Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
- Thread starter Chubtone
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Got_tone?
New member
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
Nice playing, man. Your gear ain't too bad either.
The "J" stands for MJ. She winds the custom shop p'ups. You're '78 was probably wound by her.
I've played three different Duncan customs in my HH tele. I can tell you that the vintage ones do sound better when compared to the most recent DC. From the two vintage customs, the better p'up to my ears was the one wound by MJ. Very little differences but there was a different "swagger" to the MJ wound DC, IMO. It oozes mojo.
Nice playing, man. Your gear ain't too bad either.
The "J" stands for MJ. She winds the custom shop p'ups. You're '78 was probably wound by her. I've played three different Duncan customs in my HH tele. I can tell you that the vintage ones do sound better when compared to the most recent DC. From the two vintage customs, the better p'up to my ears was the one wound by MJ. Very little differences but there was a different "swagger" to the MJ wound DC, IMO. It oozes mojo.
Last edited:
smorgdonkey
New member
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
I have and have had a lot of JBs from the '80s. I have and have had many 'new' JBs. I think the older ones are better. I think the possibility of the magnets getting a little weaker over time might be the only real thing causing this.
I have and have had a lot of JBs from the '80s. I have and have had many 'new' JBs. I think the older ones are better. I think the possibility of the magnets getting a little weaker over time might be the only real thing causing this.
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
Thanks Luke and all the others who have said nice things about my playing. It's funny when I made this clip my wife was downstairs and I said "what do you think of that lead I just recorded?" and she's like...... "it's pretty good". Tough crowd huh? That's what happens when your wife has been with you since 1986 when I was playing on the Sunset Strip and you have taken her to see Racer X, and Yngwie, and Ronni Le Tekro and Lynch and Akira and Warren and Doug Aldrich and Joe Holmes etc etc, all back in the glory days. She's not easily impressed........:28:
I love the '78 in this new Charvel. It's funny, my old go to recording guitar for "brown" type sounds is an old Warmoth guitar with a Callaham vintage style strat bridge and a '78 in the bridge. But this Charvel with the '78 in the bridge sounds meaner and THICKER than the one with the strat style bridge. For years I bought into the Floyd Rose's sound thin thing and I don't agree with that at all anymore.
Thanks Luke and all the others who have said nice things about my playing. It's funny when I made this clip my wife was downstairs and I said "what do you think of that lead I just recorded?" and she's like...... "it's pretty good". Tough crowd huh? That's what happens when your wife has been with you since 1986 when I was playing on the Sunset Strip and you have taken her to see Racer X, and Yngwie, and Ronni Le Tekro and Lynch and Akira and Warren and Doug Aldrich and Joe Holmes etc etc, all back in the glory days. She's not easily impressed........:28:
I love the '78 in this new Charvel. It's funny, my old go to recording guitar for "brown" type sounds is an old Warmoth guitar with a Callaham vintage style strat bridge and a '78 in the bridge. But this Charvel with the '78 in the bridge sounds meaner and THICKER than the one with the strat style bridge. For years I bought into the Floyd Rose's sound thin thing and I don't agree with that at all anymore.
Luke Duke
PRSlustologist
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
OUCH! Tough crowd, no doubt!
I've got 2 78s. One lives in my 58 RI LP paired with a Seth. It just really sings in that guitar and covers a LOT of ground tonally.
The other one is a trembucker that has lived in my CU24 for a good while and just got pulled in favor of an MJ wound Dist/Custom hybrid. Last night it landed in my Cleveland Guitars "cut up" 57 Strat copy, Callaham bridge and hardware. I changed string gauge so it's having to settle a bit.... and I'm sick, so I haven't logged much time to see how I feel about it in the tone. I sourced a 1979 Dmz X2N I had in there when I took delivery of the guitar, then on a whim I tried a Seymour Duncan, the man, recommendation with a Jazz (neck) in the bridge. Man now THAT was a surprising sound!
Luke
Thanks Luke and all the others who have said nice things about my playing. It's funny when I made this clip my wife was downstairs and I said "what do you think of that lead I just recorded?" and she's like...... "it's pretty good". Tough crowd huh? That's what happens when your wife has been with you since 1986 when I was playing on the Sunset Strip and you have taken her to see Racer X, and Yngwie, and Ronni Le Tekro and Lynch and Akira and Warren and Doug Aldrich and Joe Holmes etc etc, all back in the glory days. She's not easily impressed........:28:
OUCH! Tough crowd, no doubt!
I've got 2 78s. One lives in my 58 RI LP paired with a Seth. It just really sings in that guitar and covers a LOT of ground tonally.
