Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

M

Mushcup

New member
Hey guys. Looking for some help identifying a set of pickups.

I bought this fantastic old 1957 Les Paul Junior...Its been routed for a pair of humbuckers. The guys at the shop that sold it...seemed to think that these were really old Duncans that were wound by Seymour.

I am not too sure about that. I think they may be Antiquities.

It doesn't matter at all to me either way...This guitar sounds amazing regardless.

The bridge pickup meters at 8.19k. The neck at 7.75. The tone & feel/response of both is totally Alnico II to me. It sings the way a 50's Les Paul should.

Check it out...



Neck pickup.




Bridge pickup.




Anyone have any experience with really early Duncan pickups? Was Seymour signing them like this in the early days?
 
Re: Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

It looks like a Seymour signature to me. But I have only seen maybe one other signature like that on a pickup on a buds guitar. You may have a gem on your hands if that's the case.
 
Re: Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

The signature on the baseplate of the neck position pickup looks as if the ink has been applied more than once.

SD Antiquity humbuckers should have something else also attached to their baseplates.
 
Re: Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

Calling any Duncan employee to the blue courtesy phone.
 
Re: Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

Interesting question. Here is a verbatim quotation from the wording of the Antiquity humbucker product description.

[FONT=Conv_Gotham-Book]For that unmistakable vintage mojo, we wind every Antiquity humbucker on Seymour's original Leesona winding machine from the early Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, MI. Every bottom plate & bar magnet is signed by Seymour to guarantee that you are getting an original Seymour Duncan Antiquity.[/FONT]

If you take the wording literally, there is no explicit claim that The Man Himself still does the winding. Instead, the nameless "we" operate the winding machine then, Seymour signs the magnets and baseplates and the card tag that comes with the packaging.

A cynic might draw a comparison with the late career of Salvador Dalí. Paintings would emerge from his studio but the style of the works had changed noticeably, as if done by the hand of another and the signature had become decidedly shaky.

At that time, some critics suggested that Dalí's studio assistants did the majority of the work and that he merely added some finishing touches before signing the canvasses. He would then be photographed next to the works as proof of provenance. Eventually, Dalí's Parkinson's Disease symptoms grew so severe that there no point in pretending that he could draw or paint anything any more.
 
Re: Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

Funkfingers said:
The signature on the baseplate of the neck position pickup looks as if the ink has been applied more than once.

SD Antiquity humbuckers should have something else also attached to their baseplates.
Click to expand...
Those stickers are known for not being very "sticky", LOL.

That's an old Antiquity set... even though the bridge p'up measure a bit low to be one. Maybe it's a rewind, or a Custom Shop order? Not having the pertinent documentation to look at, it's difficult to be certain of anything.

HTH,
 
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Re: Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

Rewinds were signed on the plate, I believe. Antiquities, even the earliest, were signed on a sticker with some serial number that didn't stick very well. Also, my earliest Ants from the 1990's measure low from when I bought them.


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Re: Help identify...Are they early pickups wound by Seymour or an Antiquity set?

those look like antiquitys to me and ive seen the low wind like that, id bet they sound great!
 
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