Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

Sprinter

Sprinter

New member
I recently acquired a couple of used Seymour Duncan humbuckers for my G&L, Invader. The back side of the pickups are painted black instead of the natural metal finish that I'm use to seeing. What's the deal with the black painted backs? The pickups are a '59 neck and a Pearly Gates bridge.

 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

The black backs are fairly common on pickups that are OEM fitments on shred guitars. The regular baseplate will be visible through the mounting surround. It would not do for those shred guys to have anything shiny showing on their guitars.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

Funkfingers said:
The black backs are fairly common on pickups that are OEM fitments on shred guitars. The regular baseplate will be visible through the mounting surround. It would not do for those shred guys to have anything shiny showing on their guitars.
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Thank you, for the info! They just happen to be going into a shred guitar that doesn't use pickup mounting rings.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

If it was a Pearly Gates Plus the sticker would've said "SHPGP-1b" and it says "SH-PG-1b." So it's a standard Pearly Gates.

Sprinter, the Pearly Gates Plus is the bridge pickup found in Fender's Lonestar and Big Apple Stratocasters. It's like a Pearly Gates but it was designed to be around 3dB hotter by changing the magnet and the number of turns.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

I have a PGP out of some kind of Tele that also has a black base plate.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

Hmmm… well maybe it is a PGP and it's just not labeled properly. The easy way to tell is if the '59 is reverse polarity to the other pickup. When we sold the PGP / 59 set to Fender, the neck pickup was always RP.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

PGP from Telecaster suggests HH or "Double Fat" Telecaster.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

I have read thru the years that the blackback Duncan's were exclusive thru ed roman .
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

The black bottom plates are not exclusive to Ed Roman. What Ed called "Black Backs" were pickups that not only had black bottom plates, but also certain specifications pertaining to magnet type, wire gauge, number of turns, etc.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

ok evan , I stand corrected, I do remember ed's blackbacks, were kept secret about the specs, now that ed is gone , can they be revealed ?
 
Re: Seymour Duncan Pickups with Black Backs

Thank you, to everyone for the information! The pickup label does say "SH-PGP1B". The second "P" is faint, but it's there. The guy I bought them from said they were removed from a Fender, Showmaster.
 
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