Originally released only in Scandinavia in January of 2013, the Black Winter pickups were designed for extreme metal players, providing a sound that was suited to the sorts of metal coming out of this region of Europe. The public interest was so high that the Black Winters received a world-wide general release soon afterwards. Let’s take a look specifically at the neck model for now – we’ll circle back and check out the bridge version later.

Continue reading “The Versatility Of The Black Winter Neck Model”

Do you need something just a little bit special from your pickup but not anything that requires the full Seymour Duncan Custom Shop treatment? If so, there are plenty of little customization that you can request when you order a regular pickup through your preferred dealer. Called Shop Floor Custom, this service lets you tweak various aspects of your pickup order and we’ll make it on the regular shop floor, just for you, alongside our regular production pickups. It’s a handy option if you want something a little unique for your guitar. Continue reading “Seymour Duncan Shop Floor Custom Options”

Since there are so many guitar builders out there it could be a daunting task to find out who is using Seymour Duncan pickups. To ease the effort we compiled an extensive, albeit far from complete, list of builders who use our pickups.
Gibson Guitars
Gibson is one of the biggest guitar companies in the world that produce high quality guitars. The electric guitar that put Gibson on the map, and frankly put the electric guitar on the musical map, is the Les Paul. One of the most famous users of the Les Paul is of course Slash. With his Alnico 2 Pro Loaded Axe Slash recorded some of the most iconic rock tones of current memory. Take a look at Slash’s new signature Les Paul! Continue reading “Look Who’s Using Seymour Duncan Pickups”

Duff McKagan is a bass legend, alright? If all he ever recorded was Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” he would go down in the history books: Slash’s introductory guitar riff is of course great but it wouldn’t have quite the impact that it does if not for Duff’s weaving lines before the song kicks into full gear. But Duff is much more than that. Elements of 70s rock, punk, Seattle sludge and English-style glam permeate his music, whether he’s out front singing and playing guitar in his band Duff McKagan’s Loaded, or contributing to Jane’s Addiction a few years back, or blasting out the low end in Velvet Revolver, or collaborating with Sebastian Bach, or his latest venture, the blues-rock band Walking Papers, which features Jeff Angell of The Missionary Position on vocals, guitar, Barrett Martin of formerly of Screaming Trees and Mad Season on drums, and Angell’s Missionary Position bandmate Benjamin Anderson on keys. The band was formed by Jeff and Barrett, with Duff and Benjamin coming on board as formal members following their contributions to the band’s debut album. “I don’t even sing backups in Walking Papers,” Duff says. “It’s the first time I’ve played just bass and that’s it!”
Continue reading “Talking Bass With Duff McKagan”

A common phrase is that there’s no account for taste, and rightfully so. I used to be fond of the more ‘traditional’ heavy metal and hard rock styles, loaded with postproduction processing and a lot of thick production. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with a good deal of Queen, the Darkness or Iron Maiden every once in a while, right?! But as I’m getting older, I’m finding myself more and more fond of cleaner styles. Not necessarily styles with less gain, but less production, a more raw, fundamental sound and one aspect to achieve such a sound is to skip all the gimmicks and frills and go back to the bare essentials: bass, drum, guitar and vocals. In my opinion, a power trio is one of the most awesome band configurations you could imagine. A ‘power duo’ often lacks the melodic power or the low end ‘thump’ of a multi-person band, and when you’re using more than two lead instruments, the sound often becomes too congested, too thick and too rich for my taste. Not to mention that the instrumentalists of a power trio often need to be very skilled in their respective field in order for their music not to sound boring or dull. Continue reading “My 10 Favorite Power Trios”

During my blogs I predominantly discuss guitars and pickups but all would be pointless without an amp (and cab!). In this blog I will introduce you to an amp builder, amp tech and friend of mine. Chris Winsemius is the founder and owner of CMW amps. Founded and based in the Netherlands, he has build and modded countless amps, building a name for himself with a great reputation as its result. Continue reading “Designing An Amplifier: An Interview With CMW Amplifiers’ Chris Winsemius”

Bruce Kulick has just launched a new signature guitar with Rock ‘N Roll Relics, sold through Rebel Guitars, and it features an Antiquity JB humbucker as its sole pickup, screaming out with its powerful, punchy tone from the bridge position and with only a volume and a tone control to keep it company. The Rock ‘N Roll Relics Bruce Kulick BK model is being made in an extremely limited edition of 25, hand-numbered by Bruce and with a certificate of authenticity. It’s inspired by one of Bruce’s favourite KISS-era guitars, and each one will be aged and distressed to look like the original.  Continue reading “Bruce Kulick Launches Antiquity-Loaded Signature Guitar”

The decision to replace guitar pickups in your guitar is one only you can make. This article will attempt to describe some of the instances where it would make sense to replace these tone-producers. Some people are relentless tinkerers, and some are afraid of a soldering iron. Either way, we can’t deny that a pickup change can make a good-sounding guitar a great-sounding one, or one that will better suit your needs at this point in your musical journey. After talking to some of my guitarist friends, spending plenty of time on the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum, and analyzing my own needs, I came up with a few different scenarios. Continue reading “Why Should I Replace My Pickups, Anyway?”

If you’re heading to Anaheim, California for the Winter NAMM Show this year you’ll find us at Hall B in Booth 5661 with plenty of new exciting products for you to check out. And if you can’t be there we’ll be posting about the show on our social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You’ll be able to keep up with what’s happening at our booth, as well as see all sorts of new guitars featuring Seymour Duncan pickups by as many brands as we can find across the four days of NAMM!
And if you’re coming along to the show, here is our artist performance schedule.

Scales by themselves are not much more than finger exercises. However, you can unlock the sound of each and every scale by learning to use what chords to use them over. The secret to this arcane knowledge is in the scale itself. This article focuses on a very popular but certainly very strange sounding scale, the melodic minor, and how we can figure out some chords to play behind our rockin’ solos. Continue reading “Chords of the Melodic Minor Scale”