Pickup advice for Duotone Custom

[dominic]

Bought an '04 Hamer Duotone Custom (f holes) a couple years back.....beautiful guitar that works well for one of my bands where I blend the acoustic and electric pickups for a singer / songwriter type of thing. Starting up a jazzier combo and figured I would give the Duotone a go.....but when I just use the electric pickups (I assume they are Duncan 59s) I am not thrilled with the sound. The bridge pickup is a bit harsh and the neck pickup just seems lifeless sounding. They are not bad - and when used together with the acoustic pickup (and I have adjusted the 4 screws for the acoustic sounds), it almost works - but I am thinking about a pickup swap. So - looking for thoughts / suggestions on;

1. Am I off base on these pickups? Do others find them to be great? Maybe need to try through different amps, etc.... or has anyone else been underwhelmed with them?

2. If I do a swap; suggestions on humbuckers that would be less harsh on the bridge and more lively on the neck...I don't need hotter / higher output....just "sweeter", if that makes sense

3. I am trying too hard and this is just not the guitar for this music?

Thanks,

-Dominic

[atquinn]

I've never really been a fan of the 59's. Haven't played them on anything for years though, so maybe my tastes have changed. At any rate, I'd recommend trying a set of Seth Lovers.

-

Austin

[django49]

Many, including me, like the Phat Cat in the neck a lot. But not humbucking.

[veatch]

Welcome, fine sir. *Love* the DuoTones - miss mine, and hope to get another someday...

I agree with django - Phat cat (or some other P90 in a bucker package...) for the neck. Whatever you prefer for the bridge. If'n you want rawk, many here love the Rio Grandes - i thought it was a little too much for what i was doing at the time.

Check out this site to hear what some of the different pups sound like:

http://home.comcast.net/~jveatc01/HamerFanClub/CorkSniffing/GnB.html

Hope that helps.

[dominic]

Many, including me, like the Phat Cat in the neck a lot. But not humbucking.

Hey Django - like that Swart! I have an AST Master (although I defeat the Master volume) and a 1 - 12" matching Swart tweed extension cabinet set up. Put a Jensen Jet Blackbird in the top and a Celestion Alnico gold in the bottom. Also swapped in 6L6 tubes for the 6V6 that were in it.....I wanted a more headroom and scooped mid, big clean sound.....while still retaining some of the Swart bloom and spookiness.

Welcome, fine sir. *Love* the DuoTones - miss mine, and hope to get another someday...

I agree with django - Phat cat (or some other P90 in a bucker package...) for the neck. Whatever you prefer for the bridge. If'n you want rawk, many here love the Rio Grandes - i thought it was a little too much for what i was doing at the time.

Check out this site to hear what some of the different pups sound like:

http://home.comcast.net/~jveatc01/HamerFanClub/CorkSniffing/GnB.html

Hope that helps.

Veatch - great site, thanks!

[geoff_hartwell]

Hey Dominic,

The DTs are my fave! I thought I might suggest a few no-cost, low-impact options that won't hurt especially if you're going pickup and/or gtr swapping;

Firstly, since you are experiencing harshness in the bridge, how close is the pup to the strings? I find that a lot of the bite tones down if the 59s are not super-close to the strings. And conversely, you might try taking the cover off of the neck pup - it'll definitely bring back some zing.

Good luck!

[gorch]

The Duotone master has spoken.

Turning down the volume a bit could also help.

[dominic]

Thanks Geoff and Gorch; both good ideas, removing pickup cover and backing off the vol a bit

[tomteriffic]

I lowered the '59 neck PU on mine and it does "fake jazz" pretty nicely now. Rolling in a little neck pickup helps fatten up the piezo tone too. For the bridge I went with a Duncan Custom 5. My repair guy handed it back to me after a setup and remarked that he had a new favorite guitar.

Remember, a wound third is pretty much essential with these.

[dominic]

I lowered the '59 neck PU on mine and it does "fake jazz" pretty nicely now. Rolling in a little neck pickup helps fatten up the piezo tone too. For the bridge I went with a Duncan Custom 5. My repair guy handed it back to me after a setup and remarked that he had a new favorite guitar.

Remember, a wound third is pretty much essential with these.

Thanks Tom - yes I use a wound 3rd set (Tomastik Enfeld)

[murkat]

duncan 59's are hit and miss. Some good, most sub par.

A lot of 59's are used in for oem guitars. duncan make a lot of them.

Potting them does help.

Magnet switchups also help them out.

I have only had a very few 59's that really blew me away...

They can be adjustment sensitive like the Gibson classic as well.

[dominic]

Well here it is a year and a half later.....to update, I swapped in Lollar Imperial low wind humbuckers for the Duncans in my Duotone Custom. The swap definitely worked for what I wanted....more character, less harshness, clearer tones overall. The jazz pop combo I was using the guitar for is no more, though! Sadly, the duotone is not getting a lot of playing time.....so you all may see it on the for sale / trade message board in the future....

[anotherfreak]

Find a set of Dimarzio PAF classics, play with the height a bit, Tonal Bliss

:wub:

[django49]

Well here it is a year and a half later.....to update, I swapped in Lollar Imperial low wind humbuckers for the Duncans in my Duotone Custom. The swap definitely worked for what I wanted....more character, less harshness, clearer tones overall. The jazz pop combo I was using the guitar for is no more, though! Sadly, the duotone is not getting a lot of playing time.....so you all may see it on the for sale / trade message board in the future....

Seems like there are always a couple folks here on the prowl for a DT.

[BubbaVO]

Anyone ever try the Greg mod for the DTs, run both the acoustic and electric together and set the equalizers to emphasize the high/los...would that get closer to a "jazzier" tone? Or would that just be an awful mess?