Hello, and welcome to Guitar World’s gear round-up, your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days.

From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay abreast of every new launch that may be of interest to you.

To make things a little easier, we’ve put together an essential must-read guide that will cover the major releases, the boutique drops, and everything in between.

It's pedal mania this week, with a few key releases from Strymon, JHS Pedals, DigiTech, and more, but that's not to say there wasn't at least one big guitar drop this week...

Fender x Tom Morello Arm the Homeless

After years of speculation, Fender has issued a replica run of Tom Morello’s Arm the Homeless guitar – a Frankensteined electric guitar that shaped both Rage Against the Machine and rock music as we know it today.

The story of the original Arm the Homeless is the stuff of guitar legend. Morello commissioned a custom build. He hated every part of it. He systematically changed each piece before landing on a DIY job he was happy with. There were plenty of mods along the way.

Now, all of those idiosyncrasies – save for the dog chew mark on the headstock of the OG – have been replicated on this signature version, which, Morello himself admits, is so close to the flagship Arm the Homeless that he can hardly tell a difference.

“It was the worst guitar I’d ever played,” Morello told Guitar World of his Arm the Homeless axe. “I’d spent all my money making it. I was stuck with it. So I started writing songs.”

And write songs he did. The Arm the Homeless guitar went on to become one of the most iconic electric guitars of all time. Now, after years of patient waiting, that history has been shared with fans.

For more: Fender

JHS Pedals x EHX Big Muff 2

What would you do if, say, you were rummaging through the garage of Big Muff engineer Bob Myer, and came across a long-lost schematic for a ‘Big Muff 2’ that had been lost for the past 50 years? Well, you’d probably try and make it, wouldn’t you? As it turns out, Josh Scott of JHS Pedals was put in that exact position a few years ago while researching his new book about Electro-Harmonix – and has now brought that forgotten fuzz concept to life.

Myer hand-drew the circuit as a theoretical approach to creating a dual op-amp Big Muff. Sure, an op-amp Big Muff actually was created in the 1970s, but it was designed by different engineers. This was Myer’s attempt at cracking the code. And now it’s been brought to life.

There’s a few distinct differences between this and your regular ol’ Big Muff. It’s a bit more aggressive, with an enhanced low-end, cutting midrange, and a sharper attack. Take a listen for yourself. It sounds gnarly AF.

For more: JHS Pedals

DigiTech Badder Monkey

Ready for the next chapter in the DigiTech Bad Monkey tale? Here goes: two years after the affordable, unassuming drive box broke the internet thanks to its Klon-aping gain tones, the Bad Monkey is back – and badder than ever before.

When Josh Scott of JHS Pedals pitted a Bad Monkey against a Klon in a blind shoutout, all hell broke loose. Punters tried to flog their $59 Bad Monkeys for north of $650. Gary Moore’s Bad Monkey was listed for $12k. Scott had to come out and calm everybody down. Merch was made. It all got very silly.

Well, the Bad Monkey is back in the form of the Badder Monkey – a new pedal with two additional circuits, some extra parameter controls, and a neat two-sided reverse plate that comes loaded with hook tape and rubber slip pads. Someone needs to put this against the Klon asap…

For more: DigiTech

Strymon Fairfax

The undisputed kings of digital effects has gone fully analog with the Fairfax – a Class A output stage drive pedal that’s been dubbed “a complete miniature amplifier in 100% analog form”, inspired by the Garnet Amplifiers Herzog tube drive unit designed for Randy Bachman in the 1960s.

It’s not really distortion. It's a tube-like drive pedal with added saturation and harmonics coming courtesy of a nifty circuit that emulates a tube amp’s output transformer.

The really cool thing here is the Sag knob. Crank it for spluttery and spitty sounds that sound juicy and chewy yet DIY and broken. There’s also Drive and Level knobs, and a Bight toggle switch. We really dig this form factor from Strymon. Let’s hope there’s more to come.

For more: Strymon

Crazy Tube Circuits Orama

Crazy Tube Circuits is no stranger to twofer drive pedals – just see the Hi Power and Unobtanium – but its latest might be its most gnarly yet. The Orama is a two-in-one stompbox inspired by vintage Orange amps, and, without beating around the bush, it sounds absolutely mega.

There’s unrelenting saturation and thundering fuzz aplenty, with the Orama capable of some truly earth-quaking tones. But it can also clean up quite nicely, too, with plenty of dynamic response and clarity. Expect heavy, desert, stoner, and doom rock tones, but also more versatile, thick sounds characteristic of those classic British amps. Another absolute win from CTC, it seems.

For more: Crazy Tube Circuits

Seymour Duncan Dino Cazares Machete

Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares has partnered with Seymour Duncan for a set of signature Machete humbuckers, and if you took one look at these and thought they were your usual ol’ passive pickups… well, think again.

Here, active pickups have been paired with passive mounts and a custom preamp circuit for a sound that delivers ferocious attack with surgical precision. The set promises to run the gamut from powering rhythms and leads with mix-splitting precision, with plenty of definition and articulation thrown in for good measure.

For more: Seymour Duncan

Death By Audio Destroyer Series

Any line of pedals built by a brand named ‘Death By Audio’ that has the name ‘Destroyer Series’ is immediately going to grab some eyeballs. But these pedals are also going to grab some, uh, earballs, too, because the Dream Station, Moonbeam Phaser, and Thee Treble Overload units look seriously killer.

And that’s not just because of the rad control layouts and topography design. Each offers its own “over-the-top” personality, though together they form a “family of beautifully chaotic stereo tone machines”. Words simply will not do these justice. There’s reverb, delay, phaser, and fuzz effects to go around, with some genuinely inspiring design choices to boot.

For more: Death by Audio

D'Addario XPND Core pedalboards

D’Addario’s XPND range of expandable pedalboards has been, erm, expanded with the arrival of new XPND Core ‘boards.

Like their predecessors, they work on retractable rails that can make the pedalboard larger – or smaller – depending on how much space you require. These new additions to the range come pre-fitted with hook and loop fasteners, as well as built-in cable management solutions. A pedalboard that won’t judge me for my pedal-buying habits? Interesting…

For more: D’Addario

Ola Englund’s Solar Guitars has gone big with its latest Assassin Series electric guitar, the VA1.6FR Assassin – a striking V-shaped axe with a gluttonous 27 frets.

The guitar builds on the current success of the series, which has focused on sleek, single humbucker Super Strat designs previously, by “pushing further into the extreme territory.” By doing so, it becomes Solar's first guitar to break the 27 fret boundary.

Keeping with the theme, this too is another sleek design, sporting a matte black colorway with matching hardware, while its Seymour Duncan Nazgûl 'bucker is dressed in a deadly red.

It’s complemented by a lonely Volume knob, with no Tone control in sight. You won't be needing that.

A Gotoh 1996 Trem with a Big Brass Block “to ensure maximum kill threat” – whatever that means – also sits atop its 45mm thick alder body. A C-shaped maple neck is capped with an ebony fretboard and a boatload of stainless steel.

The VA1.6FR Assassin also comes equipped with its own-brand 18:1 locking tuners and, key to every hitman’s arsenal, Luminlay side dots. The pointy weapon clocks in at $1,099. Order one, and it’ll arrive with a custom-fit wooden hardcase.

“This VA-Type 1 Series guitar model is full shred combined with maximum chug,” says Solar. It’s a short and sweet statement of intent from the firm.

Speaking to Rick Beato, Ola Englund has revealed why his frustrations with certain aspects of the guitar business encouraged him to start his brand. He founded Solar in 2017 to solve those issues, and its operational model is certainly unique.

And away from building guitars, he came to Zakk Wylde’s aid – as did an old issue of Guitar World magazine – as he prepared to honor his late friend, Dimebag Darrell, in Pantera.

The Solar VA1.6FR Assassin is available to pre-order now for $1,099. It's due to start shipping on 30th January 2026.

See Solar Guitars for more.

Prog rock legend Adrian Belew has shared previously unseen images of his infamous relic’d Fender Stratocaster, which he and Seymour Duncan put through the wringer for its battered look.

Today, off-the-shelf relic’d guitars are commonplace. The Fender Custom Shop and Gibson Murphy Lab are but two examples of high-end mainstream relic'ing. Plenty of other brands have hopped on the artificial aging hype train, though, from Charvel, EVH to Solar and beyond.

In the late 1970s, however, Belew wasn't spoiled for choice with relic'd guitars, so he – with the help of Seymour Duncan – decided to take things into his own hands.

The electric guitar, originally sporting a brown sunburst colorway, was bought on the cheap, and the “ugly-ass” instrument was promptly hacked, gouged, set alight, and exposed to other barbaric and torturous relic'ing techniques. It was brutal, but it worked, and it would later grace the cover of Guitar World magazine.

Now, Belew has reflected on that day by sharing unseen photos on his Instagram.

“Seymour Duncan just sent these cool photos from the day he and I – mainly he – battered and burnt the $285 Strat I had just bought,” his caption reads. “It had to have been one of the earliest examples of ‘relic'ing’ a guitar: he laid it in the grass, doused it with lighter fluid, and phoof! the relic'ing ritual began.

“When we were finished gouging it with screwdrivers, spraying blobs of paint on it, dragging it around the yard, and banging it on the driveway, we hung it up in a tree,” he continues. One of the images shows it pinned against a large tree trunk, broken and scarred.

“The next day, when I took it into rehearsals, Frank [Zappa] said, ‘If you wanted to ruin your guitar, Adrian, why didn't you loan it to a friend?’”

Belew, who spent a year in Frank Zappa’s band before working with David Bowie and later linking up with Robert Fripp in King Crimson, said the Zappa gig was a game-changer for him.

But it's not the first time Belew has reflected on the creation of that fateful relic'd Strat. Last year, he told Guitar World that he believed it to be the first of its kind.

“I’m gonna be bold and say that might be the first relic’d guitar,” he said at the time, “and you can thank Seymour Duncan for that.”

In January, Belew revealed he'd had surgery to combat his carpal tunnel struggles. He's since opened up about how his recovery is going, while hinting at his next musical adventure.

Belew has also paid tribute to the late and highly innovative luthier, Ken Parker, who built his trusted and feature-laden Parker Fly signature guitar.

Seymour Duncan has retooled its famed JB humbucker for Telecasters, and it could be a game-changer for Telecaster players.

The pickup was first crafted in the 1970s in collaboration with Jeff Beck, hence its name. It was the firm's first-ever humbucker design and helped make the sound of his masterpiece record, Blow by Blow, so distinctive.

Since then, it's been introduced to a huge array of genres, with players adoring its high-output tones and ability to push tube amps harder for greater sustain and harmonics.

Of course, it’s proven a hit with metal guitar players, as evidenced by its inclusion in the new Jackson Soloist SL2DX, but it’s also won over blues players, too, for those wanting a little more spice and sizzle.

Now, Tele players can get in on the action with this new reimagining that, crucially, packs the heat and tonal charm of the famed pup into a single-coil-sized design. That’s the real kicker here. There’s no need to get drills and saws out to carve out a bigger hole in your beloved axe.

“With any replacement pickup, you’re constrained by the shape of the pickup that you’re trying to replace,” Seymour Duncan’s VP of engineering and new products, Kevin Beller, explains. “If you’re trying to replace a Tele [pickup], you can’t really deviate from a Tele shape very far. Basically, what we’re doing is we’re trying to fit two coils into the space where one big single coil used to occupy.”

It’s concocted with a ceramic magnet for “powerful and dynamic tones” and is vacuum wax-potted for squeal-free performance. Anyone who’s ever run a traditional Tele hot will know how susceptible to hum they can be.

Wired with four-conductor lead wire, the pickup enables series, parallel, and split coil wiring options for those not wanting to leave their single coil twang behind them.

Naturally, the JB Jr. for Tele is designed specifically for Telecaster bridge routs. Its “beloved punch, harmonic sparkle, and searing highs” will fit most standard Telecaster bridge single-coil routs – Fender or otherwise – but it’s always best to check the measurements before ordering.

“For decades, the Seymour Duncan JB humbucker has been the go-to pickup for guitarists across countless genres,” says Seymour Duncan. “The JB Jr. for Tele brings high output, tonal versatility, and signature harmonic richness to your Tele bridge, all in a single-coil-sized humbucker design.”

The Seymour Duncan JB Jr. for Tele bridge pickup is priced at $129 and is available to order now.

Visit Seymour Duncan for a closer look.

Seymour Duncan has been busy of late, dropping what it claims to be the ultimate Jazzmaster pickup and collaborating with Joe Bonamassa on two pickup sets that recreate the sounds of two unique axes in his collection: his obscure “Greenburst” Strat, and Tommy Bolin's legendary Les Paul.

Seymour Duncan and Joe Bonamassa have recreated the humbuckers from the blues maestro’s Bolin ’Burst – a famed 1960 Les Paul Standard that carries close ties to the late Tommy Bolin.

A few years ago, Bonamassa acquired the guitar under some extraordinary circumstances, going as far as to call it the strangest guitar deal he ever did. Now, he’s linked up with the US pickup manufacturer once again to analyze the Les Paul's two humbuckers in exacting detail, resulting in the signature "Bolin Burst" set.

Bolin himself made his name in Zephyr, the James Gang, and Billy Cobham – ultimately inspiring Steve Stevens to use toy ray guns in one of his most iconic guitar solos – before replacing Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple in 1975. He was driven to his intense audition by none other than David Bowie.

In the group, he helped reshape their sound on Come Taste the Band, before releasing his second album, Private Eyes, in 1976. He died at the age of 25 following a drug overdose in December that year.

The Bolin ’Burst actually belonged to Bolin's friend David Brown, who purchased it for $125 in 1966. It later became Bolin's main six-string after his Goldtop was swiped from a Zephyr gig, and Brown kindly lent him the Les Paul Standard as a replacement.

The pickups were never swapped out, and they – along with Bolin's touch – helped give the electric guitar its singular tone.

To harness that sound, the Bolin Burst pickups feature Alnico 2 magnets to “deliver authentic vintage tonality with dynamic bridge and warm neck pickup characteristics”, and they have been aged by the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop to match the time-worn vibe of the originals.

A portion of the proceeds from sales will support Bolin’s legacy “through dedicated endowment and memorial funds.”

Seymour Duncan says “the bridge pickup provides a dynamic and barky sound,” while the neck is all about “warmth and clarity” through an overdriven amp.

“It really is a special set,” Bonamassa says of his latest signature pickups. Production is limited to 500 sets. Each bottom plate is signed by Bonamassa and Seymour W. Duncan, and the pickups arrive in numbered packaging to the tune of $375 per set.

Visit Seymour Duncan for more.

The release comes as part of Seymour Duncan’s Joe Bonamassa collection, which includes pickups inspired by a 1950 Broadcaster, the most dynamic guitar he's ever played, and one of his personal favorites, an ES-335.

EverTune bridges, famed for their unparalleled tuning stability, have been finding their way onto the guitars of more and more notable players in recent years. Recognizing that, Charvel has served up a brand new Superstrat with an EverTune included as standard for a guitar designed to be played hard.

The catchily-titled Pro-Mod Plus So-Cal Style 1 HH EVTN E sees its S-style recipe given a major shake-up, and the uber-popular bridge comes at a premium.

“[It's] built to handle it all,” its makers say. “The EverTune bridge ensures your tuning stays locked no matter how hard you go.”

An alder body fuses with a bolt-on caramelized maple neck with graphite rods, as it stays faithful to the Stratocaster template. For contrast, though, the guitar is saddled with passive Seymour Duncan Sentient/Nazgûl humbuckers for more brazen tones and to handle disgustingly low tunings with aplomb.

Other specs include Charvel-branded die-cast locking tuners, a Graph Tech TUSQ nut to further aid in tuning stability, a five-way switch, and dedicated controls for Tone and Volume.

It is built with a 25.5” scale length, with a 12”-16” compound radius ebony fretboard that gets 22 jumbo, stainless steel frets, 4mm pearloid dot inlays, and Luminlay side dots for when stage lights offer as much light as an Adele record.

Finishing touches come via a heel-mounted truss rod wheel for easy action tweaks and a pickguard that reminds everyone of its lineage.

All that amounts to a typical, but admittedly keenly spec’d, Charvel creation – what’s broken doesn’t need fixing, after all.

As the promotional video, starring Saosin riff-lord and Charvel signature artist Phil Sgrosso, shows, it unfurls versatile tones, with sweet, swathing ambience through to full-bore, pit-opening metal all on tap. The EverTune, meanwhile, is its trump card.

Though a pretty heavy bridge, EverTunes have the endorsement of many of the modern metal elite, from Spiritbox's Mike Stringer to Misha Mansoor – who threw one onto his latest signature Jackson – and Devin Townsend, through to classic rock heroes Steve Stevens and Billy Sheehan.

Priced at $1,799.99, the Charvel Pro-Mod Plus So-Cal Style 1 HH EVTN E is available now – exclusively in a Midnight Blue finish.

Head to Charvel for more.

If the modern-minded build isn't to your liking, Charvel has also doubled down on vintage-looking relic’d Stratalikes with the Super-Stock So-Cal Style 1 HSH FR RW.

In an age where guitar rigs are getting smaller and the impracticalities of lugging around large equipment to shows are becoming all the more apparent, the need for finding a simple-yet-versatile bit of kit that can cater to all playing scenarios is fast becoming a necessity for bass guitar players.

Of course, it’s a busy market, so there are a few options out there – but with the PowerStage 700 Bass, Seymour Duncan managed to mastermind what could potentially be the most versatile and flexible amp head designed especially for bassists you could come across.

