Just bought this '00 CE22...

Lewguitar

Old Know It All
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Dec 30, 2012
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Paid $1200. plus $75. shipping. So $1275. It's perfect for the Double Cream Duncan Antiquitys I have in a SE Singlecut.

Bought it from the original owner who bought this guitar new, then got tired of the Dragon II's, sold them, and put in a 3 way way switch and a pair of Duncan Custom humbuckers.

The Duncan Custom is usually used as a hot bridge pickup.

Doesn't have a bad sound as a neck pickup tho. Hamer used to use the Duncan Custom as a neck pickup in some models.



Thinking of using these Antiquitys that are in the BLACK SE Singlecut.

 
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I have a Hamer Monaco Elite that has the Duncan Custom in the neck position. It has a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge. I have always wondered who and why they came up with that name...
 
I have a Hamer Monaco Elite that has the Duncan Custom in the neck position. It has a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge. I have always wondered who and why they came up with that name...
Monaco Elite or Duncan Custom?

I owned a Monoco too! The fancy one, might have been an Elite.

Great playing guitar. Mine was a semi hollowbody. Or half hollow or something.

The pickups didn't quite have the sound I wanted to hear.

It was hard to part with. Such a beautiful guitar.
 
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Monaco Elite or Duncan Custom?

I owned a Monoco too! The fancy one, might have been an Elite.

Great playing guitar. Mine was a semi hollowbody. Or half hollow or something.

The pickups didn't quite have the sound I wanted to hear.

It was hard to part with. Such a beautiful guitar.
Sounds like yours may be the Monaco Super Pro. One way to tell is if the knobs are configured in an angle away from the pickups. The Elite has them in a straight line parallel to the pickups. Mine has a really nice flame top on it. I didn't really dig the pickups in it. They are very bright, especially the bridge pickup. The guitar has only one tone knob on it so turning that down affects everything. I swapped the volume pot out for a lower value and that darkened it up nicely. I think I put a 300k in there. I also added treble bleeds to it. It has all been returned to stock now as I am thinking about selling it.

The name I never understood was the Custom Custom.
 
Sounds like yours may be the Monaco Super Pro. One way to tell is if the knobs are configured in an angle away from the pickups. The Elite has them in a straight line parallel to the pickups. Mine has a really nice flame top on it. I didn't really dig the pickups in it. They are very bright, especially the bridge pickup. The guitar has only one tone knob on it so turning that down affects everything. I swapped the volume pot out for a lower value and that darkened it up nicely. I think I put a 300k in there. I also added treble bleeds to it. It has all been returned to stock now as I am thinking about selling it.

The name I never understood was the Custom Custom.
Yes! The Super Pro. I was crazy about that guitar.

So about the Duncan Custom. It's a 14K pickup with a small ceramic magnet.

Not a full size ceramic magnet like a distortion oriented pickup might have.

It's stronger than a 50's paf but the Duncan Custom can retain clarity when used with an overdrive pedal.

Duncan took that same pickup and replaced the ceramic magnet with a full size alnico 2 magnet and they call that model the Duncan Custom Custom.

Then some guys on the Duncan Forum put an alnico 5 magnet in a Duncan Custom pickup and called it the Custom 5. It has become a regular Duncan model pickup. Sounds like a stronger and more aggressive Duncan 59B.

Three different Custom pickups with the only difference being the type of magnet.

The 16K Duncan JB has an alnico 5 magnet and the 16K Duncan Distortion has a full size ceramic magnet.

They are the same pickup, with different magnets.

I've read that it was Carlos Santana who requested the ceramic magnet in a JB and that out that came the Duncan Distortion,
 
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Yes! The Super Pro. I was crazy over that guitar for a while!

So first Duncan came up with the Duncan Custom. It's a 14K pickup with a small ceramic magnet. Not a full length ceramic magnet like a distortion oriented pickup might have. It's much stronger than a 50's paf but retains some clarity too.

Then they took that same pickup and replaced the ceramic magnet with an alnico 2 magnet and call that model the Duncan Custom Custom.

Then some guys on the Duncan Forum put an alnico 5 magnet in that pickup and called it the Custom 5. It has become a regular Duncan model pickup.

Three different Custom pickups with the only difference being the type of magnet.

The 16K Duncan JB with an alnico 5 magnet and the 16K Duncan Distortion uses a full size length ceramic magnet.

They are the same pickup, with different magnets.

I've read that it was Carlos Santana who requested the ceramic magnet in a JB and that out that came the Duncan Distortion,
I typically like A4 magnets in my pickups. Maybe in a pickup that hot it isn't something that matches well, at least to me. That pickup is pretty bright in that guitar. I guess if you are playing into a cranked Marshall it could have some nice top end grind to it though. Hamer definitely made some really good hard rock guitars.

I also have a 93 Diablo that has the reverse headstock on it that I may end up selling this year too. It is a nice playing guitar too. It is that hard rock super strat kind of guitar but it doesn't have that thin shredder neck on it. It has a nice full neck on it.
 
I typically like A4 magnets in my pickups. Maybe in a pickup that hot it isn't something that matches well, at least to me. That pickup is pretty bright in that guitar. I guess if you are playing into a cranked Marshall it could have some nice top end grind to it though. Hamer definitely made some really good hard rock guitars.

I also have a 93 Diablo that has the reverse headstock on it that I may end up selling this year too. It is a nice playing guitar too. It is that hard rock super strat kind of guitar but it doesn't have that thin shredder neck on it. It has a nice full neck on it.


My ES335 has Alnico 4 Tom Holmes humbuckers. It's a keeper.

Hamer did make some really good hard rock guitars.

I really like the Hamer Standard...their take on the Gibson Explorer.

I had one but the guy I bought it from had put a Kahler vibrato in it. An irreversible mod.

Loved the guitar but didn't like the Kahler, and when the guy called asking if I'd sell the guitar back to him I did.
 
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My ES335 has Alnico 4 Tom Holmes humbuckers. It's a keeper.

Hamer did make some really good hard rock guitars.

I really like the Hamer Standard...their take on the Gibson Explorer.

I had one but the guy I bought it from had put a Kahler vibrato in it. An irreversible mod.

Loved the guitar but didn't like the Kahler, and when the guy called asking if I'd sell the guitar back to him I did.
Standards were awesome guitars. I have read a number of bad stories about tone changes when a Kahler was installed on a guitar. It requires the removal of a lot of wood. It is a shame that was done to it. It was the thing to do back in the 80s.
 
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