StagMag as Neck Pickup?

[Mr. Lime]

Hi there,

I recently went through a bunch of pickups finding combinations I like and usually tend to favor Dimarzio for neck positions and Duncan for the bridge.
Sometimes I put covers on pickups but the Duncan trembuckers have wider bobbins and I don't like to mix pickup brands without covers.

As I'm a fan of the Dimarzio Bluesbucker, Humbucker from Hell and Air Norton with ceramic magnet, I'm looking for an flexible Duncan alternative.

The StagMag looks good for SC sound in split mode but how does it perform in series mode as neck pickup?
Has someone tried the parallel mode? Is it much brighter than split?

How about tweaking the StagMag - like removing one row of the slugs or use a trim pot (maybe with treble bleed?) as additional volume control between south coil and north coil to tame the series tone a bit?
I guess output wise in series it's way louder than the bridge pickup which I would find anoying.

 

[hamerfan]

I used a The Mag (flat poled version) for years in the neck position of a Aria Les Paul. I liked the humbucker sound (not scooped!), full, warm, maybe a bit wooly. The Aria had 3T2P switch for both humbuckers. It gives you humbucker, single coil and parallel sounds. Parallel is where it really shines.
Two caveats: with a very warm sounding guitar it could be too much wool. The bass needs more distance to the strings as the magnetic field would interfere with free vibration of the wound strings like in a strat. But the distance also helps to fight the wooliness. And I think SD uses now A2 magnets which have lower Gauss.
It's blends nicely with a bridge pickup volumewise. In the parallel wiring it has also way lower volume, so no sweat.
The magnet rods so have room under the coil. So you can adjust the height in the plastic bobbin as you like or swap in other magnets.

 

[beaubrummels]

(FWIW The Mag is A5 poles and not in production. StagMag is A2 poles.)

I haven't used the StagMag in the neck (yet) but I had it in the bridge of my Jackson for a while. Parallel made it sound like a Telecaster bridge vs series put it in Distortion territory almost, with a little bit of mid-chime. Parallel might work well as a slightly hotter than typical neck.

If you need it to split well to single, a 59/Custom Hybrid might also be a candidate as a slightly hotter neck. The custom coil always works well as a single IME.

 

[Blille]

I used a stag mag in the neck as well and mostly used it split, which gave a warm, a bit hotter than vintage, sound. Very nice. Agree with hamerfan above that in series it’s quite wooly which worked well for me at times. For me it was hotter than the bridge in series.

 

[Clint 55]

I recommend making your own. That way you can get exactly what you want with A5 poles, the fundamental tone, and output. Using regular 6k strat pickups will only be at 12k instead of the stag mag's 16k. Or you could get some vintage 5k strat pickups which would put the thing in series at a workable 10k. A spin a split is key here because you can adjust the heat and it will still sound stratty.

 

[Blille]

I always thought it would be great if they made it hybrid with a lower output coil or at least tappable.

 

[Clint 55]

That would be cool. Could be ideal to get a custom stag mag with 1 6k coil and 1 3k coil and you could roll the spin o split all the way off for pure 6k sc tone and then roll the spin o split up for a boost.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Nordstrand and RioGrande both also offer rod-mag humbuckers, perhaps lighter than the Duncan versions.
I'm sure others are doing it too by now.

Another alternative might be the Anderson H2. Or the H1 for a vintage output wind. They split famously well.
Double slugs with a vertical ceramic bar magnet between them make these sound remarkably singlecoily when split.
And even with the H2, series output wouldn't be as over the top as the Stag.

PRS' original T&B humbuckers had rod mags hiding in their slug coils, paired with a traditional screw coil & bar mag underneath.
Great sounding pickups; it was many years before I figured out their secret.
I loved my oldest PRS' tone so much, I put the very similar "1985" reissue set in one of my others.
Unfortunately neither set is being made anymore.

Some have experimented with replacing an existing humbucker's slugs using A5 rods.
I remember hearing about a custom winder who made something similar for a client. Might've been High Order? Not sure.

If you're okay with being pretty loud in series mode, the easiest option would still be a pretty strong conventional humbucker.
+1 on the Hybrid, maybe mounted with the slug coil facing the neck.
Or the Duncan Custom, but splitting to the screw coil. Or something even stronger.

I have a dual slug ceramic Dragonfire Screamer bridge that sounds great split in neck position, but it's way too much in series.

 

[Mr. Lime]

Thanks for so many comments!

Another thing to consider is the magnetic string pull of the double row rods when using the StagMag in the neck. I think it has to be lowered quite a bit to compensate that.

I also have a P-Rail in one of my Les Pauls and it gets the job done as well. Neither of the "modes" is standing out iMO. Most people don't like it's look but I have put it into an open cover which makes it look way more common.

The Ibanez Super 58 sound good splitted too but not really SC like.

 

[Blille]

Thanks for so many comments!

Another thing to consider is the magnetic string pull of the double row rods when using the StagMag in the neck. I think it has to be lowered quite a bit to compensate that.

I also have a P-Rail in one of my Les Pauls and it gets the job done as well. Neither of the "modes" is standing out iMO. Most people don't like it's look but I have put it into an open cover which makes it look way more common.

