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Duncan Custom ( sh-5 ) : Will it be too bright in a swamp ash strat?


SorrowAblaze

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I'm very close to ordering a super-strat kit from Carvin, and I'm already planning on replacing the bridge pickup. Do you guys think a sh-5 will be too bright in a swamp ash body ( which I've decided on already ) I' *loved* the way this pickup sounded in my old Ibanez s470. A duncan distortion is my number two choice, but I want it to be able to clean up well and sound good split.

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I don't know. I'll tell you, though, that my experience with the Duncan Custom is that it's highly guitar dependent. It sounds excellent in my Hello Kitty (25.5" scale agathis bolt-on), really harsh in a Floyd Rose equipped 7-string (27" scale mahogany neck-through), and overall boring in a Les Paul (24" mahogany set-neck). However, in my Kitty, it really works, it sounds great parallel/series/split, and is probably my favoirte pickup ever. I think it actually works best in bright sounding guitars, oddly enough because it is a pretty bright pickup, but I think it works best enhancing the natural tone of bright sounding guitars, and it's not actually that good at brightening up dark sounding guitars.

 

I don't know about Duncan Distortion but I have a Super Distortion and it actually sounds quite good split. It's not as twangy as a Custom when split, however.

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The guitar I'm building will be closest to your hello kitty guitar-

 

SS - String Saver Saddles for Fixed Bridge $20.00

ASH - Maple Neck/Swamp Ash Body $50.00

5M - 5-Piece Maple Neck w/ 2 Koa Stripes $120.00

TN - Tung Oil Finish Back Of Neck (Natural Wood) $60.00

PTH - Pointed Angled 6s Headstock $40.00

BMF - Birdseye Maple Fingerboard (Tung-Oiled) $30.00

ABD - Abalone Dot Inlays $20.00

STF - Stainless Med-Jumbo Frets .048" H .103" W $40.00

-R12 - 12in Fretboard Radius (Standard) $0.00

22B - C22B Bridge Pickup w/ Coil Splitter $15.00

404 - White Coils w/ Black Bezels $5.00

A11 - Replace S60A Pickups w/ AP11 Single-Coils $0.00

-CH - Chrome Hardware (Standard) $0.00

-1046 - Carvin 1046 Light Gauge .010 - .046 (Standard) $0.00

SL - Dunlop Straplocks $10.00

SP - Sperzel Locking Tuners $30.00

WP - White Pearloid Pickguard $15.00

IVN - Ivory Graph Tech TUSQ Nut $5.00

 

I'm so psyched to get this thing started!

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Yeah, the Duncan Custom, Custom 5 and Custom Custom are all bright pickups. Maybe not the brightest, but definitely on the bright side of average for humbuckers.

 

Among Dimarzios, the Tone Zone, Norton, Super Distortion, Evo, Breed... all those are pretty thick sounding and I'd not put any of those in the 'bright' category.

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Yeah, the Duncan Custom, Custom 5 and Custom Custom are all bright pickups. Maybe not the brightest, but definitely on the bright side of average for humbuckers.


Among Dimarzios, the Tone Zone, Norton, Super Distortion, Evo, Breed... all those are pretty thick sounding and I'd not put any of those in the 'bright' category.

 

 

I find my custom custom relatively warm compared to a lot of other buckers which I suppose is subjective.

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