Is this a real Seymour Duncan?

[mikey2000]

Thanks for the amazingly speepy response! It all happened a few months ago now - I'm such a newb that it took me this long to realise something odd was going on.

The 'fake' pickup came from a reputable looking amazon reseller as my tech's usual supplier was showing 'delivery time unknown - out of stock for the forseeable future' on QP bridge pickups. He had the neck pickup already. We agreed to try the amazon reseller as a substitute for waiting. I'll let them not to use that reseller again but it wasn't really their fault the pickup wasn't a real SD.

As they are based 40 mins drive away, I'll have a go at soldering the wires the other way round to see what happens myself. I'll learn something new!


The only question I have is can I damage my amp or guitar if the grounding is wrong? Or will it just sound weird? Or merely no output at all? Or worse, could I make the pickup/bridge 'live' and give myself a shock?.

It's dead easy to unscrew the control plate and access the main electronics on this tele but fiddling underneath the pickups requires a "strings and bridge off" mini project, so I'd definitely prefer it if I can work solely on the control plate.

Thanks again!
Mike

[mikey2000]

Just to add a second question - about the bridge pickup. Is there any obvious way of telling is also a SD Quarter Pounder without removing it? All tele bridge pickups seem to look the same to me with the metal cover hiding any obvious detail. The only thing I can tell is that the wires coming from the pickup to the controls are one black and one white.

[JamesPaul]

You should only have to change/reverse the wires on one pickup to sort out the phase issue.

It will not damage your guitar or amp if the grounding is wrong. It will be noisy, sound weird or not have output.

You would have to change the output jack wiring to switch the bridge. Even if you do that, as long as your amp is operating normally, it should not make anything live and shock you.

[Masta' C]

Yeah, worst case if you screw up the soldering is that you get a bad sound, get no sound, or damage the pickup or pots (typically from applying too much heat for too long with the soldering iron).

Don't let that stop you, though, soldering is fairly easy and a good skill to develop.

As far as identifying a real QP, it's fairly easy to tell them apart from other Tele pickups just by looking at them. The pole pieces on a QP are about double the size of the ones on the pickup you currently have. Also, anything produced in the last 20 years or so is more likely than not to say "Seymour Duncan" on the top. There are some generic large pole pickups on the market, but if you have any concerns or questions about what you are buying, you can always post a link or pics here for us to review.

[Acx77]

Hi, new to the forum and have concerns about a set of used pickups I purchased. The pickups are Custom Shop Queenbuckers. The numbers on the box match up to the stickers on the back of the pickups, however there is no MJ signature on the back. I emailed pictures to Seymour Duncan and was told that they look legit and that MJ doesn’t sign every set. Just wanted to see what you guys think. Thanks.

[Mincer]

Hi, new to the forum and have concerns about a set of used pickups I purchased. The pickups are Custom Shop Queenbuckers. The numbers on the box match up to the stickers on the back of the pickups, however there is no MJ signature on the back. I emailed pictures to Seymour Duncan and was told that they look legit and that MJ doesn’t sign every set. Just wanted to see what you guys think. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum!
I've heard MJ doesn't sign every set, too. You can post pics, though...we love to see them.

[eclecticsynergy]

Pretty sure everything that comes out of the custom shop will have been wound by MJ.
That's correct, right?
Many pickups aren't signed, but her initials should be on the box.

[Acx77]

Tried to post pics but I keep getting an error. Anyway, the number written on the box matches the number on the custom shop sticker on the pickups. My concern is the missing MJ initials on the back plate. The Seymour Duncan representative told me the serial numbers show the pickups came from a dealer called JMI Music.

[Hsb]

So if the SD rep is telling you MJ doesnt initial all the CS pickups and they look legit, shouldnt really be a need for concern. And since he was evem able to tell you what shop ordered them, Id say youre all good

[Mincer]

Tried to post pics but I keep getting an error. Anyway, the number written on the box matches the number on the custom shop sticker on the pickups. My concern is the missing MJ initials on the back plate. The Seymour Duncan representative told me the serial numbers show the pickups came from a dealer called JMI Music.

Yes, the upload function for pics isn't working right now. You can host the pics somewhere else and link to them, though. It sounds like you have a legit set there.

[Masta' C]

JMI is an authorized dealer and one of the only retailers that regularly orders/stocks Custom Shop pickups. Happy to double-check if you can post pics, but it's likely your pickups are legit.

[beaubrummels]

FWIW the only Custom Shop pickups I have that she signed are when a change was made, like overwound by a percentage, or different covers, etc. All my Custom Shops that are straight by the recipe don't have her initials on the actual pickup.

[Acx77]

I appreciate the info you guys have provided, I will try to post some photos of the pickups soon.

[StickProcallus]

I just recently bought a SSL-2 pickup from a third-party through Amazon. Knowing about Amazon selling fakes lately concerned me about this pickup being a counterfeit. Here are the pictures of the pickup.

[Masta' C]

Your photos look like they were taken with a phone camera from the mid-2000s, but other than that, the pickup appears to be legitimate from what I can tell.

It's a little more difficult to identify potential counterfeits with single coils because they're not as complex as their humbucker counterparts.

Several third-party sellers on Amazon are authorized dealers, but you still have to do your due diligence when selecting who to buy from.