Seymour Duncan Makes Pickup Matching Easy

Nov 24, 2004

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Ever wonder why customers don't buy electric guitar pickups? Seymour Duncan did. So they undertook detailed market research to determine the biggest factor as to why customers don't make the purchase decision. It turns out that Duncan's huge array of pickups (108 different series, at last count) was working for them and against them at the same time. The biggest reason for reluctant customers: "too many pickups from which to choose."

So, earlier this month, the Santa Barbara-based pickup manufacturer released their most popular pickup models in pre-matched sets, to take the guesswork out of determining which pickups work well together. The initial release of matched sets included the following, each targeted to a specific type of customer and their musical taste:

• Vintage Blues Set -- made up of a pair of calibrated SH-1 '59 Model pickups for the neck and bridge positions. This set is based on the vintage P.A.F. humbuckers of the late '50s and is intended for blues, jazz, and classic rock.
• Hot Rodded Humbucker Set -- matches an SH-2n Jazz Model for the neck position with and an SH-4 JB Model for the bridge position. This is Seymour's favorite humbucker set and is widely used for everything from aggressive blues-rock to metal.
• Distortion Mayhem Set -- includes a duo of SH-6 Duncan Distortion humbuckers for the neck and bridge positions. This is an aggressive youth-oriented set, which was designed for the heaviest punk, metal, and hardcore guitar tones.
• California '50s Set -- is a matched and calibrated set of SSL-1 Vintage Staggered pickups for Stratocaster guitars. The pickups are authentic '50s reproduction Alnico 5 vintage single coils, and work for surf, Country, blues and classic rock.
• Everything Axe Set -- combines an SJBJ-1b JB Jr. for the bridge position with an SDBR-1n Duckbucker and SL59-1n Little '59 for the middle and neck positions. This is a versatile set that will coax everything from vintage to heavy tones from a Stratocaster. Each of the pickups is hum canceling.

For more information, visit their web site at www.seymourduncan.com.