Category Archives: News

One of my personal highlights of the NAMM show back in January was the Chapman Guitars stand. Rob Chapman is very well known in the UK as a guitarist for two reasons: his involvement in various bands – currently the excellent Dorje – and his superb gear demonstrations and reviews on YouTube.

Make some room on that pedalboard, folks, because the Seymour Duncan pedal line is expanding. The new 805 Overdrive joins the Dirty Deed Distortion, Vapor Trail Analog Delay and the Pickup Booster while bringing much-needed updates to the standard overdrive formula.

In January 2013 Seymour Duncan announced the Black Winter pickup set. Initially only available in Scandinavia, the Black Winters were designed specifically for extreme metal players, providing players with the ability to go from crushing aggressive riffs to super articulate lead work. The Black Winter set created such a swell of interest from players all over the world that Seymour Duncan recently announced a world-wide general release.

Sometimes there’s a need for a hammer, other times there’s a need for a scalpel. A scalpel can cut cleanly with precision. Sure it’s doesn’t smash through things like a hammer does, but when used correctly a scalpel can be just as devastating. The Full Shred would be Seymour Duncan’s scalpel in its tonal bag of tools. It doesn’t have the highest output, but its precision lets it hit a lot higher and harder than its weight category.

The true test of covering someone elses’ song is making it your own. That’s no easy feat, and while there’s a tonne of cover versions of classic and contemporary tunes, only a few stand the test of time. Even more rare are the ones that eclipse the original. Recently we asked Seymour Duncan readers what their…

The Hofner Violin Bass is an icon in and of itself, due to one particular musician that happened to do pretty well in the 60s. It’s also an interesting instrument, because while it is classified as a short scale (30″) instrument, it actually requires a set of strings that would be classified as medium scale…

Acoustic guitars have always presented a problem when playing at higher volumes. Back in the day (as the kids say), if you wanted a louder acoustic guitar, you bought a bigger acoustic guitar. Bigger bodies = more volume, as there is more wood to vibrate and project the sound towards the listener. But what if you have to play a big club or theater with hundreds or thousands of people? Huh? HUH? You could get a guitar the size of the stage itself, but I bet you wouldn’t like how it sounded! This article will explain some of the difficulties that acoustic guitarists face when wanting just to be heard.

The NYC Bass pickups are the same thing that we’ve been making for some of the world’s finest handcrafted basses. They each use a dual coil J-type pickup design with a double row of Alnico Pole pieces. The resulting pickups provide a more organic tone and they are very versatile without sacrificing output level and…

There aren’t many players who can say they’ve spearheaded an entire genre, but Yngwie J Malmsteen is among this esteemed few. Yngwie synthesised the worlds of classical melodicism and heavy rock energy in ways that had only been hinted at before, and in doing so he ignited a guitar revolution. With Yngwie currently on the road for his Guitar Gods tour with fellow virtuosi Bumblefoot and Gary Hoey, we caught up with the maestro to talk tone.

The humbucker, with its single bar magnet under the coils, is generally less gritty, crunchy, raunchy or dirty than the P90. Let’s compare a few ‘vintage’ styled pickups Seymour Duncan has to offer.