Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

[britishgeetah]

:lol:
Here's a funny read I got from The Band's (you know those guys who sang that one song "the weight"?!) website with their guitarist Robbie Robertson.

Uh-oh - if you readers have gotten this far in this box hold on to your hats - 'cause Robbie just might be persuaded to tell us the previously unrevealed Seymour Duncan Story. Waiter, a couple more cocktails! "I met Seymour Duncan a long time ago," Robbie begins. "I didn't really remember the circumstances. One day I'm reading a magazine and he's telling how he got into pickups. It says that he met me in this place near Atlantic City where we were both playing, and we stayed up all night and played and he said, 'Geez - the sound of this guitar of yours - what have you got in it?"'

Robbie turns conspiratorial: "Now this was a style of playing I had learned traveling around the country with Ronnie Hawkins. People asked me about it a lot and I got bored so I used to make up stories. I'd say, 'I soak my guitar strings in hair oil,' or 'I cut swastikas in the speakers with razor blades.' So Seymour Duncan says to me, 'What have you done to your guitar to make it sound like that?' And not being able to think of anything better I said, 'I've got more windings in the pickups.'

"So anyway, I'm reading this article years later and Seymour Duncan says, 'Robbie Robertson told me about more windings, so I've put more windings in my pickups and I've gone on to make The Seymour Duncan Pickup!"' Robertson lets out a laugh. "And this whole business is based on a big lie! It never existed! I couldn't think of anything else to say!" Robbie takes a drink and smiles. "I never told this story before. I wonder what he's gonna think. " So do our ad guys, Robbie.

What do you think guys? Was this just a story he made up? Could this be true and Robbie is responsible for the birth of high output pickups?

Disclaimer: I am in no way insulting Mr. Duncan and his fine products, I just found an article that I wanted to share with the rest of the people on the forum.

 

[LoFiBrian]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

I think Mr.Robertson might be telling the truth...

but either way a young seymour did come onto something based on all his experiences...overwinding is something he would have discovered with or without that guy. I think the story of his tele bridge pickup being distroyed by a female player while on tour and him rewinding it in a shop somewhere and accidentally overwindinging by 1K or so is a clue...

he and his friends noticed more compression, sustain and just a better tone...

So forget that guy...

which makes my Tele GAS go off just thinking about that story...

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

That's kinda funny.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Robbie Robertson Would probably get along with Eddie van halen pretty well...

 

[jeremy]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

robbie is kinda full of himself, lies alot so ive heard and likes to drink so who knows how true it is, but its a funny story none the less.

oh and the band had more than that one song. these guys were backing bob dylan for a while

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

perhaps he lied about it being a lie? ever think of that?

-Mike

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

I couldn't understand that story...i tried reading it twice


:whuteva:

 

[noth]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

The story's interesting, but moot. If Seymour hadn't been in love with guitars and how to make them sound better, the discussion never would have taken place. And BTW, I love The Band, but you can't watch The Last Waltz and not notice how drunk they always were. I doubt Robbie was able to remember much of anything.

Noth

 

[theodie]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Robbie Robertson Would probably get along with Eddie van halen pretty well...

A big +1!

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

"And this whole business is based on a big lie! It never existed!"

So I'm guessing he's never actually switched pickups in his guitars to hear a difference..

It's funny, because if this story is actually true, then we should thank Robbie Robertson for being such a jerk in the first place.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

He likes the sound of his own voice. Guess who's pickups Mr. Robertson is using?

 

[Fiesta Red]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

I've heard this one before and it sounds like a big steaming pile to me.

Even if it's true, Seymour found his way around pu technology pretty well in spite of his initial gullibility.

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Ehm ok... so summarising:

1)That guy lied to Seymour, telling him he overwound his pups.

2)Seymour created an overwound pup that sounded good because it was based on that guys concept.

3)Actually, all SD pups suck because they are ALL based on A LIE!!!!!!!!!!11!!!
*tears his Duncans out of guitar* "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
http://darthno.ytmnd.com/

 

[cronnin]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Well, on the subject...if a humbucker is a 2xsingle , what would happen if I revwire the guitar to get my 2hums in paralell , working at the same time?
That would be a 30KOhms QuadCoil monster? How hot would it be?
Anyone ever tried it? It's not hard to install a switch for that.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

two 8k buckers in parallel are 4k
so two 4k coils in parallel are 2k then two 2k coils in parallel would be 1k

two 8k buckers in series would be 16k, two 15k buckers in series would be a 30k quadcoil monster but with four coils in series you get some weird cancelations so it doesnt sound like a huge pup. it sounds more like two pups wired in parallel with way more output and more bottom end.

 

[cronnin]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Sorry, my mistake, I ment 'in series'.
Two high DC-resistance and high output hums (2x15K=30KOhms).
So, I'd get even higher output signal, but would it be 2x(hum frequency response curve) or just 2xbass+1xtreble . Would it be usefull in anyway?

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Well, it's obviously true that the amount of wire on the coil makes the pickup sound different, so it's not like Seymour has spent the past 30 years deceiving people.

If anything, Robbie should feel stupid for freely giving some random guy an idea for a multi-million dollar business.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Well, it's obviously true that the amount of wire on the coil makes the pickup sound different, so it's not like Seymour has spent the past 30 years deceiving people.

If anything, Robbie should feel stupid for freely giving some random guy an idea for a multi-million dollar business.

+1 - regardless of where it came from I'm thinking Robbie is an old time c-list classic rock footnote (more or less, IMO), and that Seymour a tonal gear big Kahuna (and Mega-buck pup company owner).

I'd say seymour wins no matter how the story went down.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Seymour Duncan based on a big lie?!

Sorry, my mistake, I ment 'in series'.
Two high DC-resistance and high output hums (2x15K=30KOhms).
So, I'd get even higher output signal, but would it be 2x(hum frequency response curve) or just 2xbass+1xtreble . Would it be usefull in anyway?

Trust me, you don't want to go there -- it would be pure, godawful mud.

I tried wiring two buckers in series on my LP Standard once in the hope that it would put out a killer blues twang but it was horrible tone, like somebody yelling at the top of his lungs with his hand over his mouth but a lot louder. And this was just 22k total...