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The El Diablo, the "El Diablo", the "Iommi" and the HB-104:
All of these pickups have been out of the limelight for quite some time. However, due to the subtle resurgence of interest in them by forum members over the past several months and the 10+ years of misinformation, assumptions and speculation posted on these forums, I wanted to take a moment to clear a few things up.
The most important thing to realize when discussing the El Diablo, the "El Diablo" and the Iommi is that we are really only talking about 2 pickups:
1) The "El Diablo" (original)
2) The "El Diablo"/"Iommi" (SH-TI, SHTI-1B)
Confused? Most are! This is because 2 completely different pickups have been sold by Seymour Duncan under the "El Diablo" name and, oddly enough, both versions have also been associated with the same artist, muddying the waters even further.
For those who can settle for a simple explanation, it goes like this:
The first "El Diablo" was a traditional style pickup designed for Scott Ian as a less shrill, higher output version of the existing "Screamin’ Demon" production pickup. The second version was a special model designed for Tony Iommi, which was later reissued and rebranded as the "El Diablo" for marketing purposes when used in the signature guitars of various other artists, including Scott Ian.
If you're still confused, then read on…
The Original EL DIABLO:
The original "El Diablo" was inspired by and directly based on the Screamin’ Demon. From the outside, you can't tell the two apart. Like the Demon, the Diablo featured a coil with 6 adjustable hex screws mated to a second coil with traditional fillister type pole pieces. Both the Demon and the Diablo housed an A5 (Alnico V) magnet at their core. However, the coils of the Diablo were wound to a much higher resistance than the Demon’s typical 10K range.
When I spoke with MJ about the design close to a decade ago, she said the goal of the El Diablo was to increase the output and tame the sometimes harsh top end of the Screamin' Demon without losing its tightness, drive and clarity.
This "original” El Diablo was designed at the request of Scott Ian, but is not the model most SD fans associate with him because it was not the pickup found in his signature guitars. For the handful of non-believers out there who have posted in the past about the "supposed" and "alleged" existence of an "original" El Diablo, here it is in real life:
The IOMMI:
In the mid-90s, Trevor Wilkinson got in touch with Evan Skopp about having the SD Custom Shop design a very special set of pickups for guitar legend Tony Iommi to be used in his Patrick Eggle signature guitars in England.
The pickups that resulted featured a twin rail design and were unique in that the "rails" or "blades" were exposed A2 (Alnico II) bar magnets, where most other "rail" type pickups used metal "blades" and placed the magnets in a more traditional configuration beneath the coils. The coils of the Iommi were wound on elongated bobbins to a hefty 21K+ resistance in the bridge!
Cosmetically, the Iommi pickups resembled the older SH-9 “Silverbird” model, a pickup SD had introduced some 11-12 years before in the early '80s. However, while they certainly looked similar, the tone between the 2 models couldn’t be any more different.
Iommi's signature Patrick Eggle guitars were launched around 1995, but suffered lackluster popularity. Production ceased around 1997, at which point Tony signed an endorsement deal with Gibson for both a new signature guitar and a new signature pickup.
Despite the switch away from Eggle and Seymour Duncan, Tony’s signature Duncan model remained available as a little-known Custom Shop offering and found its way into a few obscure places, including the guitars of Scott Ian (via Mike Tempesta, his tech at the time).
The IOMMI as the "EL DIABLO":
The significant confusion over the years has largely stemmed from the fact that, in the early 2000s, Scott Ian signature guitars were introduced featuring a set of twin-rail SD Custom Shop pickups advertised as “El Diablo” models. These are the pickups most SD fans think of when they hear the term "El Diablo", but they were really the older “Iommi” models, reissued and freshly marketed under the new name.
As Scott Ian was using the pickups regularly at that point and Tony Iommi already had a different pickup being touted as his signature model through Gibson, it made more sense to relabel them as the “Scott Ian” signature pickups, particularly since they were going into Scott Ian's signature Washburn guitars and die-hard Ian fans already knew that he had used a custom SD pickup called the “El Diablo” in the past (which was actually the "original" El Diablo design explained above).
