CS Duncan

I always have this urge to try something new, something a little different, something with a healthy tinge of waywardness so I forked out good money (this costs 50% more than its regular sigling) for this Seymour Duncan Custom Shop humbucker (available at Davis GMC). What's so wayward about this one? It sports a double row of slotted pole pieces which isn't featured in the standard range. The manufacturer did a relic finish which was irksome to me so I did away with that by cleaning it up, making it as regular as it should look. 

It features an Alnico V magnet so it has an above-average clean response which is enough for me. The drive tone was what I was looking for; a good midrange definition with great bottom end boost. Yes, it does incline towards the vintage tone but not excessively. In fact, it sounds rather biting with a very high gain distortion dialed in. This pickup is now resident in my Melody Maker SG whose default pickup, ironically, sports a stronger ceramic magnet but that didn't appeal to me tone-wise.

Seymour Duncan: Perpetual Burn

This here is the Seymour Duncan Perpetual Burn trembucker, developed with lots of Jason Becker DNA in there. OK, just tone DNA. It's an Alnico 5 at the core, it sounds blistering with drive, very Distortion-like but due to its non-ceramic nature, there's a sweet top end polish. Being an alnico pedigree, the pickup sounds sweet, clean. In summary- the PB can get as hot as it wants to be but it's not forgetting its alnico roots.

EMG: 77/66

This is a new pair from EMG: 77 (bridge)/ 66 (neck) model. They are still active units but the magnets in there are Alnico Vs & those pole-pieces are steel. Doubt if they are here yet but they will make a good year-end acquisition. Video reference here:

It's the final day of October folks, 2 more months before we say goodbye to the year...