The other one is a trembucker that has lived in my CU24 for a good while and just got pulled in favor of an MJ wound Dist/Custom hybrid. Last night it landed in my Cleveland Guitars "cut up" 57 Strat copy, Callaham bridge and hardware. I changed string gauge so it's having to settle a bit.... and I'm sick, so I haven't logged much time to see how I feel about it in the tone. I sourced a 1979 Dmz X2N I had in there when I took delivery of the guitar, then on a whim I tried a Seymour Duncan, the man, recommendation with a Jazz (neck) in the bridge. Man now THAT was a surprising sound!
Luke
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
OK, now I have three 80's vintage Duncan pickups to compare to newer ones. An MJ wound JB, an MJ wound Distortion and a 59B with the initial G on it. Wound by someone other than MJ apparently. I'm going to see if there is any truth to this old vs. new Duncans theory.
OK, now I have three 80's vintage Duncan pickups to compare to newer ones. An MJ wound JB, an MJ wound Distortion and a 59B with the initial G on it. Wound by someone other than MJ apparently. I'm going to see if there is any truth to this old vs. new Duncans theory.
N
nalo1022
Guest
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
I have an MJ Pearly Gates and its one of my favorites. If ever stolen I would hunt the person down. I've compared it to modern PGs and I agree the new ones seem a bit more articulate. NOt saying the old one is sloppy, more dirty in a good way. Its creamy while staying kinda bright and snappy. If I ever hit it big I would have SD use their magic pickup elves to make EXACT clones of it...so I would pull a Slash and have a signature version of a production pickup.
I have an MJ Pearly Gates and its one of my favorites. If ever stolen I would hunt the person down. I've compared it to modern PGs and I agree the new ones seem a bit more articulate. NOt saying the old one is sloppy, more dirty in a good way. Its creamy while staying kinda bright and snappy. If I ever hit it big I would have SD use their magic pickup elves to make EXACT clones of it...so I would pull a Slash and have a signature version of a production pickup.
frankfalbo
In Fluence Y'all
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
We're going to conduct a more extensive research project for the old vs. new thing at some point, but my contention long before I ever came here was that the old vs. new is just as much about tiny differences from one pickup to the next as it is about age. Now that I'm here, I can tell you that we don't do anything differently, and we work extremely hard on consistency, to the point we simply reject things that are out of spec. Most companies don't have that kind of leverage, or that kind of volume that they can actually understand and quantify variables like we do.
But for the sake of the story, I recently came across an old JBJ, and we pulled it apart and analyzed it. First, the long legs and maple spacer. Do they make a difference? Maybe but no one should really hear it. So if you order a new JB with long legs, & maple spacer you negate that issue. Next, the coils were absolutely in spec, and no different. But then there was the magnet. This pickup was likely in a drawer bouncing around with other pickups, and it was plenty degaussed. It was also degaussed in an awkward pattern. Like the treble strings had a sharp drop off, and there was somewhat of a "sawtooth" strong/weak pattern across other axes. This would account for a "warmer treble" and perhaps even a smoother bass, depending on who's ears were on it, and what guitar. I regaussed the magnet, and it still has some deficiencies. Certain areas won't hold full charge. But I put that magnet back in anyway as part of the test. I haven't installed and played it yet, but I will soon.
I had a JB back in the day, and I specifically remember mine having a hot upper midrange crunch which, based on what I know today, would be attributed to a full strength Alnico V magnet. The problem is, I remember it with 1980's gear and 20 years + of nostalgia. I have since bought back a lot of my old gear and am looking forward to putting in that JB and seeing how close I get to recreating memories...
We're going to conduct a more extensive research project for the old vs. new thing at some point, but my contention long before I ever came here was that the old vs. new is just as much about tiny differences from one pickup to the next as it is about age. Now that I'm here, I can tell you that we don't do anything differently, and we work extremely hard on consistency, to the point we simply reject things that are out of spec. Most companies don't have that kind of leverage, or that kind of volume that they can actually understand and quantify variables like we do.
But for the sake of the story, I recently came across an old JBJ, and we pulled it apart and analyzed it. First, the long legs and maple spacer. Do they make a difference? Maybe but no one should really hear it. So if you order a new JB with long legs, & maple spacer you negate that issue. Next, the coils were absolutely in spec, and no different. But then there was the magnet. This pickup was likely in a drawer bouncing around with other pickups, and it was plenty degaussed. It was also degaussed in an awkward pattern. Like the treble strings had a sharp drop off, and there was somewhat of a "sawtooth" strong/weak pattern across other axes. This would account for a "warmer treble" and perhaps even a smoother bass, depending on who's ears were on it, and what guitar. I regaussed the magnet, and it still has some deficiencies. Certain areas won't hold full charge. But I put that magnet back in anyway as part of the test. I haven't installed and played it yet, but I will soon.
