I absolutely love this pickup. Installed one in a Kramer Pacer Deluxe and another in a Lasido American Classic Strat. Classic PAF vibe with tighter lows, rich mids, and smooth highs. A little hotter than vintage spec, but perfect for pushing a tube amp into full, articulate saturation—no mud or fizz, and it stays dynamic across the volume knob.

I Just couldn't get along along with the SSS player pickups. I'm sure they have their place, just not my cup of tea.
New HSS pickguard, SH-11 Humbucker coil-split, and SSL-5 in the neck position.
Loved how this guitar feels, now I like it plugged in too!

I've been using SDs since at least 2012 (in various guitars over the years), and somehow slept on this bad boy until now. Was looking for a different sound to my Custom 5 and Trash factor pickups, and stumbled across this one on SDs website. Replaced a Pegasus model with it for more bite and fullness in my main guitar, and man it didn't disappoint. Good bass, the mids cut, and the highs are musically pleasing to the ears. Overall an upgrade (in my option) to what I had before, even though I like the Pegasus for what it is. I think this pickup is a great alternative to the more popular JB and Ceramic pickups they offer, if you want something that's more laid back but still very musical in the mix. For further context, I'm not drop tuning with this as well. Good old fashioned E standard rock riffs with a splash of Drop D riffs for kicks!!!!

I did a HSS partcaster with an ash body, maple neck and an ebony fretboard. My neck pickup is little '59, middle is duckbucker, and I elected for a custom custom bridge.
My setup allows the bridge to see 500k and the others to see 250k
It really is perfect. I'm very pleased with the outcome.
A very versatile treble pickup that's never harsh. It also does not overpower the other pickups, as I can add the neck humbucker to any position in my set up.
I'm glad I went custom custom over the regular custom as that would been too bright in comparison to the other pickups I have.
LOADS better than the JB JR that comes with the everything axe set.

I recently pulled the pickups from my mid 2000s les Paul traditional pro just to find something new and different. I tried a few different combinations in the bridge and neck position and almost landed on a Duncan 59 in the neck and bridge. I love the 59 neck tone but the 59 bridge was a little harsh in the treble, especially when played through my Marshall slp 100 watt amp. I pulled the 59 bridge and stuck the custom custom in and paired with the 59 neck I found a great, fitting, combo for my les Paul. The custom custom had more warmth and fullness and the top end is much smoother. All around great pickup!

Had a standard MIM Strat... Never could be happy with the single coils. I prefer p90s for that... So I ordered a new pick guard and this Custom Custom, and turned it into a single humbucker and single volume control. Gives me a perfect second guitar to my SG with p90s. This pickup really throws some badass low end into the mix. I love it!

Great moderate-output bridge humbucker! I contacted my Sweetwater sales engineer Andy Miller about finding a humbucker for a mod project, and he recommended I pair this with the Fender Deluxe Drive singles i got for an HSS config. This pickup sounds amazing with overdrive and gain, and sounds great clean too. Very controlled tone in the lows, and it handles the mids and highs well so it makes for a great pickup to track solos on. Best bridge humbucker you could get for any upgrade or parts caster in my opinion! Thanks to Andy Miller with Sweetwater for his suggestion!

Upgraded my strat and it's the world of difference. If your looking for smooth sound look no farther.

Took a chance on the SH-11 and I'm glad I did. I've tried most of all the other SD custom offerings and they where all lacking- IMO. This pup with a Pearly Gates Neck pup on a SG via a Marshall is heaven. I can get AC/DC, ZZ Top, EVH, and even Tool out of this pup combo. Definitely recommended for brighter toned instruments, like an Gibson SG. Don't let the low bass response of this pup sway you from getting it. Just adjust your amps bass accordingly. -Enjoy

Replaced single coils in a Am Strat. I was after a more Les Paul-ish tone. I liked the single coil twang but it didn't work for the material we are playing.
I gigged with this setup over the weekend and I was very happy with this pickup! It was every bit as good tonewise as my LP. This pickup is a beast! Sounds amazing and cleans up perfectly.
We do lots of classic (hard) rock stuff and it's perfect, but this pickup could easily do heavier rock.
Heaven in the midrange just what I was after.

