Hybrid Humbuckers - Alnico 5 & Alnico 3

[Doner Designs]

Not sure if anyone else has tried this.  I recently had Nordstrand make me a custom set of hybrid dual coils.  One coil in each has Alnico 5 and one coil has Alnico 3.  There are 63 possible pickup combinations in this bass, but in a simpler world with two pickups you could have inner coils be A3 and outer be A5 (or vice versa) for added versatility.  I'm very happy with the results.  These are parallel wind pickups so I use the bass as if there were 6 single coils.

The A3 magnets are very smooth sounding while the A5's have much more bite.  Generally going from inner to outer coils is a subtle change but the differing magnets makes it a lot more distinctive.

 

[musicispeace]

Sounds very interesting. I have encountered this in a couple of places guitar pickup wise too. I spoke to the guy who does Wolfetone pickups about a P90 where he had an option of combining 3 and 5. I am definitely open minded on this subject of hybrid humbuckers.

 

[Great Ape]

So, by the time you decide on one of the 63 possibilities, has the rest of the band finished the gig, packed up, and gone home?!?  :evil4:

 

[Pharos]

Congrats on the Nordstrand pickups! They made me a custom set of pups with A3s and I absolutely LOVE them.