Fender Custom Shop and the Seymour Duncan 78

[@Jmarshall-kj4hc]

Really nice sounding Strat

[@G-NutZ]

I have a few superstrats, got a JB, a distortion, a Shawbucker 1, and the ‘78. The 78 is so great!! For you guys out there that like a high gain lead tone but like to use your volume knob to control gain the 78’ works great. I set my amp hot and volume fully open for my lead tone and back down the volume knob to about 7/8 for a driving rhythm tone. Crank to ten for leads and the 78 brings in more highs/treble and the gain goes up! Perfect!

[@kevinthompson4229]

How does the shawbucker compare to the 78?

[@Sparksnorthern]

I put a Duncan Distortion into my otherwise stock Sterling CT50+ and the compression and output were insane. Just swapped for the 78' and expecting much better

[@daveski843]

Just installed a 78 in my Charvel, I’m sold sounds killer.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

Thats awesome ! Glad your digging it. Its a great pickup.

[@danielstryhanyn7278]

Good stuff here. Vinny has demonstrated pickup ideas that were in my head. Love the channel.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

Thank you so much.

[@GeorgeFN]

I agree man. The JB is cool but it's an absolute sledgehammer. I love the SD '78 cos it has some of those sparkly dynamics that you'd get with Strat pickups. You can still go all the way heavy with it, but it certainly plays nicer in a HSS environment.

[@jmsamborski]

I’ve tried a lot of pickups, and luckily decided to try the custom shop 78 with zero desire to chase down EVH tone. It was pure luck. It’s now the only humbucker bridge I’ll ever use. It’s ultra dynamic and has the best EQ I’ve ever found. The first guitar I put it in happened to be a strat with two single coils like this and I can confirm its perfect for that application.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

I agree 100 percent. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your findings. Appreciate you checking out and supporting the channel. Have a great week.

[@G-NutZ]

Same here brother. I love VH tone but just wanted a good a2 pick up that was heavy but had good dynamics and was responsive to volume knob. This is a great hard rock to metal pick up and plays well clean too. Love it! Don’t tell people about lol 😂

[@stevesheroan4131]

This is probably why Fender uses the Shawbucker in their Ultra Luxe series. It is a low output HB in the vein of the ‘78. I don’t understand why the Custom Shop wouldn’t use it also for their builds, other than to just make them different from the Ultra Luxe series.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

I agree there are a lot of options, even in the SD range they could go with. I guess the JB is so popular might be the reason why. Not sure.

[@eddienomoney1882]

The JB has its place. When I'm in the mood for some EVH, I grab my Kramer 84 and kick on the BOSS SDE300 EVH delay that has EVH's proprietary settings. Other than that, 9k is the right amount of heat for most applications. That strat sounds great.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

Thank you sir. She is a keeper for sure. Thanks for stopping in.

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

I really like how it sounds with chords. You can hear everything. Sounds great.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

@@lostinpa-dadenduro7555 yes the lower power of the pickup makes it very articulate. I am still pleased with it.

[@johnnywomack548]

To me, the 78 is one of the best pickups Seymour Duncan makes. It's beautiful. It's perfection. The 78 can do it all and it EXCELS at doing it all.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

I agree the 78 is my new favorite pickup from SD.

[@joses.a.2]

I am looking at this pickup. Would it be good also for Rock/Jazz Fusion?

[@VinnyTheAxe]

@@joses.a.2 absolutely. No question about it.

[@kjneese]

Great video and thank you...I'm looking to put a humbucker in my Fender Custom Shop Sonic Blue 60s Strat and was either gonna do the Pearly Gates or the 78. Appreciate your journey and sharing this!

[@VinnyTheAxe]

Oh man. So glad it was helpful for you. Much appreciated. Thanks for checking out the video and the channel. Keep me posted on how it works out for you.

[@An2oine]

Well, she's a beauty!

[@HerbonGuitar]

Great vid! My favorite Duncan Humbucker in a Strat is the Pearly Gates Plus, comes in at about 8.65k and uses Alnico V magnets instead of the II, they are commonly found on the 2000-2003 American Fat Strat, Big Apple Strats etc... if you ever get a chance, check one out. Sounds great.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

I owned one of those big Apple strats back then. I want to say it was champagne color? Maybe? Was an awesome guitar. Did not know it was a pearly gates plus model. Ok. Makes sense now looking back. They were Seymour Duncans for sure in timber that. Martin Barre from Jethro Tull played those strats for awhile.

[@joses.a.2]

Good video, thanks for sharing! What would you say is the main difference between a '59 and the '78?

[@VinnyTheAxe]

I would say the 59 to me has a little bit more mid range more of that real classic PAF sound. I think the EQ is a little different on the 78 I find it more pleasing and a little bit of a flatter EQ, but that’s my opinion.

[@phillipgignac4468]

I love the sound and thanks for advice!

[@VinnyTheAxe]

Thank you!

[@DiedrichKnickerbocker1783]

I have '78 model in the bridge and Texas Special is in the middle and lastly a fat '50 in the neck. Love the combo.

[@dstarling61]

I wonder if for SSH strats, it would be better to go with two volumes (one for the humbucker and one for the single coils) and a master tone.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

Well. That could be cool. But I think if you were playing live in a band could be a bit of a pain due to the knob location/ layout. Anything is possible. Totally thrilled now that this humbucker sounds good and works well with the others.

