Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

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windsen

New member
Hey guys,

I recently picked up a '57 Historic Les Paul Custom Black Beauty. It's got '57 Classics in it right now. They sound great but I need a little more output (I tend to play heavier styles of rock/metal) and maybe less highs. These pickups do bring out the chunkiness of the les paul but also have a lot of highs to them.

I was thinking about putting in the Custom/'59 combo in. I have this setup in my ESP Horizon and love the tone but it's a totally different guitar. Anybody have any experience with these pickups in a lpc or something similar? Thanks a bunch.

-Windsen
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

they rule in my LP. of course, it's an Epi though...
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

That should be a great combo IMO.

If you find the '59 to be a little on the boomy side (some people do while some don't so give them a chance and decide for yourself first), a Pearly Gates in the neck works wonders, especially paired with the custom.

Have fun :)
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

The Custom is great in a Les Paul for heavier styles of rock/metal! I would pair it with a PG instead of a '59. The PG has less bass and is perfectly balanced for the LP neck position IMO. It also balances really well with the Custom.

Be aware that the Custom also has a lot of highs. When playing dirty I generally have the bridge tone control rolled back to around 6 or 7 on my LPs. It fattens the tone nicely, and leaves me some treble on tap for the cleaner stuff.
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

The 59n can be boomy in a Les Paul, but it really does work great in one of mine. The Custom will have all the mids and highs you'll ever need. However, they are not very desirable for me any more...I find them to be hard and brittle, and I do like to get down and nasty with my guitars.
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

Custom/Pearly Gates! Nuff said!
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

theodie said:
Custom/Pearly Gates! Nuff said!
Click to expand...


that's what i have in my custom and i like it alot! in my standard i have a C5/PG and that rocks too!!

-Mike
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

Hey everyone,

I ended up getting the Custom/'59 combo and was planning on swapping out the magnet in the Custom if I decided I needed to...

But wow!!! This setup sounds great in my lpc!!! It was exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks everyone for their advice!
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

If you are going to change out the magnet, get a Alnico 8 into the Custom. Little more mids just a tad lesser highs with the soft alnico touch.
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

i'm with the PG. the Custom model is deserving for guitars in need of a bass injection.
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

I knew you'd like it. I felt the exact same way you did once the pickups were in. I love the setup now.
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

So I was comparing my lpc to my ESP Horizon NTII and LTD EC400AT last night. Both the ESP and the LTD have the same Custom/'59 setup. I noticed that while playing in the bridge position of these the sound is a little "throatier" and slightly more saturated and slightly more low end where as on the lpc it's still got a good amount of output but sounds slightly different, not as dark as thought it would sound. The EC400AT actually sounds the darkest of the three. Now I know that all these three guitars are different but I would've expected the gibson to sound the darkest out of all these.

I noticed that with my stock pickups ('57 classics) the sound was somewhat analogous (sounds good, but something lacking, something not as "full" and "throaty"). Do you think there is a wiring issue here? All I did was disconnect the '57 Classics and install the SD analagously. I did notice however that the wiring looks a bit different that many wiring diagrams online. For instance the input jack doesn't look like it's directly grounded to a pot but runs up to the pickup selector somewhere. From the pickup selector there are braided wires running to each volume pot, with the outer braid grounded to the pot and the inner wire connecting to the appropiate lugs. I'm assuming that the input jack is getting grounded somewhere in there b/c I'm not having issues with noise. Also the two tones pots aren't connected directly like it is shown in the SD diagram.

I may have a tech take a look at my wiring job just to make sure I did everything right. I just want to make sure I got this thing hooked up right and am getting the most out of it. Either way I'm digging how it sounds. I might as well not fix it if it aint broke =p Thanks!
-Windsen
 
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Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

Okay after playing through amp at a significant volume I now have no idea what I was talking about before in my previous post. The les paul is coming out with plenty of low end and aggressivness. It's just got an interesting subtleness brightness to it, more so than the EC400AT, that I wasn't expecting. Perhaps it's the ebony board? However it's still an overall heavy, full sound. Anyways I'm digging these pickups in the lpc more and more. Thanks again.
 
Re: Duncan Custom/'59 in a Les Paul Custom?

Well, the custom does have plenty of highs and mids, and just the wood difference between the custom and the LTD (not the amount, althought that could play a role too, but the actual piece of wood itself) can have a really different tone even tho both are mahogany... some pieces have more highs, some just sound bad, some are really dark, it all depends. Just because both guitars are mahogany body/neck doesn't mean they'll sound the same. Two customs could sound totally different. Plus, you have an ebony fretboard on that custom, that could also add some bite to the overall tone...

Enjoy!
 
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