I have a hard time calling people heroes. David Bowie once sang ‘we could be heroes, just for one day’ and he was totally right. But that doesn’t mean I can’t respect them. Sometimes my respect grows so much it becomes admiration. One step further, it’s nearing adoration and at that point I can’t stop it anymore: that person becomes a hero to me. Brian May, CBE, is one of those few people who hit my ‘Hero’ list years and years ago! I doubt he needs further introduction but for those who lived in a place without radio, TV, Internet or even a record player for the last 40 years I’ll give a small intro anyway! Continue reading “Some Hero Worship: Brian May”

You practiced your scales and the intricacies of the I-IV-V progression. Hey, you even know what a I-IV-V progression is. You practice along with both your own CD collection and your dad’s. You know a variety of songs from several decades, and you have a bowling shirt and hat you are just itching to try out. You’ve practiced for hours in front of the mirror and are ready to go out and show your stuff. It just might be time to go to an open jam everyone at the music store has been talking about. Sure, it is on the other side of town, and when you get home, you will have to take a Silkwood shower to get the smell of stale beer and despair off of your skin and your gear, but you wanna rock! Here is what to expect (and how to act) when you show up in an unfamiliar place, playing unfamiliar songs with musicians you have (likely) never met. Continue reading “What To Expect At An Open Jam”

People here at Seymour Duncan are not just obsessive about tone, but also about music itself. After all, you have to love music to be able to make tools to make it. But the good thing is that everyone’s tastes are different. The end of the year is always a time for ‘best of” lists and Holiday Gift Guides. This article just represents this author’s opinion, and, isn’t meant to be some definitive list though. These are the releases I liked most this year, in no particular order. It reflects my strange hard rock/prog obsessions and the fact that when I like a band, I have to own everything they’ve released. Continue reading “My Favorite Archive Releases of 2014”

The sound of Motörhead is defined by the high-output fat tone and midrange grind that Lemmy Kilmister has delivered for decades with songs like “Ace of Spades” and “Iron Fist,” combined with a fast pick attack on his RickenbackerⓇbass. We started with carefully analyzing the pickups in his bass and then made them even ruder – that’s right, even more attack and punch – while also making sure they had plenty of clarity under heavy distortion. The results are three unique pickups, each hand-built in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop and available in individual neck, middle or bridge models, or as a complete set with three pickups available in either a direct mount for Lemmy Signature Basses or a pickguard mount (neck/bridge) set for traditional RickenbackerⓇbasses. You can also get your choice of nickel or gold.*

You can order these pickups directly from the Custom Shop at:   http://customshop.seymourduncan.com/lemmy-kilmister-signature/

 *Jack Daniels sold separately.

**The Rickenbacker trademark is property of the Rickenbacker International Corporation and is not affiliated with Seymour Duncan

So many pickups on the Custom Shop Wall of Fame

I regularly get questions like ‘What pickup should I get?’, ‘Which pickup is hotter?’ Sometimes it’s even “Should I get the Seymour Duncan JB, or should I get the Seymour Duncan SH-4 instead?” It got me thinking and I realized that maybe an explanation of Seymour Duncan’s naming and coding standards was in order.
Let’s start with the Tone chart. This list offers an overview of all the pickups Seymour Duncan currently offers (with the exception of Custom Shop pickups, since those are made to order). The chart starts with ‘model’ on the far left followed by ‘name.’ I suppose that’s where the confusion lies. All of the pickups have a name but not all have a model listed. (Some started out as 7 or 8 string pickups and were redesigned to be a 6 string pickup. Some are artist pickups or were a region-bound pickup that saw a global release later on like the Whole Lotta Humbucker or Black Winter). So, let’s pick a few model names and see what the letters and numbers really mean! Continue reading “Making Sense Of Seymour Duncan Pickup Coding”

Amplifiers have certainly come a long way. Actually, a lot of things have, if you check out the picture above. Notice how Son and Dad are playing a game the girls clearly can’t understand as they wash the dishes in the back, smiling at how much fun the boys are having. Try getting a picture like this past any modern marketing department now! Continue reading “Cage Match: Non-Master Volume vs. Master Volume Amps”

Synyster Gates along with his partner in guitar crime, Zacky Vengeance, burst out of Huntington Beach California and on to the metal scene with Avenged Sevenfold in 2001 with the release of “Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet.” Known for their metalcore as well as their more jazz and prog-rock influences, Avenged’s music features intricate arrangement, duelling harmony guitars, and inventive arrangements. They’ve been featured on Ozzfest tours, won Revolver Golden God awards for the guitar playing, and Synyster has spawned his own gear and clothing line. The dude gets around. Continue reading “The Sound of Synyster Gates”

Jason Becker is one of those players that has inspired countless guitar players. His command of the guitar blew people’s minds, and when ALS so tragically took his ability to do almost everything, he, with the help of his father still found a way to keep on communicating with people, and create new music, continuing to inspire people even more.

While recording with David Lee Roth, before ALS had robbed Jason of his ability to play guitar, he had been working with Seymour Duncan on a signature pickup. When the ALS diagnosis came the project was shelved. Many years later, Jason had good friend Michael Lee Firkins checking out some of Jason’s old guitars to record some parts for his upcoming album release. They discovered the prototype pickup in one of the guitars and were “‘blown away” by what it was capable of. Jason reached out to Seymour Duncan and they got back to work on creating the signature pickup. The result is the Perpetual Burn humbucker. Check out the full story and more in our Jason Becker interview.

Continue reading “The Perpetual Burn – a review from a non-shredder’s perspective”

Going crazy on the whammy bar can be a lot of fun!

Floating bridges are great. You can make all sorts of weird and wacky noises diving and raising the whammy bar. From simple pitch variations to harmonic squeals, car engines revving and fluttering noises, floating bridges provide hours of fun. There is a great list of sounds and how to do them in Peter’s article on Five Fun Floyd Rose Tricks.

But what happens if a string breaks? Suddenly your guitar is all out of tune and everything comes grinding to a halt. What happens if you want to switch to drop-D, for example? You get the low E down to D just fine, but everything else goes a bit too sharp. Continue reading ““Locking” Up A Floating Bridge”

For 15 years the Afghan Whigs contributed their brand of darkly-themed alt rock to the music scene. After a 13 year hiatus they have returned with a bang, a new album and Jon Skibic on guitar. Jon has a long history on the music circuit playing with the likes of Rock of Ages and Twilight Singers with Greg Dulli. The new album has shown that the group still has what it takes – evolving and maintaining the passion, musicianship and tortured lyrics. Here’s our chat with Jon Skibic on what it has been like and on his gear. Continue reading “Talking Tone With Jon Skibic of The Afghan Whigs”