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Price Paid
$75
Condition
New
Humbucker/Single Coil/Stacked Single
Humbucker
Passive/Active/Not sure
Passive
AlNico/Ceramic/Not sure
AlNico
Output
High
Instrument Installed in
Charvel So Cal USA Pro Mod, GMW Custom Charvel style superstrat, Carvin CT4
Sound Quality
5 (excellent)
Reliability

Never had problems

Customer Support

Never needed to contact them

Summary

The Duncan Custom Custom seems to be one of those Duncan pickups that everyone wants to try, knows nothing about, and never ends up buying. It's a moderately high output bridge pickup, not quite as high as the JB, 14.4k and 16.4k respectively. To me, the alnico 2 Custom Custom is warmer, more articulate, and has far better harmonics, but lacks the aggressiveness of the more popular alnico 5 JB. Some argue that the Custom Custom doesn't cut through a mix well, I've never had to, as I pretty much play alone, so I can't really comment for or against that opinion.

For the most part the Custom Custom has been my go to pickup, having first installed it in a Carvin CT4, which is a set mahogany body and neck guitar with a maple top and fingerboard, which is Carvin's answer to a PRS Custom 22 with a string thru body TOM bridge, then putting one in a Charvel So-Cal USA Pro Mod, a bolt on alder body maple neck/board, and non-recessed original Floyd, and lastly having a GMW Charvel style superstrat built with one, same construction as the Charvel but with 1 pickup and much lighter weight... And with different results:

Carvin CT4...

When I swapped the stock Carvin pickups out, which were Alnico 5, and an "acquired taste" to be politically correct, with the Alnico 2 Custom Custom, I noticed a big change, gone was the brittle highs, replaced with beautiful sweet and smooth highs that really sang, and added mids. At the time I did not know the pickup had very little bass frequency in it (3/7/7 EQ), but the bass was quite nice in this guitar. It was also in this guitar that I noticed the rich amounts of harmonics that were present in the pickup, as well as the sustain.

Charvel So Cal USA Pro Mod...

When I swapped out the stock Dimarzio Tone Zone with the Custom Custom, I noticed a more airy sound, compared to the highly compressed DiMarzio. The Custom Custom again didn't fail to make me smile. The midrange was more evident in this guitar, than in the CT4, and while the guitar itself was brighter, the highs were still nice and smooth, and the bass was tight. Again the harmonics were beautiful. I thought it sounded pretty damn brown in this guitar.

GMW Custom Superstrat...

This guitar is where the Custom Custom, while still sounding good, still having great mids, sorta stumbles, and at this time is being replaced (and saved for a different guitar :0P). This guitar is super light, probably 2/3's the weight of the Charvel. In the GMW, the midrange really stands out, and the highs are not as smooth, but it's not a bad sound. The issue is with the bass, and this is when I finally learned that the Custom Custom has very little bass in it. The issue could be the guitar itself, but there is just no bottom end thump, bass on the amp needs to be turned up to 10.

 

As mentioned, I plan on keeping the Custom Custom I'm taking out of the GMW, and saving it to put in a future guitar, should the Duncan Blackout's I'm having it built with don't pan out. I would never hesistate to try this pickup in a guitar, if the pickup I'm having put in the GMW doesn't work out I may just put the Custom Custom back in, as I said, it doesn't sound bad in it, but I want some more bass in it.