Because of its lineage, the PowerStage line needs no introduction. The firm’s catalog of electric guitar pedal amps has become widely revered by players, offering a grab-and-go solution for guitarists who need a suitable amp modeler power amp companion for any gig, rehearsal or studio session.

For its first foray into the bass world, though, Seymour Duncan upped the ante, and as such the PowerStage 700 Bass is so much more than just a partner for amp modelers.

With a lightweight build, built-in preamp section, onboard overdrive circuit and a comprehensive set of tone-tweaking parameters, the PowerStage 700 Bass functions as a fully standalone bass head, as well as an amp modeler addition, meaning it’s capable of any gig or playing session that could be thrown at it – and it's got a huge array of classic and contemporary low-end tones backing it up, too.

“Our PowerStage line of power amplifiers for guitarists has been hugely popular, and over the years, we’ve had many requests from bass players for their own version,” says Seymour Duncan’s Ryan Fitzsimmons. “Of course, the guitar PowerStage amps are only power sections, but for PowerStage Bass, we wanted to give bassists the added flexibility of a fully standalone bass amp head that could also be used as a power section only if they’re using a preamp or modeler.”

The concept, at least on paper, was simple. How could Seymour Duncan create an amplification solution that truly understands what a bassist needs and wants? When it came to it, the firm’s VP of Engineering Kevin Beller – and lifelong bass player – came up with an innovative design that more than fits the bill.

“The team wanted to craft something more than a mere power source,” Fitzsimmons goes on. “They envisioned a versatile platform that could adapt to everything from the nuanced tones of jazz to the aggressive growl of metal.”

The result is a bass amp head that offers a four-band EQ, the aforementioned preamp and overdrive tones, a presence button for dynamic tone shaping, an aux input, and a rack-friendly chassis for rig assimilation.

It also offers a -10dB pad for switching between active and passive basses and a boatload of connectivity options: XLR, ¼” jack, headphones out, and DI among them.

But it is the preamp and overdrive sections that really make the PowerStage 700 stand out from the rest of the PowerStage family – and from the rest of the bass amp head market.

As Fitzsimmons notes, “The inclusion of both a preamp and overdrive wasn’t a casual decision. We wanted to create a circuit that could provide everything from subtle tube-like warmth to full-throttle distortion without losing the fundamental character of the bass.

“The level control ensures that engaging the overdrive doesn’t compromise your carefully crafted volume settings, making it easy to incorporate live!”

Notably, the PowerStage 700 Bass also speaks to a wider trend emerging in the gear world, and the broader development of the PowerStage line has seemingly acted in tandem with the skyrocketing popularity of amp modelers. This, Fitzsimmons says, was crucial to the development of the latest PowerStage.

“We see the rise of amp modeling technology as a fundamental shift in how musicians approach sound,” Fitzsimmons goes on. “The PowerStage 700 Bass was deliberately engineered with this revolution in mind. Its transparent power section, comprehensive EQ, and versatile connectivity options make it the perfect companion for digital modeling technology or analog preamps as well.

“Musicians using devices like the Quad Cortex can now have studio-grade tone reproduction in a compact, road-ready package.”

But, in a quest to produce what has been described as “the ultimate solution for bass players seeking power, portability, and pristine sound quality”, Seymour Duncan knew it couldn’t stop there.

“For those times when you need a more traditional approach, the PowerStage 700 Bass also offers a fully featured preamp and EQ section. It’s an acknowledgment that modern musicians need flexibility, and they are comfortable combining analog and digital technologies to get their tone,” Fitzsimmons explains.

As mentioned, rigs are getting smaller, and for the bassists who are looking to revolutionize their current rig with a do-it-all device that leaves no stone unturned, they’d be hard pressed to find a better solution than the PowerStage.

As for how the PowerStage can cater to this demand and elevate their tonal performance, Fitzsimmons says, “Whether you're playing a cramped basement venue or a sprawling concert hall, this amp tackles the fundamental challenges bassists face.”

Not only that, its 700 watts of power will mean bassists will never be underpowered for larger gigs, yet won’t be required to lug around awkward and heavy kit. It is, in other words, a perfect all-round upgrade.

“Whether you're a session musician using complex modeler setups or a live performer who needs pure, transparent amplification, this unit can transform your entire sonic approach,” Fitzsimmons finishes.

“The 700 Bass represents a significant milestone for Seymour Duncan. It’s not just an expansion of our product range; it’s a statement about our commitment to understanding that bass players have their own unique requirements.

“Our goal is to stay at the forefront of amplification innovation and to continue introducing new and exciting PowerStage solutions!”

Head over to Seymour Duncan to find out more.

Jackson has refreshed its American Series line of Soloist Superstrat guitars for 2025.

Built in Fender’s Corona, CA factory, these high-performance shred machines are back with new finishes and pickup configurations and “designed with the next generation of heavy metal guitarists in mind”, according to the company.

Jackson launches the 2025 American Series with a hard riffing video featuring UK thrashers Pest Control, and absolutely no talking.

The 2025 model lineup sees the return of the SL2 DX and SL2 DXHT. The HT stands for hardtail, while the SL2 DX has a Floyd Rose bridge. Both models see the return of the classic Seymour Duncan ’59 (neck) and JB (bridge) pickup configuration. That combo has graced countless albums and is a devastating combination in this style of guitar.

The most attention-grabbing new finish is Lemon Ice, available on the SL2 DX only, along with Snow White and Satin Black.

The hardtail version comes in the new Satin Porsche Gray finish, a primer-style colorway, and Satin Black.

Beyond these tweaks, the American Series retains the classic Soloist specifications. The bound ebony fingerboards have mother-of-pearl sharkfin inlays, Luminlay side dots, and a compound 12”–16” radius.

The 24 jumbo frets are made of stainless steel, and the three-piece maple neck is reinforced with graphite rods. Necks on all models are painted the same finish as the body.

Although Jackson wasn’t the first to use a neck-through-body design, it really proved its worth for high-fret access and ease of shredding. These Soloists of course have neck-through construction, with the maple neck flanked by an alder body.

The five-way pickup selector now offers these combinations: 1) bridge humbucker, 2) bridge outer coil and neck inner coil, 3) bridge and neck, 4) bridge inner coil and neck outer coil, 5) neck. This arrangement means that every position on the switch is hum-cancelling.

Being serious rock and metal machines, these guitars come with the only acceptable color of hardware: black. The (black) Floyd Rose 1500-series bridge on the SL2 DX is joined by a (black) locking nut, while the SL2 DXHT has a (black) Hipshot fixed bridge.

Both guitars get Gotoh locking MG-T tuning machines and Dunlop Dual-Locking strap buttons (black).

From the factory, the guitars are setup with shred-worthy 9–42 gauge strings.

The Jackson SL2DX retails for $2,449.99. The SL2DXHT retails for $2,399.99.

More information is available from Jackson.

Seymour Duncan has announced the launch of its new Jazzmaster Silencer guitar pickups. These, says Duncan, offer “classic tone with absolutely no hum.”

While “designed to preserve the unmistakable Jazzmaster charm while eliminating unwanted noise” is a promise we've heard (and been disappointed by) before, it's hard to deny the quality tones in Seymour Duncan's demo. Berkeley, California-based producer Bobbing lays down some of the juiciest Jazzmaster noises we've heard in some time.

The Jazzmaster Silencers follow in the wake of Seymour Duncan's highly regarded Silencer P90 pickups, which use a similar technology.

The Jazzmaster Silencer is available in Vintage and Hot versions.

The Vintage Silencers “deliver the bright, punchy cleans and warm, mellow growls that define the Jazzmaster sound,” claims Duncan, “perfect for surf-inspired riffs, shimmering indie textures, and pedal-driven soundscapes.”

The Hot Silencers, meanwhile, “provide all the Jazzmaster character you love, but with higher output and enhanced power. Ideal for gritty rock, shoegaze, or experimental tones.”

Duncan argue that noiseless designs are especially important because of how frequently Jazzmaster users employ fuzz pedals and other high-gain sounds.

“When you're stacking overdrives and fuzzes, which do pair very well with the Jazzmaster sound, you get that noise amplified throughout your signal chain. When it comes out of your amp, it can be quite harsh or interfere with the sound.”

While many hum-cancelling single-coil pickups exist, all with their own strengths, most fall short of the goal of replicating vintage tone without noise. Seymour Duncan explains why typical stacked pickups fall short:

“With stacked humbuckers, you remove noise, but you also have issues of phase cancelation, which reduces low end and reduces the overall output of the pickup. To make up for that, stacked humbuckers are traditionally overwound, which then reduces the high end response of the pickup.”

Seymour Duncan says Silencer pickups eliminate the dreaded 60-cycle-hum “thanks to a patent-pending triple coil design.”

“The benefit of this triple coil design is that all three coils are actually in phase with each other. That means no phase cancelation and no reduction in high or low end. The outer coils eliminate hum, while the center coil delivers true Jazzmaster tone.”

Seymour Duncan launched the Silencer range with the Jared James Nichols signature P90.

Seymour Duncan’s PowerStage line has been bolstered with the arrival of the PowerStage 700 Bass.

Designed, unsurprisingly, specifically for bass guitar players, the 700-watt bass amp head continues Seymour Duncan’s PowerStage lineage, which particularly looks to maximize and optimize the rigs of amp modeler and multi-effects pedal players.

Dubbed “the ultimate solution for bass players seeking power, portability, and pristine sound quality”, the PowerStage 700 promises to be the ideal clean power platform to amplify amp modelers or preamps both on stage and in the studio.

But, in a bid to add extra functionality into the mix, this particular gadget also offers an onboard preamp apparently primed for a wide range of vintage and modern bass tones – if you decide to forego your modeler altogether and use this as a standalone head – as well as a built-in overdrive that can run the entire gamut of high-gain tones.

For seamless rig integration, there’s also an effects loop for post-preamp processing, a four-band EQ, sweepable mid controls, and a presence button for “dynamic shaping possibilities”, as well as an aux input and a durable, rack-friendly chassis for assimilation.

Other noteworthy appointments include a -10dB pad control for switching between active and passive basses, and a range of output connectivity options including XLR, 1/4” jack, Speakon, DI and headphones.

Indeed, the PowerStage 700 Bass looks to cover all (ahem) bases. It also looks to be a very well-equipped do-it-all bit of kit that is so much more than just a power amp companion for your modeler.

“Other PowerStages are designed to be used in conjunction with a pedaboard – they’re really a guitar power amp,” says Kevin Beller, VP Engineering and New Products at Seymour Duncan. “The bass amp is different, in that it is really a complete amplifier. It’s a culmination of years worth of work. I’m really proud to put this out there.”

The PowerStage 700 Bass is available now for $699.

Head over to Seymour Duncan to find out more.

Joe Bonamassa has launched his latest signature pickup set with Seymour Duncan, this time based on the tonal delights of the obscure 1964 Greenburst Stratocaster he acquired in 2023.

The Joe Bonamassa “Greenburst” Stratocaster Pickup Set has been described as a faithful capture of one of the besuited bluesman’s most cherished instruments. The single-coils feature “precisely staggered Alnico 5 magnets and an authentic design that recreates the magic of this special '64 Strat”.

The pickups are handcrafted in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, and they include gray bottom flatwork and a pad-printed signature from JoBo for a more exclusive touch.

Bonamassa’s rare Strat pre-dates the firm’s much-mired CBS-owned era, with the gray flatwork pickups of the Greenburst’s time adored for a “notably punchy sound and higher output” that sets them apart from their later counterparts.

Watching JoBo’s playthrough, the twang and bite of the pickups cannot be disputed. It's also impressive how close the tone is when he swaps the guitar out for another Greenburst pickup-loaded Strat. It's very close indeed.

“It's for power Stratocaster playing,” Bonamassa says of the newly created set. “It's not subtle! It's the power and projection of the gray bottom characteristics that really balance out the front, middle, and treble positions.”

Made with period-correct wiring and the aforementioned staggered magnets, no corners have been cut to replicate the tone of the Greenburst, a guitar he called an “instant star” when he first laid eyes on it.

The guitarist has a knack for ultra-rare gear finds, even if it means taking exhaustive measures, like a 15-year search for Lowell George’s Dumble Overdrive Special amp. For a man whose home-turned-gear-museum has been the subject of two Reverb documentaries, though, the fact the Greenburst stands as one of his finest finds is quite the achievement.

Bonamassa bought the Strat in question from revered vintage guitar emporium Norman's Rare Guitars in early 2023. Its green finish – clearly not a stock colorway – had initially piqued his interest, and it's believed that the guitar's repaint was done in the 1970s at the latest.

The Joe Bonamassa “Greenburst” Stratocaster Pickup Set costs $375. The first 500 sets sold will have an aged finish. They will also include limited-edition packaging and a certificate of authenticity signed by Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan.

Head to the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop for more details.

Charvel has sought to channel “a contemporary blend of exceptional style and high-performance features” by launching three snappily named 'MJ DK24 HSH 2PT Mahogany' electric guitars.

It's not a name that is likely to win a branding and marketing award, but within its coding, we're told everything we need to know about these three high-end Superstrat-inspired builds.

These Japan-made, Dinky-shaped guitars offer fretboards that stretch to a full two octaves, HSH configurationa, a trio of flash finishes, and an assortment of top-tier specs that make them worthy additions to the high-performing MJ Series.

Each build boasts a mahogany body for a “punchy tone” and “a touch of brightened treble”, while a bolt-on wenge neck benefits from graphite reinforcement and a “sculpted shredder’s cut heel”.

Built with a 12”-16” compound radius and 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, the fretboard also gets rolled edges and Pearloid dot inlays, while the neck has a hand-rubbed oil finish.

A custom-voiced Seymour Duncan Full Shred TB-10 humbucker sits in the bridge, while a Flat Strat SSL-6 single-coil and an Alnico II Pro APH-1N 'bucker – in the middle and neck positions, respectively – complete the guitar's versatile HSH voice box.

“This combination,” Charvel says, “delivers focused humbucker tones with a perfectly balanced treble and bass response, alongside a sparkly vintage snap.” Those tones can be personalized and controlled via a five-way pickup switch and dome-style Volume and Tone knobs.

Each variant also offers a Gotoh Custom 510 recessed tremolo bridge, Charvel-branded die-cast locking tuners, and either black or chrome hardware, depending on what finish players choose: Black, Antique Burst and Caribbean Burst are available.

Those latter two finishes take matters one step further with flame maple tops for a touch of class. Spoke-wheel truss rod adjusters and Dunlop dual-locking strap buttons, meanwhile, are practical and premium appointments in equal measure.

The black headstocks, emblazoned with white Charvel logos, are a nice touch to complement the dark edges of each finish, but otherwise, these guitars simply do what Charvel does best: kit out the Superstrat guitar template with quality, shred-friendly specs.

The lines between Fender’s family of guitars – from Jackson’s weaponized metal guitars and Charvel’s more subtle builds – are beginning to blur more and more.

The release of Fender’s new American Ultra II series – recently put through its paces by John 5 – proves that, with Fender injecting a little extra spice into its newest family via modern touches and finger-blurring Charvel/Jackson-inspired necks.

This guitar, though, is Charvel through and through and, as per its makers, is “attentively crafted in Japan and exquisite in style”.

“The MJ Series,” it continues, “blends Charvel's unparalleled legacy of designing high-performance instruments with an assortment of top-end features.”

The Charvel MJ DK24 HSH 2PT W Mahogany Black costs $1,999.99.

Those wanting a Burst finish and flame tops will have to shell out a little more, with the Antique and Caribbean models coming in at $2,199.99. They ship in a Multi-Fit Hardshell gig bag.

These are the latest guitars to arrive from Charvel's high-end MJ Series, which pays homage to a time when Charvels were exclusively made in Japan. The range saw the firm hop on the made-in-Japan hype late last year, with the unveiling of three similarly spec'd San Dimas models.

Check out Charvel for more info.

Blues maestro Joe Bonamassa has, once again, teamed up with Seymour Duncan on signature Broadcaster pickups that promise to add that extra vintage, 1950s-inspired flair to your Telecaster.

Joe Bonamassa's 1950 Broadcaster Set takes inspiration from the Tele predecessor, of which only 250 were built between the fall of 1950 and the spring of 1951.

Right after its introduction, a trademark war ensued with Gretsch, which owned the BroadKaster trademark. This led to it becoming known as the “Nocaster”, which eventually resulted in the model we now know as the Telecaster.

As you can imagine, these guitars are now extremely rare. However, as befits a bona fide vintage collector, Bonamassa is the owner of one of these scarce models.

“The Broadcaster will be turning 75 years old next year, and it's just an incredible invention of electric guitar,” Bonamassa tells Seymour Duncan.

“My original guitar has a nice bright front pickup, which is hard to find on early Telecasters because they tend to get a little bit muddy. They're either overwound, underwound, or generally just a little lower in volume. So it's hard to get a really nice, punchy bright front pickup.”

However, according to Bonamassa, Seymour Duncan managed to capture his Broadcaster's unique tone and present it to the masses.

In fact, this 2024 replica is arguably so close to the real thing, that Bonamassa himself demos the set on an affordable Squier Tele and compares these pickups to his original.

“These are the prototypes of the Broadcaster set,” he explains. “The front [neck] pickup is a nice, bright, punchy pickup, and the flat-pole [bridge pickup] has a nice bite and a crunch.”

More importantly, they're authentic to Leo Fender's original design, which is why the tone evokes the early days of blues, rock, and country.

The set is built in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop and features Alnico 2 magnets in the neck, Alnico 4 magnets in the bridge, and cloth push-back cable.

What's more, the raw steel bottom plates will be signed by Bonamassa and Seymour W. Duncan, aged to match the original set from the Broadcaster that inspired this new release, and individually numbered.

