Questions about new Seth Lover neck pickup. Legit?

[Wound_Up]

Is it normal for these to come with a black pickup ring like the pics show at Sweetwater? And a signature on the baseplate as well as no "Seymour Duncan Made in USA" like you see on pretty much every pickup? What about the protective plastic over the cover? Do SD's come with that like most pickups do on new guitars? Just want to be sure about this pickup. It came from Liquid Audio, who is an authorized retailer.

What about the packaging? Are the plastic cases usually taped closed? This one was taped closed and appeared to be the factory seal if they come that way. I can provide pics of the packaging, also. I've only ever bought 1 other SD pickup and it came with no packaging since it was overstock from a guitar manufacturer.

Thanks!

 

[Wound_Up]

Cant edit that post so I'll just add this here. DCR is 7.33k

Thank you!

 

[Chistopher]

Looks right to me. SH-55N means Seth Lover neck, which is advertised at 7.4k DCR, which is just about what yours measured

 

[Wound_Up]

Got it installed. I'm fairly certain it's 100% genuine.

THIS THING IS KILLER! WOW! I'm a neck pickup person myself so this is right up my alley. Man this thing sounds great! Wish I had bought one before now. Man this thing absolutely SINGS!

The pickups that came out of this guitar are alnico 5's and they're going into another guitar to replace the ceramics in it. The neck pickup in that one is pretty muddy for lack of a better description. Like there's a blanket over the speaker. The Alnico 5 neck pickup I just removed has none of that. It's got clarity similar to this Seth Lover. So they're getting recycled into the iced tea burst guitar.

I really wouldn't mind taking the stock pickups apart and swapping in these two alnico 2 magnets I've had for the last 2 years. That's why I bought them. And then I started reading a lot of posts from people who had EXTREMELY microphonic pickups when they got done swapping magnets or some other issue that isn't easily resolved. So I skipped the magnet swap and started looking at Seymour Duncans. That's when I bought the 59. I know it's alnico 5, not 2 like I wanted, but it was priced tooooo low to pass up so I bought it.

 

[beaubrummels]

That is legit. The sticker with the two stamped signatures is how all Seth Lover sets are. The sticker is a different format of manufacturing date code / serial number, just like they put on Antiquities, except the Seths are regular production.

Seth is one of the best PAF necks out there. I've changed bridges dozens of times and left the Seth. It works with dozens and dozens of bridge pickups of all kinds.

 

[jeremy]

yes, that seems legit. glad you like the pup! they are great

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Were the OG PAF's A2? I know they were all over the place, but the majority of the Duncan PAF lineup is A2. Were the majority of the originals A2?

 

[Mincer]

Here is a kind reminder...
please put future 'Is this Duncan real?' questions in this sticky thread as it helps many people by keeping the information in one space.

 

[Wound_Up]

Well, I couldn't be happier with this pickup. Man this thing SINGS! If I could just put a single pickup in all of my humbucker guitars, this would be it. Man this thing sounds great! It's going to be difficult to play other guitars now. Normally, I switch between each throughout the day but I don't see that happening for the next X amount of time lol. I'm STOKED about this. This isn't like when I got the 59. It took me a bit to warm up to that one. I was also still really new to guitars so my ear wasnt as "trained" as it is now. Today, I immediately notice things I didn't notice before.

For example, I thought the 59 sounded just like the pickup I took out for the first week or so. It took me a bit to hear all of the little things that make it so much better than the stock pickup. That wasn't the case with the Seth. It was immediately obvious how much better it sounded when I turned up the gain a little. But I've got 2+ more years of experience this time. So it makes sense that I'm more tuned into it all.

Here is a kind reminder...
please put future 'Is this Duncan real?' questions in this sticky thread as it helps many people by keeping the information in one space.

Sorry! I completely spaced on that. Won't happen again!

 

[Wound_Up]

Were the OG PAF's A2? I know they were all over the place, but the majority of the Duncan PAF lineup is A2. Were the majority of the originals A2?

Afaik, the first PAF's were A2 until around 58 or 59, when they went to A5 magnets. Hence why the earlier year models that SD makes are A2 while the 59, for example, is A5. I, believe that's because they mainly used alnico 2 until '59, when they went to alnico 5.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here.

 

[beaubrummels]

Were the OG PAF's A2? I know they were all over the place, but the majority of the Duncan PAF lineup is A2. Were the majority of the originals A2?

Seymour Duncan used A2 because Seth Lover told him A2 was what he specified to have in the pickup from the beginning. So if you built a pickup according to the patent and Seth's specifications, the pickup would be an SH-55 Seth Lover, and part of why both their signatures are on the baseplate. But actual Gibson PAFs right from the start were a mixture of magnets, presumably due to availability. The PAF was made using the same stock magnets they were using in P-90s. In the early 50s most all P-90 magnets were A3, By mid 50s when the PAF came out there were A2s in the mix and by the late 50s a lot of A4 and some A5s showing up.

 

[Chistopher]

Allegedly a lot of early A5s were actually A4s because A4 was actually invented in the mid 50s but was originally a subgrade of A5. I say allegedly because the only sources I've seen confirm this were tertiary references that were circular in nature.

 

[jeremy]

the actual composition of magnets in the 50s, a2, a3, a4, a5, had a fair bit of variation within the type and are different than what we get today from what everyone says. so an a5 from 1958 would be different from an a5 from 2008. gibson used what they could get, so if a pup called for a5 theyd use a5 unless they couldnt get it or a4 was way cheaper or something. it was a business and they werent gonna stop making guitars cause they couldnt get the right 2.5" bar magnet

 

[Wound_Up]

I sent pics to SD just to be sure and they said it looks good and the number comes back to a nickel Seth Lover neck pickup so I'm satisfied. 100%

 

[jeremy]

never hurts to go right to the source!

 

[trevorus]

I have a set of these in a USA Hamer. Glorious tone, just love em.

 

[Wound_Up]

Well, 3 months later and I'm buying a 2nd Seth for a 2nd guitar. Lol. I really like how the one I got in September sounds. So I ordered another.

I initially considered ordering a Seth Lover bridge pickup to pair with that first neck pickup since it's paired with a 59 bridge currently. Then I was going to put the 59 bridge in the neck of guitar #2 but I passed on that idea and just ordered another neck pickup since it was on sale from Firehouse Music, an authorized dealer in Michigan.

FYI if you come across a seller that goes by GEAR TREE on Amazon or Ebay, that's Firehouse Music. A real music store & authorized dealer with a real "brick & mortar" storefront

 

[Mincer]

I love the set of Seths I have in my Warmoth. They are 4 conductor with one having a magnet flip.

 

[Wound_Up]

Friday can't get here quick enough. I really want to see how it sounds in this other guitar vs the Goldtop. See if there's any difference. It ought to be a 10 min swap like the last one now that I have a set of humbucker helpers from Stewmac. ​​​​​

I just have to decide if I'm going to change the wiring to what I know is 50s wiring or leave it. It may be 50s wiring already but I can't tell because the caps are connected to the tone pots only instead of between the vol & tone.