Seymour W. Duncan and Seth Lover

The SH-55 Seth Lover model is Seymour Duncan’s tribute to the father of the humbucking pickup. Any guitar today that uses two coils in the same housing wired to get rid of the hum associated with single coil pickups owes a bit of thanks to the original pioneer of pickup design, Seth Lover.

In my day…
Back in the early part of the 20th century, the only pickups available were single coils. This is what Leo Fender used, and they have a characteristic bright and clear sound. They also amplify 60-cycle hum (or 50-cycle depending on what country you’re in) along with the sound of the strings. While this was an accepted fact of amplified guitar music, it took a former radio repair man to join Gibson in the early 1940s to tackle the fact that many people wanted to hear just the music, and not the hum that went along with it.

A copy of the patent diagram for the original PAF.

While Seth Lover didn’t invent the pickup itself (that was years earlier), he did invent the modern humbucker in 1955, which is still the design used on about half of the guitars sold today. He went on as an engineer for Gibson for many years, and eventually ended up at Fender, where he was also responsible for some early solid state amplifier designs.

The PAF

The first humbucking protoype pickup.

Seth Lover’s biggest impact on today’s guitar players is probably the most famous pickup ever invented. It’s called the PAF, which stands for Patent Applied For. This came from a sticker on the bottom of these pickups, and actually continued for a bit on Gibson’s pickups even after a patent was granted. You would find these pickups on most Gibsons from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, and they’re known not only for their price today (and rarity) but their sound.

The Sound

While Ritchie Blackmore is known for using a Strat, my favorite sounds of his are on the first few Deep Purple albums playing an ES-335 with PAFs.

You’ve heard this sound. It’s the sound of Rock & Roll Royalty, from Jimmy Page’s heartbreaking Les Paul to Billy Gibbons’ Pearly Gates… from the greenest Peter Green to the god-like Clapton’s blues-breaking tones. Warm, creamy, full of sustain, and able to translate the unique playing styles of each player right into our ears. In many cases, The Sound is why we picked up a guitar in the first place.

The Seymour Duncan Seth Lover Model
Many companies and people have tried to replicate this this pickup, but Seymour Duncan has the formula handed down from Seth Lover himself. Using non-wax potted coils, a nickel cover, #42 enamel wire, a longer bottom plate, Alnico II magnets, and a wooden spacer, the Seth Lover model humbucker has the blessing of Seth Lover himself.

Seth Lover demonstrating the wrong way to install a pickup.

Seymour Duncan even has the original pickup winder that Seth Lover used, and had access to all of his notes and patent drawings. Seymour set out to make the best replica of Seth’s original pickup, and for anyone who has been fortunate enough to play a 1950s Gibson with Seth’s PAF pickups can tell you, no one comes closer to that sound than Seymour Duncan’s SH-55 model. It’s a fitting tribute to the father of the modern humbucker.

Alright! How Does It Sound?
I installed my Seth Lover’s into my ‘pickup swap’ guitar, a Brian Moore C55. It has a little of the Gibson formula, being a mahogany body and a maple top. Mine is outfitted with the Seymour Duncan Liberator Pickup Change System to allow very quick solder-free pickup changes. My sound clips were played into a Mesa Boogie Blue Angel with a Tube Screamer and an analog delay.

Neck Clean

Neck Dirty

Bridge Clean

Bridge Dirty

Here are the Seths in a full mix setting. I kept the chords pretty sparse so you could hear the sound of the pickups. The brighter tones towards the end are the bridge pickup.

I really like the Seth Lovers. I think they’re begging for a semi- or full hollowbody, where their jazzy warmth can shine the best. I think they’re the best for jazz, blues, fusion and classic rock where their pronounced mids and spongy bottom can show off. They really are the best clean, or with just some overdrive, like the sound of overdriven power tubes.

Specs

According to the Tone Chart, the bass/middle/treble for the Seths are 6/4/8.
DC Resistance: Neck 7.2k, Bridge 8.1k
Resonant Peak: Neck 8.14 KHz, Bridge 5.9 KHz
The Seth Lover models come with nickel covers, and single-conductor braided shield. They can be ordered with a gold cover and 4-conductor wiring as well to enable single coil, series/parallel and out-of-phase wiring.
For more information, check out the interview between Seymour Duncan and Seth Lover.

What kind of guitar would you put the Seth Lover Models in? Who is your favorite guitarist to use original PAF pickups?