Axis Pickup Substitutions

[skelt101]

I'm thinking of converting my 25th Anniversary to open coil pickups, and don't want to risk damaging the stock pickups by removing the covers. My main contenders for substitutions are a Half-Air Norton in the neck (possibly rotated with slug coil towards the neck) and a Half-Air Tone Zone in the bridge. Any other suggestions? Also for colors, Black/Cream or Double Cream? Thanks in advance!

 

[Ventanaman]

I'm thinking of converting my 25th Anniversary to open coil pickups, and don't want to risk damaging the stock pickups by removing the covers. My main contenders for substitutions are a Half-Air Norton in the neck (possibly rotated with slug coil towards the neck) and a Half-Air Tone Zone in the bridge. Any other suggestions? Also for colors, Black/Cream or Double Cream? Thanks in advance!

Are you looking to make changes to the tone, or trying to stay as close to stock as possible?

 

[skelt101]

Are you looking to make changes to the tone, or trying to stay as close to stock as possible?

Close to stock. The change would mostly be about aesthetics. However, if I could get a little more clarity/less mud from the neck position, that would be nice. Supposedly rotating the pickup can help in that regard. I also don’t want the bridge to get too ice-picky.

 

[Ventanaman]

I have experience in swapping out a BUNCH of pickups in Axis and Axis SS models, and for your situation I would go with the Dimarzio AT-1 in the bridge and and PAF 36th Anniversary in the neck (DiMarzio also recommends pairing the 36th Anniversary with the AT-1).

The DiMarzio Tone Zone and Super Distortion in the bridge would also work, but I think the AT-1 is the way to go. Zebra is always my favorite.

I currently have a set of BNP Polymaths in my Axis, and they are fabulous and less compressed than stock, but I did have to add a tone circuit in the control cavity. As a side note, EVH also hid tone circuits on occasion, with the most notable being on the Bumblebee guitar (at least that we know of) for some of the tracks on WACF. If you have never checked out Jim Gaustad’s YouTube page and his deep dives on EVH tone, please take a few minutes - it is a fabulous resource.

 

[skelt101]

I have experience in swapping out a BUNCH of pickups in Axis and Axis SS models, and for your situation I would go with the Dimarzio AT-1 in the bridge and and PAF 36th Anniversary in the neck (DiMarzio also recommends pairing the 36th Anniversary with the AT-1).

The DiMarzio Tone Zone and Super Distortion in the bridge would also work, but I think the AT-1 is the way to go. Zebra is always my favorite.

I currently have a set of BNP Polymaths in my Axis, and they are fabulous and less compressed than stock, but I did have to add a tone circuit in the control cavity. As a side note, EVH also hid tone circuits on occasion, with the most notable being on the Bumblebee guitar (at least that we know of) for some of the tracks on WACF. If you have never checked out Jim Gaustad’s YouTube page and his deep dives on EVH tone, please take a few minutes - it is a fabulous resource.

Thanks for the info, @Ventanman ! I'll be sure to check out Jim Gaustad's YouTube page. The two you mentioned are actually on my radar of possibilities! Do you have any experience with the "Half-Air" pickups? If so, how do they compare to the 36th Anniversary and AT-1? One concern I have with the 36th Anniversary is that it might not split as well as the Half-Air Norton. (I plan to have individual coil splits for each pickup, something I forgot to mention...)

 

[Ventanaman]

Thanks for the info, @Ventanman ! I'll be sure to check out Jim Gaustad's YouTube page. The two you mentioned are actually on my radar of possibilities! Do you have any experience with the "Half-Air" pickups? If so, how do they compare to the 36th Anniversary and AT-1? One concern I have with the 36th Anniversary is that it might not split as well as the Half-Air Norton. (I plan to have individual coil splits for each pickup, something I forgot to mention...)

I have never played a guitar with the “half-air” modification, so I am not the one to ask.

That said, I love splitting the PAF-style pickups, especially in the neck position. I have a Suhr SSV neck pickup in one of my Axis SS and have rewired the 5-way switch to just get the split neck (slug coil) and it sounds fantastic.

Are you splitting with a push/pull volume pot? I would be awesome to see EBMM put the Jason Richardson electronics in an Axis.

 

[skelt101]

I have never played a guitar with the “half-air” modification, so I am not the one to ask.

That said, I love splitting the PAF-style pickups, especially in the neck position. I have a Suhr SSV neck pickup in one of my Axis SS and have rewired the 5-way switch to just get the split neck (slug coil) and it sounds fantastic.

Are you splitting with a push/pull volume pot? I would be awesome to see EBMM put the Jason Richardson electronics in an Axis.

The current plan is to have individual volumes with push/pulls (or push/push) for coil splits wired to a 3-way switch. What to do in the Series/Parallel switch location is tbd, but I like the idea of a phase switch.