[ziggyzipgun]

I have two Godin Empires that I'm subjecting to a lot of mods, one of which now has an Air Norton and a Tone Zone, just like my other guitar, a '98 Parker Fly.  They definitely sound different with nickel covers and mahogany, but I'm very happy with them, and they are much more of a known quantity than the South Korean-sourced, vintage-output factory pickups that Godin uses (despite everything else being top-notch and made in Québec).

So the next step is adding a middle humbucker, à la the SG Custom.  This guitar is my test-bed for various wiring and switching ideas, so eventually, all pickup combinations will be available.  With that in mind, I'm looking for a pickup that will be able to add something when its coils are split or connected in parallel or combined with coils from the other two pickups.  I'm also open to moving the Air Norton to the middle position, if there's something else that would work best in the neck.

[darkbluemurder]

Probably no help to your question but I also wanted to add a middle humbucker to my first SG, and the shop I asked advised me against going for it - he said that routing the thin SG body would be detrimental to stability and that the additional sounds were not worth the hassle. Later I was glad I did not do it but for a different reason: with three humbuckers there is almost no place to pick - even a middle single coil happens to be in my way sometimes.

If you still want to do it and want to move the Air Norton to the middle position - which should be fine as I kinda liked it in both bridge and neck - I would consider a Bluesbucker for the neck position. It is lighter and brighter than the Air Norton which is beneficial in the neck spot, and it splits well.

Cheers Stephan

[ziggyzipgun]

The folks at Dimarzio said the same thing - that a middle pickup would get in the way of picking - but I intentionally pick over the neck humbucker quite often, either for the 2nd octave harmonics or just for the tone of picking that far from the bridge.  My pick is rarely far enough past my thumb to hit a pickup, even with low action, so that I can strum entire chords of pinch harmonics if I want.  Maybe that's just me.

I have heard that the Bluesbucker splits well, but what does the other coil sound like?  I'm essentially wiring all of the coils as individual pickups, and I'm worried that one is a little lop-sided.

[greenlion]

Why not add a single coil sized humbucker?

[darkbluemurder]

The folks at Dimarzio said the same thing - that a middle pickup would get in the way of picking - but I intentionally pick over the neck humbucker quite often, either for the 2nd octave harmonics or just for the tone of picking that far from the bridge.  My pick is rarely far enough past my thumb to hit a pickup, even with low action, so that I can strum entire chords of pinch harmonics if I want.  Maybe that's just me.

In that case you are making an informed decision which is absolutely fine.

I have heard that the Bluesbucker splits well, but what does the other coil sound like?  I'm essentially wiring all of the coils as individual pickups, and I'm worried that one is a little lop-sided.

The other coil is basically there to suppress hum in full humbucking mode and not designed to be used stand-alone. If you want to use all coils for tonal options, something PAF-like (36th, Air Classic) may be better.

Cheers Stephan

[ziggyzipgun]

Why not add a single coil sized humbucker?

I'm looking for something that will have fairly different, usable tones when split to either coil; single coil-sized tend to sound the same when split to either coil.

If you want to use all coils for tonal options, something PAF-like (36th, Air Classic) may be better.

I am currently leaning towards Air Classic Neck, Air Norton Middle, Air Zone Bridge.  And when I say "all pickup combinations will be available" I mean...picture a modular synth.