Seymour Duncan 78 vs Seymour Duncan 59 bridge which is brighter sounding

[pittbull]

Your opinions which of these two pickups would be brighter

 

[beaubrummels]

IME '78

 

[Mincer]

I'd go with the 78 being brighter, too.

 

[pittbull]

To me the 59 sounds brighter after listening to many YouTube clips

 

[beaubrummels]

To me the 78 sounds brighter after listening to it in several of my guitars.

The 78 sounds like a slightly goosed Pearly Gates with the bass rolled off. It's thin and bright, and tighter than other P.A.F. types.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Is the '78 asymmetrically wound? I don't think Duncas are wound asymmetrically, right?

Not saying you guys are wrong. I mean, I haven't tried it, but I wonder what makes it brighter than the '59 when the '59 has the brighter magnet and the lighter wind.

Maybe more high-mids rather than highs?

 

[Bill Dennis]

Is the '78 asymmetrically wound? I don't think Duncas are wound asymmetrically, right?

Not saying you guys are wrong. I mean, I haven't tried it, but I wonder what makes it brighter than the '59 when the '59 has the brighter magnet and the lighter wind.

Maybe more high-mids rather than highs?

That's just it. We need to define "brighter" Are we talking 3k or 7k?. Are they actually brighter or does it just have less bass? The 59 has a lot of top but also a lot of low end too.

 

[beaubrummels]

Is the '78 asymmetrically wound? I don't think Duncas are wound asymmetrically, right?

Not saying you guys are wrong. I mean, I haven't tried it, but I wonder what makes it brighter than the '59 when the '59 has the brighter magnet and the lighter wind.

Maybe more high-mids rather than highs?

There are other ways with the wind to make a pickup brighter. A Pearly is brighter than a 59 also. No it's not high mids, it's brighter.

 

[jeremy]

i dont think a pgb is brighter than a 59b.

the 78 sounds thinner to me than a 59b, but the top end isnt as sharp as the 59b. the 59b is mid scooped and has strong top and bottom. the 78 is very upper mid focused in my experience

 

[freefrog]

Is the '78 asymmetrically wound? I don't think Duncas are wound asymmetrically, right?

Not saying you guys are wrong. I mean, I haven't tried it, but I wonder what makes it brighter than the '59 when the '59 has the brighter magnet and the lighter wind.

Maybe more high-mids rather than highs?

My archives state something like 10 Ohm of difference between the coils of a 78 so it seems to be symetrically wound...

What makes it brighter seems to be a high Q factor, making the resonant peak narrower and pointier (like with a PG) and potentially due to a high winding tension, for instance.

High-mids rather than highs? Depends... Changing the capacitance of the cable from guitar to amp can easily shift the resonance from 3 or 2.5khz to 1.5khz or less... And such frequencies are not always deciphered as belonging to the same frequency ranges, anyway. ;-)