Seymour Duncan Guitar Pickups
The size of wire, the insulation used on the wire, and the number of turns on the bobbin are all important in determining the pickup’s overall tone.Generally, the thickness of a wire around the pickup bobbin is measured in gauges somewhere between 41 to 44 awg in thickness (but we have wire gauges that go all the way from 45 to 20).
To change the sound of your music when playing guitar, you can use the pickups on the instrument’s body. This component is what provides the tones in your sound. Seymour Duncan has been crafting pickups for decades, whether it’s a single-coil or a humbucker.
What pickup is best for your style?
Seymour Duncan guitar pickups come in options like the Phat Cat P90 Humbucker set, the Psyclone Vintage neck, and the Antiquity Jaguar bridge. The product that you choose should fit your sound, and there are Seymour Duncan options out there across multiple musical genres.
- Single-Coil: The pickup with a single coil was made famous by the sounds of surf rock in the '50s and '60s. This is why these are so well known on Stratocaster guitars. Strats usually have at least two or three one-coil devices. These typically sound smooth when amplified and gain the muddy sound when distortion is added.
- Humbuckers: These can be used for the full-bodied sounds that you find in some types of blues or country. Seymour Duncan humbuckers are dual-coiled devices that “buck the hum” that you find in electrics. The notes on a humbucker are smooth and melodic.
- Active Pickups: If you want to play black metal and hard rock genres, active pickups have a higher level of output. Active types are considered powered, and like other types they use coils but use a smaller number than the other types.
Every device of this type uses magnets to produce the desired sound. Alnico magnets incorporate an alloy of aluminum, nickel, and cobalt. Ceramic pickups are usually made from iron oxide ferrites. Usually, ceramic magnets are the stronger of the two from a magnetic perspective, which means more treble in the sound.
Alnico provides a more musical sound that has a bass response as well. Seymour Duncan produces both types, and the one that works best for the musician is typically based on personal preference.
Can a Seymour Duncan pickup be custom-added to a guitar?If you have a guitar but want to add another custom Seymour Duncan product for a different sound, you can. You’ll have to unscrew the current product, de-solder the connections, re-solder, and install the device. Seymour Duncan has a wide range of these products, so you’ll definitely have your choice of tones.
Which pickup is best for a vintage jazz sound?Many people are familiar with Lucile, which was B.B. King’s famous black Gibson guitar. If you want a similar sound, you can get a SH-2n jazz humbucker from Seymour Duncan. You can even get this humbucking device in black and gold.
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