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I just replaced the C-5 in my Les Paul's bridge position with a Custom Custom and the tonal difference surprised me, I was expecting a creamier rounder sound but that's not what I got. I expected less low end but the low mids are very crunchy and bright, and as far as I can tell single notes in the second octave are a little rounder but not really that much quot;darkerquot; than the C-5. This whole thing has confused me as I have had a C-5 in a strat body with a Floyd and it was to bright and I had to put in a Custom Custom in it to warm it up, now with a thick mahogany body the Custom Custom is much brighter than the C-5 by a noticable margin. I realize that the maple cap may brighten things up a little but it should not make that much difference. Has anyone else had a similiar experience?

pup heights make a difference as do strings and a bunch of other things but part of it is the difference in the inherent sound of the two different guitars. do both pups test ok resistance wise?

the cc still has a strong top end but its voiced quite differently


Originally Posted by jeremypup heights make a difference as do strings and a bunch of other things but part of it is the difference in the inherent sound of the two different guitars. do both pups test ok resistance wise?

the cc still has a strong top end but its voiced quite differently

Both pickups test OK resistance wise, I think I just mis-calculated what the pickup would sound like. I think the sound I was looking for was a C-5 with a little less low end and more mids with a slightly rounder top end, the big cut in low end of the Custom Custom is emphasizing the mids and highs more which I am not used to. What would you recommend? (if anything) I played a Distortion in my friends Les Paul and liked it but I am not sure it would sound the same in my guitar, maybe a Custom?

Low mids by definition are not quot;bright and crunchyquot;. Those are your upper mids. Low mids are where you find your warmth and quot;woofquot;.

Anyway, I have not had that experience -- the Custom 5 was pretty bright and crunchy while the Custom Custom was very smooth. You might want to consider converting your Custom Custom to a Custom 3 or Custom 4 by replacing the Alnico 2 magnet with an Alnico 3 or 4.

Most likely a 4 will work best which is probably best described tone-wise as an quot;agedquot; Alnico 5: Plenty of warmth and smoothness but not as bright or as much output as Alnico 5. For what it's worth, to my ear, Alnico 3 sounds like an quot;agedquot; Alnico 2, about the same output, maybe slightly less, but with a little more bass and low mid.

Well, the 250k pot in the Strat vs the 500k pot in the LP will make a big difference.