what humbuckers do you like with dumble's?

[sidehatch]

I got a back up dual humbucker guitar and I'm thinking about trying new pickups. It has a seymour 59 and jb setup. Is there anything that is known to work better for the D sound?

Thanks

[odourboy]

I got a back up dual humbucker guitar and I'm thinking about trying new pickups. It has a seymour 59 and jb setup. Is there anything that is known to work better for the D sound?

Thanks

Based on a Dogear's recommendation from last year, I put Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF (DP214) bridge pickups in a couple of my axes. They are very sweet! Great with HRMs. Unfortunately, it looks like Dimarzio discontinued them. I also really like the sound of my ES339 with the stock 57 Classic pickups - particularly with my non-HRM amps. My 2 cents - YMMV.

[Zippy]

The 59 and JB were the Robben Ford setup in his Fender Esprit for a number of years. What is the body/neck wood in your guitar? Solid/semi-hollow?

[kleinm]

I have DiMarzios in all but one of my guitars. I can't recommend them highly enough.

I really like the Virtual Hot PAF and regular Virtual PAF, but as odourboy noted they've been replaced by the 36th Anniversary PAF series. One guitar I like with my 100W Bluesmaster has VPAFs in both positions, and another has a Bluesbucker in the neck w/ a VHPAF in the bridge.

A good buddy just bought a set of the 36th Anniversary PAFs, and was very impressed. He made a clip of them compared to another set of pickups, and I thought they sounded really nice!

I might get laughed at, but also experiment with your other electronics in your guitar, as well as your pickup and screw-pole positioning. I like the taper of CTS or CGE pots in my guitars, and I like Mallory 150s as tone caps. With humbuckers, I use a 560pF (silver mica) / 330k treble bleed network on the volume control so the tone is more consistent as I back off volume for single channel, NMV amps. Nothing fancy - taken straight out of the DiMarzio installation guide.

As far as pickup positioning, don't be afraid to drop the height of your humbuckers. While you might lose output, I think you can compensate for that with the gain on your amp. To my humble ears, the sound is bigger and more dynamic when you don't have your pickups so close to the strings. You can get slightly more harmonic overtones and sustain. I think it may have something to do with reduced magnetic pull on the strings, but someone might call BS on that. With an amp that has note bloom like a D-style, it can be pretty noticeable IMHO.

[Bernardduur]

I've tried a lot of different humbuckers;

I stayed now with a Nordstrand vintage humbucker; great sound that has a tad less treble. Awesome!

[thyx]

\I think it may have something to do with reduced magnetic pull on the strings, but someone might call BS on that.

Not BS...you get more harmonics and better sustain for the reason you describe (less magnetic pull). Further away, the P'up also gets a bigger view of the string. There is a point that's too far away where the tone begins to fall off. Pickup height (and angle) is crucial.

[odourboy]

kleinm - could you do me the favor of measuring your PUP heights at the 1st and 6th strings if it's not too inconvenient? I'd like to get an idea of how low you've got yours set.

Cheers, Brian

[sidehatch]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The rhythm guitarist on my church gig said robben had that same setup but I didn't know for sure. Compared to my 91 prs that I have played on since 91 the new hamer has about 20% less treble and the bridge pickup is much hotter. the pres has a vintage bass neck and hfs bridge and the neck reads around 10k and the bridge is almost 11.

On the new hamer(the backup guitar) the neck is around 7k and the bridge is 15k! the Hamer is the same woods as my prs flame maple top on mahogany neck and body, In fact, the neck and everything is almost identical with my prs. The neck joint is exactly likt the old style small heel prs and thats why I got the hamer(and that a buddy found it cheap at a pawn shop). its the high end american hamer line and seems to be a solid guitar. All I had to do was get my setup guy to cut the nut slots and basic setup and its easily as good as my prs.

I finally got the wiring straightened out. It has 2 vols and one tone and a 3 way but its impossible to do swells on the treble pickup that way. I changed it to 1 vol ,2 tones. I kept the 3 way but if I get new pickups Im going to get a prs 5 way and rewire it.

I put a .001 yellow mallory cap on the volume and its very smooth now. I don't think I need the resistor on this guitar. On the neck tone I used a .033 mallory and on the bridge I used a .015 mallory.

So here's my big question: My bridge tone is very smooth. I can roll it down and tell a difference number by number all the way to 0.

On the neck tone there is no difference until I hit 2 and 1/2 and then its all off. I stayed up til 3 last might trying every cap I have and its all the same. I even tried different resistors in parallel with the neck cap and its still the same.

Can anyone commenet on why the neck pickup has this problem but not the bridge pickup? Anything to do with the neck being 7k and the bridge being 15k? Any solution to this ? I may eventually order new pickups and wiring from RS but for now I'd like to stay cheap.