I recently installed this in a BC Rich Gunslinger to get the Poison band tone and it really sounds freakin awesome!! 100x better than a boring Seymour Duncan JB for better tone!! What a great pickup!!

I purchased a Fernandes Revolver X and loved the way it played, but the pickups sucked (of course). I saw a demo of the Duncan Custom Custom paired with The Sentient in the neck -- it gave me chills. So I called Sweetwater and luckily was placed in the hands of Richard Whittington. He went to the trouble of placing a special order for me so I could install this pickup combination. My Fernandes sounds like a million bucks as a result. The Custom Custom is very responsive. I either pick with my fingers or a nickel (yeah I'm weird - to me a nickel sounds meatier and warmer than a pick). The SH-11 picks up all kinds of overtones and turns every little scrape into music. I like to keep the tone knob turned down a bit. The tone has a gritty growl about it. It pairs really well with the Sentient neck, sounding very "Fendery" in that shared middle position. Divine clean blues tones and classic Brit Rock is what I get. I am VERY happy with these pickups: They really helped my axe find it's identity.

Fantastic clear and powerful. breaks up well.

I'll start with the negatives (to my ears). The low end is a bit subdued and saggy, as mentioned in other reviews, compared to pickups that I generally gravitate toward. The high end is also a bit gritty with my setup. Now that the nit-picking is done, on to the real attitude of this pickup. While the low end isn't perfect, it's very easy to use your amp/effects tone controls to tailor it to your preference. The mids, wonderful. Yes, there's a truckload of them, but they aren't muddy at all and my cleans (with my setup) aren't honky like a lot of higher output pickups. The high end, while a bit gritty, is tame and also very tailorable with your tone controls. This pickup responds very well to playing dynamics and is just powerful enough to hit the front end of your amp hard, but not not overbearing. I really enjoy the overall feel this pickup gives off. Plenty of attack without being obnoxious. It will surprise you what this pickup is capable of.

I've used a variety of Seymour Duncan pickups throughout the last few years (i.e. JB, Distortion, Invader), and while they were all pretty good in their own right, none of them have ever provided the sweet warm crunch or versatility that the SH-11 Custom Custom has. It's combination of an Alnico II magnet and medium hot output of 14.1 K enables it to do everything from smooth blues licks and lush clean passages (both in humbucking and split mode) while still having more than enough punch and cut for overdriven/distorted sounds on the hard rock side of the spectrum. I'm currently using it in my Becker Retro Custom, which has a light mahogany body and neck with a maple fingerboard, and it balances beautifully with the natural tone of the guitar. If you have a bright-sounding instrument that needs some extra warmth and want a humbucker that can provide a myriad of tones, Seymour Duncan's SH-11 Custom Custom will be a perfect fit for you!

This pickup completely changed my Schecter Hellraiser for the better. I read about it in an interview with Neal Schon of Journey. I wired it to a push-pull for series/parallel operation so I can cut the power down and it cleans up and sounds more single coil, but without the hum.

I had a JB in the bridge position of my alder body Jackson Soloist. I could not dial out the ice pick high notes with my amp. I purchased the Custom Custom SH-11 and viola! Tone heaven. It smoothed out the high notes, and beefed up the mids. I noticed it immediately when I plugged into my amp. It did everything Seymour Duncan said it would. This pickup is designed for bright guitars and it works great! It gives more sag in the bass which can be dialed out. The SH-11 is a high output pickup which has a vintage sound. If your guitar is to bright I highly recommend it.

First - I've used EMG, All kinds of Duncans, Dimarzios etc. If you are a lead player wait till you hear this pup.

The mids are very "bloomy" not rude yet not to subtle. Gain is just right for folks who know how to play. High end is not fizzy at all. Very natural. Bottom has zero boom and is warm and present.

This pup is installed in bridge position of an alder body. Superb combination. Paired with a Pearly Gates (also a great pickup).

Installed with a 250k pot you can easily roll off distortion and find nice "brown" tones.
An absolute winner right here