Reassure me I'm not crazy for wanting the Custom Custom in my les paul

singlecutarmy

singlecutarmy

New member
Greetings fellow gear nerds.

I tend to have eccentric tastes in genre - gear matchups. I play heavy music and enjoy P90s, A2 magnets and even dabbled in filtertrons.

I play mostly 80s and modern metal with some fusion / alty stuff like pink floyd, coheed and cambria and *cough*creed*cough* thrown in there.

Marshally and Boogie voiced stuff mostly at bedroom volumes using disortion pedals into a DSL1 clean. I never really drop below drop D, pretty much in E standard most of the time.

I recently picked up the Joe Bonamassa black beauty and while it sounds good stock, it's not quite right for me. There's this sponginess in the upper mid frequencies that's kinda bright but undefined. I can dial some out by rolling off the mids but it's just not quite there. I want something higher output that just gives back more when I hit the strings.

In my other black beauty I had a Parson's Street A2 Overwound. Basically a hot (9.5k) unpotted A2 and it was pretty stellar, but I wanted just a hair more output and wax potting, which brings me to the Custom Custom.

I've been listening to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLfR...=SeymourDuncan demo and while I know youtube videos and amazing players can be deceiving, I actually own a Custom and know how it sounds and feels to play. It's scooped in the mids and raunchy on both ends, it's good but not what I want right now. I want something more mid-forward. I also don't want to get into magnet swapping, I want to keep the custom as is in case I want it later.

I like the heavy chords with the A2 magnet because it has this soft top that's easy on the ears, but a low-mid growl that's still angry enough to sound mean. The leads sing very pleasantly and don't sound brittle like A5 sometimes can.

I do like my palm mutes tight, but if I ever get too itchy for tight metal I have a Boden with Fluence's in it I can pull out to chugga chugga.

Was thinking of pairing it with an APHN AII pro in the neck to keep a similar characteristic.

I know some people have recommended going A8 for "A2 on steroids" sound but I just don't hear it in the demos. A8 sounds kinda whiny to me.
 
The Custom Custom and Alnico II Pro are my favorite combination. If you want to occupy a huge swath of frequencies, or play in a 1 guitar band, that combination is perfect.
 
To expand on my post, I've used the CC in a few different guitars (a Strat and a Epi Les Paul) in the past and installed one in my Gibson Les Paul just a few days ago and am very happy with how it sounds. I will be using it at band rehearsal tonight so I'll know real quick how it sits. My gut tells me it's going to be most excellent. :) My initial reaction is it's what I need from the guitar; big mids, smooth highs, lows that are present but not overbearing. A big sound that has good cut.
 
ErikH said:
To expand on my post, I've used the CC in a few different guitars (a Strat and a Epi Les Paul) in the past and installed one in my Gibson Les Paul just a few days ago and am very happy with how it sounds. I will be using it at band rehearsal tonight so I'll know real quick how it sits. My gut tells me it's going to be most excellent. :) My initial reaction is it's what I need from the guitar; big mids, smooth highs, lows that are present but not overbearing. A big sound that has good cut.
Click to expand...

Hopefully it works well for you! I'm on the fence because I like a lot of pickups. Even the stock ones in it are actually pretty solid.

Part of me wants to put a real fire breather in it and have a mean ass les paul, like a JB, or stick with the Custom I have. Another wants 3 phat Cats... oh the choices.
 
For a fire breather, I wouldn't use a JB. A Custom, Distortion or Dimebucker might be better. Black Winter also. (There are other choices like PATB, etc., but I haven't used so can't recommend.) Custom, Distortion, Dime and Winter each has some brightness that gives you room to get the sound you want just rolling the tone and volume. JB comes across kind of dark with a bunch of mids in my LPs and SGs; doesn't leave anywhere to go if you need some real bite.
 
beaubrummels said:
For a fire breather, I wouldn't use a JB. A Custom, Distortion or Dimebucker might be better. Black Winter also. (There are other choices like PATB, etc., but I haven't used so can't recommend.) Custom, Distortion, Dime and Winter each has some brightness that gives you room to get the sound you want just rolling the tone and volume. JB comes across kind of dark with a bunch of mids in my LPs and SGs; doesn't leave anywhere to go if you need some real bite.
Click to expand...

Really? Never played one in a full les paul. I had one in a melody maker, it was pretty bright and bitey for me, I liked it.
 
Well, if you already have a Custom, it isn't that hard to swap the magnet out and have a Custom Custom. The EQ is about the reverse of a Custom, with the same power level.
 
Mincer said:
Well, if you already have a Custom, it isn't that hard to swap the magnet out and have a Custom Custom. The EQ is about the reverse of a Custom, with the same power level.
Click to expand...

I'm worried about melting the wax potting when removing the cover since I had a not so great soldering iron.
 
singlecutarmy said:
Really? Never played one in a full les paul. I had one in a melody maker, it was pretty bright and bitey for me, I liked it.
Click to expand...

