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The Pickup Place / Re: Help with choosing pickups and pot values?

« on: December 26, 2017, 05:24:48 AM »

If you're thinking about The Breed, you might consider the neck version; it makes a pretty darn good bridge pickup. Hotter than vintage style pickups though not as over-the-top as the bridge model (perhaps a better match for your fuzz) yet it has significant extra drive & thickness compared to PAF types.  Big low end and a smokin lead voice. Mine is in a Les Paul Custom.

If you're looking for vintage output with extra mids, I think the 36th Anniversary bridge could be a pretty good fit for you, depending on the guitar of course.

You might also consider the Air Norton; its output isn't as high as the DCR might lead you to believe and IMO it's less mid-forward than the 36th. A little more balanced, but it will still snarl when you dig in.

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The Pickup Place / Re: attaching ferrous plate under VV Blues bridge pickup

« on: December 26, 2017, 04:40:23 AM »

I haven't tried it but it seems to me that the results might not be what you'd expect, since the VV technology already involves extra ferrous elements in the pickup. Not sure though, maybe one of the experts can advise us.

I added a steel baseplate to a Fralin Woodstock '69 at the bridge on one of my Strats and the result was fairly subtle, noticeable mostly in the mids though I believe the highs are a bit warmer also. The pickup still has sparkle. The plate didn't add as much extra richness or punch as I'd hoped.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Anybody ever try ceramic in an aired pickup?

« on: June 29, 2017, 02:51:07 PM »

All the air gap does is reduce the strength of the magnet slightly. 

Ceramics are typically stronger than AlNiCo magnets, so you might get something that sounds like an A5 if you use a C8.

Ceramic magnets don't increase the induction the way AlNiCo does since it's not metallic. So that will further change the tone between the two.

Only way to know is to try it. I'd imagine it will take a bit if top end off the tone.


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Yah, I would expect it to mellow the treble a little. But you don't think it's likely to soften the fast attack/tight feel of the ceramic, give it a looser, slightly "bouncier" feel? I haven't bonded with ceramics, for the most part because they always seem a little stiff to me. Perhaps A8 might be a better candidate for this swap.

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The Pickup Place / Re: I just lowered the height of my Tone Zone....

« on: June 23, 2017, 02:08:38 PM »

Just a comment: I haven't found a spec that works for me on all pickups & guitars; my method is the old fashioned seat-of-the-pants one, using my ear- starting very low, I'll raise it 'til it sounds good, raise it more 'til it doesn't, then lower it back to where it sounds best. I feel it helps to hear the whole range before settling on a final position.

One thing to remember if setting to a predetermined height- you measure it with the string fretted at the highest fret.

It's also worth mentioning that on guitars which don't have have individual volume controls for the pickups, height adjustment is a way of fine-tuning the balance in combined switch positions. Sometimes when pickups are set for the best tone on their own, the in between positions aren't ideal. A bit of tweaking can sometimes improve this noticeably.

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The Pickup Place / Anybody ever try ceramic in an aired pickup?

« on: June 22, 2017, 03:15:27 PM »

If airing can make an A5 sound & feel more like an A2, what might it do for ceramic? I'm thinking perhaps it could soften the attack a bit, and mitigate the ceramic's highs in a pickup that wasn't wound as hot as most typical ceramic designs.

Maybe find a sort of middle ground between ceramic & alnico characters?

Just brainstorming here. But I happen to have an extra Air Norton sitting around and wonder whether it's be worth trying. I'd love to hear from anyone who's experimented with this.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Why doesn't AT-1 split well?

« on: July 25, 2016, 01:18:29 PM »

As an FYI, I was reading a thread recently over at TGP about splitting a 36 Anni PAF, where the poster really didn't like the split tone he was getting, even with a resistor in the ground shunt to beef it up a bit.

After some experimenting he discovered the problem was that the DiMarzio didn't like the stock treble bleed in his PRS, and said his split sound was greatly improved by switching the cap value.

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The Pickup Place / Re: PETITION TO DIMARZIO: PLEASE BRING BACK THE VIRTUAL PAF SET!

« on: January 05, 2016, 02:03:14 AM »

New member here; I'll add my voice to the chorus.
It would be nice to be able to try these.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Lace Alumitones, anyone?

« on: January 05, 2016, 01:51:22 AM »

I'd be interested in any opinions & reviews on these, too. There's very little to go on. The thing I find most interesting is that because of the unusual design, it's been said that there is no drop in level when they're split. This is unheard-of and would be a huge plus- if they sound good to begin with.

Gotta hand it to Don Lace; he's come up with some really unorthodox ideas and made them work pretty well. It's mostly been in the area of the sensor singlecoils, but I'm very curious about his humbuckers. Found a glowing review of the Deathbucker (which caught my interest about the full volume when split) but that's way too hot for me. I prefer vintage or medium output pickups, so I don't need to tweak my rig when I switch guitars.

Have seen reviews from folks who didn't like the Alumitone series very much at all. Still, with a radically different design it's hard to tell whether it's actually poor sounding, or if perhaps it's just so unfamiliar that people don't know how to get the best out of it yet. I'd like to give these the benefit of the doubt until I have more information. But there's so little being written on the subject...

So if anyone's using these or tried them out, by all means please let us all know how you feel about 'em!