Not even doctors make house calls anymore. Fortunately for producer legend Daniel Lanois, Seymour, custom shop manager Maricela “MJ” Juarez and tech guru Scott Miller paid a visit to the guitar guru’s Silverlake, CA home to deliver a set of Stereo Gretsch Filtertron pickups that MJ specifically re-created for him.

Lanois has produced albums by some of the biggest artists of the last 30 years. Names like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Brian Eno and U2, but he’s also a major guitarist with an incredible vintage collection. His two favorite guitars for studio and stage are the Stratocasters pictured below, which have Seymour Duncan Hot Rails inside. “It was a pleasure hanging with Daniel last week”, says Miller, “if he’d asked us to bring him Chinese food instead of vintage pickups, we would have happily obliged.”

Seymour Duncan will be at Europe’s largest musical instrument trade show, Musik Messe.  Similar to the winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA, Musik Messe in Frankfurt Germany is where the world’s manufacturers announce and show their new products. Cavalera Conspiracy bassist Johny Chow will be on hand all day, helping out with product demonstrations.

Continue reading “Seymour Duncan in Germany for Musik Messe 2011”

“I experimented with a lot of pickups before I settled on the Seymour Duncan JB SH-4,” says thrash-metal guitarist John Laux of Warbringer, which is working on a new album and is preparing for late spring tour dates.

“Distortion can be tricky when you need plenty of gain and still want a super warm colorful sound. I’ve found over-wound pickups to be too muddy, and most active pickups feel unnaturally compressed.

“The JB Model is a classic for a good reason: I get a huge modern crunch with the right vintage kind of vibe, and all my dive bombs and licks are always screaming! I have been using JBs for years as they are a rock and metal standard. Recently I switched to Duncan Customs and couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I love driving my high gain amp with a well-rounded passive pickup for a pure, warm, and heavy as hell crunch. All of my guitars have Seymour Duncans in them and I have never been happier with anything else.”

San Mateo, California, rock group State Line Empire have just released “Drive Me,” the anticipated single featuring legendary guitarist Slash. As the winners of Guitar Center’s groundbreaking unsigned artist discovery program, “Your Next Record with Slash,” State Line Empire recorded a 4-song EP with iconic producer Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Megadeth) at East West Studios in Hollywood. Slash performed on the lead single “Drive Me,” which will be distributed by TuneCore and featured on iTunes. (Check out this video of State Line Empire in the studio with Slash!)
After sifting through more than 12,000 entries, Slash and Mike Clink handpicked State Line Empire to receive the ultimate career-altering opportunity that included a management development deal with “The Collective”, a $10,000 Guitar Center shopping spree, an opening slot on Slash’s Monster Energy Bash; as well an editorial feature in Guitar World magazine and promotion from iTunes.
Like Slash, State Line Empire lead guitarist is a long time Seymour Duncan user. He keeps his guitars outfitted with the AHB-1 Blackouts Active Pickups, APH-1 Alnico II Pros, SH-4 JB Model , SH-1 ’59 Model, SH-13 Dimebucker, and the Warren DeMartini RTM.
“As guitar players we spend a lifetime searching for tone,” says Cat. “We speak through our instruments and take our audience on a journey with that voice. For me Seymour Duncan has given me all the tools to do just that. These are hands down the best pickups. It is such an honor to be apart of the Duncan family.”

Considering the colossal coolness of the last video we mentioned, in which Premier Guitar’s Jason Shadrick got the inside scoop on the original “Telegib” guitar and the history of its famous pickups straight from Seymour himself, you’d think that would have been about all the PG gang managed to wrangle from us at NAMM. But no, there’s more—much more, and it didn’t even kidnapping or blackmail (though that might have been fun).

 

In this latest PG vid posting, Jason Shadrick corralled Seymour Duncan Product VP Frank Falbo for a tour through the huge number of new products we introduced at this year’s NAMM show. So if you have heard a little about revolutionary products like Liberator and Blackouts Modular Preamp but just weren’t sure you knew what they were about, or you’re unclear about the difference between a 35th Anniversary Commemorative JB and Jazz pickups and the new Antiquity JB and Jazz, or you’re curious about the new materials in Zephyr Silver pickups, now’s your chance for a cool, refreshing blast of video clarification, courtesy of Premier Guitar.

Click here to check it out!

