Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Thanks everyone,
Appreciate your time and experience, elepe, I normally dislike the look of those guitars, but yours is really cool to me, not sure why. AlexR-yeah, I get what you mean about double blade. Vasshu-good info.
Steve Buffington
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

I talk about it all the time. I have a number of minis and firebirds installed in full size HB routes, and a lot of them are hidden under full sized covers.

They are a good solution to the mud problem, there are others. A mini is just what it says, a humbucker miniaturized. It has a bar magnet under the coils and pole pieces in the bobbins. Sounds like a full sized version with less lows/low mids typically. A firebird has no pole pieces and has the bar magnets inside the coils where the poles would be. Sounds Wildly different, very much like a noiseless single coil with fatter lows.

The other solution I use is to remove 3 poles under the low strings on one coil of a humbucker, or on a hotter neck pickup, all the screws on one coil. This does not make it a single coil as some claim, but it does tighten/brighten it up considerably. A full shred neck given the 3 low sting poles removed on the neck side coil is my current favorite.
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

RayBarbeeMusic,
Yes, I removed the bottom 2 screws on one of my ECP "Freedom" pupys, a great great pup, but a little heavy on the lows in the Strat Partocaster I have it in. This is a bridge pup 8.5K or so.
I turned it around 180 degrees and modified the height of the slugs, to match string radius, which are now closest to the bridge, so when I removed the screws that left 2 slugs closest to the bridge and the bottom 2 screws gone. The slugs seem stronger so I needed as much treble as I could get. Worked great.
Love the idea of the Firebird mini in neck. Is the output close for a Seth type bridge pup, would they place nice together?
Thank you,
Steve
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

I have an SM-1n in the neck position on a Lite Ash Tele. To me, the sound is in between a full-size humbucker and a single coil.
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

The firebirds play nice in the neck up to about a Custom 5 in the bridge, so PAFs are an even better match. I have Kevin Smith (Smits hwp) wind my firebirds and hide them under a no-hole full sized cover so the cosmetics looks right in a standard humbucker route. You can also use adapter rings with regular size firebirds, though I found the adapter rings sold on ebay need to have the hole enlarged to fit any firebird I tried. With Kevin winding them and putting them on a full sized baseplate under full sized cover, I don't use the adapter rings anymore.
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Evan,
That's what I thought.
RayBarbeeMusic,
I can get the cosmetics good enough that only a good look by another guitarist could tell. Mojotone has lots of adaptors too. Man, it is so late in my playing life, as I said earlier somewhere, I may not play live again (disability being much worse now), but I still have the desire to spend money on new sounds.
sjb
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Well, as far as the cosmetics, the hidden ones are under covers with no pole piece holes, and you can tell the smaller ones in adapter rings. Either way, I think it looks just fine.
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

idsnowdog said:
I see plenty Tele's these days with mini humbuckers in the neck position.
Click to expand...

AlexR said:
Neck minis are great. Or I should say the Zhangbucker ones I have are great. They do sound nice and articulate and less tubby.

The issue is that they operate on a way different mounting to regular buckers, plus if you do fit one, there in an unsightly gap.
Click to expand...

Yep and yep! I have a Squier Vintage modified tele and it has a mini humbucker in the neck and I replaced it with a Zhangbucker Waylon and get amazing tones out of it!
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Feast your eyes!

All of these guitars (All are now finished) have mini hum buckers in them and they sound great!
 

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Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Deluxe style minis and Firebird minis are two VERY different critters because of the magnet in each bobbin in the Firebird vs. the steel bar slug and little screws in the Deluxe. With the magnets right there at the strings, the Firebirds are louder and unsurprisingly sound much more Fendery -- snappy, lots of bite, very little bass/low-mid response. Not that the Deluxe mini is exactly a creamy bass monster but it has a much more even EQ curve.

Anyway, point being: Do NOT think of Deluxe and Firebird minis as interchangeable.
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

There's something about the look of 3 minis in a Strat that I just love.
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Stratman,
Very impressive, I am so jealous of the guitars so many of you have.
SB
 
Re: Why no talk of Mini-HB neck (regardless of HB bridge)?

Yeah, that triple-mini pickguard looks like an LSD carwash...
 
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