Stag Mag with better humbucker tones?

[TinMan]

I was playing the P-Rails (which I quite like) and was thinking to myself "wouldn't it be fantastic if there was a pickup that did a perfect (or near enough) strat single coil sound while also maintaining an equally perfect humbucker tone?". This brought to mind the Stag Mag. However, when I began reading the reviews on the forum, it sounded like it did the single coil thing quite well but didn't do the humbucker quite as well. After thinking about it some more, would swapping one of Stag Mag coils with a bar style magnet (vs the pole piece style) improve the humbucker tone? I would imagine the sound it would give you would be a little thicker in humbucker mode while still giving you a close strat tone when split to the pole piece coil. Anyone here with more experience in pickup construction think this is plausible?

 

[Sanford]

Re: Stag Mag with better humbucker tones?

What is it about the P-Rail that seems off to you? Is it the series humbucker mode? Or maybe the rail coil isn't as stratty?

Although I've never used the StagMag, I suspect the magnet poles might have something to do with the humbucker sounds being as they are. Great sounding when split because the polepieces are the magnets...just like a strat pickup. I don't think "a perfect" humbucker sound or single sound will be achieved in one pickup. But the P-Rails sounds good to me in all settings. I've even figured out how to get the rails to do what I want with some tone knob rolling.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Stag Mag with better humbucker tones?

Look here: http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/windows/hum90_alnicoWin.html

I have a 'The Mag', SD's first attempt with a flat pole A5s, and can say the Humbucker mod is a bit bland, but the single coil and the parallel mod are quite stratty.

Your kind of hybrid is a bit tricky: The bar magnet must very slim and probably must be a ceramic hence. If the magnets are too near to each other, they would weaken and interfere with each other.

 

[Jeremiah]

Re: Stag Mag with better humbucker tones?

There are a few companies making pickups that do try to combine genuine single coil and humbucking sounds. Some that I am aware of are:

The EMG 89 which is supposed to combine the 85 humbucker with the SA single coil. They're active and like many active pickups seem to be focussed mainly on the metal scene.

The Ibanez True Duo, which as far as I can tell is a single-coil sized humbucker and a true single coil in a humbucker sized rout. Don't know if you can get them other than on an Ibanez guitar

Some of the Lace Sensor Duallys combine a single coil sounding pickup with a humbucker sounding one (eg the red/silver)

I have not actually heard any of these, but have been researching these kinds of pickups because I was looking to make my guitar as versatile as possible with single and humbucking sounds, but in the end I really like the sound of the Stag Mag (though it doesn't sound that much like a standard humbucker.)

Edit: also the Fralin Unbucker aims to do something similar by a different method

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Stag Mag with better humbucker tones?

This brought to mind the Stag Mag. However, when I began reading the reviews on the forum, it sounded like it did the single coil thing quite well but didn't do the humbucker quite as well.

Depends upon what sound you are after. Certainly no one humbucker PU will satisfy the tastes of every guitarist or suit every type of music (that's why we have 314,769 PUs or mods to choose from).

I've got a Stag Mag in the bridge of an LP Classic that sounds great. I've got no complaints about the humbucker sound at all for the guitar and type of music I play, and the split sound is very close to a Strat sound especially when paralleled with the neck PU.

It's certainly worth a try IMHO.

 

[TinMan]

Re: Stag Mag with better humbucker tones?

I really love the PRails...I just think, like most people I've heard from on the forum, that the rail is the weak point on the pickup. I really love the humbucker tone, I love the P90 tone and am 'meh' about the rail tone. I think that rail is a distinctive tone on its own but not terribly strat like. If anything, it sounds closer to a Jag pickup to me but its still not quite right for a Jag either. However, between the P90 and Humbucker modes, I'm satisfied.

The EMG 89 is an alright pickup but I'm not a fan of active pickups in most cases. As far as the Lace Duallys go, I've heard good and bad. I'd be interested in trying them though! The only thing about Lace singles I've found is that they lack something the true single has (top end sparkle?).

Of course, as a guitar player and tone freak I'm always looking to get the most out of all my equipment. I think the PRails are the closest thing to what I'm looking for at the moment...but I'll keep my ears to the ground.