Duncan Custom Custom In The Les Paul Love Rock Bridge Now ??

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stratdeluxer

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Still tweaking away.Mostly because I enjoy it and because I can,so don't flame me! ;o) Always a great learning experience and yes I'm playing more than I'm tweaking though you wouldn't think so! :lol:

Hey all as alot of you already know.About 2 months ago I Picked up this extremely nice Tokai Love Rock Les Paul copy that looks amazingly like a 59 les paul....It has the mahogany body,backing,and the rosewood neck and maple cap...

The stock Tokai bridge position was too bright for my tastes but with the tone control rolled off to about 5 was a pretty all around great sounding pickup...That one measured 8.8k in the bridge...This stock pickup has turned out to be quite amazing up to this point and thanks to SMark for pointing this out!

Anyway.....The guys at SD recommended the Custom Custom to me to try and fit my guitar's needs,brightness,fullness etc....After install today here's my thoughts on the Custom Custom bridge position SH11....

Compared to what I took out this pickup is a bit louder,has more mids and is pretty close in brightness to what I took out.....I think it's the overall difference in the mid frequencies that is making this pickup sought of questionable as to whether it's better than the stock pickup in tone to my ears? The CC has more low end and still is pretty chimey,not at all too dark.Maybe I've lost some clarity of notes and articulation with the CC when playing clean and I also may have to raise the cap value up to like an 820pf or .001 mfd to retain the highend as I roll my volume off,but right now it's 750pf..

I'm using all CTS 500K pots in my guitar and I took a .022 off the tone pot for the .015 value but the jury is still out on this change as to better or not?

Is it just me or is this pickup not at all close in tone to say the Seth as I'm wanting a PAF type tone overall but darker?

I'm worried about going with the Seth in that it won't keep up with a great sounding Gibson Classic in the neck which is pretty powerful and has lots of output...I'm just wondering if a potted Seth Lover is where I need to be or do I spend more time with the Custom Custom first to see if it grows on me?

I don't dislike the CC but there's something very different about it compared to the Alnico II pickup it replaced? The Classic 57 is also Alnico II so I'd like to stay with the alnico II's overall for warmth......

Please chime in for me with advice,your findings with these pickups,likes and dislikes etc....Thanks so much! i'm still looking for a nice beefy,full,classic rock/blues tone w/out getting into real high output metal pickups for the bridge position..Maybe I'm used to a bit more scoop in the mids? :roll:



John
 
Wow, still haven't found your ideal tone yet? At least your having fun tweaking it, if it were me, I'd just give up and put up with whatever I had in there.

Maybe it's not your pickups/guitar that needs tweaking..have you tried fiddling around with your amp's settings? The amp is where you get most of your tone anyway. Especially if you have low output pups.

Where the pups start making a difference, IMO is when you start messing with the high output, heavy-metal type ones. PAF's in my experience are a bit more transparent and let the wood be a more prominent part of the tonal equation.

Do you have any soundclips you can post so we can hear what your talking about?
 
Thanks Frank....I may just end up being perfectly happy with the stock Tokai bridge pickup because it's really that good!

Sorry I've never recorded to my pc and I don't even want to get started! :lol:

My first impression of the stock pickups in my Love Rock was......They must suck as most of the Japanese/Korean pickups I've seen in the past have.Not so with these pickups....I have money tied up in one SD pickup so I'll see if this one grows on me.If not I'll try a potted Seth lover bridge next......I've actually been pretty happy with my guitar as it was for the last 3 weeks while I waited on the Custom Custom with a nickel cover to arrive.....The Custom Custom is different but not better at this point...

Glad I'm not having to pay a tech to do all the tweaking I've done on my guitars or I'd be broke for sure! ;o) Knowing alot can be very bad though also! :evil:

Live and learn from me in the meantime..

John
 
SD,

This is great stuff keep going!

I love it - you change your pick ups so that we don't have to - nice :)

you saved me ?80 already

cheers
TB
 
:D Hey Fireman John, can you tell if its a Durracell or an Eveready, We got a boy here in Texas that swears he can! :wink:
 
Hey there, have you tried the tone chart with audio sound bites for the Seymour Duncan range at the main site? I reckon it does help.

Why not think about a custom British hand-wound pickup? Kent Armstong Rewinds (UK) are getting some good reviews, sold under the Wizard badge. Good value too - around ?70 for a bridge pickup and ?130 the pair.

If you ask nicely, the guy will often agree to send a pickup on approval to demo before payment :eek: . Can't say fairer than that, might be just the thing.

http://www.pickuprepairs.com/index.html

Mark
 
Thanks for the chuckles guys......Now that I have the connections all fixed and the pickup is allowed to actually work right,The CC is great! I'm done for awhile.....REALLY I AM! :wink:


John
 
"Hey there, have you tried the tone chart with audio sound bites for the Seymour Duncan range at the main site? I reckon it does help"


Yes I own all 3 of the SD cd's but 2 of the guys at Duncan recommended the Custom Custom for my application....It's looking like a keeper at this point.....finally! :lol: The cds don't tell the story about how the pickup would sound in your guitar though? I have 21 days or more to swap the CC if it doesn't work out.


John
 
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