Help finding a middle single coil(Noiesless) that will balance with humbuckers

[t.coyle]

Hey everyone,

I am planning out a build and I have read up on here about the Seymour Duncan Hybrid Pickup(http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22538) and have decided that a Jazz/59 hybrid in the neck and a Custom/Jb hybrid in the bridge both with alnico 5 magnets will be what I am aiming for. The problem is I also would like a middle single coil and after looking around I think that a noiseless version like the Dimarzio area 58 would be a good and has gotten pretty good revies. I also thought that since it is basically a stacked humbucker it would balance a bit better with the humbuckers than a regular single coil.

So heres my question. Do you think the Dimarzio Area 58 would not match well with the other 2 pickups? Is there any noiseless single coil that you think would fit better with the 2 other pickups? Also I am not sure if this will be a 22 or a 24 fret guitar, If I go with a 24 fret guitar is there anything you guys would suggest to make the neck Jazz/59 hybrid in the 24 fret placing sound a bit more like it would if it was in the 22nd fret placing, like putting a cover on it or switching magnets or something like that?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Strat Avenger]

The Area-series pickups sound exactly like single-coils, but without the noise.

 

[Cagey]

I think you'd like that Area 58 quite a bit. As already mentioned, the Area series really do sound very much like single coils, but without the noise. As for output matching, unless there's a huge disparity, you can usually resolve that with height adjustments. Small changes make real differences.

But, if you want to get real picky, you can always whip out the trusty multimeter. Set the height on all the pickups where the tone is best, then switch to the second lowest output pickup and back off the volume until it sounds like it's about the same output level as the lowest output pickup with the volume knob pegged. Measure the resistance on the volume pot, and note it. Switch to the highest output pickup and do the same thing. Then, go buy a couple 1/4 watt resistors close to those values, and put them in series with the hot lead from those respective pickups.

Then, no matter what pickup you're on, the output will always be what you expect when you dial the volume to any particular point. 7 is always 7, 5 is always 5, etc. no matter which pickup.

Or, you could do what everybody else does - get to know your guitar's volume and tone controls. Part of switching pickups sometimes involves changing the volume and tone controls. Output level isn't always the same from one pickup to the next to get the same place in the mix. Humans hear higher frequencies more easily than lower. You may find that having all outputs the same makes you dance the knobs more often than you would otherwise, because the waveform from the pickup dictates that you adjust for some harmonics in order to maintain your presence.

 

[rockskate4x]

I have a dimarzio vv in between a seymour duncan JB and Jazz set. While not the same as what your going with, I think I can say that it is similar enough for me to tell you that you shouldn't have a problem after some height adjustments.

 

[t.coyle]

Thanks for the advice guys, it helps alot

 

[TJD]

I have the area 61 in the middle of a VERY high output D activator bridge hb and an heavy blues in the neck. I never used to use the middle pup much until now..amazingly good tone and no volume drop like my previous guitars. That pup was the suprise of my build.