If you don't manage to nab one of the 250, Bonamassa and the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop will offer these pickups as built-to-order models for $160 a piece or $310 a set.

For more information, visit Seymour Duncan.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

The preceding quote is the introduction to Charles Dickens’ immortal classic A Tale of Two Cities, set in Paris and London around the time of the French Revolution, but it’s also a pretty damn accurate description of the state of the guitar industry during the ’70s.

That decade is commonly disparaged as a depressing era when the industry’s leading manufacturers produced some of their worst guitar models, which is not entirely untrue, but it also was an auspicious period when exciting new guitar companies emerged and amp and effect technology rapidly advanced.

The decline of America’s biggest guitar companies during the ’70s was essentially a hangover from the over-ambitious reaction to the Beatlemania-inspired guitar boom of the ’60s. Hoping to cash in on the phenomenon, major corporations purchased America’s biggest guitar companies, with CBS buying Fender, Norlin purchasing Gibson and Baldwin taking over Gretsch.

Although the electric guitar remained massively popular during the ’70s, sales dropped rather steeply from the staggering heights of the ’60s peak. In typical corporate fashion, management typically believed that the accounting department’s cost-cutting measures were a more effective means of maximizing profits than investments in better materials, tools and craftsmanship, and quality took a hit as a result.

That isn’t to say that the instruments Fender, Gibson, Gretsch and others were making during the ’70s were actually bad. Many players who own ’70s guitars from these companies can attest that the majority are decent, playable instruments.

The problem was that distinctly superior instruments from the Fifties and ’60s preceded them by only a few years, so the quality drop-off was much more dramatic and noticeable in comparison. The much higher cost of a new instrument during the ’70s (even when adjusted for inflation) further increased musicians’ frustrations.

The silver lining of the backlash to corporate mass-produced ’70s guitars is that it opened up and nurtured numerous other avenues that offered players compelling alternatives to the status quo. Smaller independent companies emerged that proved that you still could make a guitar like they used to and even improve it.

Japanese manufacturers progressed rapidly from building quirky oddball guitars during the ’60s to producing affordable copies of classic guitars that were surprisingly good during the early and mid ’70s and developing their own original models built with passion and pride in the late ’70s.

The vintage-guitar market rapidly blossomed as guitarists became more knowledgeable and discerning, and replacement pickup, body, neck and parts manufacturers offered convenient and affordable means for players to upgrade their instrument or even build one themselves.

For the most part, the only products that experienced dramatic drops in quality were guitars. Electronic gear like amps and effects improved in general, and most innovations in these areas were developed with players’ wants and needs predominantly in mind.

Rapid advancements in integrated circuit technology led to inexpensive, compact effects like flangers and analog delays, and amp designers finally accepted overdrive and distortion as qualities to embrace rather than eradicate.

Thanks to the abundance of guitar-dominated music that prevailed during the ’70s, gear from that era continues to hold a special place in the hearts of guitarists today. Here is a look at some of the finest examples along with a few admittedly flawed specimens that still manage to charm us after all these years.

Guitars

Major-Manufacturer Beauties and Blunders

Gibson’s age-old motto was “Only a Gibson is good enough,” but during the ’70s that seemed to change to, “It’s good enough, ship it anyway.” The downsides of the corporate takeover of the industry’s leading guitar companies during the ’60s went into full effect during the ’70s as shareholders and cost-cutting took precedence over players and quality.

Some factors were beyond the companies’ control, like the scarcity of Brazilian rosewood after Brazil ceased export of the tone wood in 1967, which caused the price to increase and supply to dwindle, making less-costly Indian rosewood a new standard tone wood.

But the big companies also tended not to leave well enough alone, making many design and construction changes that were often unnecessary, puzzling and unwelcome – features like multi-layered or patchwork multi-piece bodies that seemed to be as much glue as wood, overall weights that tipped the scales at 10 lbs. or more, low-quality or non-optimal electronics, cheap cast hardware, inferior tuners that slipped, heavily applied polyester finishes and so on.

Many bolt-on-neck Fenders suffered from haphazardly cut neck pockets with gaps that were large enough to easily slide a heavy gauge pick into. Gibson guitars often had useful features that guitarists generally didn’t want or understand, like neck volutes, the TP-6 stop tailpiece with fine tuners and the oversized “harmonica” bridge, which weren’t actually bad but were just different.

At the same time, a sort of if-you-can’t-beat-’em-join-’em mentality inspired Fender to offer guitars with humbuckers and Gibson to start producing instruments with bolt-on necks and 25 ½-inch scale lengths.

Meanwhile, Gretsch decided to completely change the design of every guitar they made, which ranged from the decent (the 7594 and 7593 White Falcons, the 7670 Country Gentleman) to the hideous (the Roc Jet, TK300 and Committee, which actually seemed to be designed by a committee).

But like the winner of an ugly-dog contest, many of these models have found loving homes today. Some designs, like the Gibson RD Artist and Fender Lead series, were ahead of their time or simply too different from the classics to make an impression on players with staunchly conservative tastes.

Although luminaries like Ted McCarty and Leo Fender had left Gibson and Fender, respectively, before the ’70s, talented, visionary inventors were still employed by these companies, like electronics whiz Bob Moog at Gibson and legendary pickup designer Seth Lover at Fender.

Rise of the Vintage Guitar Market

In collector vernacular, a vintage item is usually something that is at least 20 years old. The irony of the vintage guitar market is that when it started to gain momentum in the early ’70s, the most highly coveted electric guitar models from the Fifties were barely in their mid-teens and technically were “used” guitars.

But thanks to high-profile dealers like GTR and Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Norman’s Rare Guitars in Los Angeles and Mandolin Brothers, Matt Umanov Guitars and We Buy Guitars in New York, as well as a growing number of smaller dealers across the United States, the word “vintage” that they used to market classic instruments resonated with guitarists (although does anybody today refer to instruments from the ’90s as vintage?).

Numerous factors influenced a growing demand for vintage guitars during the ’70s, but the main driving force was the comparative decline in quality of new instruments as described above.

Ian Hunter’s entertaining and illuminating book Diary of a Rock’n’Roll Star also helped spark the vintage guitar fire during the early ’70s through his accounts of roaming pawn shops across the U.S. in search of classic American guitars and oddities while on tour with Mott the Hoople.

Rick Nielsen played a similar outsize role in stimulating vintage hoarding lust during the late ’70s, appearing on stage with Cheap Trick with row upon row of dazzling vintage and custom guitars on stands perched in front of his amp stacks.

In fact, vintage guitars were a common sight for concert goers during the ’70s. Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Joe Walsh, Joe Perry, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Montrose, Charlie Daniels and Gary Richrath were just a few of the main players who fanned the fire for flame-top 1958-60 Gibson Les Paul Standards.

Peter Frampton’s triple-humbucker 1954 Les Paul Custom, Neil Young’s “Old Black” and Jeff Beck’s “Oxblood” Les Pauls may have been heavily modified, but they inspired lust for black Gibsons. Clapton with his trusty Fifties “Brownie” and “Blackie” Strats and Rory Gallagher with his battered rosewood neck 1961 Strat helped make “pre-CBS” a household word with guitarists.

Although 1958-60 sunburst Les Paul Standards soared to prices starting at $2,000 and up during the ’70s, most classic Fender, Gibson and Gretsch guitars from the ’50s and ’60s, including Les Paul Specials and Juniors, SGs, non-reverse Firebirds, Strats, Teles, Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Duo-Jets and 6120s, cost about the same or even less than a comparable brand-new guitar.

Custom Competition

The less-than-stellar reputations of factory guitars from major manufacturers during the ’70s opened up an opportunity for a new breed of custom guitar builders who could provide a higher standard of quality for customers willing to spend a little more for an instrument.

B.C. Rich, Dean and Hamer were the most prominent and successful small companies that emerged during this time to fill that void. All three companies shared high standards of craftsmanship and attention to detail while also offering bold, aggressive designs that appealed to hard rock players.

Located in the greater Chicago area only a few hours drive from Gibson’s factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Hamer and Dean both built guitars that were essentially copies of Gibson’s Explorer (Hamer Standard/Dean Z) and Flying V (Hamer Vector/Dean V) models but using higher-quality materials.

Hamer also made the Sunburst model, which essentially was a double cutaway Les Paul with a flat top, while Dean also produced the ML and Cadillac, which were like a hybrid of an Explorer and a V or an Explorer and a Les Paul, respectively.

B.C. Rich offered original designs such as the Eagle, Mockingbird and Bich with features like neck-thru-body construction, built-in preamps and advanced switching options.

All three companies built instruments for an impressive roster of high-profile artists, and the exposure and ensuing demand helped them expand their offerings to include less expensive production models by the late ’70s.

Japanese Imports

A growing influx of affordable electric guitars built in Japan arrived in the United States where they were promptly welcomed by players looking for alternative instruments. Manufacturers like FujiGen Gakki, Matsumoku and Tokai Gakki gained a foothold by offering models that were copies of vintage and current Fender, Gibson and other popular American guitar models, sold under various brand names like Aria, Ibanez and Tokai.

The irony was that some of these companies like Matsumoku were also making budget models for American brands like Epiphone at the same time, which were not as highly regarded as their copy models.

Ibanez was the biggest success story of this development. The quality of Ibanez-brand copies increased each year as their craftsmen meticulously studied every fine detail of vintage examples. Fujigen’s Les Paul copies quickly progressed from clunky bolt-on neck designs to set-in necks with long tenons like Gibson made during the ’50s.

Ibanez’s mid-’70s “korina” trio (actually made from Japanese Sen and finished with yellow hue that resembled korina) of Destroyer (Explorer), Rocket Roll Sr. (Flying V) and Future (their rendition of the mythical Moderne) looked cool, played well and sounded great, and – best of all – cost about the same as Gibson’s homely entry-level models.

These Japanese copies had gotten so good that the American companies pushed back by filing copyright infringement lawsuits, but Ibanez in particular was already one step ahead of them and was transitioning to their own original models by then. Ibanez’s Artist, Iceman and Musician models produced during the late ’70s were quite impressive thanks to all the knowhow they absorbed from studying the classics.

Acoustic Avenues

Although the C.F. Martin guitar company did not get snapped up by corporate ownership like most other large guitar companies during this era, they also experienced similar lapses in quality control during the ’70s.

More than any other company, Martin suffered the most when Brazil stopped exporting Brazilian rosewood in 1967 and they were forced to transition to Indian rosewood by 1969 when their supply ran out. However, the change to Indian rosewood was less of a problem than the increasingly heavy-handed building processes that Martin was using at the time.

Martin’s management determined that they were losing too much money from warranty claims, so they began building guitars with thicker braces and tops, heavier, more durable finishes and clunky necks.

The guitars were so overbuilt that you could probably use them as baseball bats without damaging them, but the sound quality was adversely affected. Just like with the electric guitar market, this led to increased interest in vintage Martins as well as an influx of low-cost Japanese copies.

Takamine made a huge splash with low-priced copies of Martin’s D-18 and D-28 dreadnoughts, and Alvarez-Yairi made higher-end copies for players who didn’t mind spending a little more. Yamaha also increased its market share significantly during this time thanks to aggressive distribution efforts.

It wasn’t all bad news for American-made acoustics though. Guild continued to make good instruments throughout the decade, and their 12-string models from the ’70s in particular are highly regarded.

Ovation introduced its first models during the ’60s, but the brand truly came to prominence during the ’70s as Ovation and their offshoot Adamas brand acoustic-electrics became common fixtures on concert stages.

Parts Is Parts

If you couldn’t afford a custom guitar from Hamer or B.C. Rich and didn’t want a Japanese import, another appealing alternative for guitarists was to build their own instruments using pre-made bodies and necks and upgraded replacement parts that had started appearing on the market.

This approach got a huge boost when Eddie Van Halen burst onto the scene in 1978 playing a black and white striped custom Strat that he cobbled together from scrapped parts and a neck and body that cost him less than $200. Boogie Bodies, Charvel, DiMarzio and Schecter were the leading sources for DIY guitar builders who wanted to make their own custom hot rods or upgrade their factory instruments.

Amps

High-Gain Heroes

Randall Smith’s Mesa Boogie amps featuring a revolutionary cascaded high-gain preamp design forever changed the guitar amp industry. The Mesa Boogie Mark I amp introduced during the early ’70s gave guitarists greatly expanded control of overdrive and saturation over a wide range of volume levels ideal for small venues and recording studios to large concert stages.

The tones of the Mark I were thick, luscious and sweet, providing a vast tonal palette, thanks to its reactive tone controls and optional 5-band graphic EQ and delivering a musical expressiveness that slayed the competition. The Mark II model introduced during the late ’70s was the first production amp to offer channel switching, paving the path for today’s multi-channel high-gain amps.

Master of Volume

By the dawn of the ’70s, Marshall’s 50- and 100-watt heads had become the standard for distorted hard rock guitar tone. The problem was that these amps could only achieve those desirable tones with the volume turned up to excruciating levels.

The introduction of the 100-watt Marshall 2203 and 50-watt Marshall 2204 heads featuring master volume controls provided a very attractive solution to this dilemma.

Although the quality of the distorted tone wasn’t quite the same as that of a fully cranked non-master volume Marshall, it still sounded very good and some players even preferred it. Hard rock got a lot crunchier and grittier during the late ’70s, and these Marshall master volume amps played a big role in that.

Solid-State Survivors

Solid-state amps had a bad reputation during the ’70s mainly due to the failures of early models developed by Fender, Standel and a few other companies during the ’60s. However, amp engineers persevered and by the ’70s a variety of solid-state amps that actually sounded good made their way to the market.

Standouts from this period include Gibson/Norlin’s Lab Series, which Dan Pearce designed with help from synth pioneer Bob Moog (who also developed the active electronics for Gibson’s RD guitars and various Maestro pedals). A Lab Series L5 became B.B. King’s amp of choice from the late ’70s though the end of his career, and a Lab Series was Elliot Easton’s main amp on the Cars’ debut album.

The Roland JC-120 came out in 1975 and still remains in production today. Its crystalline clean tone and hypnotic “stereo” chorus effects set a standard for solid-state tone that no competitor has ever really matched. Another noteworthy solid-state amp from the ’70s is the Acoustic 270, which was used by Frank Zappa and Pete Townshend.

Pignose 7-100

Although walls of stacked amplifiers ruled the concert stage during the ’70s, many guitarists used much smaller amps in the recording studio. One favorite secret weapon during this period was the tiny Pignose 7-100, powered by six AA batteries and delivering five watts of output to its five-inch speaker.

The Pignose can be heard on classic tunes that include Joe Walsh’s Rocky Mountain Way and Eric Clapton’s Motherless Children, and Michael Schenker prominently used a Pignose to record crunchy rhythm tracks and brassy, horn-like lead tones on several of UFO’s late-’70s albums.

Effects

Pedal Mania

Some cool stuff was happening during the ’70s in guitar and amp design, but the real action was taking place in the realm of stomp box effects.

Whereas pedal effects during the ’60s were mostly limited to fuzz boxes, treble boosters, wah pedals and the Uni-Vibe, a vast new range of effects became available during the ’70s, including phase shifters, flangers, chorus, analog delay, compression, EQ, envelope filters, octave dividers, ring modulators and more.

Dozens of new companies dedicated to building effects devices were established during this period, which greatly expanded the growth of the musical instrument industry.

Leading companies from this period included Coloursound, DOD, Electro-Harmonix, Foxx, Ibanez, Maestro, Morley, Mu-Tron, MXR, Roland/Boss, Ross, Seamoon-A/DA and Tycobrahe.

There are too many standouts to list completely here, but products of note include distortion boxes like the EHX Big Muff Pi and MXR Distortion +, early flangers (A/DA, MXR and EHX Electric Mistress), the Mu-Tron III envelope filter and mammoth Bi-Phase, the Boss CE-1 and CE-2 Chorus and the first Boss compact pedals (OD-1 Overdrive, PH-1 Phaser and SP-1 Spectrum), the MXR Phase 90 and Dyna Comp, Foxx Tone Machine... too much good stuff.

Talk Ain’t Cheap

Any discussion of guitar effects during the ’70s would be remiss to omit the talk box. The sound of guitarists bleating and barfing through their talk box tubes was heard on countless hits during this era, from Joe Walsh’s Rocky Mountain Way in 1973 through Jeff Beck’s She’s a Woman, Frampton Comes Alive!, Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion and Nazareth’s Hair of the Dog in the mid ’70s, full circle to Joe Walsh with the Eagles on Those Shoes in 1979.

Devices like Kustom’s “The Bag,” the Heil Talk Box, Dean Markley Voice Box and Electro-Harmonix Golden Throat made this effect accessible to the masses, but it didn’t really catch on beyond professional stages and studios due to the complex setup and requisite commitment.

Tape Echo

Stand-alone tape echo units were available throughout the ’60s, but the effect really didn’t catch on until the ’70s as the capabilities of units produced then had greatly expanded. The game-changer was the Maestro EP-3 Echoplex, a solid-state unit that offered a sound-on-sound mode that provided cool looping and layering effects, such as the effects created by Brian May on Queen’s Brighton Rock. The EP-3 was relatively road-worthy and reliable, and soon it became a fixture in many performing guitarists’ rigs.

Roland offered worthy competition to the Echoplex with its Space Echo series tape delay units. Many players found the sound quality of the Space Echo delay effects more refined and polished, and Space Echo models with built-in reverb became a de rigueur studio tool for dub producers in Jamaica. The Space Echo can also create trippy psychedelic pitch bend effects when the speed control is manipulated.