[@brandonjackson5865]

I’ve always run fairly hot bridge humbuckers in the bridge position of super strats , but as I’m getting older I’m wondering if something more vintage or mid output would work better and be more versatile, I currently have a Duncan distortion trem bucker and I’ve had the JB before of course, now my question I guess does the 78 have less of that honk or cocked wah mid and less fizzy top end ? I don’t DC resistance is the best way to judge the overall volume and output of a given pickup because I currently run a Duncan distortion in the bridge position of my RG and a Pearly Gates neck . You’d think the distortion would be so much louder than the pearly gates but actually I have to run the pearly gates quite a bit lower so there’s not a huge volume increase going from bridge to neck . I also understand due to the strings having more vibrational energy over the neck pickup that any pickup is going to be louder in that position than any other place. I actually really like the pearly gates neck pickup it might be a little fatter than I want but it’s cool for approximating Les Paul neck tones with a super Strat . I find myself running Duncan Humbuckers further away from my strings than most people seem too . I’m thinking maybe I’ve been doing it wrong going with high output pups in the bridge position and maybe something around 8-10kohm resistance would open up my bridge pickup tones ? The 78 seems to provide plenty output but less compressed and without the mid spike of the distortion or the jb. I think a lot of people who don’t get on with the distortion or jb wind up liking the Dimazio Super Distortion but I’m not a fan of the SD its always sounded too dark and flat for me. Anyway I’m thinking a 78, or maybe a custom possibly even a full shred or screaming demon might work better for me than the distortion or JB , I do think I liked the JB better than the Distortion actually, also running a JB with single coils in an HSS Strat maybe a 250k pot or 300k would make it perform better with single coils, of course you could pair like quarter pounder singles with a hot bridge HB . I think the output and the eq just needs to be similar and complementary, that’s how I came up with the Pearly Gates Neck with a distortion in the bridge and it’s a surprisingly good combo for a HSH super Strat like RG550. I’ve never really understood Fender custom shop making these super expensive guitars with a JB in the bridge (by the way the jb sounds incredible in the bridge of a Strat ) but putting standardish fender singles in the neck and middle, I’d think a 59 would work better with the fender singles but who knows? Everyone is different and hears vastly different things from the exact same gear.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

I have done the 59 in the Bridge and now the 78. Those two are really good candidates. I have found that I prefer the sound of a vintage output humbucker into high gain amp or pedal vs high output humbuckers. You get less compression and better note separation. I also find that it is more receptive to different variations of pick attack. Just my two cents. Give it a try. It might be what you are searching for all this time. I know it was for me. Thank you for stopping in and sharing. Thanks for supporting the channel.

[@Sparksnorthern]

Vinny, appreciate the video. I had my lutheir install a duncan distortion with my HSS. Probably already a poor fit but i too had distortion at low volumes and it sounded nothing like the clean tone on the Duncan website. I was insistent eith my luthier (to the point i think i rubbed him the wrong way), but you mentioning what sounds like similar symptoms still has me questioning things. You mentioned the wiring diagram was backwards - are you saying the JB wiring diagram on the duncan website is backwards? I just dropped off the 78' today to the luthier and sending the Duncan Distortion back to amazon. If the 78' sounds like trash, then my guess will be out of phase

[@VinnyTheAxe]

@@Sparksnorthern yes the pickup is out of phase. So reversing the wiring on the SD will put it in phase with the fender pickups.

[@paulkreeft2091]

78 is warmer , sweeter and has more clarity 👍

[@RJW14]

as much as I like my JB, it really isn't a pickup for HSS configs unless you have stupid hot singles.

[@VinnyTheAxe]

Totally agree

[@jean-philippemorin1176]

Yes fender single couls and seymour pickups are not in phase most of the time. If you try to mix with a humbuckers seymours are 4 wires for most. So you have to reverse the wires. If the humbucker has braided wires (2 conductors) then you have to reverse the magnets or get one with reverse polarity from seymour custom shop.. reversing the wires on the single coils doesn't works well, its easier an better to tnkle the humbucker...

[@VinnyTheAxe]

I agree, I flipped the wiring on the 78. Worked great. Thank you for stopping by commenting and checking out the video. Much appreciated.

[@jean-philippemorin1176]

You have a very nice strat, and the 78 sounds good. Its very hard to balance humbuckers with single coils. Humbuckers are always sounding.the 78 seems to do well. You can adjust the screws height a bit, up +- 1 or 2 turns and then readjustthe pickup height down if you want to make the humbucker a little more thin. But it seems pretty well balanced in the video. I love hss strats.

[@adhaskym.a9536]

The way you demo here, any pickup will do mate.

[@victorramsey5575]

Im thinking about switching out the duncan distortions in my Jackson SL2Q. We just dont play that much metal in the bar gigs, and Im not really a fan of them anyway. Too dark sounding and subpar articulation. My Jackson is a mahogany body, maple neck through with ebony fretboard and thin quilted maple cap, Winterstorm is the color. 25.5 scale, floyd 1000, 1 vol, 1 tone, 3 way toggle. I love the guitar, but hate the factory duncans.