Myth Busters: Eddie didn't lie 'bout nuthin'

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:27 am

Crunchboy wrote:
bmf5150 wrote:im really stating to believe his pickup wasnt an over wound paf,just a good sound paf !
Then why would he rewind them? One his rewound PAF's got cloned by Seymour Duncan. It became the Custom Custom. I have one in my Strat. For the brown sound, I don't think you can go wrong with it. Stan, you must try. They're cheap.

It seems he was quite the experimenter. The variac, the dummy load, rewinding the pickup, the H&H power amp, putting a paf on a fender, etc. The only one that seems obvious is putting the paf on the fender. I wonder, did he think all this stuff up or did he know people who made suggestions?

The custom custom is on my PRS and was a vast improvement over the stock pickups. But I'm very curious about the EVH duncan and the tom holmes pickups.

Bainzy · Post by **Bainzy** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:40 am

Crunchboy wrote:
bmf5150 wrote:im really stating to believe his pickup wasnt an over wound paf,just a good sound paf !
Then why would he rewind them? One his rewound PAF's got cloned by Seymour Duncan. It became the Custom Custom. I have one in my Strat. For the brown sound, I don't think you can go wrong with it. Stan, you must try. They're cheap.

Yeh but Duncan only rewound one coil (apparently so it was hotter than the other), and the custom custom has equal coils. Mismatched coils definately does contribute to getting 'that sound', that's why the Duncan custom shop has the 'EVH (now called '78) pickup with mismatched coils. You get more harmonics, more 'open' sound and detail.

If you want to make a pickup like the one EVH will have had, get one coil from a Duncan '59 or similar PAF type pickup and one coil from a custom custom and wire them together. Use the Alnico 2 magnet from the custom custom and you've got yourself a '59/CC hybrid, it's pretty popular round the Seymour Duncan forum.

BrownSound1 · Post by **BrownSound1** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:11 pm

Now which pickup are we talking about here..the one in his original Franky or the one that was put in his 5150 Kramer guitar?

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:14 pm

Hey Bainzy

I bought one of those build your own clone phasers. But I went ahead and had him build it wiht the depth and speed knobs. I guess I'm getting the first one he's made with six individual op amps. Thanks for responding to my question about it on Plexi Palace. I'll have to let you know what I think. Mine had a cool paint job too.

Wes

Bainzy · Post by **Bainzy** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:16 pm

texwest wrote:Hey Bainzy

I bought one of those build your own clone phasers. But I went ahead and had him build it wiht the depth and speed knobs. I guess I'm getting the first one he's made with six individual op amps. Thanks for responding to my question about it on Plexi Palace. I'll have to let you know what I think. Mine had a cool paint job too.

Wes

Sounds cool - I wonder if I can persuade him to send me replacement op amps if he's now offering 6 like the original. I'm hoping you guys will vote for my phaser in this years pedal pageant!

bmf5150 · Post by **bmf5150** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:29 pm

Crunchboy wrote:
bmf5150 wrote:im really stating to believe his pickup wasnt an over wound paf,just a good sound paf !
Then why would he rewind them? One his rewound PAF's got cloned by Seymour Duncan. It became the Custom Custom. I have one in my Strat. For the brown sound, I don't think you can go wrong with it. Stan, you must try. They're cheap.

i have a custom custom some where.that pickup was designed for the prototype ernie ball music man guitar.that was before ed decided to with dimarzio.thats what MJ told me a while back.i think he had a favorite paf and had them copied,i really dont think it was overwound.

bmf5150 · Post by **bmf5150** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:31 pm

Bainzy wrote:
Crunchboy wrote:
bmf5150 wrote:im really stating to believe his pickup wasnt an over wound paf,just a good sound paf !
Then why would he rewind them? One his rewound PAF's got cloned by Seymour Duncan. It became the Custom Custom. I have one in my Strat. For the brown sound, I don't think you can go wrong with it. Stan, you must try. They're cheap.
Yeh but Duncan only rewound one coil (apparently so it was hotter than the other), and the custom custom has equal coils. Mismatched coils definately does contribute to getting 'that sound', that's why the Duncan custom shop has the 'EVH (now called '78) pickup with mismatched coils. You get more harmonics, more 'open' sound and detail.i had one of those hybrid pickups when they 1st started talking about them over at the duncan forum.its cool,but didnt impress me that much.i thought the duncan EVH was better!

If you want to make a pickup like the one EVH will have had, get one coil from a Duncan '59 or similar PAF type pickup and one coil from a custom custom and wire them together. Use the Alnico 2 magnet from the custom custom and you've got yourself a '59/CC hybrid, it's pretty popular round the Seymour Duncan forum.

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:41 pm

Ahhh, the old days when men were steel and ships were wood and all we had was a an ear and a turntable. If I had then what I can get now...

Crunchboy · Post by **Crunchboy** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:19 pm

bmf5150 wrote:
Crunchboy wrote:
bmf5150 wrote:im really stating to believe his pickup wasnt an over wound paf,just a good sound paf !
Then why would he rewind them? One his rewound PAF's got cloned by Seymour Duncan. It became the Custom Custom. I have one in my Strat. For the brown sound, I don't think you can go wrong with it. Stan, you must try. They're cheap.
i have a custom custom some where.that pickup was designed for the prototype ernie ball music man guitar.that was before ed decided to with dimarzio.thats what MJ told me a while back.i think he had a favorite paf and had them copied,i really dont think it was overwound.

The CC is hot. Like 14K or something. I know that without the use of a clean boost, the CC got the sound MUCH better for me than the EVH/'78.

bmf5150 · Post by **bmf5150** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:46 pm

i really like the custom custom with the 5150 amp.they sound like they where made for each other!

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:10 am

Ok Ill throw someting out there as well. I have read that he used his Explorer for VH1's rhythm tracks. I've also heard that from several other sources as well. What were the specs of that guitar? Might also add to the equation. Using a larger bodied guitar would contribute to the bigness of that first lp's guitar sound.

BrownSound1 · Post by **BrownSound1** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:41 am

Yes, Edward has stated many, many times that all of the non-trem parts on the first album were recorded with the Ibanez Destroyer that appears on the cover of Women and Children First. Koa wood body, but I don't know where the pickup came from.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:49 pm

Hi guys new to the board here- long time VH freak.

You can see him grab that Explorer after his solo into You Really Got Me on thie video on this thread!
http://www.metroamp.com/forum/viewtopic ... b02bad9986

Sounds like a positive tone change... my Fave tone of that whole record!

Crunchboy · Post by **Crunchboy** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:19 pm

BrownSound1 wrote:Yes, Edward has stated many, many times that all of the non-trem parts on the first album were recorded with the Ibanez Destroyer that appears on the cover of Women and Children First. Koa wood body, but I don't know where the pickup came from.

It was korina. Eddie said it had a PAF in it. Not sure if it was one of his rewound jobbies. Pretty much shoots down the theory that you've got to have an ash Strat body with maple neck. That Destroyer was the bomb. Too bad that Eddie, by his own admission, ruined it when he decided to cut a large piece out of it.

BrownSound1 · Post by **BrownSound1** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:05 am

You are right, it was a Korina wood guitar. Don't know where I got KOA from.

Been a long week for me, so please excuse my mistake on that one.