Custom pickup, help me decide.

[flipside]

Hey fellas, I know there's a ton of these threads but i promise if i get some good response here i'll never start another one. OK, I'm convinced there isn't a production SD (screw the other brands, cuz SD is the best) pickup that is going to meet my demands. I absolutely love the tone description of the Custom 5 for my bridge, but i want the more output that the JB offers. My question is, should i get a Custom Shop pickup, or should I make my own hybrid pickup between the two. If i make a hybrid which slug and which screw coil from each pup should i put together. How would it sound each way, or should i go double slug or double screw and how would that sound. My other option is to get Bill Lawrence to make me a pup. Sorry for the long post, but what do you guys think??

 

[jeremy]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

what guitar is this going in? the c5 has almost as much output as the jb, but not as much mids so it might not push the amp as hard

 

[theodie]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

SD makes great pickups and so does Bill Lawrence. The only other pickups I use besides Duncans, is Bill Lawrences. The new Bill Lawrences might be what your looking for. The 500 series now uses an alnico 5 magnet instead of the ceramic. You really cant loose trying a XL500. They only cost like $50 and if you dont like it, you can easily sell it for more than you paid for it. I have seen them go for $60-$90 used on ebay.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

I have the pup you are talking about except with a oversized ceramic mag. It has tons of harmonics and mids.

What I can gather is that that particular pup will have, for the most part, the high mids spike. It will still lack the low mids. It will have the expanded bass of the C5 and cut as well.

Bachtorock has tried the one you are talking about exactly, you might want to IM him.

Luke

 

[flipside]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

its going in the bridge of my Les Paul. I really don't want to sacrifice output by going with the C5. I want as much distortion as i can get from an Alnico 5 magnet, but with the tonal characteristics of the C5. The JB has the most output i've seen on an Alnico 5 magnet, but i like the the tone description of the C5 more than that of the JB. Which is why i was wondering if i should make a hybrid pup, or get a Custom Shop pup

 

[fab.regnaut]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

Somebody in this forum ordered a custom shop Custom5 a bit hotter with a resistance of 15.2 ( instead of 14 something ) and it gave him more mids, maybe you want this one .

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

Somebody in this forum ordered a custom shop Custom5 a bit hotter with a resistance of 15.2 ( instead of 14 something ) and it gave him more mids, maybe you want this one .

That was gearjoneser, he really like it.

One thing to remember is that the JB, and C5 are completely different animals. They have different wire gauges, and # of turns. That's why their EQ curves are quite different.

Luke

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

its going in the bridge of my Les Paul. I really don't want to sacrifice output by going with the C5. I want as much distortion as i can get from an Alnico 5 magnet, but with the tonal characteristics of the C5. The JB has the most output i've seen on an Alnico 5 magnet, but i like the the tone description of the C5 more than that of the JB. Which is why i was wondering if i should make a hybrid pup, or get a Custom Shop pup

Why exactly is output so critical? Most amps already provide so much gain you can easily go to the land of over compressed, no attack white noise mush. These days output is pretty much irrelevant with the rediculous amounts of gain available from most amps.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

I spoke with Becky Lawrence today and Bill is up to his ears...no custom pickups for a while...that said Gearjoneser has a CS C that is overwound and he loves it...maybe you would like a GJBucker too!

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

SD makes great pickups and so does Bill Lawrence. The only other pickups I use besides Duncans, is Bill Lawrences. The new Bill Lawrences might be what your looking for. The 500 series now uses an alnico 5 magnet instead of the ceramic. You really cant loose trying a XL500. They only cost like $50 and if you dont like it, you can easily sell it for more than you paid for it. I have seen them go for $60-$90 used on ebay.

I've just read up on that one, and I think I'm going to try that one. Sounds like quite a pickup. Excellent reviews. Does it work in neck and bridge (the L-500)?? And how hot is each of the 4 versions?

 

[flipside]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

Why exactly is output so critical? Most amps already provide so much gain you can easily go to the land of over compressed, no attack white noise mush. These days output is pretty much irrelevant with the rediculous amounts of gain available from most amps.

That's the thing, my amp doesn't have loads of distortion. Its a Kustom, IMO it gives a really nice Marshall crunch, but that's where it stops. Question though, what is the resistance on Gibson 498T pickup? My bridge pickup is currently a replica of it.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Custom pickup, help me decide.

Question though, what is the resistance on Gibson 498T pickup? My bridge pickup is currently a replica of it.

Around 14.5k ohms resistance. At least mine was. I've found that if you get your pup fairly close to the strings also increase output dramaticly.

Luke