Change of heart about Custom 5

[weepingminotaur]

For months, I've been thinking about swapping out the Custom 5 in my mahogany-body LTD EC-1000 for a less scooped pickup. But I went to rehearsal today for a short "soul" set to be played at a friend's birthday party next week, and man, I dug how the Custom 5 cut through the band mix. It also splits really well for funk but cleans up nice if you give the tone knob some love.

After all the agonizing, am I going to just keep playing the guitar's stock pickups? Apparently so.

 

[Blille]

Lol grats!

Also, remember the custom takes magnets really well.

 

[Mincer]

In the right guitar, the C5 is awesome. I have mine in a Music Man.

 

[ErikH]

The EQ on it can be evened out some by simply changing the volume pot too. 300K works really well with the Custom 5. It doesn't really change the EQ of the pickup itself, but the lower value pot tames the highs make the mids stand out a little more.

 

[alex1fly]

Hey if the stock pickups are Duncan then you're ahead of the game

 

[oilpit]

I hated the C5 for years and I currently have one in the bridge of my Les Paul with no intentions of swapping it out.

I think the scooped nature of it is really overblown, it's actually got slightly more midrange than most PAF style pickups that are pretty much universally loved.

It's scooped compared to other pickups wound to 14k, but most pickups in that range have gobs of midrange, so the bar is pretty low.

As long as your amp/guitar can compensate for any midrange you feel is missing from the C5, and you keep your bass under control (that part is really important), it's a fucking killer bridge pickup.