That90'sGuy
DyzaBoyzologist
This one's a long read, but it has happy ending 
Given the fact that I've been a forum member for so many years without really having a Duncan pickup in an axe, I figured story time is long overdue.
Well, it's been years since I've purchased a Seymour Duncan pickup. The last time I had purchased 'em was when I had some Antiquity humbuckers in a Les Paul Standard. For whatever reason, they sounded horrible in that particular guitar and it had turned me off of their pickups (I figured if a custom shop pickup disappointed, no way would a standard production make me happy). In that guitar, the pickups weren't balanced from position to position and it had a really weird hollow sound to the midrange on it. I had a PRS McCarty Soapbar and Soapbar Standard that had Duncan P90s in them and they didn't work for those guitars either, they didn't sound like P90s to my ears, more like hot humbuckers and once again, Duncan pickups left a bad taste in my mouth. It was stupid to give up on Duncan at that point, but it had led me to trying everything from Rio Grande to EMG to Dimarzio to Lollar to WCR to Wolfetone pickups.
Forward to the last few months. I purchased what I've intended to be my "ultimate" single coil guitar (to match my #1 humbucker guitar, my black '96 PRS McCarty), a '56 RI Closet Classic Fender Strat (the Mary Kaye finish one w/ gold hardware I've shown on the forum before). The looks blew me away and acoustically it sounded really nice (the ash body and maple neck gives notes a nice pop and it's a loud and pretty balanced sounding guitar). The neck was the main seller; I like fat necks (I'm spoiled by the wide/fat neck on my PRS) and aside from some '54 RIs, it's the biggest strat neck you can get from Fender. The only problem was that the pickups are horrible. In my '62 RI Strat, I had really liked the stock pickups, but this was just unacceptably bad. They were noisy and I can't say there was a single position that was inspiring.
Like most people who like their guitars, but want more out of them, I researched the crap out of replacement pickups. I heard some really good clips of Van Zandt "Vintage Plus" pickups, so I had decided on ordering a set with a non-RWRP middle so that I could use the Suhr BPSSC (noise bothers me and I wanted a single coil guitar that could be gigged without making me want to slit my wrists). I really dig the neck and middle on that set (they do the SRV thing in spades and the quack is out of control), but the bridge was too bright in my strat (almost an ice pick with the ash and maple combo). I knew at that point I would need a new bridge pickup.
Enter the search for the bridge pickup. I really, really like Telecaster bridge pickups, but find myself digging the neck and notch positions of a Strat. My original plan has always been to settle on one single coil guitar that can essentially do it all (or come darn close to it). I've done my fair share of research on "tele" sounding strat bridge pickups and the Rio Grande (forgot what that was called) and Dimarzio Red Velvet offerings didn't seem to get as warm reviews as the Duncan Twang Banger.
I took a chance, ordered up the Twang Banger. In short, with the ash/maple combination, this pickup hauls arse and takes names.
The notes really pop out (like with a Tele), it's fatter sounding than typical strat bridges. I get that snarl and that attitude and that pop for chicken pickin'. Unlike some people's experiences, I didn't find this pickup to lack brightness, with it lowered almost all the way, it balances well with the Van Zandts and the high frequency brilliance of the pickup comes out rather nicely (but thankfully, NOT an ice pick in my strat). A good friend of mine has one heck of a Tele that I love, so I'll have to make it a point to A/B my axe with the Twang Banger against it and see how it stands. All I know is that if it isn't exact, it's close enough to these ears with that copper baseplate. I didn't find it to be very noisy either, so with the BPSSC system, it's almost noise free. If I were to say one downside, it's that I ended up having to switch the hot and ground connections for it work properly (with the standard wiring, it hum cancels with my non RWRP middle which screws with the BPSSC system). With it switched around, all positions have light hum (as I needed it to be) and the bridge/middle notch is just plain beautiful.
