Pegasus custom hybrid: an overview
- Thread starter orpheo
- Start date
Indeed. I have a few show pieces and a few that are the bulk of the guitars and tones I love. But my tastes fluctuate daily and sometimes I need a lighter guitar with HSS and a trem, or a heavier with HHH etc etc.
I wish I could go down to less than 20 but I can't.
Thank you
Some more context.
My ex and I were having issues since 2017 and by 2018 I was ready to end the relationship but i got swamped with work and the grief of losing my aunt and my father in 2018. By the time I emerged from my grieving period, late 2019, I realized I really needed a life of my own but then the pandemic hit and we decided to try and make it work. To no avail.
on September 11, 2020, she opened a conversation that lasted the entire night and on the 12th she ended the talk by saying: "you're not worth the effort, you're not worth being with". That was that. It took us a while to split up the goods, but since she never registered to live in my home, the house was still mine as well as most of the stuff in it so I got the goods, she got her freedom.
Around November 27, I matched on Tinder with this woman in Rotterdam, just 20 km away from me. We talked, we had some laughs and by December 8, we were ready to meet but she had booked a ticket to go home, to Mexico. We talked more, more laughs and while she was in Mexico in me in the Netherlands, we spent Christmas and new years together apart. We were both dating/seeing someone else but we only found each other interesting. I got sick and tired of waiting for her to travel to the Netherlands because: due to the pandemic the borders were closed to her! So... I booked a ticket on January 21 to go to Mexico a few weeks later.
I did.
The emotions were real, man...
I went back home, heartbroken because I left her but I knew I'd go back soon. In the mean time, I contracted COVID19 and in my delirium I believed that I had to make it work with her. As if she was the one. I got better, bought a ring and on May 21, I asked.
She said yes.
I'll go back in 2 weeks and I can hardly contain my enthusiasm.
It's not easy, life is hard apart and is only compounded by the vicissitudes of life and reality but together, it's better.
She plans on moving to the Netherlands but if that can't work out, I'll go there, work and live there for a while and then move back to the Netherlands. Everything I always was in doubt about with my ex(es), I'm sure of with her. This has simply changed my perspectives, my outlook on life and my future and I realized that I don't need to work 60 hours a week to get fulfilment and that I should and can take my time when making guitars. I'm a one man shop, not a factory so I should approach it as such. Life has more to offer than just work.
And since this is my thread, I can derail this as much as I want haha
Yes. My boots match her hair.
EatSleepGuitar
New member
For years, I felt the Air Norton was my 'to go' pickup. It is fat in the neck position, great for leads, but retains some clarity under high gain. It's got a lot of crunch in the bridge position: open, cutting, a bit clear but not bright and a chewy midrange for leads. Yeah, the Air Norton was my 'to go' pickup. It was just a bit boring, lacking in dynamics and was overall servicable but not great. I went on to other pickups I love but never one that kept me as engaged as the Norton.
Then I took it upon me to see what I could do with Duncan parts to get to the air norton's territory. Let's break it down.
Magnet
The AN has an alnico V magnet; I believe the 'air' technology of the air norton is there to emulate an alnico II with an A5 magnet and since I can't replicate that part I have to work around that. I'd say, use an A2 (the air technology also gives for a weaker string pull) and get shorter polepieces to lower the inductance. The weaker magnet would also allow for a lower string pull for added sustain and harmonics.
Coils
The AN has two asymmetrically wound coils, clocking in at 12.6K. I can use a Custom coil (7K) plus a screaming demon coil (5K) but I don't have that yet. I would also rather not use coils that are so severely mismatched for this round. I have used a Demon coil plus an SH6N and that yielded great results but for now, I'd stick to what I feel comfortable with. Making a hybrid isn't difficult perse, it's just a lot of work. So, I opted for a Custom coil plus a Pegasus. I now have a bit more copper on the coils than an AN but we'll see how far we can go.
Polepieces
The AN uses regular fillister head screws and slugs. Slugs, fine. No biggy there. The screws, that's a bit of a pickle. I have an Alnico II to get into the air-bucked A5 territory but I have a hunch that this still might induce too much compared to the airbucked A5. Also, an Alnico II is notorious for giving you a squishy midrange and attenuated highs and spongy lows. The Norton does not have that; not really, anyway. So... Short poles it is! Lower inductance in that particular coil (custom coil, lookin' at you, just to even out the inductances between the coils even more, if that makes sense?) so the pick attack is super-accute in the final tonal product, just like the Norton.
