Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan founded the company in 1976, in Santa Barbara, California. Starting around 1983–84, Seymour Duncan pickups appeared in Kramer Guitars as standard equipment along with Floyd Rose locking vibratos, and can now be found on instruments from Fender guitars, Gibson guitars, Yamaha, ESP Guitars, Ibanez guitars, Mayones, Jackson guitars, Schecter, DBZ Diamond, Framus, Washburn, and others.

Seymour W. Duncan became interested in guitars at a young age, and after lending his guitar to a friend who accidentally broke the pickup, Seymour decided to re-wind it, using a record player turntable to hold the pickup in place and rotate it while spooling wire around the pickup bobbin. He was then inspired by how the tone of the guitar had changed for the better, and started learning more about pickups from guitarist/inventor Les Paul, and later mentor and humbucker inventor Seth Lover. After having developed considerable skill working on guitars, Seymour gained employment at the Fender Soundhouse in London, where he started working on the instruments and pickups of artists including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. After having moved to California he met and married Cathy Carter and decided to start a pickup rewinding service. With demand for his services growing, Seymour and Cathy eventually expanded into offering their own Stratocaster, Telecaster and humbucking pickups, and within two decades had a full assortment of pickups for electric, bass and acoustic guitar as well as electric guitar accessories. In 2012 Seymour Duncan was inducted into the Vintage Guitar (magazine) Hall of Fame for contributions to the music industry, and he continues to create pickups in the Seymour Duncan factory in Santa Barbara, California.

Seymour Duncan also maintains a Custom Shop that has been active since 1976. The Custom Shop is currently managed by Maricela Juarez "MJ" who has been winding pickups for over 30 years for countless famous musicians. It also features Derek Duncan who has spent years learning from his father Seymour W. Duncan. The Custom Shop is known for building pickups for musicians who need something special, these include: humbuckers, single-coils, single-coil sized humbuckers, stacked pickups, Telecaster pickups, Gretsch pickups, Ripper and Mustang bass pickups, P-90 pickups and Charlie Christian reproductions as well as a full repair/rewind service. During the 80s and 90s certain employees did special winding. The Pickup code reflects this with an additional letter following the pickup code.

www.seymourduncan.com