Seymour Duncan Duncan Custom 7-String

The Seymour Duncan Custom 7 is the original pickup in the line of pickups that shows the difference a magnet swap can make. The Custom 7 has a ceramic magnet installed inside. It also has the slugs on one coil, adjustable screws on the other and four conductor wiring.

Seymour Duncan made a series that shows how important a magnet can be in terms of the overall tone of the pickup. The Custom was the first pickup that they released, and it had the ceramic magnet installed inside of it. This pickup is very fat, focused, has some moderate midrange and a nice treble going on. It’s my absolute favorite bridge pickup in the Seymour Duncan lineup. Given that I mostly play metal, it’s no real surprise.

This doesn’t “bloom” as much as the other Custom series. However, it makes up for it in terms of overall tightness. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a super tight pickup like some other pickups out there. It still has a nice open quality about it, but it delivers just the right amount of compression to be great for metal yet subtle enough to still work with rock and blues. I’ve used it in every wood without a single issue at all. I was afraid it might be a bit too thick in mahogany, but it’s just perfect in my one Caparison. It really helps thicken up an alder bodied guitar, as well. It absolutely screams in my one alder bodied guitar. Split coil and parallel tones sound great with this, too.

If you’re looking for a bridge pickup in the Seymour Duncan lineup and play metal, I recommend looking heavily into this pickup. It has qualities of the JB 7, but the midrange isn’t as obnoxious, nor is the treble. It has just the right amount of everything, in my experience.