All in all, if you like strats, like single coils, but want a bridge pickup that doesn't sound like your typical strat bridge you're going to LOVE this pickup. I've only been playing it for a few hours, but I know what I like and what is in a good pickup and this one delivers in spades. This is exactly what I've been looking for to complete this axe. Bravo, Seymour Duncan! :clap:
Given the fact that I've been a forum member for so many years without really having a Duncan pickup in an axe, I figured story time is long overdue.Well, it's been years since I've purchased a Seymour Duncan pickup. The last time I had purchased 'em was when I had some Antiquity humbuckers in a Les Paul Standard. For whatever reason, they sounded horrible in that particular guitar and it had turned me off of their pickups (I figured if a custom shop pickup disappointed, no way would a standard production make me happy). In that guitar, the pickups weren't balanced from position to position and it had a really weird hollow sound to the midrange on it. I had a PRS McCarty Soapbar and Soapbar Standard that had Duncan P90s in them and they didn't work for those guitars either, they didn't sound like P90s to my ears, more like hot humbuckers and once again, Duncan pickups left a bad taste in my mouth. It was stupid to give up on Duncan at that point, but it had led me to trying everything from Rio Grande to EMG to Dimarzio to Lollar to WCR to Wolfetone pickups.
Forward to the last few months. I purchased what I've intended to be my "ultimate" single coil guitar (to match my #1 humbucker guitar, my black '96 PRS McCarty), a '56 RI Closet Classic Fender Strat (the Mary Kaye finish one w/ gold hardware I've shown on the forum before). The looks blew me away and acoustically it sounded really nice (the ash body and maple neck gives notes a nice pop and it's a loud and pretty balanced sounding guitar). The neck was the main seller; I like fat necks (I'm spoiled by the wide/fat neck on my PRS) and aside from some '54 RIs, it's the biggest strat neck you can get from Fender. The only problem was that the pickups are horrible. In my '62 RI Strat, I had really liked the stock pickups, but this was just unacceptably bad. They were noisy and I can't say there was a single position that was inspiring.
Like most people who like their guitars, but want more out of them, I researched the crap out of replacement pickups. I heard some really good clips of Van Zandt "Vintage Plus" pickups, so I had decided on ordering a set with a non-RWRP middle so that I could use the Suhr BPSSC (noise bothers me and I wanted a single coil guitar that could be gigged without making me want to slit my wrists). I really dig the neck and middle on that set (they do the SRV thing in spades and the quack is out of control), but the bridge was too bright in my strat (almost an ice pick with the ash and maple combo). I knew at that point I would need a new bridge pickup.
Enter the search for the bridge pickup. I really, really like Telecaster bridge pickups, but find myself digging the neck and notch positions of a Strat. My original plan has always been to settle on one single coil guitar that can essentially do it all (or come darn close to it). I've done my fair share of research on "tele" sounding strat bridge pickups and the Rio Grande (forgot what that was called) and Dimarzio Red Velvet offerings didn't seem to get as warm reviews as the Duncan Twang Banger.
I took a chance, ordered up the Twang Banger. In short, with the ash/maple combination, this pickup hauls arse and takes names.
The notes really pop out (like with a Tele), it's fatter sounding than typical strat bridges. I get that snarl and that attitude and that pop for chicken pickin'. Unlike some people's experiences, I didn't find this pickup to lack brightness, with it lowered almost all the way, it balances well with the Van Zandts and the high frequency brilliance of the pickup comes out rather nicely (but thankfully, NOT an ice pick in my strat). A good friend of mine has one heck of a Tele that I love, so I'll have to make it a point to A/B my axe with the Twang Banger against it and see how it stands. All I know is that if it isn't exact, it's close enough to these ears with that copper baseplate. I didn't find it to be very noisy either, so with the BPSSC system, it's almost noise free. If I were to say one downside, it's that I ended up having to switch the hot and ground connections for it work properly (with the standard wiring, it hum cancels with my non RWRP middle which screws with the BPSSC system). With it switched around, all positions have light hum (as I needed it to be) and the bridge/middle notch is just plain beautiful. All in all, if you like strats, like single coils, but want a bridge pickup that doesn't sound like your typical strat bridge you're going to LOVE this pickup. I've only been playing it for a few hours, but I know what I like and what is in a good pickup and this one delivers in spades. This is exactly what I've been looking for to complete this axe. Bravo, Seymour Duncan! :clap:
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