Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

blueman335 said:
+1. With used American-made PU's often going for half price, sometimes less, why not just get a set of them?
Click to expand...

Nonsense.

Half off MSRP maybe. The street price on most new Duncans is $73 with free shipping. A used one in good condition is usually about $50 plus shipping.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

StormJH1 said:
Haha. Yeah, I feel pretty much exactly the same way. Interesting that you liked the SC-101's, I wasn't even looking to pick those up, but now that I got them pretty much as a throw-in along with the bridge HB-102, I might have a new project down the road.

Thing is, the two guitars I have with unmodded single coils are both ceramics that I actually like. The projects never end :)

Since the HB-102 is most closely related to a SH-4, I'll have my first real "comparison" between DD and SD.
Click to expand...

Yeah man! The sc101's actually surprised me! I think they're RW/RP but they still get that nice stratty sound!

I totally agree with the unmodded thing. My cort X-1 is totally stock and I'm in love with the sound of it! It's by far my favourite guitar and even one of the top that I've played in my life! It just feels and sounds the best
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

dominus said:
Nonsense.

Half off MSRP maybe. The street price on most new Duncans is $73 with free shipping. A used one in good condition is usually about $50 plus shipping.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm sure if you are patient enough, put in the time, get a little bit lucky, and are willing to buy used pickups with very short leads or visible wear/damage, it's possible to find used American-made SD's on eBay for around $40 (don't forget about shipping). Generally, however, I have not found that to be the case. There is an aggressive bidding market for any SD pickup that comes up, even the older/damaged ones. Someone invariably pushes the total cost in to the $55-range, and at that point, you might as well shell out a little extra money to get a new one that hasn't been abused.

Duncan Designed pickups are much less desired on eBay, and obviously start at much lower values (and, by definition, almost all of them are used, except for the Detonators through GC/MF). So it's really two different things we're talking about. I did one of each - my SD is going in a guitar that I really like and want the knowledge that I'm putting a premium quality pickup in there...the DD goes in a guitar that was a project guitar, where I can justify a $30 pickup, but not an $80.

eBay tip for you all, I got my Trembucker NEW from vendor "myguitarsupply" (http://stores.ebay.com/myguitarsupply) for $65.00. He posts at the same price as everyone else, but will accept "Make an Offer". I offered him $50 once, and $62.50 on a different one. Both times he countered at $65.00, free shipping. Still a pretty solid price considering you would pay tax at a brick-and-mortar store (probably about $80, overall).
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

Chocklit_Thunda said:
Yeah man! The sc101's actually surprised me! I think they're RW/RP but they still get that nice stratty sound!

I totally agree with the unmodded thing. My cort X-1 is totally stock and I'm in love with the sound of it! It's by far my favourite guitar and even one of the top that I've played in my life! It just feels and sounds the best
Click to expand...

That's great to hear! I will have to invent a reason to put these in one of my guitars, but try finding a set of real alnicos (not to mention one endorsed by Seymour Duncan) anywhere for around $30...even GFS and Dragonfire can't touch that.

Not to derail the thread talking about other things, but since pictures are fun, here is an example of stock ceramics that I seem to like.

8451839556_68ba2cde75_n.jpg

8451839992_5a3b2d847f.jpg

It's a Peavey Predator Raptor Plus, the pickups are their own "USA" model (ironically would overseas, I'm sure). Definitely ceramic, but overwound and they have oversized pole pieces. Was not a fan of the humbucker (it's now a GFS Alnico Fat Pat), but I really don't think I would remove those stock single coils, they're pretty sassy! In fact, I forgot to check if the pots were 250k or 500k (hopefully the former). My opinion on single coils is that the design is a lot simpler and straightforward than what goes into a humbucker - as long as you have the right tone pots, proper wiring, and decent shielding and grounding...you should be able to make pretty much any single coil replicate that good single-coil tone. Obviously, alnico will be warmer, and more expensive pickups will sound "fuller" or "hotter", but that doesn't necessarily make them "better".
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

StormJH1 said:
I'm … keeping an eye out for a good deal on the chrome (or gold) plated HB-101's or HB-102's (maybe one of each in the neck/bridge).
Click to expand...

GOOD NEWS - I have a chrome-covered HB-102b. Plenty of cable left. Logo still all there.

BAD NEWS - I'm in the UK. Shipping and import duties to the USA will be prohibitive.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

Funkfingers said:
GOOD NEWS - I have a chrome-covered HB-102b. Plenty of cable left. Logo still all there.

BAD NEWS - I'm in the UK. Shipping and import duties to the USA will be prohibitive.
Click to expand...

Ha, thanks for trying. I mentioned in another post that I (somewhat unexpectedly) won an eBay bid for a H-S-S Duncan Design set, which has the HB-102b as the bridge pickup (the other two are DD single coil alnicos). It is black bobbin, not chrome, but that's somewhat academic at this point given that I don't even have a guitar I could put them in currently. But I do hope to plop them in something someday, likely another Strat-variant.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

I just got a used schecter with HB103 neck and bridge. Like mentioned earlier I agree they sound slightly anemic at low gain and a bit harsh at high gain, but for the most part they perform well. In this light weight mahogany baritone schecter they kinda sound dark. And I do own a SH6 bridge -- the HB103 does sound similar though not as loud or crisp.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

Ive got the Detonators in my new Jackson Randy Rhoads, and my old Epi explorer... absolutely love them! awesome pups for the price for metal. And that's all I play, so for me they work great.
They tend to feedback a bit more than a lot of other pups, but I really like them.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

I changed the old crusty pots on my schecter with some alpha pots from stewmac and now my HB102 neck (modeled after the jazz) sounds really good. Very deep, warm, smooth, clean and jazzy. I like it a lot. I never had experience with real sh-2 but I will check them out in the future if needed.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

Progbusters said:
I just got a used schecter with HB103 neck and bridge. Like mentioned earlier I agree they sound slightly anemic at low gain and a bit harsh at high gain, but for the most part they perform well. In this light weight mahogany baritone schecter they kinda sound dark. And I do own a SH6 bridge -- the HB103 does sound similar though not as loud or crisp.
Click to expand...