The Ibanez Super 58 sound good splitted too but not really SC like.

I like the Prail quite a bit. The P90 tone and the parallel. But, again, I think the pickup would benefit from having the P90 be tappable for the series mode so the P90 doesn’t dominate as much in terms of tone and to gain some clarity.

Also imho the blade should be the one close to the neck standard.

 

[Clint 55]

^ Use a spin a split or a partial split. Could combine that with a triple shot or a phase switch to select either coil and bring in some of the other coil with the spin a split or partial split.

 

[Mr. Lime]

Are you guys finding those spin-a-split controls really useful?

Over the years I tried so many switching combinations. I developed my own wirings with Megaswitches and had the Tom Anderson wiring in a Superstrat with additional phase switch delivering pretty much any combination. At the end I found it nothing but unpractical. If you have several guitars, it's easy to forget over time what the switches actually do. There's hardly a sound that I prefered over the standard neck or bridge humbucker series wiring, what is easy to understand since it's what they are made for.
Playing in a band or in live situation makes it even less attractive IMO. Hum can be quit anoying too in the studio.

I learned to prefer 3 to 4 switching options that sound good on their own. I never use the tone knob, a cap switch is more useful to me.
Someone can cut highs with a small cap to ground (maybe for too bright parallel operations?) or cut bass with a cap in series - a trick for muddy neck pickups.
I also tried the series cap as a bass cut control. Worked better than the tone control, but still not great enough.

 

[Blille]

I like to try a lot of stuff to then pick the few sounds I actually like. I rarely use more than three sounds in a given guitar.

 

[Clint 55]

Are you guys finding those spin-a-split controls really useful?

Over the years I tried so many switching combinations. I developed my own wirings with Megaswitches and had the Tom Anderson wiring in a Superstrat with additional phase switch delivering pretty much any combination. At the end I found it nothing but unpractical. If you have several guitars, it's easy to forget over time what the switches actually do. There's hardly a sound that I prefered over the standard neck or bridge humbucker series wiring, what is easy to understand since it's what they are made for.
Playing in a band or in live situation makes it even less attractive IMO. Hum can be quit anoying too in the studio.

I learned to prefer 3 to 4 switching options that sound good on their own. I never use the tone knob, a cap switch is more useful to me.
Someone can cut highs with a small cap to ground (maybe for too bright parallel operations?) or cut bass with a cap in series - a trick for muddy neck pickups.
I also tried the series cap as a bass cut control. Worked better than the tone control, but still not great enough.

Often they can be impractical things to faf with like you described but if you have a big fat pickup in series like the prail or stag mag then they're extremely useful.

 

[zionstrat]

As far as spinn a splits, a lot people dial in a spin position that works and usually leave it there. When that is the case, you can make things a lot easier by converting the pot into a trim tab, set it to the right resistance and then you can flip it on and off with a switch.

And I find parallel extremely useful in many cases. As others have mentioned, it's a great way to tame a overly powerful thick pickup.

But it also adds a nice secondary flavor that is extremely useful for rhythm.. I mentioned about a year ago at one of my customers had me parallel a mini humbucker which had something like 1.9 ohms..

And much to my surprise, turned out to be really pretty rhythm setting where he could strum hard but do more articulate patterns.

 

[hamerfan]

I recommend making your own. That way you can get exactly what you want with A5 poles, the fundamental tone, and output. Using regular 6k strat pickups will only be at 12k instead of the stag mag's 16k. Or you could get some vintage 5k strat pickups which would put the thing in series at a workable 10k. A spin a split is key here because you can adjust the heat and it will still sound stratty.

No, they are wound with 43 awg, because of the smaller humbucker bobbins. That's about 7800 windings which make on a bigger strat bobbin about 5.8k with 42awg.

 

[Mr. Lime]

Basically pretty much any Humbucker could be modified to a kind of StagMag, right? 16.6k total resistance isn't uncommon, so a regular SH-4 could be used.
Removing the Magnet and replacing the slugs with A2 rods might do the trick?

I ask becuase I currently have a Jackson RR with Sustainer on the neck. The Sustainer has a humbucker footprint but one coil seems to be just a empty plastic cover I could replace with a single coil.


Also how about replacing the pole pieces and slugs from a JB with two different AlNiCo rods? Of coruse string pull is to consider so stronger rods might be too much.

 

[hamerfan]

SH-4 has a 44awg wire and therefore less windings. You need about 8k with 43awg or 11.5k with 44awg on one coil.

 

[Mr. Lime]

I see your point.
Guess a Duncan Custom would come close. Are there any other stock humbucker pickups with 43awg and more winds?

Tone Zone might have useful winds for both coils?
The Norton seems to have ~5.12k 42awg and ~6.66 43awg which would probably result in a more "vintage" output stag mag if we put A2 rods in it..
Steve's Special might be a proper candidate - maybe compensating the lower wounded coil with stronger rod magnet like A3,A4 or even A5?

 

[hamerfan]

Some guys here had some gutting out an Invader and putting rods into it. Use the search function!