Expensive Pickups that should song great but don't

[freefrog]

Seth's are my favorite Duncan HB's for various reasons (including the generosity of Seymour with Seth Lover and his family) but to me, they're less P.A.F. clones than a unique model, where a vintage design meets that always musical "Duncan voicing" that we all love here.

The old Vintage Guitar Shoot-Out about P.A.F. replicas did include spot on comments about that, IMHO. Here it is:

VG PAF Shoot-Out 2005

Given the unwavering popularity of the humbucker pickup, the constant injection of new builders, and the popuarlity of our 1998 comparison feature, we thought we’d note the anniversary of the…

www.vintageguitar.com

 

[Mincer]

Seth's are my favorite Duncan HB's for various reasons (including the generosity of Seymour with Seth Lover and his family) but to me, they're less P.A.F. clones than a unique model, where a vintage design meets that always musical "Duncan voicing" that we all love here.

The old Vintage Guitar Shoot-Out about P.A.F. replicas did include spot on comments about that, IMHO. Here it is:

VG PAF Shoot-Out 2005

Given the unwavering popularity of the humbucker pickup, the constant injection of new builders, and the popuarlity of our 1998 comparison feature, we thought we’d note the anniversary of the…

www.vintageguitar.com

Interesting article, I don't remember reading that before.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

NOT expensive, but i was disappointed with the stock units in my PRS SE Santana.
Replaced them with SD Seth Lovers, and never looked back.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I find it very interesting on that review of PAF models that they call some of them "medium output".

The other day I was discussing output levels with a friend. I told him I considered the JB "medium-high output", and he told me I'm an output junkie, that the JB is clearly high output. My argument, though, is that all of the rest of the Duncan roster that they classify as "high output" on the site is higher output, in my experience. Even the Custom which they classify as "medium output" is higher output than the JB, in my experience. But I guess I'm used to "high output" pickups being more along the lines of the Distortion or Black Winter.

I suppose context is everything.

 

[Mincer]

I don't worry about terms like 'medium' or 'high' as everyone has different definitions and those terms are hardly scientific. Show me the numbers.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I don't worry about terms like 'medium' or 'high' as everyone has different definitions and those terms are hardly scientific. Show me the numbers.

No, yeah. I think the terms are very ambiguous... and not really that relevant, to be completely honest.

Then again, even the numbers can be disputed, I feel. Duncan came up with that experiment, and I find some of those numbers don't agree with my experience at all. I think many people feel like that too.

 

[justFred]

I don't worry about terms like 'medium' or 'high' as everyone has different definitions and those terms are hardly scientific. Show me the numbers.

Where can output numbers be found? Never seen them and not sure how they could consistently be measured.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Where can output numbers be found? Never seen them and not sure how they could consistently be measured.

Thread 'Seymour Duncan Pickup Output Experiment'

Aug 10, 2020

Several years ago, experiments were done to get mV output values from many pickups available at that time. I don't know if this list will help anyone, as the output numbers never stay constant, but it might be interesting if you are comparing one pickup next to another. Since it was originally posted on this forum by an SD employee, it is at least somewhat official.
The only time tests were done were about 5-6 years ago. I found this list from the thread I remember. I don't know how scientific this was but I think they really worked hard to provide consistent picking. At least it gives...

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[Butch Snyder]

Rio Grandes are expensive and I never really got anything special from them. The Muy Grande Tele bridge pickup was decent, but not all that, IMHO.

 

[GuitarStv]

I don't think I've played any expensive pickups that were bad exactly . . . but definitely found a few that were bad for the guitar I put 'em in.

 

[STLMTLHD79]

T-tops and Tim Shaw Gibson humbuckers. Expensive now, but i guess not so much when they were new. Cant stand either one. I dont mind vintage output pickups for certain applications, but 59's, Seths, AP1's, or even Antiquities all sound better to me.

 

[jeremy]

I agree that the Seths/Deluxe combo is glorious. No pedals needed.

no pedals. guitar->21' cord->'66 dr, volume on 6. if only every gig could be that way

i think duncans paf type pups are very good. the neck version is usually more true to a paf than the bridge most of the time, but that typically suits modern players better. if you want a more true vintage paf experience, get two neck pups.