Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

[metalchurch79]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Plus another not widely known fact is that they will still make most any of their discontinued pickups for you if you inquire with them. As far as any fee tacked on I'm not sure but I wouldn't be surprised.
The DP-165 and DP-166 Breed was discontinued in the last 2yrs or so which bummed me out and even though I don't like new pickups much I still like that pickup and it was sad to see it go from the product line. Then I found out about them doing anything you want and I got my boner back.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

My first aftermarket pickup was a Duncan JB.. Suggested to me by a tech in a guitar store. It transformed my Kramer Striker from a nice playing, but blah sounding guitar into a " WOW what a difference!!!" tonal machine!
From that point, I was convinced in the power of aftermarket pickups. Then, Ive owned several old Kramers and other guitars that come with Duncans and am always impressed. I did, however, learn that not all pickups are what I want from certain guitars and have tried other Duncans and other brands.. 98percent of the time, I can find what I need/want in a Duncan pup. Dimarzios have that mid range AWWWW thing that doesnt always appeal to me. But I have a couple of Dimarzios in use and other brands as well.. But again, the biggest share of the time, Duncans work for me. That and I try to be supportive of companies that are US based and plus, they provide this forum, in which I have made some friends and learned so very much... So, Support when I can.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

My first new pickup was a TB-10 Full Shred. Got it from Mike's Music Shop on ebay and he waived the 6% PA sales tax for me which was awesome. I almost wanna say it was $58 new.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Let's face it. We all chose them because we like that font they've used for 35 years.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

In the main menu you can chose output level and at least look at that aspect.

Edit:
This screen shot was from mobile. I haven’t visited the desktop version, so it may be less user-friendly.

I'm aware that you can filter pickups that way. What I'm talking about is that once you got to that subcategory, you used to be able to display the pickups in a simple list view, in a spreadsheet with output, e.q., etc. Then you could click on any category at the top of the spreadsheet, and that would order (ascending or descending – your choice) based on that category.

E.g., you'd go to vintage style humbuckers, then if you wanted to view all in forward or reverse order by output, you could. Or by bass, mid, or treble ratings. It was a very useful tool for matching pickups that didn't belong in a set together, or if you wanted to see what the bassiest pickup was, for example, followed by second bassiest, etc.

All that info is still on the site, but you can't sort it that way any more.

Unfortunately, while DiMarzio's output and e.q. comparisons within their own brand are top notch, Duncan's are pretty much garbage, and always have been. Nothing but a colored bar for output now, and often the reported outputs and e.q.s make no sense to me at all.

 

[Blille]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Let's face it. We all chose them because we like that font they've used for 35 years.

You mean comic sans under the single sized humbuckers? That’s my personal favorite.

 

[Guitar Rod]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Pickup swapping is a relatively recent thing for me. Joining forums, a lot of people recommended SD. Watching YouTube vids and coming to this very helpful forum solidified my attraction to SD, not to mention learning Seymour's incredible history and the famous guitarists who used Duncans. I heard them on many songs and didn't even know it. Like Ernie Ball strings, if they are good enough for legends, who am I to argue.

After actually playing several of them, they are very good and very consistent. Haven't played a bad one yet. I'm still open to other pickup builders, but Seymour Duncan covers pretty much every category you can think of, and covers it well.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Brand loyalty.
Price VS quality
Stronger sense of being part of a 'family' than other brands.
Few basic models I love to use for my favorite hybrids.

Why I "dislike" the company?

Not as easy to get altered pickups (colors, variety of covers etc).

The "metal" voiced and "progressive" oriented pickups sound and feel a bit off at wordt, dated at best, compared to some bareknuckle and even dimarzio models.

The blackouts had potential but never really took off because they didn't improve the then current option, like the fishman fluence do.

Yes, I'm critical but is that a bad thing? I have never swept my opinion under the rug. I have an immense respect for the company. I would likely not be where i am today without Seymour Duncan.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Let's face it. We all chose them because we like that font they've used for 35 years.

Yep, the signature in ink on the back sticker of my antiquities, that’s the font I buy them for.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

When I was in high school in late 80s early 90s, the liner notes of the cassettes of my favorite bands stated either DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan endorsement (but never EMG). These two got immortalized in my head ever since...lol.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Haha yea I remember those stats on the liner notes! Some were more detailed than others and I always read them just to see what guys were using, or what they said they were using.
One example that sticks out off hand right now is King Diamond The Eye which has the BCRich logo in the liner notes among a few others that aren't coming at me clearly now, but I remember the BCRich one.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

I choose them because they work for the sounds I hear in my head.

With that said, I don't use Duncans exclusively. One of my favorite pickup sets in the world is the Paul Bunyan setup in my MIJ 69 Thinline RI. I also like some Dimarzios, EMG's, and Rio Grandes as well as Fender and Carvin single coils.

Yep same here. Have a Dimarzio set in a Carvin I really like but mostly am Duncans. Also love the Carvin AP 11's in particular have a pair in my 2017 Kiesel with a Perpetual Burn and absolutely LOVE that combo. They work so well together you would think they were made for each other!! Better in fact together than any full Duncan S/S/H set up I have. I run what works for me and most of the time it winds up being a Duncan!

 

[Securb]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

I have T.V. Jones, DiMarzio, Fishman, Bill Lawrence and who knows what else in my guitars and I love them all. Duncan gives me another source of variety. What I love about SD is the quality is always there and they sound exactly like what I was hoping they would sound like. I have yet to pull a Duncan out of a guitar.

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

I like Duncan's because of how they sound. Of course that is also why I like Dimarzio's and Lace's.

After that I tried a lot of Duncans and DiMarzio’s. Some pups I have are stock. Some pups I mag swap. I’ll use whatever works.

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Because of the man himself, Seymour Duncan!

Seeing Seymour in guitar magazines when I was younger just validated him to me. He's helped countless pro's find their sound well before SD got into the Signature pickups/endorsement game. To me, Seymour is a musician that loves what he does and has been very successful at it. He would be living in a van down by the river if the business never reached the levels it has because he is passionate about what he does. I feel the same way about Bill Lawrence and his contribution. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same about Larry Dimarzio.

That said, SD delivers on tone too. The nickel baseplate gives them good cut and sparkle that other brands don't have. But they all have their place and tone. I have Bill Lawrence & Dimarzio pickups in guitars also, but SD is the most prominent and one I rely on first.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Variety and price points are key for me... We quote a lot lollards and fralin s and any pup that gets us closer to the client's desired sound.

However, we probably do 70% Duncans... They have pups of almost every description, they are good quality and ultimately get the best bang for the buck.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Anybody know what ever happened to Tom Anderson ?

 

[David Garner]

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

Re: Duncan heads – why do you choose SD over anything else?

I didn’t. They chose me. I traded for a Les Paul with Antiquities in it. They blew me away. They smoked every pickup I’ve ever tried.

Probably 10 years ago, I had played a locally built Tele relic in a guitar shop with Antiquity Tele pickups. Similar experience but I never wanted to change from the Texas Specials that are still in my Tele. Long story short — the Antiquity humbuckers do everything right and nothing wrong. They are exactly the tone I think of when I think of great classic Les Paul tones.