Chris EmCee
New member
First time poster here, but I've been hanging around awhile. I got a set of Custom Shop 78's wound by MJ about four years ago, and they were the third set up pickups that went in, in quick succession after building my Warmoth Soloist. I was immediately enamored by them, and I didn't even consider taking them out until just recently.
All the "bright boxes", I believe, are checked on my guitar:
Swamp ash body
Roasted maple neck
Ebony fretboard
Stainless steel frets
Original Floyd Rose bridge
People say the 78 is "bright", and yeah, it has some treble for sure, but that's also why it has that beautiful "snarl", and I've found that it's nothing that EQ can't tame (EQ, after all, is there for a reason). The only additional EQ I'm using that isn't on the amp is the tilt EQ on the Empress compressor pedal, and when you add treble, it also takes away low end. 12 o'clock is the "zero" position, and if I put that to 2 o'clock, it's perfect. Anyway, that's the only EQ aside from the tone controls on the UA Lion, and the 78 kills it.
Longer story short, I figured since I was going to be dismantling my guitar (to chase down a noise gremlin), and copper shielding the cavity (I painted it with shielding paint 4 years prior, but copper is more effective), totally redoing and simplifying the electronics circuit, etc., that I may as well try a new set of pickups. The two things I wish the '78 had different about it, was a SLIGHT bit more muscle, just a little bit more juice, and then just a SLIGHT bit tighter on the bottom end. Otherwise, that 78, bridge humbucker especially (they do make a neck pickup for a set, which pairs quite nicely with the bridge, but everybody only talks about the bridge), has served me quite well, and at this point I'm wondering if I shouldn't just stop trying and leave alone that which is not broken.
Styles I play (or try to, anyway) range from the 80's hair metal stuff (Ratt, Motley Crue, Van Halen, that sort of thing) to split tones like some of Prince's rhythm work, to super clean, dreamy ethereal stuff (think shimmer verb pads with reverse delay, etc.), and several things in between (overdriven blues tones, light overdrive tones, etc.), and.....I'm weird in that I don't like owning a bunch of different guitars, so I just do it all on one.
The 78's are a GREAT pickup. In the last two weeks, I have swapped in (and back out) a Pegasus/Sentient set, a Mayhem set, a Suhr SSV+, Suhr Thornbucker+, and a Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAF, and the 78 bridge pickup has went back in, after trying all of those, and I liked it better by a LONG shot, in all instances.
Now, those were just pickups I had laying around (aside from the Pegasus/Sentient set, I just bought those brand new.). I have an RMA with SD in, and will be emailing them tomorrow for my final decision(s) to swap my Pegasus/Sentient set, and I'm pretty sure I've narrowed it down to the Custom and the Custom Custom (I asked them if I could do two bridge humbuckers, rather than a neck and bridge, since I had two neck humbuckers that I'm pretty happy with...currently the Thornbucker neck pickup is in, and I'm cool with it, it might stay in, if not, I can throw the 78 neck pickup back in there, I've been using it for four years, and it sounds good.). The Custom will go in first. I know it has more juice, and I know it has tighter bottom end, I just DON'T know what it's going to be in the mid frequencies, compared to a 78 as sort of a benchmark, but I'm about to find out. At this point I think I'm being sensitive to what the mids are doing.
I haven't given them my final answer yet, and given the wide array of styles I play, with one guitar, I'm open to suggestions, but I more wanted to get on here and just give some strong props on the 78 pickup, and I'm hoping I will like the Custom. I fear the Custom Custom will be too dark, even though I allegedly have a "bright" guitar, but figured I'd do the SH-5 and SH-11, and forego the SH-14 (Custom 5), because Stew Mac has A5 magnets ready to go if neither of those do it for me, and I can just do a swap, probably on the Custom Custom, as I fear it's going to be too dark sounding.
LASLTY, a QUICK word on the Pegasus/Sentient set - they're a good set, I did like them. I REALLY liked what I was hearing on the overdriven and high gain stuff on the Pegasus. It sounded GREAT, and open, dynamic, cleaned up well, etc.....it just didn't do what I needed it to do on the clean side, which, again, I think I'm being super sensitive to what the mids are doing, and to a lesser extent, the treble frequencies.
If the Custom cleans up nice, has some warmth, and doesn't sound and feel like I've experienced ceramic magnet pickups sounding and feeling (cold, sterile, no character, no pick dynamics, etc. etc.), I bet I'll like it. Anything else I should look into at the last minute? Custom seems to be a very well liked pickup, still, as does the Custom Custom, still. ....and, yes, I'd be lying if I didn't say that the association with Edward Van Halen certainly doesn't hurt.