I had a JB back in the day, and I specifically remember mine having a hot upper midrange crunch which, based on what I know today, would be attributed to a full strength Alnico V magnet. The problem is, I remember it with 1980's gear and 20 years + of nostalgia. I have since bought back a lot of my old gear and am looking forward to putting in that JB and seeing how close I get to recreating memories...
J Moose
New member
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
Baseplate legs not withstanding, is there an option for spacer materials?
I mean, if they were maple in the old days are they still maple today? I'd assume so since you've said that the various recipes for pickups haven't ever changed, but then again there's all the shop floor custom stuff...
Baseplate legs not withstanding, is there an option for spacer materials?
I mean, if they were maple in the old days are they still maple today? I'd assume so since you've said that the various recipes for pickups haven't ever changed, but then again there's all the shop floor custom stuff...
super rad stuff
Skaforlifeologist
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
IIRC, my jb(which is long gone) had a plastic spacer. might have to get one again though if i get the right kinda guitar to put one in
IIRC, my jb(which is long gone) had a plastic spacer. might have to get one again though if i get the right kinda guitar to put one in
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
My experience with multiples of the same model is there are small, but dinstinct differences in them, regardless of when they were made. An example: I have three 59b models, all with the later baseplate stickers. One of them is dinstinctly better than the others, another is close, the last one is a distant third (but not bad sounding at all).
I swapped magnets between the best and worst models, and they still sounded the same as before, so it's not the mags in this case. The best one has the weakest wind, about 7.95k, the next best is 8.05, the last is 8.15, which is kind of opposite of what many would think. I had a pair of PGb's that were just the opposite though, the hotter one was clearly better than the lower wind, so it's dangerous to draw any conclusions about judging a pup with a muiltimeter.
I would love to find another 59b wound under 8k to compare to my favorite.
My experience with multiples of the same model is there are small, but dinstinct differences in them, regardless of when they were made. An example: I have three 59b models, all with the later baseplate stickers. One of them is dinstinctly better than the others, another is close, the last one is a distant third (but not bad sounding at all).
I swapped magnets between the best and worst models, and they still sounded the same as before, so it's not the mags in this case. The best one has the weakest wind, about 7.95k, the next best is 8.05, the last is 8.15, which is kind of opposite of what many would think. I had a pair of PGb's that were just the opposite though, the hotter one was clearly better than the lower wind, so it's dangerous to draw any conclusions about judging a pup with a muiltimeter.
I would love to find another 59b wound under 8k to compare to my favorite.
gripweed
Jolvisologist
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
Its funny how much we guitarists attribute things to mojo, without any rational data to support our claims. I wonder what they will be saying about the current stock of Duncan pickups 20 years from now, if they will say they have a certain mojo? I think mainly what we are talking about is the effects of age as opposed to any sort of quality issue.
Its funny how much we guitarists attribute things to mojo, without any rational data to support our claims. I wonder what they will be saying about the current stock of Duncan pickups 20 years from now, if they will say they have a certain mojo? I think mainly what we are talking about is the effects of age as opposed to any sort of quality issue.
BachToRock
New member
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
Very George Lynchy... excellent!
King IzzO)))
Ultimate Kitten Puncher
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
Well, I have used the same magnet (A2) in a circa 1985 DDJ and a 2001 JB, in the same guitar, and they sounded quite a bit different. The DD is the one I kept, but it's not really "better", just different. This is why I wonder if JB and DD really are the same wind.
Differences:
DD has long legs, wooden spacers, no shielding around the coils, coil wire has red enamel, measures 15.9K.
JB had plastic spacers, short legs, shielded with copper around the coils, wire looks kinda orange, measured straight up 16.4K.
Well, I have used the same magnet (A2) in a circa 1985 DDJ and a 2001 JB, in the same guitar, and they sounded quite a bit different. The DD is the one I kept, but it's not really "better", just different. This is why I wonder if JB and DD really are the same wind.
Differences:
DD has long legs, wooden spacers, no shielding around the coils, coil wire has red enamel, measures 15.9K.
JB had plastic spacers, short legs, shielded with copper around the coils, wire looks kinda orange, measured straight up 16.4K.
frankfalbo
In Fluence Y'all
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
If the JB has copper around the coils, are you sure it's not a TB-4 Trembucker JB?
If the JB has copper around the coils, are you sure it's not a TB-4 Trembucker JB?
marcello252
Well-known member
Re: Has anyone compared a vintage Duncan to it's modern version?
My JB has a J, it's at least 18 years old, could it be winded by MJ, too?
My JB has a J, it's at least 18 years old, could it be winded by MJ, too?
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