I picked up a used Schecter Tempest yesterday that had some DD HB102's for both bridge and neck. All day long I've been looking up opinions on "DD vs SD" because I'm lazy and was trying to find any excuse to just leave them alone. Seems like a lot of folks are perfectly happy with them. They're supposedly "modeled" after the SH-4 JB™ bridge (trembucker) and SH-2n Jazz Model™. I thought they sounded okay, but I ended up swapping them out anyway. I upgraded them to a set of SH-8 Invaders, so now it's sort of a poor-man's Synyster Gates model guitar (hard-tail). I like the way it looks better with the white too, but it sounds SO MUCH better than the DD HB102's.

Schecter-Tempest-SD-Invaders.jpg~original


I vote that whatever lesser materials are used in S. Korea make the higher price of the American Seymour Duncans worth the increased expense. Lesson learned. I won't be messing with the DD's anymore. SD's for me from here on out. I'm not really interested in "booteek" (boutique) pups, since Seymour Duncans work so well for me. I don't want to know whatever I might be missing, because I'm not trying to spend even more money. Seymour Duncans are expensive enough for me, and they're ridiculously wonderful.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

I put an a2 magnet in an hb103 bridge and an a5 in an hb103 neck. Sounded so good in my Strat that I sold a bunch of stuff and got a real JB Jazz set. The JB does have more character but, honestly, I likes the A5 hb103 neck more than the Jazz!
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

I love duncan designed pups. This just reminded me that I have two DD strat pups in the basement waiting for a guitar... Hmm...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

I have the Scorcher in a Squire affinity, and I can't say I enjoy it all that much. I haven't tried it since I got a decent amp though. Its weird with the crappy stock ceramic pickups, as it is AT LEAST twice as loud. I have it wired to autosplit, and it doesn't really impress me split with the middle coil either... This was all played through my crappy IBZ10 amp though, so I guess that's not a definite.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

Ratchet said:
I vote that whatever lesser materials are used in S. Korea make the higher price of the American Seymour Duncans worth the increased expense. Lesson learned. I won't be messing with the DD's anymore.
Click to expand...

It's not really the lesser materials that contribute to the sound... both a real JB and a Hb-102 bridge both use A5 magnets. Both use nickel silver baseblates. Only thing I think might be different as far as materials go is the alloy of the screws and slugs. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong! The difference is mostly in how it's wound.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

firebirdguy72 said:
It's not really the lesser materials that contribute to the sound... both a real JB and a Hb-102 bridge both use A5 magnets. Both use nickel silver baseblates. Only thing I think might be different as far as materials go is the alloy of the screws and slugs. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong! The difference is mostly in how it's wound.
Click to expand...

It may be that and I am sure the wind would be different. That would make up a lot for the tone. I am getting HB 102 soon. The deal/ trade was done more than a month back, but due to circumstances I have not been able to go pick-it up, although it is just around 8kms ( around 5 miles)away. Once I get that I could tell more. It would be going into a guitar that once had a JB.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

Ratchet said:
They're supposedly "modeled" after the SH-4 JB™ bridge (trembucker) and SH-2n Jazz Model™. I thought they sounded okay, but I ended up swapping them out anyway. I upgraded them to a set of SH-8 Invaders, so now it's sort of a poor-man's Synyster Gates model guitar (hard-tail). I like the way it looks better with the white too, but it sounds SO MUCH better than the DD HB102's.
Click to expand...

The JB itself can be hit or miss in a mahogany guitar. Did you change the strings when you swapped the pickups?
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

firebirdguy72 said:
It's not really the lesser materials that contribute to the sound... both a real JB and a Hb-102 bridge both use A5 magnets. Both use nickel silver baseblates. Only thing I think might be different as far as materials go is the alloy of the screws and slugs. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong! The difference is mostly in how it's wound.
Click to expand...

Go ahead and keep thinking all A5's are the same... Materials can make a HUGE difference in sound... Wanna try something simple? Run down to Ace and pick up a handful of screws in whatever alloy and throw them into your favorite humbucker. It can be eye opening. Even tolerances can make a difference in sound. Particularly the tolerances in the wire and the insulation varnish on it. Drill out the holes in a keeper bar by .005 and see what happens to the sound. Not huge but noticeable.
 
Re: Duncan Designed: The Good and the Bad?

ive only had experience with the HB101 and SC101.. I literally despised the DD HB 101.. It just had no balls,was uninspired or no ummph.. I replaced it out of desperation but I had little money.. So I looked in my parts box and found a 79' TTop.. Its DCR was lower that the 101 but it was a tad hotter and tonality was so much better.. been in my #1 since '08 and will remain there.. its a perfect match

A sc101 is currently in a strat and is good sounding single coil IMO .... took both sc101's out of my #1.. Not because they sounded bad or anything but just wanted something different.. By mistake I put the neck version of the sc101 in the middle pos but ill keep it.. sounds good enough for the guitar in question
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top