Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

bumrush

bumrush

New member
Hi All,
My first post but have been reading for about a month now to get info for a custom build I'm doing. I recently picked up a couple of humbuckers and wanted to know a little more about one of them if anyone is familiar with it.
One was a Pearly Gates from the mid 80's. A PGNJ woulnd by M. Juarez apparently. I hoped to use both of these in my guitar as I heard they combine well...Any suggestions for a swap would be welcome too...

The other is a (supposedly) Duncan Custom Sh-5. This one has no logo on the front or the back. There are 2 stickers on it saying "DC 7 B" and "Seymourized" with 1363 written in blue ink. The pickup does not look like other Customs from that age because it has 2 rows of the flathead type screw. The ones I've seen online only have one and a machined head for the other row. There are also two wooden blocks/supports in the pickup (maple?). If anyone has any leads about it, I would really appreciate the heads up. It reads 15k on the meter. I heard Mr. Duncan had done rewinds but would he label this as a Duncan as a result??
thanks much
 

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Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Wow.

DC would normally be Duncan Custom, but two rows of screws throws it off, as does the thick ceramic.

7B would have been the Seymourizer, which became the Duncan Distortion Neck.. but the two rows of screws would be wrong.

Seymourized was usually put on pickups to show that they were rewound/repaired by Seymour Duncan.
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

PG1.jpgPG2.jpgPG3.jpg

This is the Pearly Gates one I picked. After reading these forums looking for a good combination, a lot of people said this would be great in the neck with the Custom. But if the Custom is not a Custom, I'm not sure what to do. This is a first build using two humbuckers, as I've mostly been into single coils SSS guitars. Any advice on this combo or perhaps switch out one of the two would be appreciated as well. I can only afford 1 at a time so I have to sell the old one to get funds for a new attempt. But that's the fun of it. Would anyone recommend changing out the magnets? I heard this affects the basic tone a lot too. I'm a real newcomer to this so I would appreciate any time you spend on insight.
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Would you please tale a DC reading of that double-screw p'up?

Just to be sure what it is, that is. ;)
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Oh yeah!, Thanks Dominus for your input. Digging around on "Seymourizer" in the forums now. I mailed from the Contact to SD directly and am waiting for a reply. Someone else told me it may be a Dirty Fingers rewound by SD?? It doesn't have the patent engraving though...
 
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Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Hiya LtKojak,
There isn't a pic of the reading; I just wrote it in the first post just above the pics. The other member meant that I guess. It's 15.02k on my meter...
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

bumrush said:
Hiya LtKojak,
There isn't a pic of the reading; I just wrote it in the first post just above the pics. The other member meant that I guess. It's 15.02k on my meter...
Click to expand...

Which would match up to the Custom. The Seymourizer would be more in the 12k range.
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Well, SD customer support got back to me and the is their reply...

"Hi there,
If it has the "Seymourized" sticker on it, it was a pickup rewind."

So not much help. Wrote back and sent some pics but not sure if I'll hear anything back. I looked at the winder initial reference list and B is a winder who made only single coils. So it must mean bridge...Did the Sh-5 come in neck and bridge versions? The 7 is also not referenced anywhere I can find; except it may be for the discontinued Sh-7 "Seymourizer", which would make contextual sense with the Seymourized sticker, but then this would be some sort of hybrid, which I don't know if they did back then...I'll have to get my rig back to set up and see how it is. Thanks muchos all ye muchachos thus far..
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Oh, anybody think the PGNJ might be fake? It looks almost brand new/unused. Even the sticker. It also doesn't have the "Made in America" engraving below the logo...I bought it as an older pickup but I'm having some doubts now. Fudge
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

bumrush said:
Oh, anybody think the PGNJ might be fake? It looks almost brand new/unused. Even the sticker. It also doesn't have the "Made in America" engraving below the logo...I bought it as an older pickup but I'm having some doubts now. Fudge
Click to expand...

You don't need to worry; that PG is legit, and if it didn't have the MJ sticker, I would've thought it was made by Seymour himself.

HTH,
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Bridge might be a Gibson Dirty Fingers rewind that someone sanded the T's off the T-Top bobbins. Whoever had it rewound may have spec'd to have a Duncan Distortion magnet replacing the DF's three(?) ceramic magnets?
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Hmmm,
Ha! I actually I wrote that to SD support, that it might be a rewound Dirty Fingers. No response on that point. But I'm not sure as all the DFs I've seen have an engraved patent on the bottom. Also they have a round hold on the end of the top cover, where this one has a square (hole). The braiding does look the same though....Only the older "Tim Shaw" era ones have the same color screws too. I seriously couldn't find anything else that looks even similar as a rewind. I'll try customer support again. Really want to get this in so I can try it out, but my guitar is still being built(by me... :clap:). Good call though, had to dig again for that one..
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

Ok, I searched all over google images and I don't even think SD put out a pickup with 2 rows of screw poles!! Except for this atrocity...
jb1.jpgjb2.jpgjb3.jpg
None of the other JBs have this configuration. Maybe I'll write them to see if they know anything..
 
Re: Weird Vintage Custom SH 5 any help???

The Allan Holdsworth bridge model p'up was a double-row, JB spec'ed, Custom Shop p'up.

That's what I think you have there... its predecessor.

If I was you, I'd change that ceramic mag and put an A2 mag in it, to match that PGn and I think you'll have a terrific-sounding set.

HTH,
 
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