Ceramic & Ebony Fretboard?

arvid4prez

arvid4prez

New member
I was thinking of buying a Les Paul 57 Custom Reissue this summer (ebay, of course). I will use it mostly for metal (straight into amp, no FX), so I was thinking of replacing the pickups with some Duncan Distortions that I have lying around here.

However, on the Seymour Duncan site it says that a ceramic magnet doesn't mix well with an ebony fret board. What's your opinion? If it's true I'll probably buy a 57 Goldtop instead.
 
the reason that they say that is that ebony is bright and ceramic magnets tend to be bright as well. for metal i dont think itll be a problem at all, go for it
 
Re: Ceramic & Ebony Fretboard?

korinastratkyle said:
Aren't Les Pauls kind of Dark sounding anyways do to the particular way they are built? Go for it!
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My idea also. But since it is such an expensive guitar, I decided to take no risk and ask for some third party advice...
 
The only pickups I dont' like with ebony are bright ones since the ebony is already very very snappy and bright IMO even on a Les Paul.

I have used ceramics with much success as well as other magnets...I just make sure the pickup is EQ'd darker....something like a Super3 or super Distortion would work fine.
 
arvid4prez...

One of my Lesters is also an R7 Custom (faded cherry) and I have a Duncan Custom/'59 in it. I wouldn't be too concerned about the magnet as much as the Eq curve of the pickup. I don't think the ebony really makes a huge, huge difference, but the R7 Customs also sound a little more "smoky" because they have a mahogany top, not maple.

I don't have any problems with the Duncan Custom in any of my LP Customs. I don't know what pickup you have in mind, but I don't find ceramic to be too harsh. It's all down to what pickup you choose and how the guitar sound unplugged. I do find the DD to be a little too grainy for my tastes, but don't feel it's too bright.

Nick
 
ntotoro said:
arvid4prez...

One of my Lesters is also an R7 Custom (faded cherry) and I have a Duncan Custom/'59 in it. I wouldn't be too concerned about the magnet as much as the Eq curve of the pickup. I don't think the ebony really makes a huge, huge difference, but the R7 Customs also sound a little more "smoky" because they have a mahogany top, not maple.

I don't have any problems with the Duncan Custom in any of my LP Customs. I don't know what pickup you have in mind, but I don't find ceramic to be too harsh. It's all down to what pickup you choose and how the guitar sound unplugged. I do find the DD to be a little too grainy for my tastes, but don't feel it's too bright.

Nick
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around a month ago you said you did not care for the custom that the C5 was much better
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you said the custom had a too "blocky" lead tone and did not sing enough?
 
les pauls are darker than strats in general but ive played quite a few pauls that were fairly bright compared to others. the gibson 496r/500t set is ceramic and lots of people like em, and lots of people like the dd in a lp. id go for it
 
I just switched to a DD from a JB for the reason I felt was to bright. I have a LP with an ebony board which MAY have contributed to this brightness. To my surpirse, as I was experimenting with the DD, it was not as bright as the previous JB. It sounded way fuller, although it was not as warm sounding as the JB and sounded closer in sound to my other LP(no ebony board) with a JB. Go for the DD!!!

Cheers Primo.
 
WARRENLEELYNCH said:
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around a month ago you said you did not care for the custom that the C5 was much better
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you said the custom had a too "blocky" lead tone and did not sing enough?
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Technically, it was longer ago that that... ;)

I had a problem in my setup that I sorted out during that time also. I had gotten a new cabinet (G-Flex 4x12) which I immediately expected to perform like the 2x12 version of it I had for a few years already.

Broken-in speakers and all.

Once I started playing the new 4x12 with the guitars that had Customs, I didn't care for the tone. I went back to the 2x12 and the tone was much more agreeable. It turned out to be the speakers in the cabs that hadn't broken in at that time were contributin to that harshness and boxy tone. Once I started using the cab more with my band and breaking in the speakers and band volumes, things settled down nicely and I went back to the Custom as well as my favorite PAF-clones in other guitars.

Nick
 
Re: Ceramic & Ebony Fretboard?

Do it. My uncle's Les Paul Custom with Duncan Distortions sounds great. If he ever quits I'm going to do everything in my power to get it.
 
Re: Ceramic & Ebony Fretboard?

I have used ceramics with ebony fretboards with no problems. It's hard to make sweeping generalities because each instrument is different.
 
Re: Ceramic & Ebony Fretboard?

Whoa. Old thread is old. But worth addressing the following:
arvid4prez said:
However, on the Seymour Duncan site it says that a ceramic magnet doesn't mix well with an ebony fret board. What's your opinion?
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I don't know what the website said in 2004, but that's overly simplistic nonsense. It's like saying you should only wear dark pants with light shirts, and light pants with dark shirts. Sometimes you want everything to be dark or light. There are tons of guitars out there with ebony boards and ceramic magnets that are melting faces regularly. This kind of rhetoric assumes that every pickup replacement is an attempt to bring a guitar back into balance, or offset and water down the unique characters of each guitar.

And for the next bump, I'd like to say "hello, future man from 2022! Please tell us of your flying cars and meal replacement pills."
 
Re: Ceramic & Ebony Fretboard?

arvid4prez said:
I was thinking of buying a Les Paul 57 Custom Reissue this summer (ebay, of course). I will use it mostly for metal (straight into amp, no FX), so I was thinking of replacing the pickups with some Duncan Distortions that I have lying around here.

However, on the Seymour Duncan site it says that a ceramic magnet doesn't mix well with an ebony fret board. What's your opinion? If it's true I'll probably buy a 57 Goldtop instead.
Click to expand...

This is misguided. Your 1957 LP Custom from the historic line has a mahogany top, as opposed to the maple that Les Pauls normally have. That's a much bigger change than the ebony board.

On a Les Paul you generally cannot hear the difference between rosewood and ebony. The difference in sound usually is from the LPC being a massive piece of guitar.

The DD is probably perfect for a historic 57 LPC RI. However, be warned that I have seen people being very disappointed in those guitars. They do not sound like regular LPs or regular LPCs.
 
Re: Ceramic & Ebony Fretboard?

uOpt said:
This is misguided. Your 1957 LP Custom from the historic line has a mahogany top, as opposed to the maple that Les Pauls normally have. That's a much bigger change than the ebony board.

On a Les Paul you generally cannot hear the difference between rosewood and ebony. The difference in sound usually is from the LPC being a massive piece of guitar.

The DD is probably perfect for a historic 57 LPC RI. However, be warned that I have seen people being very disappointed in those guitars. They do not sound like regular LPs or regular LPCs.
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Dude your replying to a member that last logged in 5 years ago
 
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