Seymour Duncan Seymour W. Duncan is a guitarist and guitar repairman, but is perhaps best known as the man behind Seymour Duncan Pickups, the world's leading manufacturer of guitar and bass pickups located in Santa Barbara, California. A good portion of Seymour's life has been devoted to studying, and helping to create some of the world's most identifiable guitar tones. Born in New Jersey, Seymour grew up in the fifties and sixties, during a time when electric guitar music grew into greater acceptance. Seymour's teenage passion was focused upon guitars by a great uncle who introduced him to the music and legend of Charlie Christian, Chet Atkins and Les Paul. Seymour quickly progressed from strumming in his bedroom to jamming in packed clubs where his talent was unquestionable (unlike the fake I.D. he used to get inside for his gigs). One night during a session, his Telecaster's lead pickup broke, and he was forced to play the rest of the night on the rhythm pickup. Necessity being the mother of invention, Seymour rewound that lead pickup on a record player spinning at 33 1/3 rpm. While he developed his playing skills, Seymour's knowledge of how guitars work developed at an equally prodigious pace. Seymour took every chance he had to talk with players about guitars, tone and electronics. After spending time with musicians such as Les Paul and Roy Buchanan, Seymour realized that it was his guitar, and not his playing, that prevented him from producing those wonderful tones that defined great players. Suddenly, and forever, Seymour was hooked on the dynamics and character differences of pickups. As Seymour tinkered devotedly with materials and techniques, his bag of tricks grew and grew. At Les Paul's suggestion, he bolted for England in the late '60s where his intention to play soon mixed with the opportunity to further his pickup research working in the Repair and R&D Departments at the Fender Soundhouse in London. It was here that he did repairs and rewinds for such artists as Jimmy Page, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Frampton, and Seymour's guitar hero, Jeff Beck. It was through his work with Beck in particular, that Seymour honed his pickup winding skills -- some of Seymour's first signature pickup tones appear on Jeff's early solo albums. Seymour's sabbatical in England resulted in a flock of new fans and friends. Seymour came back to the United States, and eventually settled in California. He established contact with industry luminaries such as Leo Fender, Les Paul, and Seth Lover (inventor of the humbucker pickup) and continued learning about and making pickups. Demand for his custom pickups grew and, in late 1978, together with Cathy Carter Duncan, he started his own company, Seymour Duncan Pickups. Today Seymour and Cathy are surrounded by 60 employees whose dedication results in the continual refinement of pickup tone and technology. Seymour's latest venture is the Antiquity and Antiquity II Series of hand wound and aged pickups which produce the genuine sound and vibe of pickups made in the '50s and '60s. Seymour's dedication to music has always been focused on helping musicians achieve the tone that sets them apart. His regular appearance at clinics and conventions is part of this on-going commitment to helping players learn and capture the special tone that expresses their inspiration. Seymour has made pickups for most of today's most discerning and diverse players from Aerosmith to ZZ Top and all points in between. To compare tones for Seymour Duncan Pickups Click Here Rio Grande Rio Grande Pickups was founded in 1993 by John "Bart" Wittrock. Bart has been repairing and dealing used and vintage guitars since 1972. An active participant in the first ever vintage guitar show, which took place in Dallas, Texas in 1978, he is a veteran of as many or more guitar shows than just about anyone. Now that's guitar history! Bart probably wound his first pickup as far back as '78 as part of a rigorous regimen of repairing, restoring, and dealing vintage electric guitars. "I was always interested in the design and construction of pickups but was involved in other guitar related business. I am extremely pleased to say that I have now realized a dream to actually produce a high quality American-made pickup which will contribute to the evolving sound of the electric guitarist." Rio Grande pickups are custom wound and "seasoned to taste" in a "low-tech/high-tone" environment. Bart is the brother of well-known guitar collector Tom Wittrock and so the vintage guitar fever runs deep in the Wittrock family. Click here to visit the Rio Grande Website EMG In 1974, EMG was started in the back of Rob Turner's parents' garage by building various electronic gadgets and repairing amplifiers. Rob had played around with pickups as early as 1969 but didn't get around to "business" until a few years later. He got his first business license under the name of Dirtywork Studios in April 1976. In 1978, he changed the name to Overlend, because they were overextended on credit and it sounded nice. In 1983 Overlend became EMG, Inc. (the big time) and hasn't looked back. Through all the company name changes the pickups were always known as EMG Pickups. Not many people know why they called them "EMG", but we'll let you in on the secret now - EMG stands for Electro-Magnetic Generator! Click here to visit the EMG Website DiMarzio Guitarist/guitar technician Larry DiMarzio taught himself to build pickups after realizing that stock models weren't giving rock players the power they desired. While working for guitar builder Charlie LoBue and the Guitar Lab in the early '70s, DiMarzio developed a high-output humbucker that would eventually become the Super Distortion. Introduced when DiMarzio Pickups formed in 1975, the Super Distortion promised "more sustain, more push and drive, and a more desirable overdrive than any pickup ever made by anyone." Big claims for sure, but as endorsed by Al Di Meola, Rick Derringer, Earl Slick, Ace Frehley, and John Abercrombie, the Super Distortion suddenly caused players to become very interested in aftermarket pickups. Based in Staten Island, New York, DiMarzio today manufactures and sells a broad range of aftermarket guitar pickups and accessories as well as supplying OEMs like Hamer, and Ibanez for their Steve Vai and Joe Satriani models. Click here to visit the DiMarzio Website Lace Music Products Lace Music Products is a division of Actodyne General Inc., founded in 1979 by the late Don Lace Sr., an innovative electronics designer with a passion for solving problems using creative solutions. The company was started in the family garage and quickly grew to become one of the most respected companies in the music industry. Don Lace Sr. had an extensive background in high intensity