NGD! Well, it hasn't arrived yet... but...

[dvscool]

wow...AWESOME!! love the red. I haven't seen one like that. I agree its like modern retro.....sweet axe dude...

[xenophobe]

Hangtag date is 12-10-12. And yeah, the retro look with updated features is what sold me on it.

Was listed as Out for Delivery, but the mailman didn't drop it off today. Bah.

[xenophobe]

Ok, got it and put a couple of hours on it. Awesome. No burst. It's just Ferrari Red, which is a little more orange than I remember in bright daylight... it's a nice visible red that will cut through the darkness.

Jack location is fucking perfect. Right underneath the body strap button... if I put a straplock on there the cable has a perfect resting spot. It's resistant to being pulled out easily. It's angled just how I'd want a stage guitar if I were still playing shows.

Initial reaction to the SH-5? I really like it. It's not like the JB at all. It has very tight low end that's almost understated... was getting nice tight fast crunch even though it seems like the low end is cut more than the high end is boosted. It's very bright, but well balanced. It's not nasally like the JB. It's not flat like an EMG 81. It's not too much gain like... a lot of the more modern high gain pickups, but it is high gain. I haven't tweaked either amp for the guitar yet... so far it sounds really decent with my standard settings. So I can't really say much for certain, but I didn't want to immediately change it out and I'm growing to like it. It's eq curve seems good for playing rythm and lead without needing a boost. It's very balanced for what seems like having a low cut/high boost eq curve.


More reaction...

The SH-5 is a nice pickup. I like it. It's not as bassy as a Super Distortion, but the upper and high frequencies are more similar to a SD than anything I've currently tried, which is admittedly not a whole lot because I found early on that I like EMG/DSD's. It would probably do well for drop tunings because of the low frequency tightness. It's a great technical/brutal death pickup because the crunch is powerful and tight even though the low end has been cut.

The guitar and the features itself are awesome. It's everything I had expected. The angle cut body/neckplate in conjunction with the horn scallop allows full fret access without impedance. The knobs are out of the way and the dual volume + switch is how they should all be done. I find myself using the neck pickup more because of this. The neck is sweet, flat and thin. This guitar totally redeems Charvel CS to me. That 7 string strathead wasn't all that. This is. My only real gripe is black side markers on dark red binding... invisible in low light. That's about it really. I want a white one now too.

[holycross1]

This guitar with a 24 fret fingerboard would be a great production guitar for Charvel. Just thinking out loud.

[xenophobe]

I like 22 fret Strat necks. This thing does it all. It's currently out of commission. I need to swap the spring block on a Gotoh to something other than a 42, which clears but pushes the springs near the claw against the trem plate... so a little adjustment is needed.

[Hellbat]

Nice to see you are enjoying the Custom. It's still by far my favorite humbucker I've ever had in any of my guitars. That said, at high gain settings I pretty much sound like me no matter what pickup I'm using.

[xenophobe]

Oh, I played louder yesterday. It's a really high gain pickup. The EQ is different from other pickups I like, but it's a great pickup. Ample tight crunch, lots of gain. This is the first SD that I've actually really enjoyed like this.

Swapped trem blocks on my Gotoh from 42 to 37, the spring cover is back on. The guitar is even more sweet with a Gotoh. It did improve the tone a bit over the OFR. It seems to ring out a little more loudly. I'm really loving this guitar. I wish I had bought the white one, but this one is certainly not going back. I love the over the top Ferrari Red. It's beast.

In normal room lighting, the red fret markers are barely visible, it almost looks like a blank board. I love it.

[dg]

Glad to see that everything worked out with this guitar! I haven't been around here much, but I happened to see your thread on the disappointing 7 string, so I had my fingers crossed as I scrolled down to see how things went with this one. Hope you have a blast and get some inspiration from it. That's what it's all about.

[xenophobe]

Thanks! Yeah, actually have found quite a bit of inspiration from it. The 7 string was a major disappointment. This more than makes up for it.

[Steel City Psycho]

Nice, congrats

Mmmmmmm. Nice one!

I would be tempted to put zebras in it even though it would go against the "everything red" theme.

Could always go black/red zebra. I think that would look great.

[xenophobe]

Thanks!

I'm really not fond of the neck pickup at all. It sounds fine with the volume rolled down and it's wired with a cap and a resistor, but the volume levels are too low for me to find it useable. Oh well. It's not like I use a neck pickup anyway.

I do like the bridge enough to keep it and I'm not gonna change that just for aesthetics...

[VitaminG]

I thought this and the white were both pretty gaudy when they came out. But they've both really grown on me since. I agree with HB - a pair of black/creme zebras would look bitchin' in ol' red there

[xenophobe]

I still think the red is a bit over the top in gaudiness, but the thing is freaking amazing. I'm really fighting my gas for the white one. I need to sell some stuff before I do that. lol :x

[Spiderman]

Congrats Xeno, sweet axe! I love both the red and white - I can see how you'd be GASing for the white one now. Glad you are digging the Duncan Custom SH-5 - it is by far my fav passive bridge pickup.

[xenophobe]

Thanks! Yeah, the SH-5 is pretty interesting... it does a lot of things that I like really well. It squeals exceptionally well without having boosted midrange...

I really do want the white one, but I'm not gonna bite unless I get rid of a few, and I've been lazy to take pictures of what I want to sell. lol