Description
Eric Johnson made his name on a Strat, but he’s never abandoned humbucker guitars — he just wanted them to behave differently. When he picked up a reissue ’59 Les Paul, he asked DiMarzio for something closer to the airy sparkle of an old Gretsch Country Gentleman. The EJ Custom is the answer, built as a drop-in replacement for any standard full-size humbucker slot, in exposed-coil form here in black.
Don’t be fooled by the DC resistance reading — on paper it lines up with classic PAF-style pickups, but the EJ Custom plays a different game entirely. Power output is dialed back and treble response pushed way up, landing somewhere near single-coil territory for top-end clarity. Bass response stays firm underneath, so you get shimmer and articulation without the pickup ever feeling thin or brittle. Chords bloom, fingerpicked notes stay separated, and single-note runs cut through even when you’re pushing serious gain — no mud, no mush, just clean tracking through heavy distortion.
Johnson himself was struck by how well it handled overdrive despite its bright, almost Strat-like voice. It’s a pickup built for players who want humbucker output and touch-sensitivity but crave single-coil-style definition on top.
Works in any position — solid, semi-hollow, or hollow-body — wherever you’d normally run a full-size humbucker.
- Wiring: 4-conductor
- Magnet: Alnico 5
- Output: 178 mV
- DC Resistance: 7.01 kOhm
- Introduced: 2004
- Patent: 5908998
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