Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
I'm a major rock 'n roll history buff and am interested in the Custom family of SD pickups. Unlike other pickups from Seymour Duncan, their is little documented history on these pickups, and what is known about them is largely unconfirmed.
What I have found to be the most commonly agreed upon explanation for the original Custom is that it was a broken Gibson P.A.F. that was rewound quite a bit hotter. This theory does has a bit of hard evidence to back it up:
Rumor has it that Eddie was not to fond of his pickup being marketed under his name, thus giving away his secret, and afterwards all connections between Eddie and the Custom were cut off.
A commonly thought of theory for the origin of the Custom Custom was that Eddie tinkered around with his Custom and replaced the ceramic magnet with an Alnico II magnet. This is backed by evidence both relating to how well the Custom Custom works for attaining Eddie's tones on albums released after the ones that allegedly feature the Custom. It is also backed by the commonly cited fact that Eddie doesn't like ceramic magnets.
This is a bit of a side theory, but it helps my case for the origin of the Custom Custom. Here are the stats for the Custom Custom:
Magnet: Alnico II
Wire: 43 AWG Poly
DCR: ~ 14.4K
And here are the stats of the pickup in the $25,000 Frankenstein replica:
Magnet: Degaussed Alnico II
Wire: 43 AWG Poly
DCR: ~ 14K
If the Fender stats are wound to the nearest whole number and the SD stats are rounded to the nearest 10th of a K, it is entirely possible that the the pickup which was in it when they released the replica was a Custom Custom, but with a magnet that has been in it since at least Diver Down. An additional theory is that the SD custom shop wound a pickup (The IM1) voiced to sound like the $25K pickup because they one in the replica was a Fender exclusive. If this is true you have the irony of SD being forced to completely reverse engineer their own pickup and make it a custom shop option in order to avoid getting sued.
The Custom 5 (originally Custom Custom Custom) is much easier to find the history of because the listing on the SD website itself says that the Custom 5 was made on a forum. I have not, however, been able to find the specific page. It is simply a Custom with an Alnico V magnet.
The 59/Custom Hybrid was originally made by BachToRock on this forum:
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?22538-HOW-TO-Make-a-59-Custom-Hybrid
The original most popular magnets were Alnico II and Alnico IV, but was released officially with Alnico V magnets. There is also some speculation that BachToRock got the idea from talks with EVH, but I do not have enough information to either confirm or deny these rumors.
There are finally the Custom 3, Custom 4, Custom UOA5, Custom 8, Custom UOA8, Custom 9, and Triple Ceramic Customs. None of these are production models therefore require the guitar player to make them, so they are perfect candidates to add the a players "secret sauce"/unique tone.
Please add or correct any of this if it is incorrect or add to it. This is simply my attempt to get all the history behind the Custom family straight, as little has been fully comfirmed or denied.
*And yes, that is a double cream '59 option that is available in the picture.
What I have found to be the most commonly agreed upon explanation for the original Custom is that it was a broken Gibson P.A.F. that was rewound quite a bit hotter. This theory does has a bit of hard evidence to back it up:
Rumor has it that Eddie was not to fond of his pickup being marketed under his name, thus giving away his secret, and afterwards all connections between Eddie and the Custom were cut off.
A commonly thought of theory for the origin of the Custom Custom was that Eddie tinkered around with his Custom and replaced the ceramic magnet with an Alnico II magnet. This is backed by evidence both relating to how well the Custom Custom works for attaining Eddie's tones on albums released after the ones that allegedly feature the Custom. It is also backed by the commonly cited fact that Eddie doesn't like ceramic magnets.
This is a bit of a side theory, but it helps my case for the origin of the Custom Custom. Here are the stats for the Custom Custom:
Magnet: Alnico II
Wire: 43 AWG Poly
DCR: ~ 14.4K
And here are the stats of the pickup in the $25,000 Frankenstein replica:
Magnet: Degaussed Alnico II
Wire: 43 AWG Poly
DCR: ~ 14K
If the Fender stats are wound to the nearest whole number and the SD stats are rounded to the nearest 10th of a K, it is entirely possible that the the pickup which was in it when they released the replica was a Custom Custom, but with a magnet that has been in it since at least Diver Down. An additional theory is that the SD custom shop wound a pickup (The IM1) voiced to sound like the $25K pickup because they one in the replica was a Fender exclusive. If this is true you have the irony of SD being forced to completely reverse engineer their own pickup and make it a custom shop option in order to avoid getting sued.
The Custom 5 (originally Custom Custom Custom) is much easier to find the history of because the listing on the SD website itself says that the Custom 5 was made on a forum. I have not, however, been able to find the specific page. It is simply a Custom with an Alnico V magnet.
The 59/Custom Hybrid was originally made by BachToRock on this forum:
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?22538-HOW-TO-Make-a-59-Custom-Hybrid
The original most popular magnets were Alnico II and Alnico IV, but was released officially with Alnico V magnets. There is also some speculation that BachToRock got the idea from talks with EVH, but I do not have enough information to either confirm or deny these rumors.
There are finally the Custom 3, Custom 4, Custom UOA5, Custom 8, Custom UOA8, Custom 9, and Triple Ceramic Customs. None of these are production models therefore require the guitar player to make them, so they are perfect candidates to add the a players "secret sauce"/unique tone.
Please add or correct any of this if it is incorrect or add to it. This is simply my attempt to get all the history behind the Custom family straight, as little has been fully comfirmed or denied.
*And yes, that is a double cream '59 option that is available in the picture.
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