EBow

In 1976 Heet Sound introduced the EBow, an unusual hand-held magnetic string driver that produces infinite string vibration (at least until the battery wears down or the user’s wrist goes numb) to mimic bowed strings, horns, woodwinds, synths, elephants, seagulls and angry wives.

In some ways it’s an instrument all unto itself, which explains why Heet Sound never stopped making the things. The EBow is a cheap, fun and creatively inspiring device – something that all guitarists can use more often than not. Buck Dharma used one on (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, and you really can’t get more ’70s than that without a mustache and white satin jumpsuit.

Accessories

Replacement Pickups

One of guitarists’ biggest beefs about guitars made by Fender and Gibson during the ’70s was that the pickups either didn’t have the sonic richness and expressiveness of vintage pickups or the output was too weak.

DiMarzio was one of the first companies to address this concern by offering their vintage-voiced PAF and high-output Super Distortion humbuckers and Fat Strat, SDS-1 and Pre-BS Tele single coils. Seymour Duncan made pickups for Mighty Mite before setting up shop under his own name, and Bill Lawrence made pickups that were used by Joe Perry and Brad Whitford with Aerosmith.

Red Rhodes’ Velvet Hammer pickups also enjoyed a devoted cult following. These pickups offered an inexpensive and effective means for significantly improving a guitar’s tone, something guitarists truly needed during the ’70s.

Strobe Tuners

In this day and age where one can download a chromatic tuner for free as a phone app, it’s hard to imagine how guitarists coped with primitive devices like tuning forks and pitch pipes to tune their instruments. Strobe tuners existed before the ’70s, but they were bulky, expensive tube-driven beasts that weren’t especially convenient for bands playing at Mom’s Beer and Boobs Emporium.

Compact strobe tuners like the Conn StroboTuner ST-11 and Peterson Model 420 (heyyy, maaaan!) may have still been a bit too costly for the average garage band, but they quickly proliferated in recording studios and touring rigs, paving the way for affordable tuners that emerged during the ’80s.

Seymour Duncan has given its most popular electric guitar pickups a makeover with the new Rail Series, which tailors the designs for high-gain guitar rigs.

The collection includes JB Rails, Jazz Rails, the Hot-Rodded Rails Set, Nazgûl Rails, Sentient Rails, and the Nazgûl Sentient Rails Set.

With this new release, the brand promises to maintain the “revered” characteristics of the originals, while adding an element of “clarity, tightness, and sustain” tailored to high-gain applications.

With the JB Rails, Seymour Duncan retains the full low-end, crisp highs, and upper midrange bump of the JB Model, one of their classic pickups. What sets the Rails version apart is its design, which distributes the magnetic field across the strings, delivering what the brand calls “enhanced string-to-string balance with increased clarity and sustain.”

It’s complemented by the Jazz Rails pickup, an enhanced version of the original model's bright output, with the added boost that comes with the rail design. Together, they make up the Hot-Rodded Rail Set, which Seymour Duncan describes as “an exciting variation on our classic humbucker combination from the 1970s” with the “modern tone, feel, and look of rails.”

The Nazgûl Sentient Rails Set reflects Seymour Duncan's focus on metal players. The Nazgûl Rails takes a page from the metal-attuned original pickup’s book, but puts a greater focus on the low-end and sustain. The Sentient Rails neck pickup is a companion to the Nazgûl Rails, delivering “exceptional clarity and harmonic range” for intricate chordal passages and lower tunings.

All pickups in the Rail Series are hand-built by the Seymour Duncan team in Santa Barbara, California. They feature an Alnico 8-bar magnet and 4-conductor lead wire for multiple wiring options, and are vacuum wax potted to guarantee a “squeal-free” performance. Additionally, they're available in both 6- and 7-string versions, with prices starting from $119.

For more information, visit Seymour Duncan.

Seymour Duncan has partnered with Billy Gibbons to launch not one, but two signature electric guitar pickups, which elevate two classic ZZ Top tones through an assortment of single-coils and humbuckers.

The Red Devil – a new iteration of the ZZ Top icon’s Stratocaster-compatible humbucker – has been geared towards Telecasters, while the Hades Gates humbucker set is engineered for Les Pauls.

Naturally, both will produce their own distinct tones, but each new set has been fine-tuned to deliver Gibbons’ fiery hot Texas tone with some added oomph that previous sets don’t offer.

The Hades Gates humbuckers, for example, promise to be an evolution of Gibbons’ Pearly Gates P.A.F pickups – the same ‘pups that can be found in his coveted 1959 Les Paul Standard – bringing to the table added output and a hotter wind.

Hand-built in Santa Barbara, California, the Hades Gates humbuckers feature Alnico II magnets and are said to offer a more “fiery take” on the mid-forward, punchy sound that Gibbons and his Les Paul is responsible for.

These are available in a range of finishes and covers, from black and zebra to the more retro raw nickel with gold mesh covers.

“It took Pearly Gates and gave it an extra ‘bop,’” says Gibbons of the Hades Gates. “They offer a little extra output. When on stage, I think the essence of cutting through relies upon what emanates from the source.

“That’s the heart of what makes it sound so good. It’s interesting how something so subtle can be so dramatic on the player’s end.”

Continuing the theme of offering “extra heat”, the Red Devil Tele is a standalone mini-humbucker, which has been made available as a drop-in replacement bridge pickup for Fender’s single-cut (and, by extension, any T-style electric).

Again, a hotter wind that drives amps and pedals harder for a punchier output is utilized for the single-coil-sized humbucker, which is only available in black.

Prices for both new pickups start from $129.

In other Seymour Duncan news, the renowned pickup firm recently branched into the electric guitar string market, releasing the Antiquity string range.

Head over to Seymour Duncan to find out more.

Seymour Duncan has expanded its Antiquity electric guitar pickup range, but not with a new set of humbuckers or single-coils.

Instead, the storied pickup specialist has turned its attention to the electric guitar string market, unveiling a new six-string set that serves as the firm’s first-ever set of guitar strings.

In keeping with the wider Antiquity family – which is committed to capturing “the true vintage tones of the most infamous guitars ever produced” – this new release rolls back the years with a more retro design that looks to deliver the desired string sounds and feel of yesteryears.

Specifically, it opts for pure nickel winds, rather than a nickel-alloy plated design. As Seymour Duncan notes, before alloys were introduced, pure nickel-wound strings were commonplace on most guitars.

As well as apparently offering a longer string life and a more consistent tone, pure nickel also provides a richer, warmer tone that became the backbone of classic blues and rock ‘n’ roll.

“Now our Antiquity Vintage Modern Strings bring you even closer to the sound of electric guitar’s early heyday,” the company states. “Antiquity Vintage Modern Strings are the perfect start to your signal chain in the quest to unlocking your favorite classic guitar sounds.”

In terms of gauges, Light (.010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046) and Extra Light (.009, .011, .016, .024, .032, .042) options are available.

This release also sets a potential precedent for future Seymour Duncan drops. We don’t believe this move into the string market is a “one and done” thing, and we fully expected the firm to bolster its string reserves in the future.

Could it continue down the line of releasing strings specific to its pickup collections? Or, failing that, some signature strings to go with its signature pickups? An eight-string set of alt.metal strings would be quite the release.

Both Light and Extra Light Antiquity string sets are available now for $9.99.

Visit Seymour Duncan to find out more.

Seymour Duncan has announced the release of its noiseless P-90 humbucker set, the Phat Cat Silencer.

The pickup set marries the firm’s P-90 Silencer design with its Phat Cat humbuckers to deliver authentic P-90 tones without any extra hum.

While the concept of noiseless P-90s isn't groundbreaking, their delivery in a standard humbucker-sized housing is, meaning any humbucker-equipped guitar can be easily modded to fit them.

The pickup wizards say its latest invention is “perfect for those looking to explore the feel and response of a P-90 without routing out a guitar”.

P-90 pickups, which serve as a halfway house between the bite of single-coils and the gluttonous girth of humbuckers, have proven hugely popular across punk, rock, and metal.

Everyone from Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong to Loathe’s Erik Bickerstaffe have fallen in love with the hybrid-style pickups.

However, their versatility and tonal charm have often been marred by their tendency to become noisy when used in high-gain contexts. Seymour Duncan also notes that their more compact size “often limits them to purpose-built guitars”.

The Phat Cat Silencer, then, looks to rectify both those issues. They boast a noiseless nature “without the need of major guitar surgery,” which means guitarists can “enjoy thick and edgy P-90 tones” at their leisure.

Their standardized housing also opens the floodgates of possible guitars that can load them up.

Players can choose from Vintage and Hot Bridge pickup variations, which are designed to partner up with the Phat Cat Silencer Neck pickup, of which there is only one option.

All iterations are available in nickel and gold finishes. Prices start from $139.

Head to Seymour Duncan to learn more.

Adrian Belew is known for playing an array of Fender Stratocasters, but one of his most notable examples is a heavily relic’d brown sunburst model.

The beaten-and-busted Strat – which once featured on the cover of Guitar World magazine – was purchased in the late 1970s by Belew, who was in need of a new axe ahead of an upcoming tour he was set to undertake as part of Frank Zappa’s band.

However, the rather unsightly Strat wasn’t deemed fit for purpose until after a rather adventurous and experimental cosmetic overhaul that was carried out with the help of one of Belew’s famous friends.

As Belew reveals in the latest issue of Guitar World, such relic’ing isn’t the result of natural wear and tear over the years: it was an ahead-of-its-time DIY job instigated by Seymour Duncan.

“I went to a local used guitar store and was poking around, and in the back they had this kinda ugly Stratocaster hanging on the wall – like a brown sunburst,” Belew recalls. “I said, 'How much for this one?' They said, 'It doesn’t have a case, so we’ll give it to you for $285.' A pretty good buy, I thought.”

The guitar itself wasn’t too pretty, though, and Belew quickly turned to Duncan, who helped him overcome his grievances… with some screwdrivers, spray paint and lighter fluid.

“I called up Seymour when I was back out in California, and I said, 'What am I gonna do? I have this ugly-ass guitar.' He said, 'I know what to do.' He got in the trunk of his car and took out all these things – files and a screwdriver and spray paint and lighter fluid. 

“He laid it on the lawn, and before I could say anything, he took the lighter fluid out and squirted it on the face of the guitar and set it on fire. I said, 'Well, I guess I’m committed now!'

“Then he went to work. He dragged it through the grass. He sanded the back of the neck and put motor oil on it. He took screwdrivers and things and chipped some of the stuff off of it. I did the spray paint – a few bits here and there.”

Suffice to say it’s a far more archaic approach to artificial relic’ing, which has drastically improved in recent years owing to innovations pioneered by the likes of the painstaking Gibson Murphy Lab, and even Fender’s Heirloom aging process.

Still, Belew’s hands-on approach was somewhat ahead of its time, with the King Crimson hero going as far as to say it was the first of its kind.

“I’m gonna be bold and say that might be the first relic’d guitar,” he goes on, “and you can thank Seymour Duncan for that.”

Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitar World, which features a deep-dive into the Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary

Seymour Duncan has just announced the Noumenon signature humbuckers, in collaboration with the former Arch Enemy and current Alcatrazz guitarist Jeff Loomis.

The Noumenon signature humbuckers call back to Jeff Loomis' formative years and promise “tight low-end and smooth treble” as well as “dynamic control and a powerful tone for both six-string and seven-string guitars.”

Active pickups, like his signature Blackouts. became synonymous with Loomis' sound, particularly in Nevermore, Arch Enemy, and his solo work. However, prior to this, Loomis spent years crafting a metal tone that heavily relied on passive humbuckers, bought from 1980s guitar catalogs. The Noumenon signature humbuckers take inspiration from that era, with a few modern upgrades.

“The idea behind the Noumenon pickup kind of happened by accident during an Arch Enemy soundcheck,” reveals Loomis.

“I had an issue with one of my guitars that had my active set in it, and I needed a B guitar really quick to use. I had a Made In Japan Jackson with me on the road that had a passive Seymour Duncan in it, strapped it on, started playing and I just really love the feel and sound of those pickups.

“And being a player that's come from 20 years of playing active pickups, that whole soundcheck was kind of the turning point for me to relive the moments of using passives again.”

The six-string set is built with Alnico 8 magnets, which provide high output and thick bass and maintain definition without getting too shrill when it comes to the high register. The seven-string set is built with Alnico 5 magnets, delivering a tight low-end and sharp attack.

Both signature humbuckers come with triangular feet bottom plates for standard humbucker routes. Direct mounting is included if you happen to own one of Loomis' signature Jackson guitars. The sets will set you back $278, with single pickups starting at $139.

For more information, head to Seymour Duncan.

Over the past year, country-inspired music has experienced a renaissance in the mainstream. From Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter to guitarists like Pedal Steel Noah, Matheus Canteri and MJ Lenderman racking up millions of views on social media, guitar-forward country music has solidified its position in the global mainstream music landscape.

To acknowledge this new country movement, Seymour Duncan has announced pickups “designed with the contemporary country guitarist in mind.”

The new Hot Chicken Strat and Hot Chicken Tele pickups' dual-coil design ensure an “old school” character to the tone, minus the 60-cycle hum. Seymour Duncan also promises that these new pickups have been tailored to meet high-gain demands while retaining clarity and tone definition.

As Seymour Duncan puts it, “These noiseless Stack pickups deliver searing hotness that will cut through any mix. Whether laying down scorching leads or simmering rhythm licks, these pickups ensure fiery country tone without the vintage hum.” Both pickups also promise to deliver a “natural compression” that's especially useful in the hybrid picking and country fusion worlds.

The pickups are designed to fit all Strats and Telecasters, as well as other electric guitars built in those two styles. The Hot Chicken Strat pickups, available in off-white, white, and black, consist of three single coil-sized pickups that can be bought individually or as a set. They come in a stacked coil design wound around A5 Chamfered rod magnets.

The Tele counterpart is made in a similar way and can also be bought as a set or as individuals.

“In the early 80s, we designed a stacked Strat pickup. Based on feedback of the Strat pickup, we're like, ‘Hey, that sounds like it would make an awesome Tele pickup,’” says Seymour Duncan. “We're not trying to make it sound like a Strat, but [use] these same characteristics that are working well for the modern country player.”

The Hot Chicken Strat set will set you back $357, with the Hot Chicken Tele set coming in at a slightly cheaper $238. For more information about these two new pickups, visit Seymour Duncan.

Seymour Duncan has unveiled the alt.metal Blackouts – a new version of its popular Blackouts humbucker series. They are inspired by “the merciless roar of alternative metal guitar tones” and specially designed for down-tuned riffs. 

Following Corey Beaulieu's signature Blackouts, the pickup firm has now issued a tweaked EQ to better handle the cranked low-end that comes with down-tuned guitars. 

As such, these new pickups are said to “enhance the low-end tightness, along with adding top-end bite without harshness”. 

The Blackouts’ standout characteristics – high-energy, high-output, and percussive palm mute powers – remain. This, despite the fresh tone sculpting that’s gone on beneath their stealthy black covers.  

In a Seymour Duncan demo, Ryan 'Fluff' Bruce says the alt.metal Blackouts are designed for drop C# tunings and lower. He also describes the pickups as “a little different” from their predecessors, confidently saying: “If you are into anything aggressive, you owe it to yourself to check these out.”

The set pairs a ceramic humbucker in the bridge with an Alnico V in the neck, with Fluff singling out the neck pickup for its “bell-like tones” that “don't get the muddiness of a lot of other neck pickups”. 

The pickup has also been crafted with clean tones in mind, while “transforming with aggressive mids and increased sustain under higher gain settings” for a Jekyll & Hyde versatility.

The alt.metal Blackouts pickups are available in passive mounts for six-string models. Passive and active soapbar mount versions are extended to seven-string guitars, further proving that the emphasis is on low-tuned modern metal above all else.

The alt.metal Blackouts humbuckers are available from $258.

Visit the Seymour Duncan website to find out more. 

Seymour Duncan has announced a new set of signature pickups for Eric Gales that look like they could solve some headaches for any Strat players who are fed up with dropping outputs in certain switching positions.

The Strat-inspired set encompasses a trio of single coil pickups and will slot in nicely to his glitzy S-style Magneto RD-3 signature guitar. They use Alnico IV magnets in their construction, which are known for offering a nicely balanced EQ and more of an even sound than their stronger Alnico V brethren.

This is important to Gales, as he explains in the accompanying Seymour Duncan clip, given his propensity for frequently switching across all five pickup positions in his playing. 

“Any one of these pickups,” says Gales. “The combination of them all can be turned to on a dime, according to the feel and vibe that I'm going for. It’s so second nature for me to just go back and forth between them all. That well-roundedness just aids in me being able to get my message across.”

In addition, Seymour Duncan says the coils have been slightly overwound, ensuring an even blend of “vintage warmth and modern clarity,” which should see them well-tailored for anything from buttery clean blues lines to overdriven rock sounds.

The pickups have been developed directly with the head of Seymour Duncan’s Custom Shop, Maricela ‘MJ’ Juarez, who is something of a legendary figure herself – having worked on pickups for everyone from Eddie Van Halen, to Slash, Angus Young, Billy Gibbons, and David Gilmour.

Elsewhere in Seymour Duncan clip, Gales talks us through how he views and uses the different switching positions. 

“For me it's all a feel thing, man,” says Gales. “And the neck pickup, I generally call it the Albert King pickup and it has a mid-range-y, meaty tone. The combination of the first and middle pickup, I call that the Stevie Ray tone. It gives this Hendrix-y, Little Wing… sort of sound as it's a very, very, very beautiful tone.

