Post Type Archives: Faqs

Passive pickups use a magnetic source of energy and relatively large coils of wire to generate their signal. Active pickups use smaller coils of wire and have a preamp built into the pickup to boost the signal. The upside to active pickups is that the smaller coils in them make active pickups far less susceptible…

There are a couple of differences. Low output pickups drive the front end of your amp less and tend to produce a more bluesy or more vintage distortion. They have a very open feel to their tone. High output pickups drive your amp harder and can sound more compressed with a tighter feel. Also, higher…

The difference in bridge vs. neck/middle pickups is their output. There is naturally less volume generated from the bridge pickup due to less string movement the closer the pickup is to the bridge. Bridge pickups are usually wound hotter than neck/middle pickups to compensate for the reduced string movement. This produces an even output between…

Eighteen volts doesn’t mean twice the gain of a 9-volt pickup. What it means is that the pickup will swing twice as much output voltage before its internal preamp starts to clip. That means less distortion in the pickup’s internal pre-amp, but the potential for more distortion in your amplifier’s input stage. If you’re a…

First and foremost is tone. We have spent years researching and developing guitar pickups that sound great. At Seymour Duncan the goal has never been about how to make pickups faster or cheaper, but how better sounding pickups can be made. Nothing but the highest quality materials and, in some cases, vintage correct components are…

Seymour Duncan offers our 21 Day Real World Exchange Policy on all new pickups purchased in the U.S. and some other participating countries, which states the following: If for any reason you’re not satisfied with the pickup’s sound or construction, return it and your receipt to your dealer, or direct to the factory within 21…

For a list of Seymour Duncan online dealers click here. For a list of stores in the US that carry Seymour Duncan products click here. For a list of international distributors that carry Seymour Duncan products click here. Or you can buy them on our website here.

We can build vintage-correct reproductions of the Burns Tri-Sonic pickups, as well as the pickups we made for Guild which were used on their Brian May Signature Model. The pickups are built, by hand, in the Custom Shop and can be ordered with either gold- or nickel-plated covers. The price is $120 each. For more information, please…

George Lynch uses our “George Lynch Screamin’ Demon” Model. In addition, George plays an ESP Ultra Tone that has 3 of our mini-humbuckers installed: The Seymourized mini-humbuckers in the bridge & neck, with a Custom mini-humbucker in the middle.

Yes, we do but on a custom order basis now. The Holdsworth Model or SH-AH1 was developed to produce the subtleties of Allan’s fluid style of playing. Built with mirror-image coils and adjustable screws for extra midrange strength and excellent sustain. It has our conductor cable and is available in white, zebra and black. This…