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Yngwie Winds Pickups for Haiti

Seymour Duncan and Yngwie J. Malmsteen are giving players the opportunity to own a very unique piece of gear while helping the recovery effort in Haiti by auctioning a set of pickups hand-wound by Malmsteen.

Santa Barbara, CA (January 29, 2010) -- Seymour Duncan and Yngwie J. Malmsteen are giving players the opportunity to own a very unique piece of gear while helping the recovery effort in Haiti by auctioning a set of pickups hand-wound by Malmsteen.

Fresh off of unveiling his new signature pickups at NAMM '10, Yngwie visited the Seymour Duncan factory where he was shown how to wind pickups, and wound his first set: three true single-coil Strat pickups. The pickups and pickup labels are autographed by Yngwie.

The auction describes the pickups:
The pickup's design is based on Leo Fender’s vintage pickups designs for the Stratocaster. The magnets are sand-cast Alnico 2. The bobbins are hand-fabricated from forbon vulcanized fiber. The magnet wire is vintage-correct Heavy Formar. The d.c. resistance of the neck and middle pickups are 6.40K ohms each, which makes them vintage voiced. At 9.70K ohms, the bridge pickup is over-wound for a hotter, higher-output sound. Each pickup comes with an aged white cover and is ready to install into a Stratocaster or similar type electric guitar. Each pickup has been wax potted by Yngwie for squeal-free performance. Yngwie signed the bottom plates of each of the pickups as well as the description labels for each (six signatures total).
All proceeds from the auction will go to Doctors Without Borders, the international humanitarian aid organization that is providing aid to Earthquake devastated Haiti. More than 700 MSF staff members are working to provide emergency medical care to survivors in and around Port-au-Prince. The auction ends on February 7, 2010.

Seymour Duncan has also made a video with Yngwie documenting him learning how to wind the pickups, and discussing the auction:


For more information:
Pickup Auction (eBay)