Melody Makers are bright and snappy. I have two recent era MMs. Thin bodies and maple necks. A Les Paul with a solid hunk of mahogany and mahogany neck is a different animal. When I tried the JB in my LP and SG, only a real old one Seymour wound kind of worked. The newer one was dark and mid heavy. YMMV
 
Every guitar requires a pickup matched to it's unique character. I had a superstrat in the early 2000's with a JB/59 combo. They were good in it; I liked them. JB in the bridge was fine, the neck wasn't my favorite. nothing I'd rave about by any means.

Fast forward a couple years, and I got a yamaha AES 600 that came stock with a JB in the bridge. I didn't care for it. Might have been the pots/other factors, but based on that I'd say I didn't like the JB in a Les Paul style guitar.

fast forward another few years, the aforementioned super strat had been retired. The JB went into a squire strat. Great tone; a JB in a strat is just killer. The neck 59 I put a cover on and put it in my les paul. I couldn't rave any more about how great that pickup is in that les paul. I love it. and I'm not talking about the same model - I'm talking about the same actual pickup. which was lackluster in one guitar, and noteworthy in another.

Point is, what we all tell you would be "crazy" might just work in your guitar for what you're after.

Also, what you're after today, might change in several years. :D
 
pskorz said:
Every guitar requires a pickup matched to it's unique character. I had a superstrat in the early 2000's with a JB/59 combo. They were good in it; I liked them. JB in the bridge was fine, the neck wasn't my favorite. nothing I'd rave about by any means.

Fast forward a couple years, and I got a yamaha AES 600 that came stock with a JB in the bridge. I didn't care for it. Might have been the pots/other factors, but based on that I'd say I didn't like the JB in a Les Paul style guitar.

fast forward another few years, the aforementioned super strat had been retired. The JB went into a squire strat. Great tone; a JB in a strat is just killer. The neck 59 I put a cover on and put it in my les paul. I couldn't rave any more about how great that pickup is in that les paul. I love it. and I'm not talking about the same model - I'm talking about the same actual pickup. which was lackluster in one guitar, and noteworthy in another.

Point is, what we all tell you would be "crazy" might just work in your guitar for what you're after.

Also, what you're after today, might change in several years. :D
Click to expand...

I agree with that. I took a bridge out of a BC Rich MK5 mockingbird because it sounded sterile. I slapped it into an LTD EC256 and it was magic, I actually let a bareknuckle mule collect dust for it.

And it probably will change. When I first started the guitar journey, I liked EMGs, then I went for more vintage correct PAFs, then P90s, then back to vintage correct PAFs and slowly added gain until I had a JB, Invader and Fluence's and now I've realized that the character of the pickup is way more important than the gaininess of it.

I love taking my P90s and cranking it with modern metal tones, but I need to dial the mids way back compared to my humbuckers. Same with my A2s. On my DSL 1 I run treble at noon to 1:00, mids at 9:00 and bass around noon

With my fluence's into one of my distortion pedals, I have to run treble at 0, mids dimed and bass at 11:00.

So sometimes you have to work around the pickups to get the sound you like too.
 
I would go with a Distortion or Black Winter. I personally am not a fan of the Dimebucker. Depending on use and versatility you could even consider a Nazgul and a Pegasus.
 
Try it out, brother

I had a JB A2 in my gold top for quite a while, and it sounded great. I haven't had a custom custom, but I'd bet its fairly similar__PRESENT
 
singlecutarmy said:
Hopefully it works well for you! I'm on the fence because I like a lot of pickups. Even the stock ones in it are actually pretty solid.

Part of me wants to put a real fire breather in it and have a mean ass les paul, like a JB, or stick with the Custom I have. Another wants 3 phat Cats... oh the choices.
Click to expand...

Last night at rehearsal, the Les Paul sounded fantastic. I got all I wanted out of it from subtle soft notes to full on over the top. To give you a reference, I'm in a Journey Tribute band so there's a whole set of dynamics I need to be able to achieve. And I have to say that it is better suited for my DI setup at rehearsal (Fly Rig 5 v2 with a Boss OD-3 and Keeley Compressor out front).
 
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Why wouldn't you put it in the bridge of a Les Paul? Just imagine it with a Jazz or 59 neck.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
Demanic said:
Why wouldn't you put it in the bridge of a Les Paul? Just imagine it with a Jazz or 59 neck.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
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I was thinking a slash in the neck but the stock epiphone neck is similar and really good so I may not even touch it.

I like the bridge pickup which is according to the site a Probucker III which is specced like a burstbucker, but I want more output, so Custom Custom seems right there. Only other high output A2 on the market is the EVH frankenstein.
 
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I'm seriously thinking to swap the magnet in my C8 with a A2 in one of my les paul. That les paul is a keeper for me. It has a 59A4 and a C8 now. I wonder how it will sound with a PGn and a Custom custom
 
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