character. It works well for funk, I suppose -- if my memory of its sound still serves me well.

I want to try the Custom, but to change it into C5 later might be a bit hard since it might not be easy to buy magnets in Singapore, and I'm not sure about the size/spec of the magnets I need.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Overwound C5?

You should try the Custom.

If you can get a Custom you should be able to order an alnico v magnet fairly easily either from an online supplier or through a musical retail store in your area.

Alnico v magnets are fairly common in stock pickups and if you can find a guitar tech that does pickup replacement you might be able to get an old Ibanez/gibson/whatever pickup to steal a magnet from.

Then again, I don't know Singapore.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Overwound C5?

Yeah, I agree with Robert. The Custom is one step thicker and heavier from the C5, but probably cleans up better than the D Sonic. Very few rock/metal players install a Custom then don't like it. It's a very good sounding rock pickup.

I really like the Custom 5 that's overwound to about 15.3K, but in order to get it, you'll be paying twice the price of a Custom.

To get more mids from a C-5, according to Seymour, you simply overwind it. The only drawback is that the more you wind it, the more compressed the top end becomes.......so you don't want to wind it to much further than a regular 14.4 C-5. Seymour knew what he was doing when he decided on 14.4K for all the Customs. Gibson chose the same number for their 498/490, because it's the best # for a hot rock pickup.

So, unless you want to pay nearly $200 to have a CS pickup sent to Singapore, you'd be best off trying out the Custom.