“The middle pickup I go to for nice strong rhythm stuff. The combination of the middle and the back pickup I use for funk, R&B, you know, chicken-pickin’ and it has this crystal-y, Castles Made of Sand sound. I call it the glassy tone. And then the bridge pickup I'm making a statement in a solo or something like that. I want to the gas and go wide open.”

The Seymour Duncan Eric Gales signature pickup set is priced at $375. For more information, head to Seymour Duncan.

There’s been a growing trend for signature pickup sets in recent years. Last month, Joe Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan debuted a set inspired by the P.A.F. humbuckers on one of his favorite Gibson ES-335 – all further evidence of the new golden age for pickups.

Guitarists interested in building a custom stereo rig based on preamps and/or modeling devices or who would like to explore using a wet/dry/wet setup often reconsider once they realize they’ll probably need a separate power amp. 

This is because they’re afraid that their rig will grow into an unwieldy monster, requiring refrigerator-sized racks, a dedicated tech to load and set it up and a van to haul everything around. 

The Seymour Duncan PowerStage 100 Stereo offers a very attractive compact alternative to a conventional power amp. Measuring only about 6-1/4 x 5 x 2-1/2 inches, it’s small enough to fit on a pedalboard, yet its performance is comparable to a full-size rack unit. 

Even better, it provides features like a comprehensive EQ section, cab simulation on/off switch, two ¼-inch input jacks (left and right) and two ¼-inch speaker outputs that are targeted specifically at guitarists’ needs. With 100 watts of output power per channel at 4 ohms/1% THD (or 50 watts at 8 ohms/1% THD), the PowerStage 100 Stereo offers impressive power for its small footprint.

The EQ section consists of active Bass (74Hz), Low-Mid (389Hz), Hi-Mid (1.55kHz), Treble (4.6kHz) and Presence (11.0kHz) controls with 13.2 to 13.6dB of boost or cut. This EQ section can be individually engaged or disengaged for the speaker and XLR balanced line outputs. 

For example, you could engage EQ for the stage speakers only while sending a non-EQ signal to the house sound system or vice versa. The Cab Sim switch engages built-in cabinet simulation for the balanced line outputs only. 

The large output level control is front and center for quick adjustments assisted by separate power amp and preamp clip LED indicators. A small, quiet fan keeps the amp from overheating.

I used the PowerStage 100 Stereo to configure my dream compact wet/dry/wet rig with a Friedman Pink Taco head, Suhr Reactive Load box, Boss SDE-3000EVH delay and three 1x12 cabinets. I also tried it with a Fractal Axe-Fx III and a pair of 4x12 cabinets along with a direct XLR recording feed to a computer. 

The power amp’s sound quality with both rigs was pristine with warmth and definition dialed in for guitar tones, and the output level was more than loud enough for club stages. If you need a stereo amp with more output, Seymour Duncan also offers the PowerStage 700, but it only has 3-band EQ and comes in a rackmount configuration. 

The amp’s True Cab Circuitry delivers attractive guitar speaker cabinet tone, but some players may prefer the greater variety of an external cab simulator.

Specs

• PRICE: $599 / £649
• TYPE: Class D stereo power amplifier w/cab sim
• OUTPUT: 100 Watts per Channel at 4 Ohms 
• CONTROLS: Balanced output Cab sim on/off, Balanced output EQ on/off, Bass, Low-mid, Hi-mid, Treble, Presence, Level, Power amp EQ on/off
• CONNECTIONS: 2x 1/4" inputs, 2x balanced XLR outputs, 2x 1/4" outputs
• CONTACT: Seymour Duncan

As one-third of Periphery’s triumvirate guitar attack, it’s safe to say Mark Holcomb knows a thing or two about crushingly heavy riffing. Periphery has fast become one of the most influential bands in the world of progressive metal and one of the flag-bearers of a sound affectionately known as ‘djent’ alongside bands like Meshuggah, Animals as Leaders, Tesseract, and many more. 

Prototyped back in late 2017/early 2018, the PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN resulted from a close collaboration in design between Mark and the Maryland-based guitar giant. An affordable version of his core signature model, it’s one of few 7-string guitars in the PRS lineup, making it a unique proposition for players who want an extended-range guitar that isn’t just a shred or metal machine.

Mark played the guitar frequently while on tour during the prototyping phase, allowing him to have a very personal input on the design, relaying improvements back to PRS that would make the final model. This approach should hopefully make for a well-rounded guitar, and one equally good for playing live. 

As the owner of several seven-string guitars, and a frequent user of baritone guitars in my band, I’m pretty well placed to see how the SVN holds up against the competition. This guitar will obviously be good at heavy riffing thanks to its heritage, but can it do anything other than that? I put it through its paces to find out how it fares in a variety of playing styles and genre types, testing it out at home and in the rehearsal room to get the answers. 

PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN review: Features

Taking the PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN out of the box, the first thing I note is that it comes in a nice brown PRS gig bag with ‘SE’ embroidered across the front. It’s a more premium feel than your average included gig bag with plenty of pockets and a rugged overall feel. Unzipping it to pull out the instrument itself, I’m immediately taken with how the guitar looks.

Much like any PRS I’ve come across, it’s a stunner in the looks department. The Holcomb Blue Burst is not quite as gaudy as some of the PRS finishes, with a stealthy look about it that still implies hard metal riffing thanks to the combination of black, blue, and gray burst. The quilted maple top is finished exquisitely, and there’s a slight carve around the outer edges of the mahogany body that gives it a more luxurious feel versus some of the sharper designs of other guitars in this genre.

As you’d expect from a seven-string the set neck is chunky but still features PRS’ trademark wide-thin neck profile - more on which later. It’s a bound ebony fretboard, inlaid with the traditional PRS birds, 24 frets, and as with the body, all immaculately finished. A flat 20-inch radius fretboard features while the reverse of the neck is finished in satin, which gives you that ‘played-in’ feel without countless hours of playing. Despite a detailed scan of the guitar I could find no hint of a blemish or scuff anywhere on it, it’s impressive stuff.

As you’ll find on the majority of extended-range guitars the SVN has a hard tail, ‘plate-style’ bridge designed by PRS, with strings going through the body to help with tuning stability. At the top end of the guitar, we have seven PRS-designed tuners, and all the hardware features a dark chrome design that looks very slick. It’s a simple setup, and exactly what you need from this type of guitar.

For electronics, you get two Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb signature pickups. In the bridge position we have the ‘Scourge’ and in the neck position the ‘Scarlet’, names that hint at the character of each, which we’ll look at in-depth later on. A three-way blade switch paired with a single push-pull tone knob and single volume knob completes the lineup, implying added versatility from the off.

PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN review: Playability

The neck immediately feels hefty in my fretting hand having been recently checking out a Harley Benton LP-copy, but within a few minutes of playing I’d largely gotten used to it. Compared to a Schecter 7-string I previously owned it certainly feels a lot more comfortable and less cumbersome than I was expecting, although it’s not quite as slinky as some of the Jackson 7-string necks I’ve played. That’s not a criticism though, I actually found myself loving the balanced feel of heft and fast playability in the neck.

On some 7-string guitars that extra string can really make a huge difference in feel, but here I ended up forgetting I was playing with an extra string – that was until one of my usual scale runs hit a bum note instead of a blue one. It’s a credit to the design of the guitar that it feels so effortless to play, despite being considerably larger than a regular six-string in all dimensions. The 26.5-inch scale length will feel comfortable for most players coming from a 25.5 or 24.75-inch scale length, and it’s a far cry from the ultra-long scales you find on many modern baritones.

The satin finish on the reverse of the neck is a hit too. It feels ultra-smooth, contributing to the free-flowing playing feel of the SVN. It runs the gamut of the neck, even down to the neck heel, with the headstock end terminating with a split into a ‘v’ shape before returning the glossy finish on the headstock. Fretting chords or letting rip with legato heavy scale runs feels breezy thanks to that ultra-flat radius, and it doesn’t inhibit your bending either. It’s not quite Jackson or Ibanez shred slink, but certainly fast enough for anyone other than ultra-technical shredders. 

PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN review: Sound

The SVN features Mark’s latest signature Seymour Duncan pickups which were developed alongside the guitar itself as part of the improvements from the previous iteration. You’d be forgiven for expecting a pair of ultra-high output humbuckers considering the genre, but I was surprised to find the pickups have a lot more subtlety than expected.

In the bridge position there’s plenty of aggression, but it’s all delivered with articulation at the forefront. Those rhythmic, open-string djent stabs are my natural first point of call, and chugging that low string is a super satisfying experience. There’s a lovely balance of string tension too which makes bending even on the first fret nice and easy to perform, whilst keeping things stable enough for some Meshuggah-inspired riffing. The clarity is remarkable, even when playing chords running into a modeled Mesa Dual Rec with a ton of gain, the Mark Holcomb SVN stays clear.

The neck pickup is the complete antithesis of the bridge position, feeling like a huge drop in output when we switch to it. It still sounds fat with a glassy, warm tone, but it’s much more geared towards mid-gain and clean sounds rather than the modern metal tone you might expect. It’s a pleasant surprise, although we can see some players expecting higher output being a little taken aback here. For me personally, it is nice having that different option, flicking the neck position for your clean tones and then back to the bridge when things need to get heavy again.

Overall the pickups sound gloriously open, reacting beautifully to picking dynamics and they completely shatter the expectations for a guitar geared toward modern metal. The coil-split option opens up plenty of tonal flexibility too. We wouldn’t call it Strat-style spank sound but it gives you far more options than you’d expect for a guitar whose looks scream chug and shred. These pickups hide a good lesson for metal players. More gain doesn’t necessarily give you a heavier sound, instead precise picking and articulation with lower gain will deliver you all the chunky guitar tones you need. 

PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN review: Verdict

If you’re in the market for a versatile 7-string that can handle lots of different tonal duties, we can’t think of many that do it better than the PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN. From the stunning-looking finish to the ultra-comfortable neck, you can tell a lot of work has gone into designing this guitar to make it player-friendly, and it’s got a surprising amount of depth to it thanks to those signature Seymour Duncan pickups.

Combined with the classic PRS quality control and attention to detail with the SVN you’re getting an instrument that looks, plays, and sounds incredible. It’s undoubtedly one of the best 7 string guitars I’ve gotten my hands on, and although it doesn’t feel quite as fast as some of the offerings from Jackson and Ibanez, if you want something that’s more than just a high-gain shred machine you won’t find much better than this.

PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN review: Specs

• Body: Mahogany with quilted maple top
• Fingerboard: Bound Ebony
• Fingerboard Radius: 20"
• Pickups: Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb "Scourge" (bridge),  Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb "Scarlet" (neck)
• Tuners: PRS Designed Tuners
• Scale Length: 26.5”
• Nut Width: 47.4mm
• Neck Width: 47.5mm (nut), 59.5mm (12th fret)
• Neck Depth: 21.4mm (1st fret), 24.2mm (12th fret)
• String Spacing: 40mm (nut), 62.5mm (bridge)
• Contact: PRS

Seymour Duncan and Joe Bonamassa have teamed up to produce another set of signature pickups – this time a pair of humbuckers that seek to recreate the tones of JoBo’s Blonde Dot 1960 ES-335.

As the curator of one of music’s largest and most envied vintage guitar collections, Bonamassa is by extension also the custodian of some of the most sought-after vintage pickups, including a wealth of Gibson’s original PAF humbuckers.

Indeed, original early examples of Seth Lover’s pioneering Patent Applied For units are widely considered to be the some of the sweetest-sounding pickups you could fit into an ES-335 or a Les Paul.

This latest collaboration between Bonamassa and the pickup specialist looks to harness this tonal nirvana, and first began when Seymour Duncan approached the blues guitar ace with the prospect of working together to recreate a set of humbuckers from one of his ES guitars.

To that proposition, Bonamassa volunteered his prized blonde-finished 1960 dot-neck ES-335 – one of the rarest ES-335 examples owing to their limited number, which had been aptly named “Blonde Dot” by its owner. 

Dubbed “one of his favorite ES-335s”, the guitar was first purchased by Bonamassa from a friend who supposedly had a collection of these highly sought-after dot neck ES models, and came fitted with what Bonamassa considered to be “some of the most balanced PAFs in his collection”.

It is this set of PAFs that has been replicated for Seymour Duncan’s latest release. To do so, the company measured and recorded the original units, recruiting an Alnico 2 magnet in the neck and Alnico 4 magnet in the bridge. Aesthetically, unaged nickel covers look to channel the like-new condition of the Blonde Dot humbuckers.

“There was something about this one. It just kind of explodes out of the amp,” Bonamassa says of his original Blonde Dot. “The PAFs are really balanced. It’s really clear in the front, but kind of punches you in the face in the back.

“The front pickup is really clear and Strat-y,” he continues, “and the back pickup is really punchy and dark and bite-y at the same time, so it’s got a lot of output.” 

The first 800 sets come with limited-edition packaging, and bottom plates signed by Bonamassa and Duncan. After that, the set will be available as standard Custom Shop Seymour Duncan pickups with a number of cosmetic options.

The set is available now for $375.

Head over to the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop to find out more.

This is just the latest set the pair have produced together, following JoBo's signature Nocaster pickups and his Cradle Rock Strat single-coils.

Bonamassa recently picked his three quintessential guitars for playing the blues – and the 335 was among them.

Cort Guitars has added to its KX range of seven-string guitars with the KX707 EverTune, which comes equipped with Seymour Duncan’s revered Sentient and Nazgûl pickups. 

As is to be expected from the South Korean company, the guitar features decent hardware for the price point, but it isn't its most daring build. Whilst it's calling the guitar “the natural evolution” to its well-respected KX700 model, it has stayed extremely faithful to the specs of its predecessor.

It continues the pairing of a five-piece maple and walnut bolt-on neck with the deeply contoured body of its older brother. These deeper cuts and more pronounced horns help increase playing comfort. 

However, Cort has opted for an ash top here, which gives the sleek metal machine a distinct natural-yet-muted aesthetic flair. 

The string-thru EverTune offers a simple bridge setup with what is said to be unrivaled tuning stability. The bridge system is becoming an increasingly popular bridge of choice across metal guitars – Aristides also recently making a multi-scale version – and is bolstered on the KX707 by Cort-branded locking tuners.   

Continuing the theme of simplicity, Cort has gone for a “no-frills” control layout. It comprises a three-way pickup and single pots for volume and tone. 

Like the KX700, it too has a 25.5” scale length and 15.75” fretboard radius, but offers a slightly increased nut width of 2 57/64”. There are 24 stainless steel frets across its ebony fretboard, which is free of inlays for a sleeker, minimal look. Its side dots, meanwhile, are Luminlays, perfect for playing past your bedtime.

Situated at the base of the fretboard, the guitar’s spoke nut truss rod adjustment feature allows tool-free adjustments and is easily accessed via a cutaway. 

Cort’s silver, light-catching ‘Next-Gen’ logo can be found atop its angular headstock. Its design helps represent the more aggressive edge to this range of builds, as having its standard curly logo in place instead would be like putting a werewolf in a tutu. It unites black hardware with a black open pore finish for a suitably metal-looking machine.

Cort has called the KX707 EverTune a “powerful seven-string monster primed to ably nail the expectations of even the most demanding hard rock and metal guitarist.” It adds to that the extended-range guitar is “a lively, resonant instrument that also offers the flexibility to explore other realms, from metal to pop music”.

The Cort KX707 will be available for $1349.99. 

By way of comparison, that makes it competitively priced when viewed against other 25.5" scale length seven-strings that come with an EverTune bridge. It comes in slightly cheaper than an ESP LTD Eclipse EC-1007 (circa $1,399) and Ibanez's DiMarzio loaded Munky Signature APEX30 (circa $1,599).

For more information, head to Cort.

More and more these days, guitarists are using modelers and multi-effects units straight into cabinets for their onstage sound. If you’re looking to get the best possible sound, with the most control, out of that configuration, a power amp is the way to go. And Seymour Duncan has just added its most flexible option yet to its popular line of PowerStage compact power amps – the new PowerStage 100 Stereo. 

Seymour Duncan’s PowerStage range provides high headroom, Class-D amplification to guitarists looking to deliver the sound of their preamp, pedal chain or amp modeler to an audience. And as stated right there in the name, the new PowerStage 100 Stereo is the company’s first pedalboard-friendly design with, yes, a stereo option, with stereo inputs and outputs that each drive 100 watts of transparent sound. 

The PS100S also offers an extended EQ section and balanced line outs with switchable analog cabinet simulation for more authentic projection, in an incredibly robust and rugged enclosure small enough to fit on a pedalboard.

Other features include a five-band EQ with Bass, Low-Mid, Hi-Mid, Treble and Presence parameters for incredible tonal flexibility, as well as a larger Level controller and a button to trigger the power amp EQ. There’s also instrument level balanced XLR outputs for sending the signal to a mixing board, with a switchable analog Cab Sim button, as well as an additional button for adding the EQ to the balanced output.

“Some players have employed Seymour Duncan’s PowerStage power amps with their pedal boards and preamps, and of course it handles it quite well,” says Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario. “But with the prevalent use of modern modeling units, the PowerStage 100 Stereo is ideal as a super-compact and powerful solution for amplifying the sound of those units to onstage cabinets, along with the benefit of its extended EQ section and stereo-balanced line outs with switchable analog cabinet simulation with clear projection in any sound system.”

To demonstrate how ideal the PowerStage 100 Stereo truly is, Paul pairs the unit with two multi-effects units – first, the NUX MG-400, and then the Line 6 HX Stomp – and lets the stellar tones rip. 

His verdict?

“The PowerStage 100 Stereo is tailor-made to deliver your authentic tones created from your amp modeler, multi-effects unit, pedals or preamp with clarity through a pair of speaker cabinets, whether you wish to run it in mono or, of course, in stereo,” he says.

