I have recently bought a SD full shred neck pup for my 6 string les Paul style guitar. The guitar has a mahogany body with a flame maple veneer on top. It has a mahogany bolt-on neck with a rosewood fretboard. I will mostly play heavy chunky prog rhythm(in the style of Tool, Opeth, Dream Theatre etc)on this guitar and it will be mostly tuned to standard d or drop c. I run 12 gauge daddario strings on it. Looking for a bridge pup recommendation which will perfectly compliment the full shred neck for playing this kind of downtuned prog metal. I have read that invader goes well with it but I don’t like the sound of it and also read about Pegasus and sentinent pups but they are not available in my country right now. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Best bridge pup for SD full shred neck on a lp style guitar for downtuned prog metal
- Thread starter silty
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Ace Flibble
New member
This is going to sound like I'm just plucking out the most thoughtless answer here, but seriously, the Full Shred Bridge. I have a set in a Les Paul and they work beautifully for balancing out that guitar in D Standard with slightly heavier strings. I can't handle .012s, but I do use a set of .0105-.054 (IIRC a standard .012 set ends with a .056) and the Full Shreds keep that guitar sounding clear enough for high gain but still fairly thick as Les Paul should. (I can't say I've ever tried them for Drop C, because any time I tune lower than C# I just go to active pickups or a 7-string.)
I have another LP which is identical in build but with a Jazz and Custom 5 set, using the same strings but for Eb Standard. The Jazz and Full Shred Neck are the same pickup, just with different pole pieces; the Full Shred Bridge is a Custom 5 with different pole pieces. When both guitars are tuned the same (either D Standard or Eb Standard) you can't really tell the difference between the two pickup sets. The Jazz/Custom 5 combination is just a tiny bit heavier in bass, but it's a small difference. The way I think of it is the Full Shred set is those two pickups (Jn/C5) just optimised for slightly lower tunings; by not having quite as much bass they stay just a little bit clearer as you tune lower. It actually baffles me that they're called 'Full Shred' when to my mind they're most ideal as slow, chugging rhythm pickups for muddy guitars.
So, you can look up what people like to put with a Jazz neck and know that anything that blends with the Jazz well will also match with the Full Shred, since they are 99% the same. As I said, my pick is the Full Shred Bridge, which obviously is as close a match as you can get. The Custom 5 also does well with the Jazz/Full Shred if you want just a little bit more bass, or the Custom works great if you like the Full Shred tone balance but want more output overall. (Though the Full Shred Bridge isn't that far behind in output; I think Seymour Duncan are very wrong to market it as a 'medium' pickup.)
I don't know why anyone would put the Invader with a Full Shred unless they only looked at the pole pieces and figured they look close visually. Tonally they are total opposites and the Invader bridge massively overpowers the FS neck in output. For reference, I do have an Invader, I like it a lot but I've never found a neck pickup that matches well with it, including the Invader Neck. Right now I have it paired with a Distortion and it's still a total mismatch in output and tone. I'd also never put an Invader in a Les Paul, it's really matched for thin-sounding guitars.
Some people will suggest the JB, I'm sure; not a fan myself, especially with the Jazz/Full Shred where I've found the more evenly-EQd and fractionally less hot Custom 5/Full Shred bridge is a better match. JBs overpower them.
I have another LP which is identical in build but with a Jazz and Custom 5 set, using the same strings but for Eb Standard. The Jazz and Full Shred Neck are the same pickup, just with different pole pieces; the Full Shred Bridge is a Custom 5 with different pole pieces. When both guitars are tuned the same (either D Standard or Eb Standard) you can't really tell the difference between the two pickup sets. The Jazz/Custom 5 combination is just a tiny bit heavier in bass, but it's a small difference. The way I think of it is the Full Shred set is those two pickups (Jn/C5) just optimised for slightly lower tunings; by not having quite as much bass they stay just a little bit clearer as you tune lower. It actually baffles me that they're called 'Full Shred' when to my mind they're most ideal as slow, chugging rhythm pickups for muddy guitars.
So, you can look up what people like to put with a Jazz neck and know that anything that blends with the Jazz well will also match with the Full Shred, since they are 99% the same. As I said, my pick is the Full Shred Bridge, which obviously is as close a match as you can get. The Custom 5 also does well with the Jazz/Full Shred if you want just a little bit more bass, or the Custom works great if you like the Full Shred tone balance but want more output overall. (Though the Full Shred Bridge isn't that far behind in output; I think Seymour Duncan are very wrong to market it as a 'medium' pickup.)
I don't know why anyone would put the Invader with a Full Shred unless they only looked at the pole pieces and figured they look close visually. Tonally they are total opposites and the Invader bridge massively overpowers the FS neck in output. For reference, I do have an Invader, I like it a lot but I've never found a neck pickup that matches well with it, including the Invader Neck. Right now I have it paired with a Distortion and it's still a total mismatch in output and tone. I'd also never put an Invader in a Les Paul, it's really matched for thin-sounding guitars.
