Well, almost..

I remember seeing some posts a while back about this. At the time, I was actually in the middle of experimenting with it. I won an auction of a 498t/490r set for $50, but the auction did say that the 490r was dead. The seller offered to throw it in to see if someone could fix the problem.. Well, it was actually just dead.

So after getting the 498t popped in, I had to think about what to do next. This is where things got interesting.

I had a DiMarzio Tone Zone in another guitar. I decided to take the Alnico-2 magnet out of the 490r and swap it with the Alnico-5 in the Tone Zone, then I took the chrome cover from the Gibson and soldered it to the Dimarzio.



What I have here is the two pickups installed with a Fender 3-way switch, 500k pots, the tone pot being a no load, and an Orange Drop cap.

Let me just say that the tones coming out of this are outstanding!! Especially in no load mode.

The 498t is very vintage sounding and bright. In the clean channel it cracks hard when you skank (Reggae rhythm technique terminology). When you use distortion, it sings very colorfully with a Pro Co and some delay.

The Dimarzio with the Alnico-2 magnet mod is one of the best experiments I've ever decided to try. The pickup becomes very manageable in the neck. Tighter bass and articulate in the clean channel and distorted. No mud. And believe it or not, it takes on a vintage sound of it's own. I'd take this over an air-bucker any day. With the no load it becomes very colorful as well. I'll be doing this same mod with another Tone Zone in the near future.

The two individually sound drastically different in the best way. A lot of bite in the bridge, bluesy and jazzy in the neck. When in the middle position, the sound is equally as colorful and adds yet another manageable sound and dimension that's much different than the other two positions on their own. All 3 positions are balanced and sound fantastic!!

So although, the 490r was a bust, I can't imagine it being any better than the modded Dimarzio. I highly recommend someone doing the Gibson pickup in a Strat thing. It's just a whole different experience altogether. And very cool sounding.

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The Strat scale length and body/neck woods compliment humbuckers nicely. Especially neck humbuckers that can sometimes be a bit muddy in mahogany shorter scale guitars.

$50 just for the working 498T would have been a good deal, so you essentially got an Alnico 2 magnet and a cover for free. Since you could put them to good use that's a really great deal.

Sounds like you found your own sound that won't be easily copied. Very cool. Post a couple of sound clips when you get a chance.

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