Washburn continued to market the Iommi pickups under the “El Diablo” name when they introduced the Dan Donegan signature guitars and when Dan eventually moved over to Schecter, they, too, stuck with the “El Diablo” branding. In the past, some members have felt that, because the Scott Ian/Dan Donegan signature models were marketed with “El Diablos” and the Kevin Bond signature guitar, which was manufactured during the same period by Jackson, was advertised as having an “Iommi” pickup, that the "El Diablo" and "Iommi" pickups must have been different. Ultimately, the naming difference was nothing more than marketing strategy. It would have been counter-productive to promote the pickups in the new "Kevin Bond" guitar as “Scott Ian” signature models readily available on their competitor’s guitars, so Jackson marketed their installation of the pickup under the original “Iommi” designation...a smart move for sales, but one that only further confused the pickup addicts of the world.
The HB-104:
During the lull in manufacturer demand for the expensive Custom Shop version of the Iommi/El Diablo, the imported “Duncan Designed” HB-104 set came to be. These were “based” on the Iommi Custom Shop models, but only in a very very loose sense.
They briefly appeared in the early 2000s Jackson WRXT Warriors (before Jackson switched over to the HB-108 "Detonator" set) and a few other rarities, such as a short-lived 5-string Schecter guitar (not bass).
The HB-104 set featured a more traditional construction with oversized Ceramic magnets mounted below the bobbins and the “rails” or "blades" were chrome plated steel, rather than using exposed bar magnets like the original Iommis.
The resistance specs were also more in line with the other popular Duncan Designed pickups, such as the HB-103, with the bridge coming in at 17K and the neck wound to around 8K.
It's important to note that the tone of the HB-104s is significantly different than any of the true "El Diablo" models.
One last thing...
For anyone who still doesn't get it, this is from Evan Skopp, the man who was there when all these models came to fruition:
Me, too
-----
ADDITIONAL INFO: The Jackson T1000 Scott Ian signature Soloist model has been advertised on Jackson's website and on some retailers' spec sheets as having an "El Diablo" bridge pickup. This is incorrect! All versions of the T1000 come equipped with a trem-spaced JB (TB-4) in the bridge, which is what Scott Ian has been using since the very first prototype of the T1000 that was made for him a couple years ago. Thought I'd mention it, as I've seen this questioned elsewhere and recently saw someone who had removed the TB-4 sticker (you could still see the faint outline on the baseplate) trying to sell their regular JB pickup as an "El Diablo" on a popular auction site. Be warned...if it doesn't have hex poles or twin blades, it's not an "El Diablo".
.
All of these pickups have been out of the limelight for quite some time. However, due to the subtle resurgence of interest in them by forum members over the past several months and the 10+ years of misinformation, assumptions and speculation posted on these forums, I wanted to take a moment to clear a few things up.
The most important thing to realize when discussing the El Diablo, the "El Diablo" and the Iommi is that we are really only talking about 2 pickups:
1) The "El Diablo" (original)
2) The "El Diablo"/"Iommi" (SH-TI, SHTI-1B)
Confused? Most are! This is because 2 completely different pickups have been sold by Seymour Duncan under the "El Diablo" name and, oddly enough, both versions have also been associated with the same artist, muddying the waters even further.
For those who can settle for a simple explanation, it goes like this:
The first "El Diablo" was a traditional style pickup designed for Scott Ian as a less shrill, higher output version of the existing "Screamin’ Demon" production pickup. The second version was a special model designed for Tony Iommi, which was later reissued and rebranded as the "El Diablo" for marketing purposes when used in the signature guitars of various other artists, including Scott Ian.
If you're still confused, then read on…
The Original EL DIABLO:
The original "El Diablo" was inspired by and directly based on the Screamin’ Demon. From the outside, you can't tell the two apart. Like the Demon, the Diablo featured a coil with 6 adjustable hex screws mated to a second coil with traditional fillister type pole pieces. Both the Demon and the Diablo housed an A5 (Alnico V) magnet at their core. However, the coils of the Diablo were wound to a much higher resistance than the Demon’s typical 10K range.
When I spoke with MJ about the design close to a decade ago, she said the goal of the El Diablo was to increase the output and tame the sometimes harsh top end of the Screamin' Demon without losing its tightness, drive and clarity.
This "original” El Diablo was designed at the request of Scott Ian, but is not the model most SD fans associate with him because it was not the pickup found in his signature guitars. For the handful of non-believers out there who have posted in the past about the "supposed" and "alleged" existence of an "original" El Diablo, here it is in real life:
The IOMMI:
In the mid-90s, Trevor Wilkinson got in touch with Evan Skopp about having the SD Custom Shop design a very special set of pickups for guitar legend Tony Iommi to be used in his Patrick Eggle signature guitars in England.