lighting, speakers, and magnetics. This included linear motors, solenoids, alarms, radios, and other highly complex magnetic devices. His expertise in speaker design brought him to Fender Musical Instruments in 1967. There he consulted on speakers and various issues regarding pick-up manufacturing. It was here that Lace was exposed to the fascinating world of the music industry while working with Fender and people like Don Randall. Over the next decade, while heading R&D departments at several different companies, Lace became involved with many other products such as: switching devices, valve designs, and solenoid designs including a shock generator and popet-valves for natural gas powered vehicles. In 1979, Lace founded Actodyne General Inc. as a manufacturer of solenoids for the semi conductor industry with coil winding at the heart of the business. While looking for additional business opportunities, Lace found that Fender was having a high-rejection rate during production of traditional style pick-ups that were made at the time. Eager to become more involved in the music industry, Lace began to develop a new pick-up that would have a lower rejection rate during production. Lace used one of his existing solenoid patents that was part transducer as well as "open and closed" device called a "shock generator". Lace applied the new concept to an old beat up Sears guitar that he bought at a garage sale. He plucked the string and it worked! By the late 1980's,Lace had perfected a single rectangular shaped sensor that fit under the strings. The goals were simple: to reduce the rejection rate, increase fidelity, and reduce outside hum. Lace presented this technology to Seth Lover (inventor of the original humbucking pick-up), who was working with Fender at the time. Lover knew that Lace was really onto something and commented as such in his letter from February 1981. Fender began to use the new technology and feature the Lace design pick-ups on their own guitars. Known as Fender-Lace Sensors, the pick-ups were originally made for the Strat Plus guitar which won numerous awards. Today they can be found on many other Fender guitars and are available in Gold, Silver, Blue, or Red series as either Single or Dually models. Sadly, Don Lace, Sr. passed away on October 11, 1992, leaving a strong impact on the music industry. More than 20 years have passed since the company was started and, to this day, his family carries on his tradition of solving complex problems and developing solutions for the equipment used in everyday music. By creating new, cutting edge, products that capture the sound and soul of classic vintage originals, the Lace Music team continues to lead the industry. Click here to visit the Lace Website Bare Knuckle Pickups Founded by Tim Mills, Bare Knuckle is a small, privately owned business based in the South West of England, UK, specialising in handwound guitar pickups. Traditional skills and uncompromising values set the foundation for a hard working yet forward thinking company always ready to come out fighting and stand up for what it believes. Everyone at Bare Knuckle plays the guitar both live and in the studio, on amateur and professional levels. Everything made at Bare Knuckle is made by hand, in house, with the criteria being to create the best sounding pickups possible from the finest materials. Hypothetical sets of rules to determine how pickups should sound are not used, instead hands and ears are used. All pickups are prototyped and tested in rehearsal, in the studio, on stage, anywhere but on paper and always in the hands of a guitar player. Bare Knuckle stands for a no nonsense, honest approach to genuine hand-crafted guitar pickups and pickups are not made for anyone else other than you, the guitar player. Time and price aren't the deciding factors in pickup construction - sound quality and reliability is! Bare Knuckle's commitment to producing the best sounding pickups possible means that corners are not cut on anything whilst keeping the price to the end user as fair as possible. To see a Guitar Buyer profile of Bare Knuckle click here. Fishman Tranducers In 1981, Larry Fishman saw the benefits of using piezo-electric technology for amplifying acoustic instruments and started Fishman Transducers. ("Piezo" is derived from the Greek word for "pressure." A piezo-electric transducer is a pressure-sensitive element that senses string and soundboard movement.) After years of R&D, a line of transducers, and active electronics made for them, became a reality. This concept was again raised to a new level with the Fishman Blender line of products. Today, Fishman products are designed, specified, built, tested, and distributed by a dedicated team of pros, many of whom are musicians themselves. In addition, Fishman Transducers has earned a reputation for innovation. No one in the industry holds as many patents, or has made such an important contribution to the science of acoustic instrument amplification as Fishman. In fact, Fishman electronics and pickups are standard equipment on some of the world's finest stringed instruments. Click here to visit the Fishman Transducers web-site LR Baggs A long time ago when the company's founder, Lloyd Baggs was a hippie and a young college graduate, having abandoned his career as a classical cellist, he turned his attention to the guitar. His friend and fellow fly fisherman, Christopher Parkening, was playing the classical guitar and that looked like a whole lot more fun. In 1973, Lloyd began his guitar making endeavors by buying, modifying, refinishing, retuning and then returning old Gibsons and Washburns (these were in the days when you could still afford to buy them). After noodling around with some fine old instruments, the L.R. Baggs fine-handmade-guitar-and-guitar-repair business was launched. After Lloyd finished his first guitar in a Berkeley, California garage, he took it to his guitar idol, Ry Cooder, and received his first commission. Lloyd's list of fantastic guitar player customers for his L.R. Baggs Handmade Guitar included Jackson Browne, Janis Ian, Graham Nash and two instruments went to Ry Cooder. The guitar featured on Ry's "Jazz" album is an L.R. Baggs Handmade Guitar. It was during the recording of Ry Cooder's "Bop Till You Drop" album that the L.R. Baggs transducer pickup was inspired. There in the recording studio was an exact Takamine copy of the guitar Lloyd had built for Ry, with a transducer pickup system. After recovering from the shock of seeing an exact copy of his instrument (as an aside, the current Takamine headstock is the headstock that Lloyd designed for his handmade instruments), Lloyd became intrigued with the wonderful possibilities of the piezo ceramic transducer pickup for the acoustic guitar. Click here to visit the LR Baggs web-site