Some people will suggest the JB, I'm sure; not a fan myself, especially with the Jazz/Full Shred where I've found the more evenly-EQd and fractionally less hot Custom 5/Full Shred bridge is a better match. JBs overpower them.
solspirit
Ultimate Post Liker
Or the cap?
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Where was this ever confirmed, either by Duncan employee, or a winder who disassembled them and analyzed the construction to confirm?
It's a full hog bolt-on with a maple top. It can still be called LPish due to the shape I guess, but to me a set-in neck is a lot of the LP tone.
That aside, I really would go with Mincer's advice on this. For that riffing style and that guitar you'll want a ceramic that has some low-end weight.
That aside, I really would go with Mincer's advice on this. For that riffing style and that guitar you'll want a ceramic that has some low-end weight.
80's_Thrash_Metal
Slightly_Glazed_Believer
Down-tuned metal always pairs well with Black Winter, Alt-8, Sh-6.
The full shred is a good choice too.
The full shred is a good choice too.
I don't believe that is confirmed.
it has the same DCr and magnet, giving that the bridge is a custom I don't think it's far fetched to assume full shred neck is a jazz, but I think remember seeing a post by an (ex-?)employee who claimed it was not the same wind, who knows?
beaubrummels
Well-known member
DCR / magnet does not indicate similarity in pickups. A DiMarzio Super Distortion is 14k. Putting an A5 magnet in it would not make it a 14k Full Shred by any stretch.
dimarzio is a different brand, bad example, we already know duncan "recycles" his pickups for new designs, like the A2P and the jazz, the custom family etc etc
Ace Flibble
New member
It used to be well-documented on the old boards; I don't know where stuff is on the current boards, it seems many old threads just return error messages now. In any case, it's going back some years now but indeed there were quotes from MJ straight-up saying the A2P, Jazz and FS neck are the same wind (I want to say it had something to do with the development of the Slash pickups, but it's been a good few years now, my memory ain't the best) and... I want to say Evan? Evan or Kevin, one of the two, saying the same about the Custom and Full Shred bridge.
Given I've got all the aforementioned pickups all in identical or near-identical spec guitars and they do all sound 99.9% the same as you swap magnets and pole pieces between them, I've never had any reason to doubt the knowledge of the old boards.
edit:
For a more useful contribution, here's a simple chord strum I recorded the other week for another thread, showing the direct input (no amp, no pedals) of the Full Shred bridge vs the Custom 5 bridge, both in otherwise-identical Les Paul Studios.
https://soundcloud.com/aceflibble/sd-full-shred-vs-custom-5/s-tDJHfdyZWN6
Other than the tiniest bit more bass in the C5, there's no appreciable difference. With distortion and low tunings the FS does stay a little clearer than the C5 (and the Custom), but it is again marginal. So for an "LP style guitar" with .012 strings tuned to D or Drop C, my pick remains the Full Shred. The Custom is a touch better for low tunings in a much brighter guitar and the C5 is better for E Standard and light strings, but for an LP and heavy strings a full step down or more, Full Shred's got the edge.
Given I've got all the aforementioned pickups all in identical or near-identical spec guitars and they do all sound 99.9% the same as you swap magnets and pole pieces between them, I've never had any reason to doubt the knowledge of the old boards.
edit:
For a more useful contribution, here's a simple chord strum I recorded the other week for another thread, showing the direct input (no amp, no pedals) of the Full Shred bridge vs the Custom 5 bridge, both in otherwise-identical Les Paul Studios.
https://soundcloud.com/aceflibble/sd-full-shred-vs-custom-5/s-tDJHfdyZWN6
Other than the tiniest bit more bass in the C5, there's no appreciable difference. With distortion and low tunings the FS does stay a little clearer than the C5 (and the Custom), but it is again marginal. So for an "LP style guitar" with .012 strings tuned to D or Drop C, my pick remains the Full Shred. The Custom is a touch better for low tunings in a much brighter guitar and the C5 is better for E Standard and light strings, but for an LP and heavy strings a full step down or more, Full Shred's got the edge.
Last edited:
Ace Flibble
New member
Well, a lot of googling (blows my mind how much of the old boards have been wiped out, yet still return as google results) has found Evan talking about the A2P and Jazz: https://forum.seymourduncan.com/for...i-pro-from-1986-to-2013?p=4441758#post4441758
Clint 55
OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
Falbo said the Full Shred bridge indeed has the same wind as the Custom series. But that the Full Shred neck's wind is not the same as the Jazz.
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Link?
Ace Flibble
New member
So it was Frank. I knew one of 'em had said it, dunno why I thought of Kevin and I must have gotten Evan confused because he was the one to say it about the neck pickups.
Plea to the SD webmasters: the next time the boards get changed up, please archive everything, 'cause my memory ain't half what it used to be.
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