To learn more about the PowerStage 100 Stereo, head to Seymour Duncan.

ESP has just launched its 2024 range of guitars, and its single-humbucker Eclipse flat-top models are quick to stand out from the pack. The single-cutaway designs feature ESP-exclusive Seymour Duncan pickups and are built “for players seeking the most hardcore performances imaginable”. The drop comes on the eve of NAMM 2024. 

There are four guitars in question here, three comprising the EC-01FT range and one EC-201FT. These flat-top guitars look like simple and streamlined builds on the surface, but the Japanese luthier has packed them with a host of special features.

The range benefits from a minimalist kit-out, which adds in only the bare essentials so that “there’s nothing in the way” of the riffs and lead lines it’s been built to play. As such, you’re left with just a bridge humbucker and single volume pot which, apart from its fixed bridge and angular pickguard, are the only things found on the body.

They consist of a mahogany-centric build, with all these guitars featuring mahogany bodies and three-piece mahogany necks. They pack a 24.75” scale length, 350mm fretboard radius with 43mm nut width and thin U-shaped neck contour.

When it comes to the fretboards, ESP has opted for Macassar ebony for the EC-01FTs, whilst the EC-201FT offers some diversity with a gorgeous roasted jatoba fretboard. A wood perhaps more accustomed to acoustic builds, it is known for its bright top-end, round midrange and clarity when used for fretboards.

The EC-01FT offers a set-thru neck, 22 extra-jumbo stainless steel frets, a recessed Tune-O-Matic string-thru bridge and LTD locking tuners. In the other corner, the more affordable EC-201F is a set neck, with 22 extra-jumbo frets and string-thru Tune-O-Matic bridge with standard LTD tuners. Both ranges are completed with pearloid block inlays.

The single humbucker set-up, however, is where much of the intrigue lies, with the ESP-exclusive Seymour Duncan Custom 14 the weapon of choice for the EC-01FT. Designed specifically for these models, the pickup delivers chimey cleans and “crushing modern chugging and articulate, angular rhythm lines” in equal measure.

The push-pull control of the volume knob allows players to switch up the pickup’s personality. The single-coil channelling result is what ESP is calling “the most wide-ranging single coil bridge territory we've ever offered”.

The EC-201FT, meanwhile features an own-brand ESP LH-150B, but still features the push/pull split on the master volume.

Aesthetically, there are three EC-01FT finishes to choose between. If the sleek black gloss isn’t to your liking, the woody Vintage Burst or bright Olympic White may just be. The EC-201FT, meanwhile, comes with a See-Thru Black Cherry finish or just black.

The EC-01FT is available to preorder for $1,099, while the EC-201FT is $499.

The new guitars come part of ESP’s newly announced 2024 range. One of the crown jewels of the release is its latest “heavy, thick and unique” signature with Mastodon riff-slinger Bill Kelliher, which is the Silverburst Royal Shiva guitar he’s been spotted putting through its paces on recent tours.

For more information on the new single-humbucker guitars, head to ESP Guitars.

To stay in the loop with all gear releases ahead of NAMM 2024, head over to our guide to the latest NAMM 2024 news.

Seymour Duncan has unveiled the Dyad, its latest signature pickup ahead of NAMM 2024. The company has worked closely with The Black Dahlia Murder lead guitarist, Brandon Ellis, for a “high-detailed, three-dimensional” version of its Parallel Axis humbucker.

The Jackson signature artist joined The Black Dahlia Murder in 2016, replacing the departing Ryan Knight, and has since dazzled with his smooth lead playing in amongst the band’s melodeath assault. Ellis got hands-on with his involvement in the pickup’s design, ultimately concocting a hybrid of two Parallel Axis models.

It blends coils from a Crazy 8 and the hotter tonalities of a Parallel Axis Trembucker Distortion. The pair is bolstered by an Alnico II magnet taken from an RTM.

“As we made records [with The Black Dahlia Murder], more trust was placed in me and on Verminous, I played the role of producer," says Ellis. "As an audio engineer, I got really scientific and meticulous about my tones, which got me concerned about how pickups work. I started opening them up to see what was inside and swapping magnets to see which I liked the best and how I could manipulate them.

“I had a few pickups that I liked the sound of, but I wanted to merge them to get the best sound of each,” he continues. “The two pickups were the '59 custom hybrid Parallel Axis version, which I liked the brightness of and an RTM, which had an Alnico 2 magnet which gave me a great dynamic of lead playing.”

Ellis has been playing Parallel Axis pickups for several years. They’re defined by two slotted pole pieces per string, designed to remove distortion from the string’s vibrations for more distinguished note separation and extended sustain.

“I found that a lot of pickups that were geared towards metal were too compressed," Ellis continues. "The lower you tune and the thicker the strings get, the darker your tone gets, so I wanted a pickup that was bright enough to get that blooming sound that you want out of lead guitar. The dyad really has all the dynamics that you're looking for.”  

The Dyad ultimately offers “a high output humbucker with a sizzly bite and a super articulate pick attack” minutely tailored to Ellis’ needs. Notably, Ellis’ custom Jackson – a 27-fret Gold Crackle Kelly that pushed the company's Master Builders to the limit – comes loaded with a single humbucker, found in the bridge, with a single coil nestled next to the neck. That means the Dyad doesn’t have a neck configuration.

The pickup is actually flipped upside down. According to Ellis, this change “offers a chewier, mid-range focused sound for guitarists looking for more body out of their instrument in standard tunings.

“It took a lot of versions and prototyping to find the exact combination of specs for this pickup, that high-detail; three-dimensional sound and we finally nailed it,” he continues. “I'm really excited to be able to share that sound with you.”

The Dyad is available in humbucker and trembucker spacing. There are two colour options – gold and nickel – for both the pole pieces and logo color, and players can choose from a single or double logo option.  

To keep up to date with all the latest gear releases - and there are many - head over to our guide to the latest NAMM 2024 news.

For more information about the pickup, head to Seymour Duncan.

Seymour Duncan has debuted the latest entry into its PowerStage series: the PowerStage 100 Stereo power amp pedal.

As is the case with the rest of the PowerStage catalog, the PS 100 Stereo is specifically targeted at players whose rigs are headed up by amp modelers or multi-effects.

In practice the PowerStage – or any power amp pedal, for that matter – transports a player’s sound straight from a modeler, multi-effects or preamp sim direct to on-stage cabinets without tampering with or coloring the tone.

The pedal itself joins its three PowerStage siblings – the PS 170, PS 200 and PS 700 – and while on paper it may seem to be the most humble unit of the lot thanks to the 100 watts of power it provides, it’s still certainly one of the most versatile, if not the most versatile.

That’s because, unlike most of its predecessors, the PS 100 supports stereo configuration, and comes equipped with right and left I/Os for authentically projecting the stereo sounds developed within a modeler or multi-effects to a larger audience.

It’s important to note that, while the PS 700 also offered discrete stereo ins and outs, its overly generous 700 watts would no doubt have alienated casual giggers who simply didn’t need that much power. Not only that, the PS 700 is a rack-style unit (used by the likes of Dave Mustaine) so it isn't exactly pedalboard friendly.

On the flipside, the more user-friendly and appropriately ‘board-sized PS 170 and PS 200 units were solely mono. It’s in this inbetween area where the PS 100 Stereo finds itself: a true power amp pedal that offers high-headroom class D amplification and, more importantly, stereo operation with 100 watts per channel.

Naturally, this opens up a huge range of tonal possibilities that aren’t available in previous PowerStage pedals. Here, the PS 100 allows for huge stereo spread delays and modulations, the blending of two separate sounds, versatile onstage sound arrangement and much more.

Otherwise remaining faithful to the PS 200 layout, the PS 100 Stereo features a five-band EQ for further tonal tweaks, comprising Bass, Low-Mid, Hi-Mid, Treble and Presence parameters. There’s also a larger Level controller, and a button to trigger the power amp EQ.

As for connectivity, the aforementioned stereo inputs and outputs are joined by instrument level balanced XLR outputs for sending the signal to a mixing board. Other appointments include a switchable analog Cab Sim on those latter outputs, as well as a button that applies the EQ to the balanced output.

Because of its stereo function, the PS 100 is more expensive than its pedal-sized peers – it costs $599, and is available now.

Visit Seymour Duncan to find out more.

Seymour Duncan has partnered with Joe Bonamassa to release yet another set of signature guitar pickups – but this time they’ve picked a pair of pups that can be found in arguably the most significant electric guitar in all of JoBo’s collection.

That guitar is a 1951 Fender Nocaster. Affectionately known as The Bludgeon, the ultra-rare single-cut came into Bonamassa’s life back in 2014, and clearly made a considerable impression on the blues rock titan: five years later, he called the instrument “the best guitar I own”.

But the praise didn’t stop there: “It is as much a tool as it is a weapon,” he wrote in a post on Instagram. “It is the most dynamic instrument I have ever played in my life.” High praise indeed for someone whose guitar collection comprises upwards of 500 individual instruments.

Such was Bonamassa’s affinity for the PAF humbucker-equipped rarity, he teamed up with Fender back in 2019 to create a signature guitar variation – a model that finally arrived in 2021 after a handful of teases, much anticipation and a somewhat high-profile theft case.

When that signature model was being crafted by Fender, Seymour Duncan was recruited to help reproduce the guitar’s original pickups. Now, that humbucker/single-coil combo has been released as a standalone set.

Recreating the sound of Bonamassa’s “best” and “most dynamic” guitar is certainly one of the trickier assignments that could befall a pickup company, but by all accounts Bonamassa is pleased with what Fender and Seymour Duncan ended up producing, so this set arrives with an almighty seal of approval.

When JoBo came into contact with the original Bludgeon, it had already been fitted with a PAF neck humbucker, which was paired with a flat-pole single-coil bridge unit. To recreate these exacting sounds, Seymour Duncan utilized rough cast alnico 2 magnets for the PAF, and sought to channel the “bright response and hot output” of the bridge pickup.

The first 250 sets will arrive relic’d with a “special Antiquity aging process” to give off the vintage vibe of the original, and will flash the signatures of Bonamassa, Duncan, and Maricela Juarez – Seymour Duncan’s “Queen of Tone”, who winds each set in the custom shop.

The Bludgeon pickups are available for $349.

Visit the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop to find out more.

Seymour Duncan has debuted its all-new range of Silencer P-90 pickups – a fresh catalog of P-90s that is headlined by a new Jared James Nichols signature single-coil.

However, while the arrival of a new Nichols pup is note-worthy in itself, the wider lineup in general will no doubt pique the interest of P-90 players all over owing to the particular tonal performance it promises to provide.

The clue is in the name: the P90 Silencer pickups vow to deliver a completely silent tone that bears all the visual and sonic hallmarks of a classic P-90 without any of the irksome 60-cycle hum that plagues vintage units.

It’s a pitch that will appeal to many. After all, the best P-90s on the market are considered some of the most well-rounded and versatile pickups available, though the hum – resulting from the single-coil design – is enough to put many potential players off.

It’s important to note hum-canceling P-90s are not a new innovation, and other brands (Seymour Duncan included) have already made efforts in harnessing the true authentic tone of vintage P-90s while eradicating the hum conundrum.

Examples include the DiMarzio Fantom P90, Mojotone 56 Quiet Coils and Lindy Fralin’s Hum Cancelling P-90s, among others.

Nevertheless, while not alone in the hum-canceling P-90 camp, Seymour Duncan’s Silencer range looks to be a genuinely noteworthy addition to the market, boasting a newly innovated design that “retains all the tone and appearance of the classic P90 pickup without the 60-cycle hum”.

Not only that, its generous quartet of options – JJN, Neck, Hot and Vintage – paired with its commitment to faithful P-90 appearances and sounds (there’s no active wiring here, unlike some other close comparisons) will likely strike a chord with traditionalists.

As mentioned, the lone JJN Silencer is the highlight here. “Simply put, the Seymour Duncan Jared James Nichols P90 Silencer is my dream pickup,” the Gibson artist said of his new pup, which has been voiced to “cover everything from sparkling cleans to barking dirty tones”.

In perhaps one of the most extravagant tonal summaries you’ll ever read, the JJN P-90 Silencer is described by its master as “delicate and strong, like a grizzly bear and a paper airplane landing”.

The rest of the range is completed with a sole Neck unit (which can be paired with any other Silencer pickups) as well as Hot and Vintage options. For those latter two categories, full sets or lone bridge pickups can be obtained.

As an added bonus, each of the Silencer pickups – JJN P-90 included – arrives in both Dogear or Soapbar formats, and Cream or Black covers, depending on player preference.

In terms of tone, the Hot units are, unsurprisingly, the hottest set of the lot, “offering a more aggressive sound” that will probably counteract the low output issues of other hum-canceling P-90s.

The Vintage pickups are equally self-explanatory, and are matched to vintage specs for old-school tones. Handily, all Silencers are drop-in replacements for “most” standard P-90 routes.

In terms of price, the sole JJN P90 weighs in at $149, while the rest of the lot come in at $139 for one unit. Vintage and Hot sets are priced at $278.

Visit Seymour Duncan to find out more.

We're already a good 23 years (or 24, depending on how you count them) into the 21st century, but even though most of us carry the equivalent of a supercomputer in our pockets, the electric guitars that we play are like driving a 1955 Chevy in a world full of Lucids, Polestars and Teslas. 

That is to say, electric guitar technology is still about as primitive and basic as it gets. The new Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch is a radical technological advancement that brings the humble electric guitar into the 21st century without sacrificing its classic appeal. 

It’s a pickup selector switch, but not as we know it, Jim, offering the ability to instantly assign a comprehensive variety of wiring configurations (series, parallel, split, reverse, out of phase, etc.) to passive humbucker and/or single-coil pickups via a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone with the HyperSwitch app.

Features

The HyperSwitch looks like a standard five-position blade switch with a microprocessor-equipped circuit board attached to it, and it’s designed to be a quick and easy replacement for any Stratocaster- or Tele-style blade switch. 

The extra electronics allow wireless Bluetooth communication with a smartphone via the HyperSwitch app. While the technology may seem complicated to tech-phobic guitarists, installation is surprisingly easy.

Use of a soldering iron is only required for removing pickup and certain control wires. All switch wiring connections to the HyperSwitch – pickup, volume, tone and ground – are made with screw terminals. The installation instructions are very clearly written and helpful, but if you’re DIY-averse any guitar tech could perform the installation quickly and cheaply.

With the HyperSwitch installed in your guitar and the app on your phone set to the proper pickup configuration settings, connection is made instantly by touching the app’s connect button and toggling the selector to different settings. 

Once the connection is made, a graphic display of the guitar’s pickup configuration appears. Changing wiring is now a simple matter of tapping the setting you want. For example, a humbucking pickup provides full (both), north coil and south coil settings along with standard (series), reverse, RP (out of phase parallel), PRP (out of phase parallel reversed) and off.

Note that any pickup or pickups can be assigned to any of the HyperSwitch’s five positions. In essence, the switch provides five fully programmable presets for your pickup wiring configurations.

Performance

HyperSwitch opens up a vast world of tonal exploration possibilities for guitarists who have never ventured beyond traditional pickup wiring configurations. A three-humbucker setup provides literally more than a hundred different options. 

The Bluetooth connection is so quick and reliable that players could even change a guitar’s pickup wiring in seconds between songs. If you’ve wanted to explore parallel sounds or add split coil tones to your guitar without the hassle of switch or push/pull pot installations, HyperSwitch offers an easy and painless solution. Bravo!

Specs

• PRICE: $159 / £199
• TYPE: 5-way programmable pickup selector
• FEATURES: Compatible with most passive pickups, presets configurable via smartphone, Bluetooth
• CONTACT: Seymour Duncan

Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario has seen a lot of gear over the years. But, he says, “Every so often you come across a gear innovation that stops you in your tracks and makes you say, ‘Wow, this is super cool.’ Well, let me tell you – that innovation is the Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch.”

We couldn’t agree more. But what, exactly, is this game-changing piece of gear? The HyperSwitch is an active 5-way blade that is compatible with most passive pickups and configured via your smartphone. Once installed in your guitar, you can design, store and recall custom pickup configurations via the dedicated mobile app, and save them to the HyperSwitch. 

Essentially, the HyperSwitch can split coils, reverse polarity, assign pickups to any position on the five-way selector and more, without requiring you to tear apart your guitar’s internal wiring. “A player with three humbuckers,” Paul points out, “can basically configure their pickups in hundreds of possible ways.” 

Additionally, your guitar’s tone controls can be customized as well – you can bypass the tone knob for a more transparent sound, or connect an additional capacitor in series for a different taper response to your tone knob.

Once you have your ideal combinations mapped out in the app, you can save the configurations to any of the five programmable slots on the switch, untether from your phone and access these sounds from your guitar anytime, no pairing required.

To see and hear it all in action, witness Paul take his Strat – loaded with three Seymour Duncan Strat-style humbuckers and outfitted with the HyperSwitch – through an amazing tone journey in the video above.

Paul’s verdict? “The Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch is a clear and game-changing innovation with the ability to access many if not hundreds of different tones from your existing pickups and configure and save them for any performance,” he says. “And if anything, it’s a great way to experiment and hear so many different and new sounds from your pickups.”

For more information on the HyperSwitch, head to Seymour Duncan.

Earlier this month, Seymour Duncan kicked off its summer with a bang with the debut of four new pickup sets – the Eddie Van Halen-inspired Little '78 single-coil set, a new humbucker called the Exciter, a signature bridge humbucker for hair metal electric guitar hero Warren DeMartini, and a signature set for thrash (and jazz) guitar titan Alex Skolnick.

