Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

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sircodyy

New member
So a little over a month ago I decided to fill out my first custom shop order form & get myself a bridge pickup. I play mainly metal, high gain stuff. The Pegasus is one of my favorite pickups for this. Anyways, I told the custom shop I wanted something that resembled a 1980s Tim Shaw PAF w/ a hotter output, more mid range, & more aggressive. Like a more aggressive vintage voiced PAF. I let them choose the magnet & all of that stuff for me.

Today I got the pickup, & I was shocked to see that they used an alnico II magnet, seeing as to how most "metal" pickups use alnico V or ceramic. I was a bit nervous, thinking this wasn't gonna be what I wanted it to be or something. I installed the thing in about 20minutes. WOW. Just fat tone right out of the gate. Really smooth high end, not real saturated. Loads, LOADS of midrange but again very smooth. Not the hottest which is fine but very distinct sound for what I'm wanting.

I am so surprised that this pickup has an alnico II magnet in it. To my knowledge alnico II is weak & made for blues or crunchy rock, or so I thought. What do you think MJ did to give this what I asked for? Overwinding maybe? Let me know your thoughts, & what's your experience with the custom shop?
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

I think that you just learned that your assumptions may have been based on a false premise.
There is a pickup that Scott Ian uses that has two A2 bar magnets, one in each coil of the humbucker.

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Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Yeah, I think you have to realize that A2 magnets can be used for a lot of things, and you can't prejudge what something is going to sound like solely on the magnet.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Still kicking myself for not getting an old El Diablo for a bargain, when I could have.

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Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

More mids usually means an A2 magnet to me. Glad to hear that it's working for you.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I guess I've just had a different thought when it came to A2 mags. Alnico v & ceramic are just so common for metal players that I see
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

It's awesome how versatile A2 is. It can be swampy for jazz in the neck, chimey and balanced, or even straight up organic and rawk with the right wind in the bridge. Yes, A2 in a JB is very warm but there are plenty of winds where it's bright.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

aggressive voiced PAF but with a lot of mids? yeah, that sounds like a combination of 42 AWG heavy formvar + alnico II to me (or even 43 heavy formvar, just to boost the output a touch).

what's the DC resistance reading? (should be written on the box). Would love to know that.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Sounds like they just pulled a Custom Custom from the standard production line and had MJ sign it. :D

I kid, but in all seriousness, it's probably just an approx. 10 percent overwound P.A.F. style pickup...which is just what you asked for.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

sircodyy said:
The DCR is 8.911
Click to expand...

that's neat, thanks :) kinda confirms what I said earlier. If it were 43awg , with that DCR, the tone would be very, very weak. After all, the 10K Screaming demon is 43awg and has almost as much output as the pearly gates.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Mincer said:
Yeah, I think you have to realize that A2 magnets can be used for a lot of things, and you can't prejudge what something is going to sound like solely on the magnet.
Click to expand...

The '78/'59 Hybrid I have uses a A2 and I get a great Carcass tone out of it at the heavy end in B standard. Devin Townsend's Open tunings sound great with it and just about anything else.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Clint 55 said:
It's awesome how versatile A2 is. It can be swampy for jazz in the neck, chimey and balanced, or even straight up organic and rawk with the right wind in the bridge. Yes, A2 in a JB is very warm but there are plenty of winds where it's bright.
Click to expand...

Like a Pearly Gates.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Spent more time with it today & couldn't put my guitar down before work haha. Wow. I like it so much I might get another one for my ESP.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

sircodyy said:
The DCR is 8.911
Click to expand...
A2, 9K-ish... Sounds very much like the PAF that Seymour rewound in '78 for an up-and-coming California player whose tone became a Grail quest for many. MJ still winds a Customshop pickup called the 1978 Model. It's epic. (But they don't use the famous guy's initials- he isn't an official endorser.)
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Surprise

Demanic said:
Still kicking myself for not getting an old El Diablo for a bargain, when I could have.

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Click to expand...

I'm still kicking myself for trading my El Diablo on this forum....lol! Wish I had it back....might by one through the custom shop.. but $160 though....
 
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