Custom Custom in an SG

[ibanezrocks]

I finally got the custom custom installed in the bridge position of my SG standard after 3 long days of waiting for a new soldering iron. I wanted to give a review for it here, and take the time to thank everybody that steered me in the right direction here, I got exactly what I was looking for, and it sounds better than I imagined it would.

I wanted to really fatten up the sound of the SG, I like a darker sound, but didn't want to lose any clarity. The custom custom sounds HUGE. Compared to the stock Gibson pickup it is unbelievably more responsive to subtle changes in pick attack, and just sounds like it was made for a bright guitar like an SG. Although the high end is rounded off I was getting harmonics really easily out of it, and it was very articulate for distorted chords, much more so than the bright stock pickup. I do agree with some comments here that the bass on the pickup isn't that tight, but it has a vocal quality to it in the lower ranges that gives it some character. The pickup has tons of mids, which is actually letting me run a flatter EQ on my amp instead of having mids at 9 with treble and bass at 4. The clean sound surprised me as I thought it wouldn't be so good from a higher output pickup. The distortion is just raw, thick, yet clean. Thanks to everyone that suggested this pickup for me! :banana:

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

An SG really benefits from extra mids and lows...The CC is a great pickup in that guitar...You get balls,more output,and yet you can still retain great note articulation..I didn't like the CC in my LP cause it was a bit dark,but it also makes a great strat bridge pickup,especially with a Floyd Rose bridge...Glad it worked out!

 

[ErikH]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

Nice, man. Everything you pointed out is exactly why the CC is my favorite bridge pickup. It sounds great in everything I've put it in.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

Great review...very accurate, IMO. The CC is right up there with my very favorite bridge pickups. I've used them in Strats, solid body LP types and semi hollow bodies as well. Sounded great in all. Lew

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

Knowing that my favorite pickup sounds good in an SG just made my SG GAS even worse. Thanks a lot man.

-X

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

Knowing that my favorite pickup sounds good in an SG just made my SG GAS even worse. Thanks a lot man.

-X

If it ain't broke,don't fix it! :laugh2:

I'm one who never practices what he preachs though.:smack:

 

[Dirtyking]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

You got my mouth foaming...........

Is your SG a rosewood or ebony fretboard? And what neck pup do you have with it?

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

You got my mouth foaming...........

Is your SG a rosewood or ebony fretboard? And what neck pup do you have with it?

Its a standard, with a rosewood fretboard. The neck pickup is still stock, but I will hopefully soon be changing it out for an Alnico 2 Pro.

By the way, I got the custom custom as a gift from my parents, and the store was out of f-spaced pickups so they got normal spacing, and it lines up pretty well. the low e and high e are barely off center of the pole pieces, but not very noticeably unless you get up close. Sadly they were also out of nickel covered ones, so now I have a chrome neck pickup and a black bridge pickup, on a black guitar it looks kind of wierd... guess I'll have to change the neck pickup.

 

[Dirtyking]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

What kind/style of tunes do you play with it? My gothic SG seriously needs more meat and thickness to it.

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: Custom Custom in an SG

I play hard rock, grunge type stuff, some metal. Early 90's mostly, bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Guns n' Roses. Also ACDC, Zeppelin, that stuff, though my set up isn't the best for classic rock. I have a Mesa Subway Rocket, just a small 20 watt tube amp, EL84's, not insanely loud and it suits me quite well.
I don't detune the guitar at all, other than occasionally using drop d tuning for some metal stuff. If I had to guess I'd say this pickup would sound floppy with really low tunings, but if you're tuning your E string down to C or B you should probably already know this isn't the right pickup for that anyways. But it does do just fine for drop D, and does stay pretty articulate and punchy under high gain, so it will do metal very well as long as it's not a really extreme style. It can definitely handle Metallica (the black album era) songs perfectly which I couldn't stand to play with the stock Gibson pickup, it was just impossible to get any crunch with them.