streamline
New member
Hi guys,
Thanks to u0pt who suggested I try putting in an A2 magnet into the Jazz neck to brighten it up and make it more mid-range and buttery, I stumbled on the whole notion of pickup modification. From threads here (especially BachtoRock's threads) I learned a lot about working on pickups, so I'd like to report back to the forum, maybe someone will find my work useful as I did with others before!
Anyway, here is the description of mods & their results.
1) A2 Jazz w/hex poles
I had started out with a normal Jazz neck pickup, that although had articulate and clean sound seemed to lack mids and sounded empty to me in a mahogany/maple top guitar. As I like the basic properties of the p-up, I wanted to use it as a starting point and develop it, as opposed to getting a new pickup.
Swapping the A2 magnet for the A5, to my ears, brought down the output of the pickup a little and definetely boosted the mid-range. However the pickup now sounded a little 'boomy' and I felt that the low-end seemed to really get out of control.... To counter this, I replaced all the slug poles with hex poles. This really tightened up the sound and changed the pickups qualities.
The end result is a pickup that is very hard to describe. It is fat and buttery but also has cool harmonics, a bit like DMZ Air Norton. It is also extremely compact and "dense", it sounds really meaty. Somewhat like DMZ Breed. But it is still very articulate and responsive, if in a slightly more 'lazy' manner. The pickup has a bit more of a vintage blues feel, but it still sings and is smooth with high overdrive. Really odd, but addictive! Even the heavier rhythms still sound passable with it (as opposed to completely fat and undefined with most neck pickups). In short, a very dense sounding neck pickup that's quite unique. I really think the hex poles in the outside coil make a bigdifference.
2) "Shred Distortion" Hybrid
This was completely inspired by BachtoRock's hybrids & tutorial. I basically had a FS and a DD lying around; I liked the crispness and articulation of the FS, whilst finding it a too thin sounding. The DD, on the other hand, had great upper mids, but lacked definition IMO...
So, I took them apart and tried a multitude of combination (magnets, poles arrangements), with the basic idea of using one DD coil and one FS coil.
The one that I had settled on has a DD coil on the outside with slugs, FS coil on the inside with hexes, and it uses a ceramic magnet. I also tried combinations with the A5, but this makes it sound exactly like a JB, which I didn't want! I also found that to achieve the right blend of the DD/FS sounds, I think the "hex poles in the FS coil for tighter definition over the area of a string where the is more vibration and the more powerful and fat coil of the DD right near the bridge" is the optimum arrangement.
The resulting hybrid does just what I wanted it to, imagine a DD eq curve on an amp, and I guess the hybrid would be a lot like taking off some mids (mostly higher end) and boosting treble ever so slightly to get a very well rounded and versatile pickup. Reminds me a little of the DMZ Evolution, but much more natural and organic sounding with crisp rhythm sounds and no overbearing presence!
However I'm still trying to decide if these two make a good set, as they are perfectly matched for output and properties, but the modified Jazz seems to want a thicker heavier more dense bridge pickup, which the Alternative 8 that I ordered might be able to do a bit better.... That or I'll be trying a A8 Custom =D - that neck pickup is to stay =)
Hope you guys find this of interest!
Cheers,
Roman
Thanks to u0pt who suggested I try putting in an A2 magnet into the Jazz neck to brighten it up and make it more mid-range and buttery, I stumbled on the whole notion of pickup modification. From threads here (especially BachtoRock's threads) I learned a lot about working on pickups, so I'd like to report back to the forum, maybe someone will find my work useful as I did with others before!
Anyway, here is the description of mods & their results.
1) A2 Jazz w/hex poles
I had started out with a normal Jazz neck pickup, that although had articulate and clean sound seemed to lack mids and sounded empty to me in a mahogany/maple top guitar. As I like the basic properties of the p-up, I wanted to use it as a starting point and develop it, as opposed to getting a new pickup.
Swapping the A2 magnet for the A5, to my ears, brought down the output of the pickup a little and definetely boosted the mid-range. However the pickup now sounded a little 'boomy' and I felt that the low-end seemed to really get out of control.... To counter this, I replaced all the slug poles with hex poles. This really tightened up the sound and changed the pickups qualities.
The end result is a pickup that is very hard to describe. It is fat and buttery but also has cool harmonics, a bit like DMZ Air Norton. It is also extremely compact and "dense", it sounds really meaty. Somewhat like DMZ Breed. But it is still very articulate and responsive, if in a slightly more 'lazy' manner. The pickup has a bit more of a vintage blues feel, but it still sings and is smooth with high overdrive. Really odd, but addictive! Even the heavier rhythms still sound passable with it (as opposed to completely fat and undefined with most neck pickups). In short, a very dense sounding neck pickup that's quite unique. I really think the hex poles in the outside coil make a bigdifference.
2) "Shred Distortion" Hybrid
This was completely inspired by BachtoRock's hybrids & tutorial. I basically had a FS and a DD lying around; I liked the crispness and articulation of the FS, whilst finding it a too thin sounding. The DD, on the other hand, had great upper mids, but lacked definition IMO...
So, I took them apart and tried a multitude of combination (magnets, poles arrangements), with the basic idea of using one DD coil and one FS coil.
The one that I had settled on has a DD coil on the outside with slugs, FS coil on the inside with hexes, and it uses a ceramic magnet. I also tried combinations with the A5, but this makes it sound exactly like a JB, which I didn't want! I also found that to achieve the right blend of the DD/FS sounds, I think the "hex poles in the FS coil for tighter definition over the area of a string where the is more vibration and the more powerful and fat coil of the DD right near the bridge" is the optimum arrangement.
The resulting hybrid does just what I wanted it to, imagine a DD eq curve on an amp, and I guess the hybrid would be a lot like taking off some mids (mostly higher end) and boosting treble ever so slightly to get a very well rounded and versatile pickup. Reminds me a little of the DMZ Evolution, but much more natural and organic sounding with crisp rhythm sounds and no overbearing presence!
However I'm still trying to decide if these two make a good set, as they are perfectly matched for output and properties, but the modified Jazz seems to want a thicker heavier more dense bridge pickup, which the Alternative 8 that I ordered might be able to do a bit better.... That or I'll be trying a A8 Custom =D - that neck pickup is to stay =)
Hope you guys find this of interest!
Cheers,
Roman
Last edited:
