Is this a real Seymour Duncan?

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Thank you so much! I don't have a tripod with my phone that's the reason why the quality of the pics is not that great. I bought the pickup from Zorro Sounds' third-party market through Amazon. I heard they were an authorized dealer of selling Seymour Duncan products.
 
Hi all. I'm new on here so I hope this ends up in the correct place.
My question is about the neck pickup of a Mike Stern signature Yamaha that I was hoping to buy. To my eyes the pick up looks like an upside-down bridge pickup, the writing is on the cream coil and effectively upside-down to what I would expect and compared to every other guitar of this model that I can see. However the seller has lifted the pickup and it is labelled as a 59NL which seems correct as the stock pickup. I find this a bit of a contradiction and a bit puzzling.
Should I be concerned? Is this something anyone has seen before?
Apologies for no pictures at present, I am really struggling to get them to upload.
I hope these links will take you to pictures:

https://ibb.co/JBQyfKV
https://ibb.co/ccNYDY5

Just to be clear it is installed cream coil nearest to the neck.
 
Last edited:
That is a real SD and the pickup has simply been flipped around in the rout. Might have occurred while the pickup was removed to be examined or the owner simply preferred the cream reversed. Not a big deal, easy fix.
 
People like to flip neck pickups because you can adjust the screw coil closer to a harmonic node on the string length which makes it brighter and less dark.
 
Thanks for replies

The bridge pickup is a hot rails telecaster size.

I really don't think it's been flipped as all Yamaha mike stern models have the neck humbucker installed with the adjustable pole coil furthest from the neck. From what you guys are saying I now understand that this is the "wrong way".
But, the coil cream / black zebra colours are the way they should be on other SD pickups.

Would Seymour Duncan have made these specially for Yamaha for this model?

It still doesn't explain why this guitar the only one I can find with the writing upside-down though.
 
Last edited:
Aleph said:
Hello everyone
New in the forum. Just bought my first set of JB/Jazz SDs from Amazon and I'm having doubts if they are real or fake ones.Thinking if I should return them and purchase a new set from sweetwater or other authorized dealer.

Readings are
JB: 16.8 Kohms
Jazz: 7.4 Kohms

Posting some pictures if someone can advise on that I'd really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

What makes you think they aren't real? Who was the seller?

The measurements are spot-on and most of the finer details are in line with "real" Duncans, right down to the self-threading pole screws, mildly flat spot on the screw heads, and the "soft bullseye" (i.e. not overly smooth and not rigid lines) pattern on the slug poles. The baseplate holes and bends all look appropriate also. The bending marks on the mountings tab are a little more pronounced than usual, but not particularly suspicious.

What throws me off a little is the baseplate logo. I cropped this from the pics you posted...

Zqo96yy.jpg



The only 2021-production pickups I have on hand are painted black on the bottom, so I can't make out the logos that well.

However, here is a baseplate on a regular humbucker made in Sept 2020 for comparison:

pGUcH5k.jpg


And a Trembucker from late 2019:

FsyPqdo.jpg


The font on yours, particularly the "Seymour", and the ends of the large "S" have a slant, rather than the straight ends mine have.

That said, it does match the latest SD logo, so that may be a 2021 change:

6e1d4bc0-3544-46aa-9913-45936d82255a_h.png


Perhaps someone else has bought a pickup recently and can compare their logo before we deem them fake?

I have a feeling these are REAL, just with an updated baseplate stamping. :D
 
Masta' C said:
What makes you think they aren't real? Who was the seller?

The measurements are spot-on and most of the finer details are in line with "real" Duncans, right down to the self-threading pole screws, mildly flat spot on the screw heads, and the "soft bullseye" (i.e. not overly smooth and not rigid lines) pattern on the slug poles. The baseplate holes and bends all look appropriate also. The bending marks on the mountings tab are a little more pronounced than usual, but not particularly suspicious.

What throws me off a little is the baseplate logo. I cropped this from the pics you posted...

Zqo96yy.jpg



The only 2021-production pickups I have on hand are painted black on the bottom, so I can't make out the logos that well.

However, here is a baseplate on a regular humbucker made in Sept 2020 for comparison:

pGUcH5k.jpg


And a Trembucker from late 2019:

FsyPqdo.jpg


The font on yours, particularly the "Seymour", and the ends of the large "S" have a slant, rather than the straight ends mine have.

That said, it does match the latest SD logo, so that may be a 2021 change:

6e1d4bc0-3544-46aa-9913-45936d82255a_h.png


Perhaps someone else has bought a pickup recently and can compare their logo before we deem them fake?

I have a feeling these are REAL, just with an updated baseplate stamping. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for yoir response Masta "C
I bought them from Ike's Guitars through Amazon
What made me duobt the most is that they don't have the "Made in America" legend in the baseplate as the ones shown in the sweerwater site.

Nice catch on the slanted S of the logo. I did not noice that. You really have a keen eye :)

Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mincer
Seymour Duncan Announces The Joe Bonamassa "Bolin Burst" Humbucker Set!
2 3
Replies
40
Views
302
Masta' C
Masta' C
J
New Seymour Duncans
Replies
15
Views
308
jeremy
jeremy
SonicMage117
Some clean demos of some Seymour Duncan sets
Replies
10
Views
215
SonicMage117
SonicMage117
P
Does Seymour Duncan make something like the Monty Guitars Full Monty (GT500) pickups?
Replies
1
Views
34
freefrog
freefrog
Coma
Confused by S/P wiring diagrams
Replies
5
Views
100
Coma
Coma
Back
Top