Not to be outdone, though, the company has now followed those up with a trio of limited-edition pickup sets that celebrate the 40-year tenure of the manager of Seymour Duncan's Custom Shop, Maricela “MJ” Juarez.

Most prominent of these is the Frampton Comes Alive humbucker set, which – aside from, of course, the blockbuster album of the same name – channels the unmistakable guitar sound of Peter Frampton.

The Frampton Comes Alive units feature the same specs as Frampton's own pickups, with Alnico 2 magnets and a "vintage" output. The first 160 sets were signed by Frampton and Juarez, with each set ringing up at $375. 

A portion of the proceeds from the Frampton Comes Alive pickups will be donated to The Peter Frampton Myositis Research Fund as well as Notes for Notes, an organization that provides young people with free access to musical instruments, instruction, and recording studio environments.

The second of the MJ40th sets, as they're officially known, also pays tribute to a top-selling '70s rock album.

The Joker Strat set salutes the Steve Miller Band's best-selling 1973 album, The Joker, and features a trio of single-coil pickups wound – in the same manner that Juarez has been winding Miller's own custom pickups for decades – for vintage output around Alnico 2 magnets.

Miller's signature is printed on the cover of each pickup, while a "Joker" mask adorns each unit's bottom plate. The pickups are available, as a full set only, for $355.

Rounding out the new offerings from Seymour Duncan is the Pete Anderson Working Class Tele set, a recreation of the pickups in the country guitar dynamo's 1959 Telecaster.

The Working Class pickups feature a vintage output wind and Alnico 5 magnets – the first 160 have been aged, and signed by both Anderson and Juarez. They're available now, as a complete set only, for an even $300.

A portion of the proceeds from both the Miller and Anderson sets will go to Notes for Notes.

For more info on all three new pickup sets, visit the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop.

Seymour Duncan made a big splash at the 2023 NAMM show in April with the unveiling of its impressive HyperSwitch – an app-controlled selector switch that lets you create custom pickup wiring configurations via Bluetooth. 

You'd forgive the California firm for resting on its laurels for a while after that, but today, it's kicked off its summer in style with the unveiling of not one, not two, not three, but four new electric guitar pickup sets. 

The new batch is comprised of two signature p'ups – a bridge humbucker for hair metal electric guitar hero Warren DeMartini and a set for thrash (and jazz) guitar titan Alex Skolnick – one new humbucker, and an Eddie Van Halen-inspired single-coil set.

We'll take you through each below.

Warren DeMartini RTM

First up is a signature bridge humbucker for Warren DeMartini, who's most famous for his electrifying guitar work with Ratt.

As you might expect, the 'bucker is of the high-output variety, with an Alnico 2 magnet, and is designed produce "aggressive and balanced tones."

Also available with Gold or Nickel covers – and in Zebra, White, or Reverse-Zebra finishes – the Seymour Duncan Warren DeMartini RTM humbucker retails for $139.

Alex Skolnick Signature Humbuckers

Designed in tandem with Skolnick, this set aims to capture both ends of the eclectic guitarist's tone.

The bridge 'bucker is wound hot, and aims to highlight more midrange frequencies. The vintage-voiced neck 'bucker, in turn, looks to counterbalance the punch of its counterpart at the bridge.

Available to purchase individually as a bridge, neck or trembucker – or as a full set – the Skolnick signature humbucker can be bought with Gold or Nickel covers, or in Black, Zebra, White, or Reverse-Zebra finishes, when bought individually. When purchased as a set, the options are Black or Zebra finishes, with a Nickel cover. 

Individually, the Skolnick signature humbuckers ring up at $139, with a full set going for $278.

Little '78

Though not an Eddie Van Halen signature product, per se, the Little '78 single-coil pickup was certainly inspired by the guitar legend.

In 1978, Seymour Duncan says, EVH gave the firm a P.A.F. pickup to experiment with, along with instructions to rewind it for some extra “juice” and enhanced artificial harmonics.

With a magnet and output combination that's said to lend itself well to "biting leads and overtone-laden tapped runs" (we're wondering whose guitar style they could possibly be talking about...), the Little '78 single-coil pickup can be purchased individually as a neck/middle or bridge pickup for $129, or as a full set for $387.

Both individual Little '78s, and the full set, can be bought with Black, Cream, Parchment, or White covers.

Exciter

Last on the list is the glam-minded Exciter humbucker, which boasts a high-output ceramic magnet designed to help the pickup deliver "powerful dimensions, bold harmonics, and firepower," with a more transparent tone with the volume rolled back.

Available as a bridge or trembucker, the Exciter also comes in Gold or Nickel covers – and in Black, Zebra, White, or Reverse-Zebra finishes – and sells for $139.

For more info on all four new pickups, visit Seymour Duncan.

Slash needs no introduction as an iconic guitarist, and his tone is often referenced as one of the most recognizable guitar sounds in rock. And much of that sound has to do with his Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 humbuckers – or, more specifically, the signature Slash APH-2 humbuckers that Seymour Duncan voiced for the guitarist based on the original Alnico 2 pickups in his famous Kris Derrig Les Paul.

This time around, Slash was looking for a hotter version of the APH-2 for live performances with Guns N’ Roses and his solo band, Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators. And thanks to Seymour Duncan, he – and we – now have it.

The Slash 2.0 boasts the same tonality and same great clarity as the original, albeit with a hotter wind. The result is a pickup that will push his – and, yes, your –  amp with the perfect balance of volume, drive and compression.

To hear the Slash 2.0 in action, check out Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario’s demo video above. 

And for more information, head to Seymour Duncan.

One of the most surprising trends at this year’s NAMM Show was just how many of the most exciting products announced around the event were… pickups.

In recent months, Fender has channeled sought-after CuNiFe magnets into single-coil and P-90 formats, with great results. Seymour Duncan, meanwhile, debuted the Hyper Switch, giving players the ability to digitally ‘rewire’ their electric guitar pickup configuration via Bluetooth at the touch of a screen.

Elsewhere, EMG took active pickups to the Jazzmaster, and L.R. Baggs – which has a solid history when it comes to improving plugged-in acoustic tone – debuted the HiFi. The latter is a pickup system that costs $199, can be installed on an acoustic with peel and stick pads – and somehow sounds ridiculously good for it.

Meanwhile, the signature pickup has become increasingly ubiquitous, with Rabea Maasaad’s Bare Knuckle Triptych Strat set turning heads, alongside new signature models for Joe Bonamassa, Lari Basilio, Polyphia’s Tim Henson and Scott LePage and Josh Smith, to name a small sample.

Our reporter on the NAMM show floor also returned with tales of packed-out pickup stands – a notion that would once have been laughed out the room. 

One thing is clear: the attention of the retailers, influencers and other industry decision-makers is on all things pickup. So how did we get here?

Boom times for pickup makers

The answer is due to a combination of factors, namely: a change in the tech, an evolving economic context and shifting music-making habits.

A look at the history of pickup manufacturing will tell you that, for a very long time, very little changed. With a few exceptions – Wide Range humbuckers, active sets and, perhaps Hot Rails – we’ve essentially stuck to a ‘copper wire wrapped around magnets’ formula that hasn’t changed since the ‘50s. 

Indeed, you could make a good case that the majority of industry R&D has gone into trying to recreate those original units, whether it is Gibson’s P-90s and PAFs, or Fender’s vintage single-coil sounds. 

Recently, though – as evidenced at this year’s NAMM – there’s been an explosion in new options for pickup buyers. 

“We’ve absolutely seen an increase in interest in pickups,” confirms Brian McDonald, VP of Sales and Marketing at pickup stalwarts, Seymour Duncan. 

“Not just in overall sales, but the conversations with our customers across the various channels and the web analytics reveal an increase in research activity on SeymourDuncan.com, too. With bands getting out of the garage and back on the road, there’s an obvious opportunity there.”

A key development seems to have been the home recording/software boom and McDonald notes that “the proliferation of amp modeling seems to have created a ripple effect on everything in the signal path”. 

What’s more, it has allowed players to hear themselves (and their pickups) in greater detail than ever before, giving them the chance to reflect on their tone and also driving a quest for noise-reducing units. 

Advances in manufacturing, meanwhile, have enabled firms to cheaply tweak production lines and produce more experimental or signature products, while the ubiquity of affordable chip technology has opened up the possibility of genuinely new approaches to the pickup.

A leap forwards

In 2014, Fishman debuted the Fluence and Guitar World hailed it as “the first truly new electric guitar pickup system design in more than 80 years”. It marked a major technological step towards the boom we are now seeing.

The design uses tiny, precision-made coils that can be stacked and tuned to isolate frequencies, enabling the manufacturer to ‘voice’ the subsequent signal with far more intricacy and vastly reduced noise. 

Using integrated chips, they can also route through different combinations of coils to create multiple voices from the same unit.

“[We knew] that if we were going to move into this product category, we needed a platform that would create a paradigm shift in pickup technology,” comments Chris DeMaria, VP of Marketing and Artist Relations at Fishman.

“Solving inherent issues with traditional pickup design, combined with multiple voices in one pickup, seems to have resonated with players – [particularly those] who’ve been searching for a solution that offered versatility and performance.”

Notably, Fluence seems to have struck a chord with heavy players, as pickup designs can be easily replicated for seven- and eight-string guitars and/or generate higher outputs, without compromising the unit’s tonal characteristics. 

Traditional ‘overwound’ high-gain designs, in contrast, would often have to create a trade-off between certain frequency coverage and output. 

“It goes back to creating solutions for players,” says DeMaria, when we note the proliferation of Fluence signature sets. “We’ve been able to sit in our studio with the artist and, in real time, create voicings that perfectly match the idealized sound they’re looking for. Once those voicings are created with the artist, we can then reproduce it consistently in our manufacturing process. There’s not a dud in the bunch.’’

DeMaria confirms that Fishman have also seen increasing pickup sales in recent years, suggesting the size of the overall market is growing, rather than simply trading brands.

Power to the players

It’s not just the manufacturers making the products who deserve the credit for the current boom, though. The economy revolves around supply and demand – and it’s the musicians themselves who have created the latter.

McDonald makes an important point – noting that it’s not simply about the pickups themselves, but players are considering how they will interact with other new tech, be it flat-response speakers, software modelers or high-gain amps. 

“We’ve got a lot of young talent in our family – Lari Basilio, Josh Smith, Cory Wong, Mark Holcomb, Jared James Nichols, Wes Hauch and that’s just the signature artist side,” says McDonald. “Each of them will tell their story about what they were looking for. Strat tones in a Tele middle pickup, in Lari’s case. Something with more clarity for the Fractal rig, in Mark’s case.”

Basilio’s pickups are an interesting case in point, using traditional materials in a new combination, with Alnico V, IV and II magnets used in different positions to better balance the output from high to low strings.

DeMaria says he thinks players are also better educated these days. “There’s more information available online, in guitar media, and through social media,” says the Fishman VP.

“That has empowered players with knowledge and fueled their interest in exploring other pickup options. Players today seem to be able to better articulate their needs in terms of what they’re looking for in a pickup.”

We suspect the expanding tonal flexibility of modern pickups is also proving welcome with younger players, for whom genre and traditional listening habits have become largely irrelevant. 

Pickup the bill

Perhaps the largest factor in the new pickup boom, though, is simply the economic reality of life in 2023. 

Many new guitarists took up the instrument, or became invested, when they had a unique combination of spare cash and spare time as a result of the 2020 lockdown. Talk to any economic analyst about consumer spending habits now, though, and the headline point will be that we’re all poorer. 

“I think the pandemic downtime inspired a lot of people to pursue guitar and the nuances of tone,” summarizes McDonald. “[Now] the new players that have stuck with it are diving into the tone-searching phase of their journey. A lot of players we talk to have inexpensive guitars that they like and want to upgrade rather than replace. [It’s a] classic use case, but on a larger scale.”

Most of us – musicians included – have felt the pinch of inflation and had to cut spending on non-essentials to make up for increased food and fuel prices. On top of that, guitar firms have also been forced to raise their prices due to increases in material and labor costs. 

Boiling it all down: does the average player have a spare thousand dollars for a new guitar this year? Probably not. 

As we commented after NAMM, much of the guitar-making industry does not seem to have caught up with the cost-of-living crisis, but consumers and retailers are taking things into their own hands, realizing the tonal variety on offer from lower-cost mods and pickup swaps.

McDonald says he’s looking forward to seeing how players use the firm’s new HyperSwitch, for example, noting even “around the [Seymour Duncan] office, no two players used it in the same way”. 

At the same time, the Seymour Duncan VP maintains that the current boom is still inclusive of the more traditional options. “Something I keep front of mind,” he concludes, “is that there are players out there that haven’t yet experienced the tone and feel of the iconic pickups like the JB or Antiquities.”

Tradition and innovation in equal measure?

Clearly, the traditional formula isn’t going anywhere; instead, players now have a choice. DeMaria – perhaps surprisingly, given Fishman’s tech commitment – offers a similar sentiment: 

“Our industry straddles two worlds, and sometimes they can co-exist and sometimes not,” he says. “There’s tradition, heritage and history and there’s innovation and technology that keep things looking forward. There’s obviously a place for both.”

Nonetheless, he does offer a tantalizing glimpse into the future of Fluence. “I think in terms of what’s next, I imagine there’ll be more opportunities for customization – maybe just in colors and designs at first,” he posits.

“Hopefully [one day] we’ll get to a point where players can combine their favorite voicings from our entire range of pickups into their own custom Fluence pickup. Right now, the potential for Fluence seems limitless.”

Where will all this lead, then? Will it yield a new era of experimentation? Maybe. Will we see beautiful (not-yet-vintage) models carved up in the name of progress, as we did in the SuperStrat era? Probably. Will some ideas be consigned to the gimmick pile, alongside BetaMax and the Synth-Axe? Definitely.

One thing is for sure, though: in 2023, there are more pickups out there than ever before, and for the guitarist and gear nut that can only be a good thing.

Seymour Duncan has teamed up with Slash to release the Slash 2.0 humbucker set – a pair of pickups that update the electric guitar hero's flagship APH-2 set.

In a continuation of its fine signature product releasing form, Seymour Duncan has once again joined forces with one its biggest ambassadors, who has been using his APH-2 humbuckers for nearly a decade.

For his new set, though, the top hat-toting titan sought out Seymour Duncan’s expertise in making a hotter-wound, higher-output set, which didn’t compromise the original’s clean and overdriven tones in any way.

According to the brand, Slash’s need for a louder set of humbuckers emerged from his extensive touring activities with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators and GNR, with Slash himself explaining, “I've found on occasion that I needed a louder pickup for certain live applications”.

“For some reason, certain guitars that I have are quieter than others, and I started finding I needed louder pickups in those guitars, and I went to Seymour Duncan,” he added. 

“They’re higher output, but they don’t add any distortion. There’s no gain, just a higher level.” 

Owing to Slash’s needs, the Slash 2.0 humbuckers were given a hotter wind, meaning they promise to deliver the same Slash sound and tonal capacity as the original APH-2s, but with a little more output – delivered via rough cast Alnico 2 magnets.

“The Slash 2.0 is basically the same as my Alnico Pro II, same tonality, same great clarity,” Slash added. “But it's hotter. I asked Seymour if he could make a version of my pickup just a wee bit louder & he did just that. Same tone, just louder.”

The Slash 2.0 pickups are available in an array of finishes – black, black-nickel cover, gold cover, nickel cover, raw-nickel cover, reverse zebra and zebra – and can come as a set or standalone humbuckers.

Sets start from $238, while single pickups start from $119.

Visit Seymour Duncan to find out more.

The Slash 2.0 set is the latest in a long line of signature product releases from the pickup specialist, which has released Lari Basilio's versatile HSS set, Cory Wong's Clean Machine single-coils, Mark Holcomb's Scarlet and Scourge humbuckers, Joe Bonamassa's '63 Cradle Rock Strat set, and Josh Smith's Flat V Tele pickups all in the space of three months.

Seymour Duncan has also been busy pioneering new switching technology, having recently unveiled its Bluetooth-enabled, app-controlled HyperSwitch.

NAMM 2023: Seymour Duncan has unveiled the HyperSwitch – a potentially game-changing active pickup selector switch that does away with the need for laborious rewiring and instead uses Bluetooth to give players access to a huge range of pickup wiring configurations.

In other words, the HyperSwitch works alongside a dedicated app that can be used to fundamentally alter the wiring of most passive single-coil and humbucker pickup sets, opening up the possibility of harnessing nuanced configurations with the tap of a screen.

At first glance, it looks to be a remarkable step forward in guitar design, with the HyperSwitch app serving to split coils, reverse polarity, assign pickups to any position on the five-way selector, and more without having to rip apart the internal wiring.

Instead, the HyperSwitch is paired to the app via Bluetooth by some warmup switches – and comprehensively configured via the settings – with the app then presenting a range of custom options. For single coils, Standard, Reverse and Off modes are available – as the names imply, these offer regular, reverse-coil or bypassed options.

Even more wiring options are available for humbuckers and stacked pickups, which can be arranged in an assortment of coil-splitting options – either coil can be bypassed or selected – reverse-wound modes, and parallel and reverse parallel setups.

As well as the wiring of the pickups, the wider control layout can be altered. As mentioned above, pickups can be assigned to any position on the HyperSwitch, while Tone controls can also be either completely bypassed or altered to have different tapers.

Better yet, the two only need to be connected when custom configurations are being established – once your desired wiring is set up, the app can be disconnected and the HyperSwitch will remember the configuration.

Multiple pickup configurations can be stored and saved, and later recalled when the HyperSwitch is connected to the guitar.

