If you were to take a close look at the lineup of pickups from Seymour Duncan, you might notice a numbering system for the humbuckers: SH-1 (’59), SH-2 (Jazz), SH-3 (Stag Mag), all the way up to SH-18. This nice line of sequential pickups gives you an indication how old a specific design is. For example, it’s pretty commonly known that the SH-2 Jazz and SH-4 JB were developed simultaneously. It doesn’t take much imagination to think that those first few pickups were designed and released in the same era, the late 1970s. But look again and you might notice two gaping holes in the lineup. The SH-7 and SH-9 are missing! I never gave it much thought but I was interested to find out what happened to them when I had a talk with co-founder of Seymour Duncan, Cathy Duncan-Carter. She explained to me what the idea behind the numbering system used to be, but why the final fate of the SH-7 and SH-9 remains a bit of a mystery was cause for investigation! Continue reading →