Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

A

aliensporebomb

New member
I ended up buying an Ibanez Artist AR300 guitar but upon checking the guitar was a reissue but someone tossed a boatload of parts at it (Grover imperials,
Schaller roller bridge, Schaller fine tuning stoptail, trisound circuitry on each pickup [dual coil, single coil, reverse phase dual coil]).

On opening the guitar there was a surprise: Duncans! Score!

flamey2.jpg

There she is.

Now, the pickups were a bit of a mystery since each was embossed
with the SD logo and "Made in America" with some stickers (some
handwritten) over that.

See (caution, edited 7 megapixel jpegs):

Neck: - labeled "NC" or "NG" and "80185"
http://madsound.dyndns.org/guitars/artist/innards/neck-pickup.JPG

Bridge - labeled "BL" and "80185"
http://madsound.dyndns.org/guitars/artist/innards/bridge-lead-pickup.JPG

A sweet guitar but what I really want to know is what pickups are in it
since they sound terrific and I wouldn't mind those in some of my
other guitars.

Over at Harmony Central the guesses were all over the place with the
most likely candidate being Seth Lovers (given the gold covers) but as
they have 3 position miniswitches for each pickup it's anybodys guess.

Just wanted to say hello and this is my first message here.

-Todd
 
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Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

Todd, Sorry, I can't help you with the ID, but welcome to the forum and I hope you stick around a long time. Beautiful guitar, BTW.

-dave
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

welcome to the forum!!

do you know what the dc resistance of the pups are?

seths usually have a signature but can be ordered with 4 cond wiring
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

I am used to seeing JBL but never BL????
If i had to hopothosize
it would be one these favs
JB/59n
seth
59's
sorry that i could not give you a definite but those stickers are alien to me
call duncan' CS they would know for sure;)
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

the N and B are neck and bridge. the L is probably the initial of the person that wound the pup
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

jeremy said:
the N and B are neck and bridge. the L is probably the initial of the person that wound the pup
Click to expand...

yeah maybe if he could take a reistance reading it would at least narrow it down a bit?
like IF the bridge is a JB it will be at 16.4K or so
if it reads at 8.3K we are back to a 59 or seth eliminating a JB at the bridge spot
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

I guess I will have to get my meter out of my computer bag in the car and check it out.

What a very strange deal.
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

Ack, I'm not quite sure how to go about measuring these - do I put the positive and the negative points on the contact probes on the pickup contacts or????

I don't want to disconnect them at all since the wiring is complex (to me anyway, each pickup has a three way switch and it's far more complex than a simple two 'bucker standard Les Paul type setup).

Here's the thing: from listening to them I don't think they are Seth Lovers, they are a bit more powerful than the PAF style pickups I have in another guitar but are not a super distortion type - they're somewhere in between.

So while they respond well to high gain tube preamplification, they don't naturally go there - so I suppose '59s would be a logical assumption.

Stay tuned!
 
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Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

I think Pinto 79 hit the nail on the head:

Marketing description:
"Versatile P.A.F.-type humbucker. Great for country, jazz, blues, funk, classic rock and heavy rock."

I found the tonal varieties very wide indeed, I could do the full on distortion thing but the clean tones were some of the nicest I've gotten from PAF style humbuckers..

The biggest problem with humbuckers is that they produce ideal distortion lead tones, great distorted chord tones but sometimes they can be a little dark on the rhythm tones.

I've got another guitar with a competitors humbuckers in them where the tones for the leads are fine, the chords with distortion are fine but the clean tones are a bit dark and lack sparkle (well, a lot of people use a clean single coil pickup as a "great" sounding tone and I guess I'd be no different).

So this guitar is a bit of a revelation since it has that sparkle on the clean stuff and could be used (with the toggles) for country, surf rock, clean jazz, you name it in addition to the heavy distortion stuff.

Kudos. I had no idea. I'll be honest, I avoided Duncans for years because it seemed like everyone and their brother used them but now I know why: they sound darned good.
 
