Help! Make a Custom TB-5 sound like a Duncan Custom DCJ ? (AKA Magnet swap magic).

[MRTHUD]

Just had my weekly jam with a local bassist.
'What do you think of my new pickup??)
...

'Keep searching'..
...

Bloody bassists, what do they know lol.
His feedback was that it lacks Lower Mids/ bottom end, (so..actually in the case with my guitar/config I agree. Reluctantly!!)
Will keep the Custom 5 and try it in a different guitar at some point. Will likely order another/different Seymour pickup (taking advice from the previous posts).

 

[beaubrummels]

How would you describe the difference?

The Seymour one is like a Custom with softer top end. It’s brighter than my new production and it cleans up when rolling the volume off. New production is a thick punch of mid spikes, no treble to speak of and never cleans up with the volume.

 

[Mincer]

The Seymour one is like a Custom with softer top end. It’s brighter than my new production and it cleans up when rolling the volume off. New production is a thick punch of mid spikes, no treble to speak of and never cleans up with the volume.

I might actually like that Seymour one!

 

[beaubrummels]

I might actually like that Seymour one!

If I recall, I think the original JB was just the quest for a hot PAF except for a Tele with 250k pots. The Custom was a hot 59 (another PAF type), so the original two are near neighbors.

 

[Mincer]

If I recall, I think the original JB was just the quest for a hot PAF except for a Tele with 250k pots. The Custom was a hot 59 (another PAF type), so the original two are near neighbors.

I don't think of a modern JB as anywhere PAF-related.

 

[ErikH]

Just had my weekly jam with a local bassist.
'What do you think of my new pickup??)
...

'Keep searching'..
...

Bloody bassists, what do they know lol.
His feedback was that it lacks Lower Mids/ bottom end, (so..actually in the case with my guitar/config I agree. Reluctantly!!)
Will keep the Custom 5 and try it in a different guitar at some point. Will likely order another/different Seymour pickup (taking advice from the previous posts).

You mention Custom 5 here. That is a different pickup from the Custom. Did you mean Custom TB-5 or SH-5? That’s the model number for it. The Custom 5’s model is SH-14 or TB-14.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

The Seymour one is like a Custom with softer top end. It’s brighter than my new production and it cleans up when rolling the volume off. New production is a thick punch of mid spikes, no treble to speak of and never cleans up with the volume.

I have a vintage JB that reads around 15.5K; my newer ones are both up around 16.5K.
The mags may be a bit different as well.
IMO the old black SH-1 mags sound richer than the ones they switched to in the 80s.

 

[MRTHUD]

You mention Custom 5 here. That is a different pickup from the Custom. Did you mean Custom TB-5 or SH-5? That’s the model number for it. The Custom 5’s model is SH-14 or TB-14.

Yes, I meant Custom TB-5.

 

[devastone]

I have a vintage JB that reads around 15.5K; my newer ones are both up around 16.5K.
The mags may be a bit different as well.
IMO the old black SH-1 mags sound richer than the ones they switched to in the 80s.

I've had old ones wound for USA Hamers that were close to 18k, the age doesn't matter, they just vary, could be variances in wire diameter, winder calibration, or just let's make some a little hotter today.

 

[CaptainWhizz]

Don’t forget temperature affects resistance in wire, as well as discrepancies in batches of wire, etc.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I don't think of a modern JB as anywhere PAF-related.

I've had old ones wound for USA Hamers that were close to 18k, the age doesn't matter, they just vary, could be variances in wire diameter, winder calibration, or just let's make some a little hotter today.

Well, the old ones at least seem to have nailed part of the PAF magic: inconsistency!

I agree, though, to me the JB isn't even remotely akin to a PAF in tone or feel.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But IMO it's far from vintagey.

To be fair, in the late 60 & early 70s, overwound humbuckers were a new thing.
Terminology was far less specific - the standards we use to categorize pickups today hadn't evolved yet.

Seymour cut his teeth rewinding broken PAFs for people in his London days.
For the JB he was experimenting with pushing the boundaries.
I think he can be forgiven for referring to his starting point as a descriptor at the time.
Certainly it was a wildly successful experiment.

Some love the JB and some hate it.
But nobody can deny it's a classic.

 

[Clint 55]

I noticed a huge difference between the JB and my JBJ. I wonder what the difference would be between the Custom and the DCJ since it's a scooped wind.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Don’t forget temperature affects resistance in wire, as well as discrepancies in batches of wire, etc.

Yep. I try to take any DCR measurements at a consistent temperature.

A pickup with more winds - or simply more wire - might even be more susceptible to thermal variance than lighter winds.
I have no evidence that it's actually so, but it doesn't seem completely unreasonable.

Does anyone here know if it works that way?

Might be worth a casual experiment comparing a 5.5K Strat pickup to the heaviest wind I own, a 19K Dragon One bridge.
Measure them first at room temp and then after an hour or two in a sunny window, to see if the percentage of change differs.

Could even cool them in the fridge for awhile first to increase the temperature change. Shouldn't do them any harm, right?
Plenty of my pickups survived freezing winter nights and baking summer days for years in various trucks.

For quantifiable results I'd have to put a thermometer in the fridge with them.
And next to them on the windowsill, all three shaded from direct sun of course.
Maybe one of these days.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I noticed a huge difference between the JB and my JBJ. I wonder what the difference would be between the Custom and the DCJ since it's a scooped wind.

Now that you mention it, my one MJ-wound Custom seems to be wound a tad lighter than the other two.
This DCJ reads 13.7K, vs 14.3K for both the regular production ones.
That 4% difference might simply be wire variance.
Impossible to know for sure.

Some also say that magnet type & strength will affect DCR.
My Custom5 reads exactly the same as the ceramic one.
Haven't ever taken before-and-after readings on a mag swap.
It actually never occurred to me until just now.

 

[CaptainWhizz]

I really wish I’d paid more attention in school when we did experiments on resistance, if only I’d known it could actually have real-life applications!

I don’t think the magnet should affect the resistance, because the resistance is just being measured along the wire; measuring the milivolt output of a pickup, changing the magnet, and measuring again, would be interesting though.

 

[devastone]

No, the magnet will not change the DCR of the winding.