Value of old duncans?

SAVAGE DISTORTION

SAVAGE DISTORTION

New member
Are really old seymour duncans worth anything more than the standard used selling price?
I bought a guitar off CL and it has a pickup in the bridge that has a square sticker that say's THE JB MODEL
it does not have anything else on the bottom of the pickup.
This JB is a four conductor, uncovered and is zebra and sounds really good but i was wondering if these are worth anything? and did seymour wind these older ones? Thanks in adavance
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

to me? no. not worth any more than a newer one. to someone else? maybe. people pay more money for things for little reason sometimes.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

I wouldn't imagine so. When you make something to formula, an old one just becomes something a bit closer to age related failure.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

I asked the same ? recently. I have a few older Duncans that were wound by MJ. A wise member told me "They are worth what someone will pay for them".....that has always been my school of thought, so it was good to hear that regarding pickups. I lowered the prices I had on these and a few sold right away. The older ones may be worth more to some and worth no more than a regular used one to others.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

Thanks for the fast answers, how about sound wise? do they sound just like the newer made ones?
When i did a google search most said the older JB sounds better? why?
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

Old Duncans are 'used' PU's, and like most used PU's, are therefore worth somewhere around half of the current retail price.

To think they're worth the same or more implies that current-production Duncan's aren't being made to the same quality standards, which is not the case. Duncan's are every bit as good now as they ever were. An out-of-production model might be worth more than a regular used PU.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

some very old pups may have rough cast magnets instead of the polished that are used today, other than that there isnt much difference
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

The "JB Model" will typically fetch >$100 on eBay. It is just about the oldest production JB you can find.

Some of us collect pickups and give a s**t about the history of the company.

We don't pay high prices for vintage Duncans because we feel that they are better, but because they are a part of gear "history".

Why do I spend thousands on blackface Fenders when I can buy a Bogner for the same price? The Bogner by all intents and purposes is a better amplifier... but the blackface Fenders are a part of gear "history".

Owning a part of history will always appeal to a certain slice (minority) of the gear buying population.

blueman335 said:
Old Duncans are 'used' PU's, and like most used PU's, are therefore worth somewhere around half of the current retail price.

To think they're worth the same or more implies that current-production Duncan's aren't being made to the same quality standards, which is not the case. Duncan's are every bit as good now as they ever were. An out-of-production model might be worth more than a regular used PU.
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I am a romantic... sentiment means a lot to me. I am also a retro/vintage sort of dude and collecting vintage gear (regardless of it's efficacy compared to currently manufactured gear) is just part of being an ol' softy. :cool2:

Give me the old if I can have it... not interested in new gear unless it is something that's only being made today. I'd rather pay $500 for an old crusty Deluxe Memory Man than buy one of the 90s reissues... it's just how some of us are.
 
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Re: Value of old duncans?

zenmindbeginner said:
The "JB Model" will typically fetch >$100 on eBay. It is just about the oldest production JB you can find.

Some of us collect pickups and give a s**t about the history of the company.

We don't pay high prices for vintage Duncans because we feel that they are better, but because they are a part of gear "history".

Why do I spend thousands on blackface Fenders when I can buy a Bogner for the same price? The Bogner by all intents and purposes is a better amplifier... but the blackface Fenders are a part of gear "history".

Owning a part of history will always appeal to a certain slice (minority) of the gear buying population.



I am a romantic... sentiment means a lot to me. I am also a retro/vintage sort of dude and collecting vintage gear (regardless of it's efficacy compared to currently manufactured gear) is just part of being an ol' softy. :cool2:

Give me the old if I can have it... not interested in new gear unless it is something that's only being made today. I'd rather pay $500 for an old crusty Deluxe Memory Man than buy one of the 90s reissues... it's just how some of us are.
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I think i will hang onto it for just the historical factor of it and that it was one of the pickup seymour made before world wide known like today. may even be a rewind he did for someone all we know?
it does have the rough cast magnet the other poster mentioned and a cool naturally relic'ed look.
Must be pretty old(1978-early 79?) it has no engraving on the baseplate.
it looks like someone took a gibson pickup to seymour and he did the JB wind to it.
Being a duncan freak it is worth something to me so i will put a newer duncan in the guitar it come out of and put this one away in safe keeping.
If nothing else i think it is cool to have this as a piece from pickup history that is almost 40 years old.:fing2:
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

