The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

[Masta' C]

Duncan's first HYBRID?

I have owned several first-generation "The JB Model" pickups from the '70s. One thing I've often noted is that the resistance of these original pickups was slightly lower than the standard production versions of the 1980's and beyond. Where the current spec is officially 16.6K for an SH-4, and my JB pickups from the 1983-88 era have generally conformed to this (roughly 16.4K-16.8K), the earliest models I have owned have generally measured between 15.9K-16.4K.

Well, someone asked me to measure one of the '70s models I recently put up for sale and I was blown away...The coils are clearly mis-matched!

One is 8.1K, which falls in line with the typical examples I've owned, but the second coil is 7.1K. That's a combined resistance of just 15.2K!

To be clear, I've seen *slight* offsets before. With my 15.9K example, there was about a .3K-.4K difference between coils. But, 1.0K is a huge difference! Kind of reminds me of the justification for Dave Mustaine's "Thrash Factor" pickup. According to SD lore, it was out-of-spec, being somehow underwound (though the Thrash Factor is also spec'd like the regular JB...go figure ::cough::marketing::cough:: )

Could it be one of the very first Custom coils (designed for EVH) mated to a JB coil? Was it intentionally underwound for some reason?

Just found it interesting. I'm tempted to hold onto it and try it in my Washburn USA George Lynch prototype super Strat just 'cause!

 

[Mincer]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

How does the sound differ from current production ones?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

Very cool. Might be an interesting neck pickup too if you get around to it.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

Awesome! Mis-match vintage JB, I bet it sounds epic. You better not sell that ****!! PS: the Trash Factor is specd at 16.4k. :nana:

 

[Masta' C]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

How does the sound differ from current production ones?

Generally, these very early models are a bit more open and balanced and tend to have really stunning dynamics and harmonic character. Not sure about this one in particular, though. I've just been holding onto it.

For some reason, I never thought to check the resistance like I did most of the others. Crazy that it's so mis-matched. A full 1K difference almost seems intentional!

EDIT: I'm not gonna lie, the fact that Eddie Van Halen reportedly used a JB briefly and was working with Seymour Duncan around the exact time this pickup would have been made crossed my mind...Just sayin'

I'm going to try it in my USA Washburn George Lynch "Outlaw" prototype. The Black/Cream zebra should look pretty nice:

 

[Masta' C]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

There's a double cream one on eBay over in Germany. For comparison, the seller says his measures 16.06K: LINK

 

[Mincer]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

That seems like the perfect guitar to try this JB out. Let us know how it works out!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

Generally, these very early models are a bit more open and balanced and tend to have really stunning dynamics and harmonic character.

Vintage JBs = epic openness, dynamics, clarity, and harmonics. Current JBs = Ice pick bright and muddy simultaneously and dynamically flat. Only 1 volume will come out no matter how hard you pick. ppp = mf and fff = mf. :nana:

 

[jeremy]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

thats such crap clint

 

[Clint 55]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

:lmao:

 

[Aceman]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

You know what - I bet that pickup sounds - with that MASSIVE mis-match - like......get this....A JB. Yawn.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

Vintage JBs = epic openness, dynamics, clarity, and harmonics. Current JBs = Ice pick bright and muddy simultaneously and dynamically flat. Only 1 volume will come out no matter how hard you pick. ppp = mf and fff = mf. :nana:

I certainly don't agree, but swapping in a RCA5 does wonders

 

[Masta' C]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

You know what - I bet that pickup sounds - with that MASSIVE mis-match - like......get this....A JB. Yawn.

It might. But, I think you're just jealous that your JB's aren't as cool

 

[Clint 55]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

thats such crap clint

I certainly don't agree, but swapping in a RCA5 does wonders

I was joking. There's no such thing as the current JB I described.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

Since Seymour always winds on turns on the counter and does not care much on DC resistance. He might got different wire batches or simply a mistake.

 

[Discharged]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

He might got different wire batches or simply a mistake.

This. Going from the DC readings, the depicted p'up consists of a JB coil and a Custom coil.

Even though such an error could be possible, knowing the Duncan's assembling floor workflow, I'd say it's highly improbable that got out of the factory in that way.

Hence, it's most probably been tempered with by the original vendor.

/Peter

 

[Masta' C]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

You can't overlook the possibility that it was simply underwound.

That said, the 7.1K coil *could* be a Custom coil, which would make this what? The first ever Seymour Duncan HYBRID!

EVH prototype, anyone?

There are no signs of tampering with this pickup. No signs that is has been rewired, the tape has never been removed, the bobbin mounting screws have clearly not been tampered with, etc. How this pickup sits is the way it left Seymour's own hands...

 

[Mincer]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

Install it already! I wanna know how it sooooouunnnnddddssss.

 

[Aceman]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

From reliable sources (People with initials like FF) a 1k diff isn’t even going to be noticeable...

 

[Masta' C]

Re: The most curious 1970's "The JB Model" yet!

From reliable sources (People with initials like FF) a 1k diff isn’t even going to be noticeable...

Ha! I guarantee Frank didn't tell you that!

I'd like to see you claim that 1K doesn't make a difference on one of the winders forums

If that were true, MJ would be out of a job, since half of the custom shop models are just overwound/underwound versions of the regular production designs!

So, in your opinion, a 15.2K, unbalanced coil "JB" is going to sound identical to a 16.6K balanced coil "JB"?
:bs2:

The most plausible reasons for such a huge difference in just one coil are:

1) Incorrect tension on the wire
2) Coil was intentionally underwound
3) Coil isn't actually a "JB" coil

Any of these will have a noticeable affect on the resulting tonality of that coil. Sure, it's still going to sound similar to a JB (the other coil IS a normal JB coil), but the devil's in the details!