Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
- Thread starter pittbull
- Start date
Kam
Shaftologist
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
Here is a very good, detailed and thorough guide that was written by our very own Stratdeluxer97. Note that it's a lot easier if you don't have covered pickups. Also, I've never personally bothered desoldering the pickups or repotting them, though I've never had problems with feedback from them. All you need is a screwdriver.
There is a huge array of magnets available here. Dennis is a good guy to deal with, so if you don't find exactly what you want then don't hesitate to get in touch with him.
Here is a very good, detailed and thorough guide that was written by our very own Stratdeluxer97. Note that it's a lot easier if you don't have covered pickups. Also, I've never personally bothered desoldering the pickups or repotting them, though I've never had problems with feedback from them. All you need is a screwdriver.
There is a huge array of magnets available here. Dennis is a good guy to deal with, so if you don't find exactly what you want then don't hesitate to get in touch with him.
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
way less muddy than a CC which i dont really consider muddy. i guess maybe in certain guitars it could be.anyway the ceramic custom is a great versatile pu that will do a great old EVH tone but many others as well. i tried many duncans,dimarzios and some other brands but for me the custom just gets me all the tones i need in one pup. keep in mind i set it a good distance from the strings and this really is key to get it away from the harshness ceramic pu's usually have. mine sounds like a 59b wth a hotter output. it is not too tight or compressed and even has a good clean tone. does a great VH I tone like when eddie is playing the frank on that record. I feel in love with it as soon as i played the beginning of eruption through my marshall slp.
way less muddy than a CC which i dont really consider muddy. i guess maybe in certain guitars it could be.anyway the ceramic custom is a great versatile pu that will do a great old EVH tone but many others as well. i tried many duncans,dimarzios and some other brands but for me the custom just gets me all the tones i need in one pup. keep in mind i set it a good distance from the strings and this really is key to get it away from the harshness ceramic pu's usually have. mine sounds like a 59b wth a hotter output. it is not too tight or compressed and even has a good clean tone. does a great VH I tone like when eddie is playing the frank on that record. I feel in love with it as soon as i played the beginning of eruption through my marshall slp.
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
I have tried the Duncan 59 and the Duncan custom 5 in this guitar(Ibanez prestige rg1550m-basswood body maple neck Ibanez edge trem)and it sounded brittle bright with no body to the sound,may be I should check my pre-amp tubes on my amp.
I have tried the Duncan 59 and the Duncan custom 5 in this guitar(Ibanez prestige rg1550m-basswood body maple neck Ibanez edge trem)and it sounded brittle bright with no body to the sound,may be I should check my pre-amp tubes on my amp.
MesaTone
New member
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
I'm going to throw my .02 in here, from a listener's postion. I'm a player, have been for years, but what we as a guitarist hears and what the audience hears is two entirely different things.
I'm a rocker, vintage to hair metal. The old stuff, like Zep, old electric blues, greasy blues, use uoa5. Full sound with enough bite to get the audience's attention. A5 doesn't have enough mids, and isn't very musical, compared to uoa5. A5 only really works with cranked Marshalls (and similar), where the mids are built in and too middy a magnet would mud things up. A5 and 6L6's? No mids, therefore no cut. Might sound good within the band, but sucks out front.
A2 gets lost in high gain applications. Sounds like crap when paired with another guitar player who's using a5 or ceramic. For instance, Ratt - Warren using an a2 JB, and Carlos using something with ceramic. Throughout the arena, when Warren solos, the a2 under all that gain turns to mush, and can't hold a candle to Carlos' ceramic. When playing rhythm behind Carlos' leads, it's worse mush. I've heard Seymour play up close and intimate, with another guitar player playing a5. The a2 doesn't hold its' own. Seymour took a serious back seat. If you're the only guitar player, a2 might work for you. Warren Haynes does well with the Pearly Gates, but when playing with someone with a5 mags, it starts to get mushy as the gain goes up. OTOH, the a5 is horribly mid-difficient when playing with someone with a2's, and the lack of musicality is greatly apparent. Again, uoa5 would be my choice. Watched Haynes and Leslie West play together. It's on YouTube. You can hear Leslie get lost compared to Warren's tone, yet Warren's tone is mushy compared to the a5 in Leslie's Black Backs. He should put uoa5 in them. They both should. I get killer Leslie West tones with uoa5, almost sounds like his old P-90 tone (without the noise). I also think uoa5 sounds more early Billy Gibbons than a2.
As far as the old shredder tones, old Aerosmith, Lynch-Dokken, Mars-Motley Crue, Stanley-Kiss, even early EVH (a Mighty Mite SuperD copy), those were all ceramic tones. Al diMeola used a SuperD on all his old stuff, still does last I saw. Petrucci uses ceramic. How many metalheads use ceramic EMG 81's? It might not sound great during practicing, or smaller gigs, but under high-gain, it's the only mag that cuts through. A8 gets you close to the Volbeat rythym sound, but other than that it's a lot of mud under high-gain, and doesn't record well. Just too much, no matter how you dial the pickup height. Name one shredder that uses a8.
Also, the higher the pickup wind, with the extra compression, fat tone magnets, like a2, uoa5 and a8, just add too much to the mix. Uoa5 in a Custom wind, max. Dodgy in a JB.
I have a few guitars, mostly with uoa5 for every style up to medium-high gain. For searing high gain riffage, ceramic - like it or not.