All the "bright boxes", I believe, are checked on my guitar:
Swamp ash body
Roasted maple neck
Ebony fretboard
Stainless steel frets
Original Floyd Rose bridge
People say the 78 is "bright", and yeah, it has some treble for sure, but that's also why it has that beautiful "snarl", and I've found that it's nothing that EQ can't tame (EQ, after all, is there for a reason). The only additional EQ I'm using that isn't on the amp is the tilt EQ on the Empress compressor pedal, and when you add treble, it also takes away low end. 12 o'clock is the "zero" position, and if I put that to 2 o'clock, it's perfect. Anyway, that's the only EQ aside from the tone controls on the UA Lion, and the 78 kills it.
Longer story short, I figured since I was going to be dismantling my guitar (to chase down a noise gremlin), and copper shielding the cavity (I painted it with shielding paint 4 years prior, but copper is more effective), totally redoing and simplifying the electronics circuit, etc., that I may as well try a new set of pickups. The two things I wish the '78 had different about it, was a SLIGHT bit more muscle, just a little bit more juice, and then just a SLIGHT bit tighter on the bottom end. Otherwise, that 78, bridge humbucker especially (they do make a neck pickup for a set, which pairs quite nicely with the bridge, but everybody only talks about the bridge), has served me quite well, and at this point I'm wondering if I shouldn't just stop trying and leave alone that which is not broken.
Styles I play (or try to, anyway) range from the 80's hair metal stuff (Ratt, Motley Crue, Van Halen, that sort of thing) to split tones like some of Prince's rhythm work, to super clean, dreamy ethereal stuff (think shimmer verb pads with reverse delay, etc.), and several things in between (overdriven blues tones, light overdrive tones, etc.), and.....I'm weird in that I don't like owning a bunch of different guitars, so I just do it all on one.
The 78's are a GREAT pickup. In the last two weeks, I have swapped in (and back out) a Pegasus/Sentient set, a Mayhem set, a Suhr SSV+, Suhr Thornbucker+, and a Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAF, and the 78 bridge pickup has went back in, after trying all of those, and I liked it better by a LONG shot, in all instances.
Now, those were just pickups I had laying around (aside from the Pegasus/Sentient set, I just bought those brand new.). I have an RMA with SD in, and will be emailing them tomorrow for my final decision(s) to swap my Pegasus/Sentient set, and I'm pretty sure I've narrowed it down to the Custom and the Custom Custom (I asked them if I could do two bridge humbuckers, rather than a neck and bridge, since I had two neck humbuckers that I'm pretty happy with...currently the Thornbucker neck pickup is in, and I'm cool with it, it might stay in, if not, I can throw the 78 neck pickup back in there, I've been using it for four years, and it sounds good.). The Custom will go in first. I know it has more juice, and I know it has tighter bottom end, I just DON'T know what it's going to be in the mid frequencies, compared to a 78 as sort of a benchmark, but I'm about to find out. At this point I think I'm being sensitive to what the mids are doing.
I haven't given them my final answer yet, and given the wide array of styles I play, with one guitar, I'm open to suggestions, but I more wanted to get on here and just give some strong props on the 78 pickup, and I'm hoping I will like the Custom. I fear the Custom Custom will be too dark, even though I allegedly have a "bright" guitar, but figured I'd do the SH-5 and SH-11, and forego the SH-14 (Custom 5), because Stew Mac has A5 magnets ready to go if neither of those do it for me, and I can just do a swap, probably on the Custom Custom, as I fear it's going to be too dark sounding.
LASLTY, a QUICK word on the Pegasus/Sentient set - they're a good set, I did like them. I REALLY liked what I was hearing on the overdriven and high gain stuff on the Pegasus. It sounded GREAT, and open, dynamic, cleaned up well, etc.....it just didn't do what I needed it to do on the clean side, which, again, I think I'm being super sensitive to what the mids are doing, and to a lesser extent, the treble frequencies.
If the Custom cleans up nice, has some warmth, and doesn't sound and feel like I've experienced ceramic magnet pickups sounding and feeling (cold, sterile, no character, no pick dynamics, etc. etc.), I bet I'll like it. Anything else I should look into at the last minute? Custom seems to be a very well liked pickup, still, as does the Custom Custom, still. ....and, yes, I'd be lying if I didn't say that the association with Edward Van Halen certainly doesn't hurt.
