Pickup Suggestions - Passive Bridge Humbucker For 28" Baritone - Metal

[angelspade]

I just ordered a 28" baritone (haven't owned an extended scale in years) and I just wanted to get some thoughts on a passive (staying clear of actives for this guitar) humbucker with good character that will stay clear and aggressive in C standard and drop B tunings. My initial inclination is to go with a Duncan Custom 5 for the ceramic magnet and lean, clear bottom end...But I'm considering a Duncan Distortion and a couple others. For additional context, I will most often be running this guitar straight into my Marshall JVM410H. Any suggestions and thoughts are always appreciated. Thanks!

 

[midnightlaundry]

28 is long!

 

[FourT6and2]

Duncan Nazgul
Lundgren M6
Happas

 

[DanTravis62]

I love the custom 5 more than any other pickup made by the big brands, but I don't think that is the right choice for a baritone

You would be much better off with a ceramic of some kind in that kind of guitar - maybe a nazgul, wagner ironman for passive, or a retroactive or fishman for active, but a custom 5 is going to be way too bass heavy on a baritone. The reason it works so well on standard scale guitars is because it retains enough clarity but has body the JB and sh6, super distortion etc do not have. If you put it on a baritone its just darkness + bass + body and it's not remotely going to work.

Baritones are naturally a bit darker because of the scale, and you can tell because almost everyone on earth who plays them uses bright ceramics of some kind. That's for a reason.

 

[valve]

never owned a guitar longer than 26,5" so i don't really know, but the duncan custom 5 (alnico5 SH-14) and custom (ceramic SH-5) have a big lowend, at least to me.
I'd go nazgul too or maybe full shred (SH-10), if it needs to be alnico. it's identical to the custom 5 but with 2 rows of hex screws instead of the slug/screw combi.
it's quite a bit leaner/brighter than the custom5.