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Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

a quick easy way to get a reading if you have a meter, plug a short cable into the jack of the guitar. turn all the volume and tone controls all the way up.

put the switch on the neck pup and put the two leads of the meter on the tip and sleeve of the cable. this should give you a ballpark reading, looking for dc resistance. put the switch over the bridge pup and do the same.
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

aliensporebomb said:
I avoided Duncans for years because it
seemed like everyone and their brother used them but now I know why: they
sound **** good.
Click to expand...

yeah the duncans are very different from dimarzios not better but different
i think the duncans have a more open tone and have humbucking bite
the dimarzios for the most part seem to have a more compressed tone with a warmer overall sound
it is really a matter of taste which you prefer i like both companies pups a lot;)
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

Long long time in replying.

Sorry for the delay - not only did I have to get access to a meter but the info on how to use it and then my webserver relocated and I had to re-find this link when my old system went down!

Info on the pickups in the Ibanez:

Neck resistance: 7.15
Bridge resistance: 7.86

Other guitars I measured just because I was new to measuring resistance:

Jackson Soloist Neck: 14.91
Jackson Soloist Bridge: 18.13

That guitar allegedly was fitted with Kent Armstrong pickups but can't be 100% on that.

Standard Fender Stratocaster Neck: 6.74
Standard Fender Stratocaster Middle: 6.90
Standard Fender Stratocaster Bridge: 6.74

Set-neck Shred machine:

EMG SA: 9.59
EMG 89 11.33


So, given that the resistance is 7.15 for the neck and 7.86 for the bridge, this would seem to indicate these are indeed Seths I imagine.

That being said, I can't be 100%. The shortest guitar cable I had to use was a 15 foot cable so the numbers here may be slightly off due to that fact.
 
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Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

aliensporebomb said:
Info on the pickups in the Ibanez:

Neck resistance: 7.15
Bridge resistance: 7.86
Click to expand...

Even allowing for metering error, your figures are in the ballpark for a vintage PAF style model - SD '59, Alnico II Pro, Pearly Gates or Seth Lover model.

All good choices for a set neck mahogany and maple sandwich.
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

I asked everyone in the office, Derek Duncan - the son of Seymour says it is definitely not a Seth Lover - the sticker is too old - predates the Seth Lover.

One way to tell is to take the cover out and see if the magnet has black sharpie on it is the Alnico V magnet. If not and it has a blue mark, it is an Alnico II. If you look in the square hole in top of the pickup if it has a dark maroon or black looking wire it is PE wire which is used on the '59 and Alnico II Pro. If the wire looks orange/copper it is POLY and it could be the Jazz model.

That should be able to help you narrow it down.
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

Scott Olson said:
I asked everyone in the office, Derek Duncan - the son of Seymour says it is definitely not a Seth Lover - the sticker is too old - predates the Seth Lover.

One way to tell is to take the cover out and see if the magnet has black sharpie on it is the Alnico V magnet. If not and it has a blue mark, it is an Alnico II. If you look in the square hole in top of the pickup if it has a dark maroon or black looking wire it is PE wire which is used on the '59 and Alnico II Pro. If the wire looks orange/copper it is POLY and it could be the Jazz model.

That should be able to help you narrow it down.
Click to expand...

Ah, the mystery continues - ok - next time I restring I will examine the innards more closely and try to nail it down. Fascinating stuff.
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

aliensporebomb said:
Ah, the mystery continues - ok - next time I restring I will examine the innards more closely and try to nail it down. Fascinating stuff.
Click to expand...

The number on the hand-written stick is the same in both p'ups, so I believe it's the order number. My money is on a Custom Shop order, wound like a slightly underwound '59 set.

Anyway, with those specs, I'd put nicely fully-charged A2 mags on them and call it a day. Doing so, you can expect tone for decades from those suckers!

HTH,
 
Re: Can anyone ID these SD pickups? Pics inside..

Oh that's the reason I bring it up - these pickups sound TERRIFIC:



The neck pickup has clarity and warmth (no woolly muffled stuff happening here) and the bridge pickup under overdrive just sings.
 
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