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Prototype/phantom pickups


Citrus

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On my Phantom Custom, I found I had to fiddle with the pickup heights quite a bit before I got happy with it. If it's a matter of just too much level, but the tone is good, just lower the pickup a little. If you'd like less level and less grunt/more top, lower the pickup and raise the polepieces a little.

Just a suggestion before you get out the soldering iron and the cusswords.... B)

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i have never been a big jb fan so i took that one out of the '97 phantom (thanks stonge) almost immediately. a '59 doublee black went in. much better, imho, for this guitar. the sc next to the bridge hb is a little trickier because it has a straight sided base to slide up close to the bridge hb. most regular single coils won't fit. some replacement pickups are made with this base but they are a little hard to find. fralin will make one for an extra $5. rio will make one for an extra $25 (iirc). i have a sd quarter pounder on the way with the right base and will have it in next week. i am a serial pickup changer, i know i have a problem.

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I'm curious, what is the difference if you lower the pickup, but raise the polepiece?

Wouldn't that be the same as keeping the pupwhere it is??

I really have zero pickup knowledge, except for the little I have gleaned from this board and some mags, so pardon any ignorance on my part.

Also, would playing with the stoptail hight have any affect on this as well??

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Lowering the pickup lowers the overall level and raising the polepieces will increase treble/air/bite, etc. Tweaking polepiece heights can also even out string-to-string imbalances.

Fooling with the stoptail height can have an effect on overall attack and sustain, but not on individual pickup volume.

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On my phantom custom I took out the JB (hated it, like you said, too hot/brittle/crappy) and put in a 9.5k High Order A5 humbucker. I really like it. Now the humbucker sounds as alive as the acoustic sound/single coils.

Hamer1030058.jpg

the picture is a little blurry, but it's a double adjustable coil humbucker. I also went with a zebra one. What do you guys think of the look of it?

Hamer1030056.jpg

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I like the look of the zebra. I don't have a shot handy of mine with the zebra C5 in it, since that hallened later the same weekend as the shot below, but I did change the guard to a toroiseshell one (last one they had at the factory). I just thought it looked better and didn't yell "PICKGUARD!!" quite so loudly... B)

Oh, he burst is actually a lot less red/yellow than this, more a sienna, actually.

865.jpg

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