Yngwie Malmsteen comes to Seymour Duncan

[uOpt]

Re: Yngwie Malmsteen comes to Seymour Duncan

Forgive my ignorance, but when you guys talk about the custom 8, are you talking about the Crazy 8 pickup from the custom shop, or are you modifying a duncan custom with an alnico 8 magnet? And if it's the latter...how do you go about doing that?

The Custom 8 is Custom coils (DC, C5 or CC) with an A8 magnet.

The Crazy 8 is a parallel axis trembucker with A8 magnet, a totally different concept. "C8" usually standards for the Custom8.

Exchanging the magnets is easy, it just under the bobbins behind the tape. A little dynamite gets it out easily. There are guides posted here.

Myself I didn't like A8 in the custom coils. IMHO it needs the heaviest coils you can get, the JB8 is better than the C8. Seymour Duncan apparently thought along the same lines, because the only regular production A8 pickup (as opposed to the crazy 8 which is custom shop) is the Alt-8 which has even heavier coils than the JB.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Yngwie Malmsteen comes to Seymour Duncan

Yngwie is actually on record saying that he has a Gold Top Les Paul that he often (whatever that means) uses for rhythm tracks. Of course, we'll never see him use it live.

Any idea whether this is a Soapbar or humbucker Gold Top, or a 2007 Epiphone?

 

[Guitar$]

Re: Yngwie Malmsteen comes to Seymour Duncan

Any idea whether this is a Soapbar or humbucker Gold Top, or a 2007 Epiphone?

I've never seen his Goldtop before (though I have read that he has one), but I've seen this one a couple of times:

I've also seen pictures and video clips of him with other Gibsons he owns and has used either live or on his albums--an ES-335 and various Flying Vs, one of which is scalloped and has strat pickups and controls, and the rest were stock. I think at least one of them is an original '58 korina V. I know a Les Paul was used on "I'm My Own Enemy" from Fire and Ice, and if my ears aren't mistaken I believe I can hear one on "Hold On" from Odyssey too.

Anyway, I revived this old thread because I have a couple of questions about the new pickups that hopefully somebody (Evan Skopp?) could answer. Does anybody know when Fender is actually going to start using the Duncans in the Malmsteen strat? I know the Seymour Duncan website already says they are but the Fender site says they're still using Dimarzios, as did the guy I talked to at Fender Consumer Relations a few weeks ago. He told me there is currently no way of knowing when the change will be official. I don't know if they simply have a ton of Dimarzios left to use up, or if Fender is actually in a contract with Dimarzio to continue to use them until a certain date? The reason I'm concerned about this is I ordered and paid for a Malmsteen strat at the end of March (before I had even heard YJM switched to Duncan) and I'm still waiting for it (the guy at Fender said they're so backed up they're still filling orders from February). I'd like to see it come from the factory with the new pickups, especially after waiting for over 2 months already. Of course I can always change the pickups myself but after spending $1750 on the guitar I'd rather not have to put more money into it right away. BTW, the reason I'm waiting for so long is because I ordered it through a small local shop--I have reservations about making all my gear purchases at big stores like Guitar Center after the way I've been treated by their employees in the past, and there's no way I'm going to have something this expensive shipped to my house after UPS left my brand new Les Paul on the back doorstep leaning against the house with a note on the front window advertising it to anybody that passed by.

The other question I have is about where the SD website says:

"[The YJM Fury] Pickups can be purchased individually, in a three-pickup set, or in a pre-wired pickguard ready to drop into your Strat guitar with an 11-screw hole "USA" pattern. The loaded pickguard includes a "no lube" volume potentiometer that meets Yngwie's demands for a very fast and responsive pot."

If my guitar does come with the Dimarzios I'd rather buy the SD loaded pickguard to replace them, so I can either put the other one away, sell it, or drop it in another one of my strats. The problem is I can't find it listed on any of the retailer's websites, nor is there any more information on the SD website about it. Are they going to be made available this way?

Thanks...