With the introduction of the Seymour Duncan 35 Limited Edition Guitar, Seymour W. Duncan is retiring his “baby,” the guitar affectionately known as the “TeleGib,” which has been his main instrument for nearly 40 years. While the Seymour Duncan 35 is based on Seymour’s faithful friend—with a number of improvements from Seymour Duncan resident luthier Frank Falbo and the master builders at Larrivée—there is of course an original TeleGib that came before it. In this NAMM 2011 video interview with Premier Guitar’s Jason Shadrick, Seymour tells the full story of the famous guitar he built for Jeff Beck, what JB and JM really stand for, and how it all came to be.

Check out the video here!

Scott Ian from Anthrax is back in action with a new band and a new album, and he’s taking it on the road. The Damned Things (www.thedamnedthings.com) is a supergroup consisting of Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano from Anthrax, Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy, and Keith Buckley and Josh Newton of Every Time I Die.

Ironiclast, the band’s debut album entitled was released December 14 through Island Records, with a sound that blends elements from each group, but with a focus on taking it back to the roots of heavy riff rock and blues.
For his work with The Damned Things project Scott has decided to use the legendary SH-4 JB Model along side his Custom Shop Signature El Diablo pickup. “My JB’s work perfect for the cleaner tone I am using for this project,” he says. “They clean up great while still giving me a really powerful rock sound.”
The Damned Things are currently on the road in the U.S. and Canada. This is a show you do not want to miss.

February 17, 2011	Mohawk Place	Buffalo, NY
February 18, 2011	Northern Lights	Albany, NY
February 19, 2011	Electric Factory	Philadelphia, PA
February 20, 2011	The State Theater	Portland, ME
February 22, 2011	Fillmore	Charlotte, NC
February 23, 2011	Hard Rock Live	Orlando, FL
February 24, 2011	Tabernacle	Atlanta, GA
March 25, 2011	Sound Academy	Toronto, ON
March 26, 2011	St Andrews Hall	Detroit, MI
March 27, 2011	House of Blues	Chicago, IL
March 29, 2011	Gothic Theater	Denver, CO
March 30, 2011	The Complex	Salt Lake City, UT
April 1, 2011	Wilma Theater	Missoula, MT
April 2, 2011	El Corazon	Seattle, WA
April 3, 2011	Commodore Ballroom	Vancouver, BC
April 5, 2011	Ace of Spades	Sacramento, CA
April 6, 2011	House of Blues	Los Angeles, CA
April 8, 2011	Fillmore	San Francisco, CA
April 9, 2011	House of Blues	Anaheim, CA
April 10, 2011	House of Blues	San Diego, CA
April 11, 2011	Mesa Amphitheatre	Mesa, AZ
April 13, 2011	House of Blues	Dallas, TX
April 14, 2011	Scout Bar	Houston, TX

Seymour Duncan Artist and Their Pickups

Who’s that gorgeous cover model? Why it’s Seymour W. Duncan himself on the cover of Volume 4 of online guitar journal The Sound Guitar Magazine. “I was proud to be on the cover along with Johnny Hiland, Phil Collen, and Rusty Burns,” says Seymour, who’s as much player as pickup genius. During the NAMM Show, The Sound’s Jason Macedo came by the Seymour Duncan booth and spent some time with Seymour, capturing the conversation for the magazine. Check it out here.

Seymour and friends met “Sarah And Friends” backstage in nearby Santa Ynez, California, during Sarah McLachlan’s “Sarah And Friends” tour with Butterfly Boucher and Melissa McClelland. Here’s Seymour with Sarah and long-time Seymour Duncan user Peter Stroud, known for his exceptionally tasty tone not only with Sarah but with Sheryl Crow.

Stroud played a Telecaster with new Zephyr Silver Premium silver-wire pickups. A few weeks earlier, he tried Zephyr humbuckers in his Les Paul. “Gotta say I’m pretty darned impressed,” he said in an e-mail. “The pickups really brought the LP to life with a unique tone that doesn’t sound like just another PAF or what you’d expect out of a humbucker. They sound exceptional through the [65 Amps] Li’l Elvis. Beautiful pick attack and definition, bite that is smooth not abrasive, the notes sing on lead lines and you clearly hear every note in the chord. Whatever part the silver wire plays in the tone, you could tell me, but as a whole it’s a very inspiring tone and feel. In other words these will stay in this Les Paul….replacing Seymour’s Antiquities that have lived in this guitar for years.”
This week, Sarah And Friends play Salt Lake City, Denver, Kansas City and Indianapolis, and in March they begin a run of dates throughout Canada. For more on Peter Stroud, visit the archive of our live forum Q&A from December right here.