JB = Jeff Beck?

[Stringbender]

This may be common knowledge to some, but does the "JB" in the JB Humbucker stand for Jeff Beck? I know that Seymour had wound some pickups for Jeff when he was starting out but I wasn't sure if the JB was at all related to that or not.

[Zerberus]

Jazzy /bluesy or Jazz/Blues, IIRC.

[Davey]

looongly discussed somewhere on this forum. search for it =)

[STRATDELUXER97]

This may be common knowledge to some, but does the "JB" in the JB Humbucker stand for Jeff Beck? I know that Seymour had wound some pickups for Jeff when he was starting out but I wasn't sure if the JB was at all related to that or not.

Jazz/Blues

[3 cent hero]

when i started looking at pups i thought it was called Jazz Bridge lol

[Travis]

Definitely Jazz/Blues. Jeff Beck never had a deal with Duncan as far as I know.

[fusion101]

as far as i know, i thought jeff beck used it as a bridge pickup on his tele with 250k pots.

[570ex]

i think its jazz/blues but as jeff beck used it many people started to call it the jeff beck, but officialy its jazzy/bluesy.... i think...

[butnut]

Taken from the SD pages...the Jeff Beck...I mean Jazz/Blues Tele-Gib story...
After sending his favorite Les Paul® to a shady repairman who switched out the P.A.F.’s for newer, squealing, pickups, Jeff came to Seymour for help and advice. Seymour repaired Jeff’s Les Paul, and then set about creating a special guitar for Jeff with a pair of pickups that would capture Jeff’s amazing ability to coax a wide range of tones out of his axe.

The result was a guitar that Seymour gave to Jeff as a gift. The body and neck were clearly Telecaster®. But the pickups were two re-wound humbuckers made from broken P.A.F.s Seymour rescued from Lonnie Mack’s Flying V®. Seymour called the guitar a “Tele-Gib,” and nicknamed the bridge pickup “JB” and the neck pickup “JM,” after the hot rod racer, “John Milner,” in the classic film, American Graffiti. (Eventually, “JM” would change to “Jazz Model,” which is what it’s called today.) Jeff used the Tele-Gib on his amazing 1975 release, Blow By Blow, where it gained notoriety for the haunting volume swells heard on “Cause We Ended As Lovers,” which Jeff dedicated to Roy Buchanon. Interestingly, it was Seymour who introduced Jeff to Roy a few months prior.

The JB bridge pickup became very popular, very quick. Soon, many of England’s top guitarists, including more than a few legendary names, sought out Seymour’s “JB Mod” for their guitars. They found that the JB gave increased output (16.4K Ohms) without sounding harsh or dark, like other high-output pickups of the mid-‘70s. When Seymour returned to the USA the next year, his reputation as a pickup designer and the JB’s reputation as a great pickup preceded him. And the rest was history.

[Oldslowhand]

Funny how often this ? comes up and we still think of the p/up as Jeff's

[mongrollo]

I think it is a common thing for SD pickups to name them after players which are related to the pickup. This is the case of Jeff Beck, which used the pickup. Or the pickups the tries to capture the sound of Edie Van Halen, the EVH, which stands for Evenly Voiced Harmonics.

I think it is just a market strategy....

[Farkus]

Funny how often this ? comes up and we still think of the p/up as Jeff's

Sounds to me like the JB was named Jazz/Blues after the fact...the neck pickup was named after a person, just like the JB was named after Beck.

I'm guessing Beck didn't want to be endorsing the pup (or for whatever reason didn't want his name associated with it), so SD came up with Jazz/Blues when people wanted to know what JB stood for. Same deal with EVH...if you look at the description...it's a "'78" model pickup...blah blah blah...in other words wound for EVH who didn't want anyone to know how he got his tone which means no SD endorsement.

Sound right? Or does everybody else think the same thing and we just don't talk about it out of reverence for SWD?

Farkus

[butnut]

All I know is SD makes incredible pups. I think the 'initials' just help narrow down the selection to a particular artist's tone which makes pup choices a little easier. There are just too many pups with odd names and numbers, it was a great idea, saavy marketing, and the JB's success is just kharma being returned from Seymour's gift to Jeff years ago.

[korovamilkdud]

Anyone know the alter ego of the "John Milner" model?

[3 cent hero]

Anyone know the alter ego of the "John Milner" model?

jazz model? its already been talked about in this thread

[Indigoresonance]

Definitely Jazz/Blues. Jeff Beck never had a deal with Duncan as far as I know.

Actually it does stand for Jeff Beck.. you can check this video and hear Seymour talking about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgBhfsJhk-8
Peace

[orpheo]

it USED to be for Jeff Beck, but now Jeff Beck isn't affiliated with this pickup anymore, and it stands for jazz blues.

[gibson175]

its actually the John Bonham model unfortunately he never got the chance to start playing guitar so he could use it live.

[gibson175]

Its a little known fact that James Brown was a monster shred guitarist in his own right. Unfortunately the godfather of soul was deep in a cocaine induced psychosis and the project got shelved.

[gibson175]

JB Lenoir of the tiger skin jacket was finally convinced to convert from his long used "monkey on a stick" pickup when he realized the virtue of hot rodded marshalls and high output pickups. Unfortunately he died years before the pickup was even created and therefore missed out on a lucrative endorsement deal.