Tone and Final Verdict
What the actual.... This pickup is so, so, so bonkers I can't wrap my head around it. It's been such a long time since I've been surprised.
Did I succeed in my goal of making an Air Norton with Duncan parts? No.
I got a pickup that has the basic idea of the Air Norton, in it's rear view mirror. It's got much more grind than the AN, a LOT more power (oddly enough, despite having a weaker magnet and only being 0,75KOHms hotter: see? DCR doesn't tell the full picture!) but it's not like the buzzsaw-cut'n'grind of the SH6 for example. The rhythm tone is tight, aggressive even slightly percussive but never harsh: the top end cuts but never pierces, the midrange is huge (and then consider that I mid-scooped my amp, simply because I forgot to dial in a neutral tone at that moment: even then, the midrange was huge!) and the lows are so, so tight but not boomy.
If I were to make a tonal curve on a scale of 0 to 10 it'd be like this:
lows: 6
lower mids: 6
mid range: 7
upper mids: 8
highs: 8
For example, I'd value a JB like this:
lows: 5
lower mids: 6
mid range: 8
upper mids: 9
highs: 8
This custom/peg hybrid is approximately as hot as a JB but so much more aggressive and dynamically rich but without that odd upper mid spike of the JB which makes the JB so annoying and makes the JB only work in Tele's (imho). It's not as nasal or honky as a Perpetual burn, it's more open and 'forward' than that (compare it to the mid shift on those old Boogie Mark amps, where you can place the midrange 'forwards' or 'backwards'). But it does have a vocal quality so leads, solo's jump out like crazy.
I don't know, guys, but this pickup feels like a winner to me. The Pegasus itself is too percussive, tight and slightly nasal to my taste. The custom Alnico II (custom custom) is too spongy for my taste, but this combination works immensely well. However, I have to admit, I haven't tried this in the neck positino because I matched it with a Pearly Gates-N/59N Alnico II hybrid, which is by itself an amazing pickup (glassy and clear but with a boldness and richness to the tone that works very well with the tonepot to fatten it up for thick, fat leads or clean, warm but clear and open chords with low gain).
I realize this was a while ago, and Im sorry to hear about your relationship and that guitar has faded to the background. I hope you rediscover it in happiness sooner rather than later.
Im very interested in this idea, as I have a custom and pegasus and would love to try this as the pegasus is one of my favorite SD pups.
Which coil did you use from each? Both screws? Slugs from the custom, screws from the pegasus?
Hey, in the mean time, since this post, I didn't just find a new girlfriend, I found myself a wife. I split my time between the Netherlands and Mexico (she is Mexican) and guitars? Nah. It will end up fine. I am not as enthousiastic about guitars as I used to be but it will be OK.
The Peg/Custom: I like it, especially with a weaker magnet, like the A2, A3 and A4. I did both versions, peg-screw+custom-slug, and the other way around. Can't remember the tonal differences. What I do remember is that the Peg/Custom is a more open version of both, less compressed and with a nice chewy sagginess to it. But the peg/JB? Now, that's one I really dig.
We just got back from 10 days together in Israel and have another 3 weeks left in the Netherlands before she goes back to Mexico. I'll come back to her in June, July/August. Then, she'll travel my way in September and I'll be there in October/November and then, Christmas. Time goes fast. Travel is not an issue for either of us (even though I hate flying, I hate children in airplanes and the stress always, always, gets under my skin). But... not doing this? Not an option.
Is there a plan to either have her move there with you or you to Mexico?
piblock
New member
Nice! It's good to hear how much things have turned around since earlier in the thread.
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My wife is applying for a residence permit (which is a complete shitshow by the way, thank you Dutch Governmental a-holes!). In case she really can't gell here, I'm happy to pack up my bags and go to Mexico but for her career it's just a better choice to start here. She wants a second master, expand her portfolio to include the European market. So in case we move to Mexico her 'street cred' will be greatly improved.
I hear ya. My sis does immigration in the US and it is no party here, either.
I know this is an old thread that kinda went in a different direction, but I'm interested in giving coil swapping and pickup hybridizing a shot. Mostly just because I like to tinker and understand stuff better. I do have a couple of beater pickups that I could experiment with before I try it on something more expensive. Is it as "simple and easy" as taking off the baseplate, separating the bobbins, and desoldering/swapping/soldering the connections of the new coil? Is there anything specific that I need to watch out for? I don't have anything like the knowledge or expertise of the OP... just curious to hear new sounds.
