History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

T

Titanium

New member
I'm very interested in buying an older bridge Duncan Distortion pickup from the 80's. I'm wondering about the history of this pickup? What year was it first released? How do I identify certain years of Duncan Distortion pickups visibly?

Is there a more desirable year?
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

A good part of the Mojo with older pickups come thru the older make of the alnico magnets. Since the Distortion sports a ceramic magnet there shouldn't be too much difference to nowadays DDs. My .02!
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

hamerfan said:
A good part of the Mojo with older pickups come thru the older make of the alnico magnets. Since the Distortion sports a ceramic magnet there shouldn't be too much difference to nowadays DDs. My .02!
Click to expand...

Hamerfan

That is a good point. I still want to learn about the history of this pickup and how to identify different years of production. I want to buy an original Duncan Distortion bridge pickup from the 80's. Besides buying a used one will be cheaper.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

I have one, it has a sticker with DDJ on the bottom, other than that I don't know how to ID an old one. It only measures 15.7K, which kinda contradicts what everyone says about MJ winding a little extra. It does sound really f-ing good though.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

The older it gets the more likely it was wound by MJ or SD, I'd guess....

Other than that it's probably no different.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

I had one that was from the early 80's( acording to MJ when i spoke to her via phone) it had no stamped logo on the bottom. Not sure when they started adding the log though.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

Wasn't there some kind of chart or something on the SD website that gave you the criteria to date a pickup? Maybe someone on the forum posted it, but I swear I saw this a while ago.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

I once tried a timeline for Duncan humbuckers, but didn't get too much help from the forum bros. So a new start:

These are my best guesses:

1. no backlogo, small tag without winder initial from late 70 up to ?
2. no backlogo, small tag with winder from ? to 1983
3. big backlogo without MiA, small tag with winder from at least 1983 to 1988
4. small backlogo with MiA, small tag with winder from 1988 to 2002
5. small backlogo with MiA, large tag with SN and Model from 2002 to ?
6. small backlogo with MiA, large tag with date from ? to now
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

Mine has wood spacers, that might date it, and based on hamerfan it would be in the '83-'88 range.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

I did a few videos on Youtube explaining how to identify a Duncan Alnico II humbucker from 1986. I know that's not the model you're looking for but you can see the style of baseplate and sticker you should look for. Hope this helps
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

rosssurf said:
I had one that was from the early 80's( acording to MJ when i spoke to her via phone) it had no stamped logo on the bottom. Not sure when they started adding the log though.
Click to expand...

I think MJ is still working for Duncan. I think she is the one that wound my Duncan EVH from the custom shop. That is a good sounding pickup.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

hamerfan said:
I once tried a timeline for Duncan humbuckers, but didn't get too much help from the forum bros. So a new start:

These are my best guesses:

1. no backlogo, small tag without winder initial from late 70 up to ?
2. no backlogo, small tag with winder from ? to 1983
3. big backlogo without MiA, small tag with winder from at least 1983 to 1988
4. small backlogo with MiA, small tag with winder from 1988 to 2002
5. small backlogo with MiA, large tag with SN and Model from 2002 to ?
6. small backlogo with MiA, large tag with date from ? to now
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this Hamerfan.
 
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Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

MisterMiniMite said:
I did a few videos on Youtube explaining how to identify a Duncan Alnico II humbucker from 1986. I know that's not the model you're looking for but you can see the style of baseplate and sticker you should look for. Hope this helps
Click to expand...

I will go check your You Tube video's out. I've been using Duncan pickups since the early 1980's, but all the ones I ever owned did have the backlogo.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

I know why I have never bought a Duncan Distortion pickup ever. I have always avoided pickups with ceramic magnets in them even in the 80's. Every pickup I own has alnico magnets in them.

I have a nice old Kramer with a Floyd that I want to put a Duncan Distortion pickup in. I am a huge fan of the Floyd Rose bridge.
 
Re: History/identifying older Duncan Distortions?

MisterMiniMite said:
I did a few videos on Youtube explaining how to identify a Duncan Alnico II humbucker from 1986. I know that's not the model you're looking for but you can see the style of baseplate and sticker you should look for. Hope this helps
Click to expand...

I did find your video. I did come across some info about the amp Slash used which supposedly was a Marshall modded by Levi that SIR rented out to him. This guy in this You Tube vid mentions this and listen to his tone in this You Tube video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJMn2SOc7L8
 
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