[Ashurbanipal]

So, the signature AZS has been out for a while, but the pups themselves have just now become available separately: Lari Basilio Signature Pickups | Seymour Duncan

Pretty interesting magnet combinations in the single coils and a 9.2k hb. Seems like it would be a pretty versatile HSS set. The price though...

 

[Mr_Scotia]

Thats an expensive day out.

Really interesting construction though, builds like that could get really popular i think. Im surprised no-one has released something like that before....

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Brand name pups across the board have become expensive, even used. Days when you could get a used Duncan or DiMarzio for $40-50 seem to be gone.

It's interesting since HSS is popular, but people are always asking like 'what's the best combination?' because the general issue seems to be balancing the output between the hb and singles. I have a pair of SSL2s and a 59/C in my PL and the hb is more powerful, even though I've set it fairly low. I'm ok with this, also since it doesn't affect the sound when mixing them whereby the hb would be dominant, but can understand some might prefer a more even response. The mid-output hb space (with a 9k to 12k dcr) seems generally less well populated in the market than cooler PAF styles and hot rod/nuclear ends of the spectrum, so a 9k A5 job seems interesting.

The different mags in single coils has been around for a while. Duncan have had the Five-Two strat pu (A5 for bass strings, A2 for treble) for some time. I do like the semi-covered Tele style pu as well.

 

[Mr_Scotia]

I have seen that, the vast majority of pickups seem to start at the £/$100 range now. If you shop around used pickups you can get good quality stuff in the 60-70 range that's like new.

I had no idea they had experimented with combining different magnet types, ive often thought some of my pickups sound better at the low side or the high side so it seems like a good idea to have different magnet types at either end to control that.
I really like my alnico Air Norton at 12.5k and also my ceramic D-Activators at 11.7k. 14k seems to be my limit, i managed to dial in my Maxon V2 which is A5 14k (i think) and im enjoying that now but i got hold of a IBZ F2 pickup that i put in the bridge of my VBT700 and it sounds really fizzy, its like 18k or something. Im interested to see how the HSS setup in my 540P sounds when i have that ready to go. My C2's are 17k and my Air Norton is 12.5k...

I generally seem to like 8k to 14k alnico magnets with an exception going to the Maxon V5 which is amazing. The Dimarzio Satchur8 is 12.5k A8 i think which im quite interesting in trying out

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Mm, probably off the major sale platforms it's possible to get a deal. Certainly on Squeebay and so on, prices are high.

The things which determine a pu's sound the most include wire gauge, insulation thickness, tension of wind, no. of turns, type of wind (e.g. regular vs. scatter). Other stuff like magnets, baseplates, covers, screws (esp. length) also have some effect but less dramatic. The different grades of alnico have some effect on perceived power and quality of eq. I guess the reason for using A2 and A4 in treble poles of the Lari set is to soften the high end response or something.

The C2s are stacked, hence the high dcr, but their output is probably not reflective of that. As an example, those Yngwie Duncans are over 20k but remain quite low output.

 

[Mr_Scotia]

I think the good deals get snapped up fast, ive certainly seen some near new Dimarzio's going for £60 very recently in the UK. I got 2 C2's for £25 posted and a IBZ/USA F2 for £27.50 posted just before Christmas too.

I suppose it would be interesting to see a strip down of those dual magnet pickups to see how they build them, i tend to find that lower resistance provides a move open natural sound across the board. With that said, the first thing my pickups see is a Tube Screamer then straight in to a Boss HM3 so im hugely lifting and altering the signal before it even hits the amp.

I did remember reading that pole screw length would affect the amount of distance the magnetic field has to travel which would then impact sound, i imagine with Lari's pickups it would have to be designed in a way where the change wasn't night and day between the low and high E but just enough to have a subtle impact on sound.

I wonder how well her signature guitar does too, its quite pricey and i don't know how many people would rock a solid matte purple guitar

 

[3bolt79]

I would rock a purple guitar. In fact I found a purple burst Les Paul. But I don’t have the funds this month as I bought two LP’s in the last couple of weeks.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Oem stuff tends to be easier to get for better bucks, though even some old Ibz pups like the F series and V1/2 are now climbing in price. I've noticed recently people have convinced themselves that 80s Seymour Duncans are so good that they need to be $200 .

Some stacks have magnets in between the respective coils on either side of the poles. The Duncan Parallel Axis stack is built like this. Though it is a ceramic mag, it has a killer noiseless single coil tone, just they way they designed the whole package. In general though yes, with a traditional pu build, lower wind/dcr will tend to give a more open sound.

Yes, the polepieces sticking out the bottom alter the shape of the magnetic field; folk say if you cut them flush with the baseplate, you may get a bit more output, as the field becomes more concentrated.

I guess the rationale also with the uncovered poles of the middle pu was to give it a stattier sound - bit more direct.

The purple is an acquired taste, but they released a white one this year.

 

[Mr_Scotia]

I imagine when prices of new pickups reached the 100 mark people started shopping for used pickups instead to save some cash, that probably drove prices along with general IG or YT hype from "influencers". Ive also noticed an uptick in Chinese fakes, stuff like Dimarzio/IBZ that usually come in Prestige guitars, ive seen fake Seymour Duncans too along with scores of EB strings from China.

I would be interested in trying out the humbucker from that set purely because its 9.2k, i only have 1 guitar that has single coils so i wouldn't chase those as much. Ive not owned a Seymour Duncan pickup in over 10 years. I used to have a SH4 that i used in everything when i was younger though.

I personally think the purple is cool but its the price point for the guitar that i think would kill it for most, i think they live in the 3k range? You would need to be a pretty dedicated LB fan to cough that up. I would personally go get 2 Genesis guitars and an amp, or 1 Genesis 1 vintage guitar and some pedals. The list of things you could buy is endless....