As Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario explains, “In the late ‘70s, Seymour Duncan – the man – was well-known as the guy to custom-wind pickups for some noteworthy guitarists who were looking to venture beyond what was available and create their own identifiable tone and sound."
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MusicTranscript
00:00 [Guitar playing]
00:05 Hey, what's up? It's Paul here from Guitar World, and today we're going to be checking out an exciting
00:09 humbucking pickup from Seymour Duncan that articulates the very best in harmonics
00:14 and crunchiness. The Seymour Duncan '78 model. Let's check it out.
00:19 [Guitar playing]
00:39 Whether you knew it or not, in the late '70s, Seymour Duncan, the man, was well known as the guy to custom-wind
00:45 pickups for some noteworthy guitarists who were looking to venture beyond what was available and create their own
00:51 identifiable tone and sound. In 1978, hence the '78 model name, one such artist handed a PAF to Seymour
01:00 to have it rewound to bring out more natural harmonics and a hotter wind to make harmonics scream and notes jump.
01:07 [Guitar playing]
01:16 So in case you're wondering, the '78 model is wound to those exact specs with what Seymour describes as his hot wine
01:22 that allows for a slightly overwhelmed vintage-spec Alnico II humbucker to yield a responsiveness
01:28 normally heard in high-output Alnico V and ceramic-loaded pickups.
01:33 To put it another way, this '78 model is undoubtedly meant for guitarists who want to bring out the clarity
01:39 in their tapping, warm crunch tones, and the ability to coax both natural and artificial harmonics with ease.
01:46 [Guitar playing]
02:04 And interestingly enough, this particular pickup is one of the most talked-about humbuckers on many online
02:09 guitar and tone-chasing forums because prior to this, it was only available as a custom shop option.
02:15 But thankfully, Seymour Duncan has now made this pickup a production model at an affordable price point.
02:20 But I can tell you this '78 model delivers that familiar tone and feel.
02:25 And I'm going to show you it on two different guitars on this Floyd-equipped Kramer and also my very own Les Paul.
02:32 Okay, let's start on the Kramer here. You can see the '78 is a direct-mount Floyd-equipped.
02:37 Obviously, the maple neck on this guitar is going to bring out a lot of screaming harmonics, so it's going to sound great.
02:42 I'm going to start on the clean channel, then also hit the coil tap, and then move over to the rhythm channel
02:47 as well as the lead channel. And here we go.
02:50 [Guitar playing]
03:07 So you already can hear just how mid-heavy it is in a lot of that full bass.
03:12 And then when you pop the coil, it kind of tames that a bit. Here we go.
03:16 [Guitar playing]
03:42 [Lead channel]
04:06 [Lead channel]
04:35 [Lead channel]
04:59 Let's try that with a coil tap.
05:01 [Guitar playing]
05:30 [Lead channel]
05:32 Moving over to Les Paul, now you're going to hear a little more of a warmer, maybe possibly darker sound.
05:38 Obviously, because you have a mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard.
05:43 No coil tap on this, but definitely a warmer and darker sound, but still full and filled with harmonics.
05:51 Let's take a listen.
05:52 [Guitar playing]
06:19 The '78 model comes in a Trembucker bridge, a standard space bridge, and by customer demand, a matching neck model,
06:26 which is all available in Seymour Duncan's assorted colors of black, gold cover, nickel cover, reverse zebra, white, and zebra.
06:34 [Guitar playing]
07:03 [Lead channel]
07:16 The Seymour Duncan '78 model humbucker is a wildly responsive, overwound pickup with biting clarity and warm, crunchy overtones.
07:23 It's a humbucker that over-delivers the very best of classic and hard-rocking tones for tappers and shredders alike.
07:30 A lot of guitarists have been waiting for a pickup like this, and it doesn't disappoint.
07:34 Definitely check it out.
07:35 [Guitar playing]
07:58 [Lead channel]