The pickups that resulted featured a twin rail design and were unique in that the "rails" or "blades" were exposed A2 (Alnico II) bar magnets, where most other "rail" type pickups used metal "blades" and placed the magnets in a more traditional configuration beneath the coils. The coils of the Iommi were wound on elongated bobbins to a hefty 21K+ resistance in the bridge!
Cosmetically, the Iommi pickups resembled the older SH-9 “Silverbird” model, a pickup SD had introduced some 11-12 years before in the early '80s. However, while they certainly looked similar, the tone between the 2 models couldn’t be any more different.
Iommi's signature Patrick Eggle guitars were launched around 1995, but suffered lackluster popularity. Production ceased around 1997, at which point Tony signed an endorsement deal with Gibson for both a new signature guitar and a new signature pickup.
Despite the switch away from Eggle and Seymour Duncan, Tony’s signature Duncan model remained available as a little-known Custom Shop offering and found its way into a few obscure places, including the guitars of Scott Ian (via Mike Tempesta, his tech at the time).
The IOMMI as the "EL DIABLO":
The significant confusion over the years has largely stemmed from the fact that, in the early 2000s, Scott Ian signature guitars were introduced featuring a set of twin-rail SD Custom Shop pickups advertised as “El Diablo” models. These are the pickups most SD fans think of when they hear the term "El Diablo", but they were really the older “Iommi” models, reissued and freshly marketed under the new name.
As Scott Ian was using the pickups regularly at that point and Tony Iommi already had a different pickup being touted as his signature model through Gibson, it made more sense to relabel them as the “Scott Ian” signature pickups, particularly since they were going into Scott Ian's signature Washburn guitars and die-hard Ian fans already knew that he had used a custom SD pickup called the “El Diablo” in the past (which was actually the "original" El Diablo design explained above).
Washburn continued to market the Iommi pickups under the “El Diablo” name when they introduced the Dan Donegan signature guitars and when Dan eventually moved over to Schecter, they, too, stuck with the “El Diablo” branding. In the past, some members have felt that, because the Scott Ian/Dan Donegan signature models were marketed with “El Diablos” and the Kevin Bond signature guitar, which was manufactured during the same period by Jackson, was advertised as having an “Iommi” pickup, that the "El Diablo" and "Iommi" pickups must have been different. Ultimately, the naming difference was nothing more than marketing strategy. It would have been counter-productive to promote the pickups in the new "Kevin Bond" guitar as “Scott Ian” signature models readily available on their competitor’s guitars, so Jackson marketed their installation of the pickup under the original “Iommi” designation...a smart move for sales, but one that only further confused the pickup addicts of the world.
The HB-104:
During the lull in manufacturer demand for the expensive Custom Shop version of the Iommi/El Diablo, the imported “Duncan Designed” HB-104 set came to be. These were “based” on the Iommi Custom Shop models, but only in a very very loose sense.
They briefly appeared in the early 2000s Jackson WRXT Warriors (before Jackson switched over to the HB-108 "Detonator" set) and a few other rarities, such as a short-lived 5-string Schecter guitar (not bass).
The HB-104 set featured a more traditional construction with oversized Ceramic magnets mounted below the bobbins and the “rails” or "blades" were chrome plated steel, rather than using exposed bar magnets like the original Iommis.
The resistance specs were also more in line with the other popular Duncan Designed pickups, such as the HB-103, with the bridge coming in at 17K and the neck wound to around 8K.
It's important to note that the tone of the HB-104s is significantly different than any of the true "El Diablo" models.
One last thing...
For anyone who still doesn't get it, this is from Evan Skopp, the man who was there when all these models came to fruition:
Originally posted by Evan Skopp
View Post
Me, too
-----
ADDITIONAL INFO: The Jackson T1000 Scott Ian signature Soloist model has been advertised on Jackson's website and on some retailers' spec sheets as having an "El Diablo" bridge pickup. This is incorrect! All versions of the T1000 come equipped with a trem-spaced JB (TB-4) in the bridge, which is what Scott Ian has been using since the very first prototype of the T1000 that was made for him a couple years ago. Thought I'd mention it, as I've seen this questioned elsewhere and recently saw someone who had removed the TB-4 sticker (you could still see the faint outline on the baseplate) trying to sell their regular JB pickup as an "El Diablo" on a popular auction site. Be warned...if it doesn't have hex poles or twin blades, it's not an "El Diablo".
.
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