How old is the JB?

[Deadbolt]

I am curious how long the jb has been around. As well has anything changed since its original release in anyway.
Reason being i recently read something in a magazine how this certain guitarist was using the "New" jeff beck\seymour duncan pickup or the JB-4 as they called it?
I thought i had seen jb's on ebay from the 80's? I also own one with a nice gold cover and wouldn't see it changing in past years or recent ones either.
Thanx

[JOLLY]

Re: How old is the JB?

It's celebrating it's 30th birthday this year.

[JALIN]

Re: How old is the JB?

It's celebrating it's 30th birthday this year.

Happy Birthday JB and thanks for the tone!

[Deadbolt]

Re: How old is the JB?

Just as i thought thanx jolly!

[Evan Skopp]

Re: How old is the JB?

Here's a press release that just went out about the 30th Anniversary of the JB. I hope it helps.

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In 1974, a twenty-something American blues guitarist named Seymour W. Duncan was burning it up in London’s bars and clubs by night. During days, he performed guitar repair for Ivor Arbiter at the Fender Sound House on Tottenham Court Road. It was during those days that Seymour struck up a friendship with his all-time guitar hero, Jeff Beck.

After Jeff’s assistant sent his favorite Les Paul® to a shady repairman who switched out the P.A.F.’s for newer, squealing, pickups, Jeff came to Seymour for help and advice. Seymour repaired Jeff’s Les Paul, and then set about creating a special guitar for Jeff with a pair of pickups that would capture Jeff’s amazing ability to coax a wide range of tones out of his axe. The result was a guitar that Seymour gave to Jeff as a gift. The body and neck were clearly Telecaster®. But the pickups were two re-wound humbuckers made from broken P.A.F.s Seymour rescued from a destroyed Flying V® previously owned by Lonnie Mack. Seymour called the guitar a “Tele-Gib,” and nicknamed the bridge pickup “JB” and the neck pickup “JM,” after the hot rod racer, “John Milner,” in the classic film, American Graffiti. (Eventually, “JM” would change to “Jazz Model,” which is what it’s called today.) Jeff used the Tele-Gib on his amazing 1975 release, Blow By Blow, where it gained notoriety for the haunting volume swells heard on “Cause We've Ended As Lovers,” which Jeff dedicated to Roy Buchanan. Interestingly, it was Seymour who introduced Jeff to Roy a few months prior.

The JB bridge pickup became very popular, very quick. Soon, many of England’s top guitarists, including more than a few legendary names, sought out Seymour’s “JB Mod” for their guitars. They found that the JB gave increased output (16.4K Ohms) without sounding harsh or dark, like other high-output pickups of the mid-‘70s owing to special Alnico magnet. When Seymour returned to the USA the next year, his reputation as a pickup designer and the JB’s reputation as a great pickup preceded him. And the rest was history.

In traditional marketing study, products generally have a life cycle with a period of growth, followed by maturity and eventually decline. However, the life cycle of the JB flies in the face of traditional marketing. Year-after-year, for the last 30 years, it has continued to gain in popularity, easily garnering its spot as both the oldest and the most popular Seymour Duncan pickup. Nowadays, the JB can be heard on recordings by such diverse rock bands as 311, Allman Bros. Band, Bad Religion, Garbage, Kings X, Megadeth, Motorhead, Sevendust, and Static X; Country recordings by the likes of Trisha Yearwood, Kentucky Headhunters, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, and Reba McIntire; and pop acts such as Jessica Simpson, Bee Gees, and Shania Twain.

According to England’s Guitarist magazine, "[Y]ou really can't beat the beefy tone of a genuine Duncan JB. Not for nothing is this humbucker Seymour's personal favourite, and it's also probably ours; the fact that it can handle almost all styles equally well is a big bonus..." Long live the JB!

[WARRENLEELYNCH]

Re: How old is the JB?

great story,but riddle me this? why was the JB changed from the old ones?
the originals had a resistance of 17.78K?

http://www.toneblue.com/pickups/031114_duncan_prptotjb.htm

[Evan Skopp]

Re: How old is the JB?

great story,but riddle me this? why was the JB changed from the old ones?

Answer to your riddle: it didn't change. In the "great story," did you read the part that said "Seymour repaired Jeff’s Les Paul, and then set about creating a special guitar for Jeff with a pair of pickups that would capture Jeff’s amazing ability to coax a wide range of tones out of his axe."

Did you think Seymour nailed it first time outta the box with the pickups that you buy today called an SH-4 JB? He's good, but he's not that good. The fact is, he tried several designs for the bridge pickup. Some of them were good, but they weren't the design that eventually became the JB and which has not changed since its release.

I think what's confusing you in this thread and the other thread is the word "Prototype." I think you think it means that Seymour changed the design of the JB since its release. Here's the definition of prototype: an individual that exhibits the essential features of a later type; the first full-scale and usu. functional form of a new type or design or a construction (as an airplane).

The Prototype JB doesn't mean that the design changed -- it just means that some lucky Japanese customers can now buy one of the pre-production prototypes of the pickups that eventually went through some changes and ultimately became the JB. If you want to buy the same pickup -- without the fancy packaging and signed hang tag, MJ will make it for you. It's called the "Tele-Gib" bridge pickup.

Got it now?

[Nightburst]

Re: How old is the JB?

So how would the Tele-Gib pickup sound different from the regular JB?

[Evan Skopp]

Re: How old is the JB?

So how would the Tele-Gib pickup sound different from the regular JB?

Good question. The Tele-Gib bridge pickup (also sold under the name "Prototype JB" in Japan) uses an Alnico 2 magnet, heavy poly insulation, and more turns. The result is a pickup with slightly more output and a lower resonant peak than a JB.

Thanks for the question.

[midnite_man]

Re: How old is the JB?

Hey Evan, that was a nice story on the background of the JB humbucker. I've read a few different accounts on what the "JB" stands for in the name of the pickup. I read that it stood for "Jazz Blues," but after reading your copy of the account it certainly must stand for Mr. Beck himself.
Evan, I have a 2002 Schecter C-1 Classic with a JB in the bridge position and what I believe is a SH-2 Jazz in the neck position. Am I wrong, or did Schecter switch to the SH-1 '59 model in the neck starting in 2003?
I haven't opened this guitar up at all since buying it and don't intend to do so anytime soon. If I indeed have a Jazz in the neck of this guitar, I can clearly hear why Seymour calls this combination his favorite. It's pure tone played clean through my tube amp.
It's great to see a good guitar company installing good pickups in their factory guitars instead of the customer having to do upgrades themselves.

-Bob