Which humbucker splits the best?

[Benjy_26]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

Silence Kid beat me to it, but the StagMag would be an excellent choice. There aren't many humbuckers that split as well as the SM. Great true single coil tone and pretty darn good series tone as well. It even sounds great in parallel.

Of course any of the Customs would be a good choice as well, my preference as a starting point would be the C5. You can adjust tone and performance by changing magnets to any of the alnicos or even a ceramic (not my cup of tea). Or even replace one of the coils with one from a 59, Demon, Jazz, or Pearly and create a hybrid which would also be a good choice for what you want.

It's starting to seem like the Custom series is a safe bet for this guitar. The Stag Mag DOES interest me as well. I'll have to contact Duncan to see what the can make as a shop floor custom.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

I'm afraid you are correct in your fears about both the JB and the '59. The JB easily goes to mud, and the '59 is beyond anemic when split.

That said, the JB is a great split pickup. Much better than as a full humbucker, to my tastes. And one *can* get good tones from a split '59, in and of itself. But they simply won't match any of the other switch positions on the guitar in terms of output or richness, so it's kind of a studio only thing, not good for playing live.

Unless you can find a bare slanted baseplate, your best bet might be buying a stock Duncan slanted '59, and doing some coil swapping from other pickups. You might like a '59/Custom Hybrid in there (splitting to the Custom's stud coil).

Of course, you could have the custom shop do this coil swapping for you, either on a custom built "new" pickup, or on a slanted '59 that you'd sent in to them for modification.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

That's what I was afraid of with the 59. I like it's series tones, but I have a feeling a 7k single coil in the middle woild make it sound kind of wimpy by comparison when split.

 

[DavidP]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

I have a Custom 5 in my Godin Session Plus, wired to engage either coil as well as full HB. Its great in either split mode and balances well with the stock single coils. I'm really tempted to try an unaligned magnet in it but will leave well enough alone at present.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

I have a Custom 5 in my Godin Session Plus, wired to engage either coil as well as full HB. Its great in either split mode and balances well with the stock single coils. I'm really tempted to try an unaligned magnet in it but will leave well enough alone at present.

Do you know what thesingle coils in your guitar are? I want to get an idea on how the Custom coils balance with a 7k single.

 

[dxlxntxxlxr]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

bkp juggernauts split real nice

 

[Ascension]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

I installed an Alt 8 today in an old Carvin DC 127 with split switches and was really surprised at how well it sounded. Has really nice QUACK with the stock M22N I left in the neck on that guitar in the middle position with both split. The Alt 8 really surprised me with the split tones as I had always run these as full humbuckers unsplit until now and I was not expecting it to be so good! IMO it sounds better than the Perpetual Burn, JB,59 Custom Hybrid and the Custom 5 I have split. Want to try one with a true single coil in the middle split now!!

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

Itsabass and ascencion are right: JB and Alt8 sound great when split, but are different animals. JB bright and clear like Vintage Fender, Alt8 more like a beefed up single. But when you want parallel single sound i recommend only the JB.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

Itsabass and ascencion are right: JB and Alt8 sound great when split, but are different animals. JB bright and clear like Vintage Fender, Alt8 more like a beefed up single. But when you want parallel single sound i recommend only the JB.

Tell you though with the Alnico II strst in the middle on my Modern Player tele the 59/Custom split sounds fantastic as does the Perpetual Burn in my 17 Keisel DC 135 with the Carvin/ Keisel AP11 in the middle. Like both split with singles a little better than my 95 MG 120 with a JB and SSL1's. You are right on the Alt 8 split though sounds like a SSL5 more than a normal vintage Strat single split.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Which humbucker splits the best?

Dang. I never considered the Alt 8. What sound is it aimed at when in full humbucker mode?