You can hear it in some of the older shredders that are going to the softer magnets. The cut is gone, the mids are gone, using the same amps they used to play. A complete let down, in terms of magnet tone. They're playing what they want to hear, not what the audience necessarily wants to hear.
No need to flame me, these are just my opinions after seeing well over a thousand different shows over the years. When picking pickups and/or magnets, take a step back and think about what you want your audience to hear, and the best way to get there. Any tone you're looking for has already been done, so pick the best of what you like to hear, figure out the pickup/magnet used, and go from there. And regardless of pickup choice, the magnet choice is far more important.
I'm going to throw my .02 in here, from a listener's postion. I'm a player, have been for years, but what we as a guitarist hears and what the audience hears is two entirely different things.
I'm a rocker, vintage to hair metal. The old stuff, like Zep, old electric blues, greasy blues, use uoa5. Full sound with enough bite to get the audience's attention. A5 doesn't have enough mids, and isn't very musical, compared to uoa5. A5 only really works with cranked Marshalls (and similar), where the mids are built in and too middy a magnet would mud things up. A5 and 6L6's? No mids, therefore no cut. Might sound good within the band, but sucks out front.
A2 gets lost in high gain applications. Sounds like crap when paired with another guitar player who's using a5 or ceramic. For instance, Ratt - Warren using an a2 JB, and Carlos using something with ceramic. Throughout the arena, when Warren solos, the a2 under all that gain turns to mush, and can't hold a candle to Carlos' ceramic. When playing rhythm behind Carlos' leads, it's worse mush. I've heard Seymour play up close and intimate, with another guitar player playing a5. The a2 doesn't hold its' own. Seymour took a serious back seat. If you're the only guitar player, a2 might work for you. Warren Haynes does well with the Pearly Gates, but when playing with someone with a5 mags, it starts to get mushy as the gain goes up. OTOH, the a5 is horribly mid-difficient when playing with someone with a2's, and the lack of musicality is greatly apparent. Again, uoa5 would be my choice. Watched Haynes and Leslie West play together. It's on YouTube. You can hear Leslie get lost compared to Warren's tone, yet Warren's tone is mushy compared to the a5 in Leslie's Black Backs. He should put uoa5 in them. They both should. I get killer Leslie West tones with uoa5, almost sounds like his old P-90 tone (without the noise). I also think uoa5 sounds more early Billy Gibbons than a2.
As far as the old shredder tones, old Aerosmith, Lynch-Dokken, Mars-Motley Crue, Stanley-Kiss, even early EVH (a Mighty Mite SuperD copy), those were all ceramic tones. Al diMeola used a SuperD on all his old stuff, still does last I saw. Petrucci uses ceramic. How many metalheads use ceramic EMG 81's? It might not sound great during practicing, or smaller gigs, but under high-gain, it's the only mag that cuts through. A8 gets you close to the Volbeat rythym sound, but other than that it's a lot of mud under high-gain, and doesn't record well. Just too much, no matter how you dial the pickup height. Name one shredder that uses a8.
Also, the higher the pickup wind, with the extra compression, fat tone magnets, like a2, uoa5 and a8, just add too much to the mix. Uoa5 in a Custom wind, max. Dodgy in a JB.
I have a few guitars, mostly with uoa5 for every style up to medium-high gain. For searing high gain riffage, ceramic - like it or not.
You can hear it in some of the older shredders that are going to the softer magnets. The cut is gone, the mids are gone, using the same amps they used to play. A complete let down, in terms of magnet tone. They're playing what they want to hear, not what the audience necessarily wants to hear.
No need to flame me, these are just my opinions after seeing well over a thousand different shows over the years. When picking pickups and/or magnets, take a step back and think about what you want your audience to hear, and the best way to get there. Any tone you're looking for has already been done, so pick the best of what you like to hear, figure out the pickup/magnet used, and go from there. And regardless of pickup choice, the magnet choice is far more important.
darthphineas
New member
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
in these live settings, one cannot forget to account for the amp, the sound guy, the dynamics of the room and all points in between. the magnet in the pickup might be getting a little too much credit in the example being given.
in these live settings, one cannot forget to account for the amp, the sound guy, the dynamics of the room and all points in between. the magnet in the pickup might be getting a little too much credit in the example being given.
Lewguitar
New member
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
Does the OP still need a place to buy magnets? http://www.addiction-fx.com/gallery1.htm
Does the OP still need a place to buy magnets? http://www.addiction-fx.com/gallery1.htm
51501984
New member
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
Hopefully in the last 3 yrs since he started this thread he found some
Hopefully in the last 3 yrs since he started this thread he found some
L
Little Pigbacon
Guest
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
I'm going to put an A3 magnet in my Custom, making it a Custom III, or a Custom Custom Custom -- or a "Custom Cubed". A CuCu, or Coocoo, or "Double Copper". I think Double Copper is the most intuitive name; I'm going to market with that.
I'm going to put an A3 magnet in my Custom, making it a Custom III, or a Custom Custom Custom -- or a "Custom Cubed". A CuCu, or Coocoo, or "Double Copper". I think Double Copper is the most intuitive name; I'm going to market with that.
Myaccount876
Amira-Maker
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Magnet swap
I think hex screws will get you there. If not, an A5 in SDs usually increases the bass response while getting rid of some mids. In some SD pickups, ceramics will do the same but to a much lesser extent, while adding power and treble.
I think hex screws will get you there. If not, an A5 in SDs usually increases the bass response while getting rid of some mids. In some SD pickups, ceramics will do the same but to a much lesser extent, while adding power and treble.
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