00:04Hey what's up? It's Paul here from Guitar World and today we're going to be checking out an
00:09exciting humbucking pickup from Seymour Duncan that articulates the very best in harmonics
00:14and crunchiness. The Seymour Duncan 78 model. Let's check it out.
00:39Whether you knew it or not, in the late 70s Seymour Duncan, the man, was well known as the guy
00:45to
00:45custom wind pickups for some noteworthy guitarists who were looking to venture beyond what was
00:49available and create their own identifiable tone and sound. In 1978, hence the 78 model name,
00:57one such artist handed a PAF to Seymour to have it rewound to bring out more natural harmonics
01:03and a hotter wine to make harmonics scream and notes jump.
01:16So in case you're wondering, the 78 model is wound to those exact specs with what Seymour describes as
01:21his hot wine that allows for a slightly overwound vintage spec Alnico 2 humbucker
01:27to yield a responsiveness normally heard in high output Alnico 5 and ceramic loaded pickups.
01:33To put it another way, this 78 model is undoubtedly meant for guitarists who want to bring out the
01:39clarity in their tapping, warm crunch tones, and the ability to coax both natural and artificial harmonics
02:01sound effects. And interestingly enough, this particular pickup is one of the most talked about humbuckers on many online guitar
02:10and tone chasing forums, because prior to this, it was only available as a custom shop option. But thankfully, it's
02:16the only one of the most
02:16features of the 78 model. Seymour Duncan has now made this pickup a production model at an affordable
02:20price point. But I can tell you this 78 model delivers that familiar tone and feel. And I'm
02:26going to show you it on two different guitars on this Floyd equipped Kramer, and also my very
02:31own Les Paul.
02:32Okay, let's start on the Kramer here. You can see the 78 is a direct mount, Floyd equipped.
02:37Obviously, the maple neck on this guitar is going to bring out a lot of screaming harmonics. So it's going
02:42to sound great. I'm going to start on the clean channel, then also hit the coil tap, and then move
02:47over to the rhythm channel as well as the lead channel. And here we go.
03:07So you already can hear how mid-heavy it is in a lot of that full bass. And then when
03:13you pop the coil, it kind of tames that a bit. Here we go.
03:39.
03:40.
03:40.
03:40.
03:40.
03:42.
05:00Let's try that with a coil tap.
05:33Moving over to Les Paul, now you're going to hear a little more of a warmer, maybe possibly
05:37darker sound, obviously because you have a mahogany neck, a rosewood fingerboard.
05:43No coil tap on this, but definitely a warmer and darker sound, but still full and filled
05:50with harmonics.
05:51Let's take a listen.
06:22And by customer demand, a matching neck model, which is all available in Seymour Duncan's
06:29assorted colors of black, gold cover, nickel cover, reverse zebra, white, and zebra.
07:15The Seymour Duncan 78 model humbucker is a wildly responsive, overwhelmed pickup with biting
07:21clarity and warm, crunchy overtones.
07:23It's a humbucker that over delivers the very best of classic and hard rocking tones for
07:28tappers and shredders alike.
07:30A lot of guitarists have been waiting for a pickup like this, and it doesn't disappoint.
07:34Definitely check it out.
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