My first Seymour Duncan pickups were an Antiquities Texas Hot set in 1994, which now are antiquities themselves being 20 years old. They sound fine, but I'm getting a slightly lower read on the DCR when I measure them and they don't sound exactly the same as when I bought them - a little less bottom and top end. I know this because I have recordings of them from 1994 and I still have the equipment for the same signal path and can compare, factoring the age of all components.

It's really cool knowing Seymour's signature is on there, but newer pickups actually sound better to me. The company has a lot of hindsight and knowledge now that can feed into making the pickups - don't know if that's playing a role, or just simply newer is closer to the intended design - e.g. the magnets are fully charged, etc. The benefit of buying used is you are getting an Antiquity really cheap. Both old and new have their place in my guitars.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

Jeremy is right about the difference being a roughcast A5, and that's about it.

I'm not sure about the era of The JB Model sticker, but the JBJ sticker is the Maricella Juarez wound JB, probably from the mid - late 80's. I think those were 2 conductor, but not sure.

As for selling price for a vintage Duncan that just has normal patina....around $100.
Most are scratched up though, so maybe new price or $60 for those.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

zenmindbeginner said:
I am a romantic... sentiment means a lot to me. I am also a retro/vintage sort of dude.
Click to expand...

The average guitar player doesn't buy aftermarket PU's, and most of those that do, want a PU for it's tone. There's a small market of collectors that may pay extra for old Duncans, but you have to be able to find them when you sell yours.

I'm the opposite of you, I'd rather have recent-production gear and not deal with the issues and wear of old stuff. I get sentimental about music, not the tools someone happeed to use to create it.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

blueman335 said:
There's a small market of collectors that may pay extra for old Duncans, but you have to be able to find them when you sell yours.
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Never been a problem for me, I've sold plenty of used vintage DiMarzio DP103s for double (or more) the cost of a used 36th Anniversary pup. My vintage Duncans are staying. lolz
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

zenmindbeginner said:
Never been a problem for me, I've sold plenty of used vintage DiMarzio DP103s for double (or more) the cost of a used 36th Anniversary pup. My vintage Duncans are staying. lolz
Click to expand...

If you like old PU's, why sell them? Their cash value really doesn't make a difference then.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

blueman335 said:
If you like old PU's, why sell them? Their cash value really doesn't make a difference then.
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Ahhhh... good question. When I started working for Seymour Duncan, I divested myself of most of my non-Duncan pups.

I have a handful that I didn't and won't sell but I purged the majority of my non-Duncans sometime a year or so ago.
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

Savage Distortion, that's a really cool find! With the blank baseplate and "The JB Model" sticker, you can pin it to the 1978-1982 range. Sonically, there's no difference between it and a later model JB with a rough-cast magnet, but the age is unique. I have an all-black JB just like it from the same time frame and used to have another that I reluctantly sold a couple years ago. If you decide to let yours go at some point, please send me a PM :)
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

Call it a coincidence if you want, but all Duncan p'ups that are installed in my own instruments are mid-90s MJ wound ones, modded with the magnets I sell. Also, the only Gibson p'up set I have and use is an A4/A8 modded mid-90s '57 Classic/'57 Classic Plus, which sound nothing like nowadays' same models.

HTH,
 
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Re: Value of old duncans?

Call me crazy. But some of the EMG81s in my guitars are from the 90s. Some are from the late 2010s.

I'd swear the ones from the 90s consistently sound better...
 
Re: Value of old duncans?

Sorta out of topic, but I think SD should get these 'vintage' SD pickups and copy 'em as Antiquity pups
 
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