SH 11 custom custom question

Lux84

New member
I got SH 11 Custom Custom in my Hamer Explorer. The guitar has maple body, korina top, rosewood fingerboard, maple neck and it's made in indonesia. I was thinking to drop tuning of the guitar to Drop B and lower.... for sludge metal, death metal, black metal etc. how does that Custom Custom handle that kind of stuff detuned in Drop B or maybe A ? the sound of guitar now is bright, but good. Do you think it's good idea to do this, or should i change the pickup on bridge with something different pickup? the pickup on the neck is Pearly Gates, and it goes wonderful together with Custom Custom on neck ! Now the guitar is tuned to Standard E, but i was thinking if it's good idea to drop the tuning to B, or A, because i need one guitar for that stuff..... thanks for suggestions !
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

put in a ceramic magnet

I found SH6 too bright in that maple body guitar..... so i need something darker, SH11 is cool, but if you can recommend me better pickup that can do metal and droped tunnings well what would be? just don't recommend me SH6 because i had it in, and the sound was ****ing bright and annoyable !
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

I didn't. I was recommending u turn you sh-11 into a sh-5. If you want darker I would suggest the sh-15
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

Is the SH5 Custom better solution than SH6 ? i had duncan designed hb 103 set original in that guitar ( designed after original SH6 set ) and it was to bright... now i had SH11 and Pearly Gates... i wonder if SH5 in maple guitar is better than SH6... is it? what about Invader ? i read on forum that SH5 Custom get well with Pearly Gates on neck, so i am thinking if SH5 will be better choice than SH11 for dropped tunning metal like Carcass etc... ? so, sh-15 is darker than sh-5? thanks for suggestion...
 
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Re: SH 11 custom custom question

If only there was an entire room dedicated to pickups...
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

Get 3 hex poles from a Full Shred (or wherever) and replace the screws with the hex poles. Option two, carefully shorten the three screws that are in there now. Bottom line is shorter screws = tighter bass.

The CC should sound good in that wood.
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

What about some new pickup? i am not familiar with those pickups mods..... i wanna keep SH 11 for other guitar ! What else goes well with maple, but do the metal correctly? i found SH6 in that guitar too bright, it was annoying so i change to SH11, but that pickup doesn' do well metal music, it's more rock pickup.... can you guys suggest me some good drive pedal that will really set that SH11 on fire even in drop tunings and darkened the sound of pickup a bit?
 
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Re: SH 11 custom custom question

can you guys suggest me some good drive pedal that will really set that SH11 on fire even in drop tunings and darkened the sound of pickup a bit?

An issue with a CC is the A2 magnet, which has a loose low end, which will be more prominent in what you're playing.
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

Ok... one more question about the pickup mod... where can i get that ceramic magnet that i can put it in pickup?
 
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Re: SH 11 custom custom question

The CC is a beautiful sounding pick up but I find it lack in low end and low end tightness and bite for most metal styles. The Custom (your SH11 with a ceramic magnet) would work great for the styles you're referencing. The Distortion is hotter than the Custom and it has more bit, probably less low end girth but has more sizzle and bite. The Custom is just very balanced. The lows seem low, mids middy and highs high if that makes any sense. It's a very versitile pick up.
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

The CC is a beautiful sounding pick up but I find it lack in low end and low end tightness and bite for most metal styles. The Custom (your SH11 with a ceramic magnet) would work great for the styles you're referencing. The Distortion is hotter than the Custom and it has more bit, probably less low end girth but has more sizzle and bite. The Custom is just very balanced. The lows seem low, mids middy and highs high if that makes any sense. It's a very versitile pick up.

+1. A Custom (ceramic) is much better suited to what the OP is doing.
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

Thanks for links and suggestions ! so if i take SH11 Custom Custom, and put out alnico 2 magnet, and then replace it with ceramic magnet, the pickup become similar or the same as SH5 Custom.... and i don't need to buy new pickup and install it.... good !
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

put out alnico 2 magnet, and then replace it with ceramic magnet, the pickup become similar or the same as SH5 Custom.... and i don't need to buy new pickup and install it.... good !

Then it really is a SH-5 Custom. Put in an alnico 5 magnet, and voila! it's a SH-14 Custom 5. Or an alnico 8, and you have one of the forum's favorites, the C8. See how simple this is?
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

For what you want, I would try and get an extra thick ceramic, but yeah, in general a ceramic magnet will be a lot better for what you want.
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

Get 3 hex poles from a Full Shred (or wherever) and replace the screws with the hex poles. Option two, carefully shorten the three screws that are in there now. Bottom line is shorter screws = tighter bass.

The CC should sound good in that wood.

Don't listen to him. He's avoided swapping magnets for over four years based on an old Crazy 8 thread I was looking at yesterday.

Go ahead and swap a ceramic magnet into that Custom Custom. I happen to prefer Custom 8 (i.e. SH-11 with Alnico 8) myself, but I don't like the extremely super-tight low end downtuning metal guys prefer. My LP with the Custom 8 is tuned one half step down from standard.

All that being said, my all-time favorite pickup for downtuned metal is the Distortion. But the Custom is bigger in the lowend, so it may work better for you.
 
Re: SH 11 custom custom question

The distortion was my favorite detuned metal pup for a while until i put a ceramic in a full shred today. But for standard tuning and drop D, i like the cusom and custom8.
 
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