The late ‘70s was a great time for rock guitar. Prog-rock was giving way to an upstart sound that featured two-handed tapping, extended whammy bar excursions and a sense of irreverent fun sorely lacking in pop music since the ‘50s. This new breed of guitar hero embraced then-new guitars from makers such as Charvel, Jackson, Kramer and others. Seeking new tones, these upstarts modded their guitars, creating funky-looking instruments that performed like stripped-down hot rods.
Around the same time, another upstart – a pickup winder from Santa Barbara named Seymour W. Duncan – started working with these guitar hot-rodders. To honor this collaboration, Seymour released the Custom Shop ’78 Model humbucker, a faithful recreation of the legendary Alnico 2, PAF-style humbucker designed in 1978.
Each ’78 Model is created by hand in Seymour’s Custom Shop and features Seymour’s signature. The bobbins are wound with 42-gauge plain enamel wire, and each pickup features a nickel-silver bottom plate and single conductor braided shield cable. Each Alnico 2 magnet is hand calibrated by Seymour to achieve a “worn in” sound. The DC resistance is around 9.00K ohms, making this suitable for everything from blues to classic rock.
The retail value of the ’78 Model is $160. Seymour wound ten of them for Premier Guitar that will go to ten lucky winners. To qualify, go to seymourduncan.com and click on the Custom Shop page, and there you’ll see the “Artist Signature” Custom Shop pickups. Name the three artists, each of whom has a Custom Shop signature pickup, and post your answer on
premierguitar.com/giveaway to be automatically entered to win one of these '78 Model pickups. Good Luck!