Thanks! you guys are awesome

Shane

[kleinm]

kleinm - could you do me the favor of measuring your PUP heights at the 1st and 6th strings if it's not too inconvenient? I'd like to get an idea of how low you've got yours set.

Cheers, Brian

No problem! I'll do it tonight. IIRC, my bridge pickups are just over the mounting ring. The neck pickups are sunk into the mounting ring a bit, just enough to balance the volume between the two. I'll get exact and post it later, though.

[kleinm]

On the neck tone there is no difference until I hit 2 and 1/2 and then its all off. I stayed up til 3 last might trying every cap I have and its all the same. I even tried different resistors in parallel with the neck cap and its still the same.

Can anyone commenet on why the neck pickup has this problem but not the bridge pickup? Anything to do with the neck being 7k and the bridge being 15k? Any solution to this ? I may eventually order new pickups and wiring from RS but for now I'd like to stay cheap.

Sounds like a taper issue?

[kleinm]

kleinm - could you do me the favor of measuring your PUP heights at the 1st and 6th strings if it's not too inconvenient? I'd like to get an idea of how low you've got yours set.

Cheers, Brian

Here ya go. The measurements are from the screw piece to the underside of the corresponding string. I'm using 10-46s on these PRS's with the old-style stop tailpiece. These were set by ear, to where it felt like the sound opened up and notes sustained longer. Angle was adjusted by ear, getting the low E equal to the high E in output and dynamics. I started with the bridge pickup, and I adjusted the neck's height to match the volume of the bridge. Then I adjusted its angle to match the low and high E's in volume and dynamics.

To adjust the screw pieces, I used my luthier's self-proclaimed "old school" method. I'm not sure if I believe in it, but it works. The groove of each screw makes a zig-zag pattern, almost like Ms or Ws on its side. The low E and high E are adjusted so they're flush with the cover, or slightly above the bobbin. A and B are adjusted above the E strings a full turn. D and G are adjusted a half turn above A and B. The result is a total screw height that is supposed to resemble the curvature of the fretboard.

PRS Singlecut (V PAFs, nickel covers)
Bridge, low E - 3.9mm
Bridge, high E - 3.4mm
Neck, low E - 5.5mm
Neck, high E - 5.0mm

PRS Standard 22 (Bluesbucker & VH PAF, no covers)
Bridge, low E - 4.1mm
Bridge, high E - 3.2mm
Neck, Low E - 4.5mm
Neck, high E - 4.0mm

FWIW, I have a 15nF tone cap on the Singlecut's neck. 22nF elsewhere.

[kleinm]

double post

[odourboy]

kleinm - could you do me the favor of measuring your PUP heights at the 1st and 6th strings if it's not too inconvenient? I'd like to get an idea of how low you've got yours set.

Cheers, Brian

Here ya go. The measurements are from the screw piece to the underside of the corresponding string. I'm using 10-46s on these PRS's with the old-style stop tailpiece. These were set by ear, to where it felt like the sound opened up and notes sustained longer. Angle was adjusted by ear, getting the low E equal to the high E in output and dynamics. I started with the bridge pickup, and I adjusted the neck's height to match the volume of the bridge. Then I adjusted its angle to match the low and high E's in volume and dynamics.

To adjust the screw pieces, I used my luthier's self-proclaimed "old school" method. I'm not sure if I believe in it, but it works. The groove of each screw makes a zig-zag pattern, almost like Ms or Ws on its side. The low E and high E are adjusted so they're flush with the cover, or slightly above the bobbin. A and B are adjusted above the E strings a full turn. D and G are adjusted a half turn above A and B. The result is a total screw height that is supposed to resemble the curvature of the fretboard.

PRS Singlecut (V PAFs, nickel covers)
Bridge, low E - 3.9mm
Bridge, high E - 3.4mm
Neck, low E - 5.5mm
Neck, high E - 5.0mm

PRS Standard 22 (Bluesbucker & VH PAF, no covers)
Bridge, low E - 4.1mm
Bridge, high E - 3.2mm
Neck, Low E - 4.5mm
Neck, high E - 4.0mm

FWIW, I have a 15nF tone cap on the Singlecut's neck. 22nF elsewhere.

Thanks for checking that and reporting back. Really interesting - I have something to try. The spacing on my setup is typically half that or less (1.6-1.9mm range) so I'm very curious what effect lowering my PUPs that much will will have. There's always something else eh!? (thank Gawd!)

[kleinm]

No problem. I was curious myself.

The thing I like about tweaks like this is they're free and don't take much time to execute. Since we're expecting in a few months, I've been more about tweaks like this and less about tweaks like rolling tubes or trying new pickups.

[bluesfendermanblues]

I got a back up dual humbucker guitar and I'm thinking about trying new pickups. It has a seymour 59 and jb setup. Is there anything that is known to work better for the D sound?

Thanks

Got the same combination (59/JB) on my 70's yamaha Les paul - a great combo, which I find sounds close to Robben Ford.