Mystery Duncan

[astav]

Howdy folks. Just pulled this from a guitar I was working on. Couldn't find any info on it, so I just posted it for sale on eBay without giving it much thought. I've since been in touch w/Keith over at SD who's pretty sure it's a rare early model. In the meantime, I pulled the listing until I can figure out exactly what I've got.

Here's what Keith had to say:

Hi Tony, in regards to this Mystery Pickup, this is what I've been told-

"Man...that is old. Impossible to say what model, but it's definitely
one of ours!"

If I was to take a wild guess, I'd say it's maybe an original SH-1 model '59 pickup. Very, very early model. That has some serious mojo, and I would be willing to bet it's worth a pretty penny.

Have a rockin' day!

Keith Merrow
Customer Support
Seymour Duncan

How cool. Now, before I list again (or keep it) I'd like to get an idea of what it's worth. Keith said you fine folks here might help me out, so if you can I'd truly appreciate it. DC resistance is 14.2. Here are a couple of pics and thanks for helping a newb!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Mystery Duncan

welcome to the forum!

14k is not a 59 model. its probably a sh5 custom

 

[metalmachine]

Re: Mystery Duncan

Still awesome though

 

[Dr.K]

Re: Mystery Duncan

welcome to the forum!

14k is not a 59 model. its probably a sh5 custom

It could be this or an underwound JB. I've got an underwound Fullshred that reads 12.72k so it's possible.

How did it sound?

 

[astav]

Re: Mystery Duncan

Thanks for helping out, folks. It sounds great. Pretty hot and hairy. Maybe I'll drop it back into a guitar and give it another work out.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Mystery Duncan

Nice. Want!

 

[shawnlanefan]

Re: Mystery Duncan

I can remeber back in the 80's when Seymour used to use the phrase "Seymourized", and it was always with the custom pickups. SSL-5 and SH-5 and the custom P-90. It was like how he wanted a pickup to sound for himself, or something like that.

 

[astav]

Re: Mystery Duncan

Thanks everyone! Looks like it's heading back to the bay...

 

[freefrog]

Re: Mystery Duncan

I can remeber back in the 80's when Seymour used to use the phrase "Seymourized", and it was always with the custom pickups. SSL-5 and SH-5 and the custom P-90. It was like how he wanted a pickup to sound for himself, or something like that.

I have two pickups labelled "Seymourized" with the same sticker than above and which are regular SH1's, not custom models. The man who has sold me these PU's had bought them in the late 70's. In my understanding, "Seymourized" is the brand name of "prehistoric" Duncan's before to be a label for personalized products.
FWIW...

 

[metalmachine]

Re: Mystery Duncan

It could be this or an underwound JB. I've got an underwound Fullshred that reads 12.72k so it's possible.

How did it sound?

I had an old distortion that was 18.5 k

 

[shawnlanefan]

Re: Mystery Duncan

I have two pickups labelled "Seymourized" with the same sticker than above and which are regular SH1's, not custom models. The man who has sold me these PU's had bought them in the late 70's. In my understanding, "Seymourized" is the brand name of "prehistoric" Duncan's before to be a label for personalized products.
FWIW...

I guess I stand corrected then, but I can remember the advertising saying, "blah blah blah, but this one is seymourized". I didn't start getting into Duncan's until '87 or '88 though.