Since it features active circuitry, Seymour Duncan’s HyperSwitch runs on a 9V battery, and must be above 60 percent power in order to reliably connect to the app. Any lower than that, according to the company, and you might have some connection issues, but the HyperSwitch will continue to manipulate your pickups as required until it's all out of juice.

In the age of the smart guitar and greater guitar/smartphone integration, the HyperSwitch looks to be a powerful addition to the movement, even if saying the unit works with "most passive pickups" might need some clarification.

The HyperSwitch is available now for $149.

For more information, head over to Seymour Duncan.

Seymour Duncan has had a busy NAMM season thus far, unveiling Lari Basilio's signature HSS pickup set, Josh Smith's Flat V Tele single-coils and Joe Bonamassa's '63 Cradle Rock Strat set.

NAMM 2023: No-one has as many signature guitar products as Joe Bonamassa, and now the blues guitar titan can add another one to that fierce list: the ‘63 Cradle Rock Strat signature electric guitar pickup set, designed in collaboration with Seymour Duncan.

Inspired by the sound of JoBo’s prized 1963 Fender Stratocaster – which was affectionately named Cradle Rock, after the Rory Gallagher tune found on his Bonamassa’s debut album – the single coils were engineered in the Seymour Duncan custom shop in an effort to harness this same tone, featuring period-correct wind and aged magnets.

The ‘63 Cradle Rock Strat pickup set will be limited to just 1,000 units, with each featuring Alnico 5 magnets for a “distinctive powerful sound”.

According to Seymour Duncan, the single coils were tested and retested until Bonamassa deemed them to be “spot on” recreations of the ones that can be found in the Cradle Rock Strat – a guitar JoBo first laid eyes on back in 1994.

As an added bonus, each single coil will come printed with Bonamassa’s signature.

The ‘63 Cradle Rock Strat pickups are available exclusively as a set, and are available now for $375.

Head over to Seymour Duncan to find out more.

It’s been a busy NAMM season so far for Seymour Duncan, who recently unveiled signature pickup sets for Lari Basilio, in the form of and ultra-versatile HSS set, and Josh Smith, who was bestowed with the Flat V1 T-style single-coil combo.

Stretching back further, Seymour Duncan has been busy releasing Cory Wong’s Clean Machine set, Mark Holcomb’s Scarlet and Scourge humbuckers and a Tele-sized Pearly Gates humbucker.

In other Bonamassa news, his long-awaited Fender signature amp – the Fender ‘48 Dual Professional JB Edition – finally arrived today.

If recent online developments are to be believed, Slipknot’s Mick Thomson has left both Jackson and Seymour Duncan in a move that sees him switch to the ranks of ESP and Fishman.

Thomson – who, alongside Slipknot bandmate Jim Root, was a Fender brands artist with two signature guitars to his name – seems to have switched guitar and pickup providers in recent months, with speculation arising after he was spotted playing a handful of ESPs during Slipknot’s recent shows.

In pictures and video footage taken from Slipknot's latest live shows in Japan, Thomson can be seen exclusively wielding ESP models – including the SuperStrat-esque Horizon, single-cut Eclipse and V-style Arrow electric guitars – prompting intense speculation from fans.

Such speculation was further fueled by social media posts published by both Thomson’s guitar tech, Mike Smith, and the Slipknot player’s wife, Stacy Thomson, who each posted pictures of what looked to be Mick’s latest axe of choice.

While Stacy posted a picture of a mask-clad Thomson clutching an ESP guitar with the caption “some news” – which was followed by a better look of that same guitar fitted with what looked to be Fishman humbuckers – Smith offered a look at Thomson’s new ESP-heavy guitar rack.

As noted by YouTuber Jamie Slays – who collated some live footage – Stacy Thomson also shared a now-expired video of Mick walking on stage as he prepared to play “one of his ESPs for the first time”.

As for Smith’s social media activity, not only did his picture – which contained five separate ESP models – seemingly confirm Thomson’s sponsor switch, it also notified fans of the fact he had also defected from Seymour Duncan to Fishman, with a signature set potentially in the works.

Responding to a commenter who asked whether Thomson had left Seymour Duncan, Smith replied, “Yup,” and when quizzed by another what specific Fishmans the Slipknot maestro had opted for, the guitar tech teased, “Nothing off the shelf.”

The move is Thomson’s latest high-profile brand switch, having previously moved from B.C. Rich to Ibanez prior to landing on Jackson’s artist roster a few years ago. It’s also a significant shake-up in the Fender brands artist roster, which no longer has both Slipknot guitarists to its name.

Instead, Fender will go forward with just Jim Root on their books – having recently released his Charvel signature – and though Mick Thomson is still currently listed on the Jackson website as an artist, we imagine it won’t be long before that changes officially.

Jackson is also still listing Thomson’s two signature models: the high-end USA Signature Soloist and a slightly more affordable Pro Series Soloist SL2.

It looks as though Thomson is gearing up to release both a new signature guitar and some signature Fishman pickups. It might be too soon for a NAMM 2023 release, as Thomson may still be road-testing prototypes, but we’ll be watching with a keen eye just in case.

In any case, now the cat is out of the bag, we expect an official announcement from ESP to be imminent.

NAMM 2023: Josh Smith, one of his generation’s standout blues guitar players, has partnered with Seymour Duncan to release the Flat V electric guitar pickup set.

The pair of T-style single-coils first made their debut back in 2021 when Smith announced he had partnered with Ibanez for a new signature guitar, the aptly named FLATV1, which came factory loaded with a pickup set that facilitated his dynamic and expressive sound.

Until now, those wanting to give those signature single-coils a spin would have had to get hold of the whole electric guitar, but now Smith’s uniquely voiced pickups can now be snapped up as a standalone set for $300.

Far from being just a standard set of vintage-voiced Telecaster-inspired pickups, the Flat Vs feature an unusual combination of Alnico magnets that – while not completely unique – are highly uncommon in other T-type alternatives.

The pickups owe their conception to Smith and Bill Chapin, the luthier who made the blues heavyweight’s original black T-style six-string that he played for more than two decades. Chapin also handwound the pickups tailored to Smith’s playing, but recruited an unusual magnet blend to do so – a blend that Seymour Duncan has sought to recreate.

Specifically, the bridge example blends Alnico 2 and Alnico 4 magnets, which is said to deliver a versatile, spectrum-spanning sound – with a slightly fatter tone – that responds particularly well to an individual’s unique playing style.

“There’s some interesting things in this bridge pickup that make it unique and make it sound the way it does,” Smith said. “For me, this is a bridge pickup that – if you use your technique, and your hands, and the way you pick, and you change your volume – you can almost live on exclusively, it’s so dynamic.”

As for the neck, it makes use of Alnico 3 magnets, and is described by Smith as a “very much traditional Telecaster neck pickup… with slightly more oomph”, promising a bit more clarity and gain compared to vintage Tele neck single-coils.

Smith’s signature pickup set is available now for $300. Individual pickups can also be purchased for $160 each.

Head over to Seymour Duncan for more information.

In other Josh Smith news, the blues maestro recently teased a new-look, freshly spec'd version of his Ibanez signature model, which could be making its first official appearance at NAMM in a few weeks.

Smith is also the second Ibanez artist to team up with Seymour Duncan to release a standalone signature pickup set this month. A few weeks ago, Lari Basilio – who recently teased a new Ibanez LB1 signature model – joined forces with the brand to release quite possibly the most versatile HSS set on the market.

Seymour Duncan has also been busy releasing Cory Wong’s Clean Machine set, Mark Holcomb’s Scarlet and Scourge humbuckers and a Tele-sized Pearly Gates humbucker.

One of the many, many guitarists obsessed with Jeff Beck was a young Seymour Duncan. Here’s what he told this writer back in the ’90s: “I first heard Jeff Beck in the summer of ’65 – I was playing in a talent show with a local band. The local radio station played a recording of Heart Full Of Soul by The Yardbirds, their second hit. The unique guitar sound was from Jeff Beck. I tracked down many of their recordings and saw them performing on 60s TV shows such as Hullabaloo, Shindig! and Ready Steady Go!.

“I’d noticed Jeff was playing a Fender Telecaster but without the neck pickup,” he added, “making it an Esquire [from 1954]. Originally it had a white single-layer scratchplate that Jeff changed to a black phenolic one. He’d bought the guitar for $60 [or £75, according to Jeff! – Ed] from John Maus [aka Walker], guitarist with The Walker Brothers when they toured England in the mid-’60s. Years later, John visited my workshop in Santa Barbara and told me he’d contoured the front and back of the body to make it feel more like a Stratocaster.”

Continuing the story in Guitarist back in 2005, Evan Skopp, a long-time employee of Seymour Duncan, related the tale: “In 1972, the late American country blues guitarist Roy Buchanan passed through Ohio where Seymour had achieved cult status as ‘The Midwest’s Eric Clapton.’ Buchanan told the 20-something Seymour, ‘Come with me to England. They’re gonna love you there!’ 

“Soon, Seymour found himself burning it up in London’s bars and clubs by night. By day, he performed guitar repair for Ivor Arbiter at the Fender Soundhouse on London’s Tottenham Court Road. It was during those days that Seymour struck up a friendship with his guitar hero, Jeff Beck – and had the honour of introducing Jeff to Roy Buchanan.”

The story continues that Jeff’s favourite Les Paul was sent to be repaired “with a volume control problem”, Seymour told us. “[But] when he got the guitar back the pickups had covers on them, and when they were removed the original ‘Patent Applied For’ pickups had been replaced with new Gibson humbuckers. I felt real bad and wanted to get Jeff a guitar with the tone of a Les Paul. 

“I couldn’t afford a Les Paul so I came up with the ‘Tele-Gib’, a Tele with two humbuckers, the bridge plate cut to take the humbucker but retain the three-piece early ’50s saddles. The pickups were ’59 Patent Applied For humbuckers that came out of a broken Gibson Flying V that once belonged to Lonnie Mack. Someone had messed with the coils so I rewound them as prototypes for Jeff. He liked [the ‘Tele-Gib’], too, and started recording with it in ’74 for the Blow By Blow album.”

Along with calling the guitar the ‘Tele-Gib’, Seymour nicknamed the bridge pickup ‘JB’. Evan explained: “The neck pickup was originally called ‘JM’ after the hot-rod racer character John Milner in the classic film American Graffiti – one of Jeff’s then-favourites. A few years later, ‘JM’ would morph into ‘Jazz Model,’ which is what it’s still called today.” 

According to both Seymour and Evan, it’s the ‘Tele-Gib’ you hear on Stevie Wonder’s Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers, a key track on Blow By Blow. “Jeff dedicated it to the man responsible for Seymour coming to England: none-other-than Roy Buchanan,” said Evan. 

Seymour then built another ‘Tele-Gib’ for himself and wound the second set of JB and JM pickups. Interestingly, Evan told us at the time that both of those ‘Tele-Gibs’ used 250kohm pots, “which tend to bleed off the pickups’ treble response and provide a smoother taper”, he explained. Not the usual 500k values used by most of us with humbuckers.

“Many of England’s top guitarists sought out Seymour’s JB model for their humbucker-equipped guitars [as a result of the success of Blow By Blow],” said Evan. “They found that the JB gave increased output (16.4kohms) without sounding harsh or dark like other high-output pickups of the mid-70s. When Seymour returned to the USA the next year, his reputation as a pickup designer – and the JB’s reputation as a remarkable pickup – preceded him.” 

When Seymour launched his pickup company in 1976, the JB became the SH-4 JB, and nearly 50 years later it remains one of Seymour Duncan’s best-selling pickups. Although we’ve all called it the ‘Jeff Beck’, officially Seymour Duncan will tell you those letters stand for ‘Jazz-Blues’. Despite their friendship, Seymour and Jeff never had any official product endorsement agreement, though Seymour was famously gifted the ’54 Esquire that he had obsessed over as a young guitarist.

“A few days after I’d given Jeff the ‘Tele-Gib’,” said Seymour, “his manager Ralph Baker turned up with three guitars in a cloth bag: ‘Jeff wants you to take your pick.’ There was a ’51 Tele, a mid-’50s Strat and – my favourite guitar – Jeff’s ’54 ‘Yardbirds’ Esquire. That’s how I got it!”  

Whether you’re upgrading an old guitar, or you just fancy switching things up a bit, swapping out the stock units on your S-style guitar for some of the best Strat pickups is a surefire way of livening things up with your tone.

With its three single coil pickups, the Strat has become one of the most popular guitars in the world, having been used by legends from every corner of music imaginable. Its unique bright, glassy, chimey tone can be heard on countless classic records over the decades. Most Strats have a 5-way pickup selector that allows for very different sounding combinations and is part of what we love about it.

The best Strat pickups can completely change the sound of your guitar. If you want more output so that your amp breaks up sooner, you can do that. If you want better dynamics, a slightly different EQ, a more vintage sound, something more contemporary – you can do that too. There are loads of different options out there to suit your needs.

We’ve put together our list of the best Stratocaster pickups that are available today, to cover all manner of wants, needs and budgets!

Best Strat pickups: Our top picks

If you’re seeking the classic Strat tone, then the Suhr V63 are some of the best pickups available. They’re based on a 1963 model, which many consider one of the best eras for Strats. They’re built closely to vintage specs, and actually utilize magnets made by the same company that made them for Fender in the ‘60s!

For players that want something a little spicier, then the Fender Texas Specials are a safe choice. They’re perfect for that SRV style spank and will help give your amp that extra push into beautiful natural overdrive. We also really like the Seymour Duncan JB Jr – it’s a classic sounding humbucker shrunk into a Strat-sized pickup.

Best Strat pickups: Product guide

These offerings from Suhr are pretty darn close to the original early ‘60s Fender Strat pickups. Those early-60s pre-CBS Strats are incredibly sought-after, with many players claiming models from this era to be the best. The magnets used in these pickups are actually made by the same company that made them for Fender in the 60s, and are built to the same specs.

Using a particularly nice sounding original 63 Strat as a baseline, John Suhr set out to create a set of pickups that would offer players this legendary sound for a fraction of the price of an original 60s Strat. They’re lovely and chimey, very articulate, dynamic, crisp in the top end without being too harsh, and nice and warm, but with a bit of edge in the low end. They also feature modified staggered pole pieces to accommodate for a modern, flatter fingerboard radius.

The Texas Specials have become known for being some of the best Strat pickups for players seeking the famed Stevie Ray Vaughan sound. They’re fairly bright and hot and are bursting with attitude. These pickups are overwound for maximum output, whilst still retaining that classic Strat tone.

The bridge pickup has quite a lot of presence in the mids, as well as that clear, cutting top end – if you want to be heard through a mix, then these are great pickups! The neck has a ton of warmth, with a smooth low end but still retains good note definition. The middle pickup is reverse wound so you don’t get any hum in positions 2 and 4.

These pickups are really good at pushing a tube amp into natural overdrive. They also work well with drive and distortion pedals, though rest assured they also sound fantastic clean too. They’re great all-rounders, but as the name suggests, they excel at that spanky, aggressive Texas blues rock tone.

The Seymour Duncan JB Jr is a humbucker that has been shrunk so that it fits into the single-coil sized space in your Strat. This has a really nice upper-mid range punch, as well as clear highs and a strong low end, and is perfect for lending a bit of extra power to your Strat.

The JB is one of the most popular aftermarket pickups in the world. It’s used by players of all genres, so regardless of whether it’s punk, blues, rock, metal, jazz or anything else that you’re into, the Seymour Duncan JB Jr can help you do it. Compared to a regular Strat bridge pickup, this can help thicken up chords and lend a little more weight to lead lines; it’s the perfect way to fatten up your tone. It’s fairly high output, but does clean up nicely too.

One of the main features of these unique pickups is the multi-voice option. You can wire these up so that you’ve got access to two different Strat voicings – it’s essentially like having two sets of pickups in one guitar. One voicing is very vintage sounding – classic Strat, clear and chimey with a nice warmth. The other goes for the hot, overwound ‘Texas-blues’ tone – this is slightly more aggressive sounding and will push your amp a little more.

They’re great sounding pickups, with both voicings keeping all that inherent Strat character intact. They’re also noise-free, so you won’t have unwanted hum or noise to worry about; something that has plagued many Strat users over the years. Overall, these are super versatile and very practical Strat pickups; they’re modern but with a vintage flavor.

These pickups aim to deliver the sonic character of a legit 50s Strat, albeit with a few modernized tweaks. Expect lots of top end sparkle and chime – in fact, they can be really cutting, especially in a naturally bright guitar, but that’s sort of to be expected with a Strat bridge pickup. With the right amp settings though, it sounds great and cuts through a live mix really well.

The ‘Fat’ in the name comes from an enhanced bass response – this beefed up low end helps these pickups sound really big and chunky, though they’re still super dynamic and delicate when you want them to be. All three pickups work well together, offering a balanced frequency range. They’re fairly hot and pokey, though they’re not as high output as some others on this list – they are based off 50s pickups after all. Whether you’re playing clean or overdriven, these vintage-modern pickups will have you covered.

This signature set of single coils from EMG are based on what Gilmour has in his famed red Strat. They’re very typically Strat sounding, but they can be made to sound a little thicker, plus they are noise-free in all positions. This makes them perfect for studio use, and also for using with overdrive and fuzz pedals where you’d tend to notice unwanted hum a little more.

There’s lots going on under the hood with these pickups, including an EXG Guitar Expander which increases the treble and bass frequencies. Add to that an SPC presence control that lets you enhance the guitar’s mid-range and you’ve got a mighty powerful set of pickups that shine throughout the whole frequency range.

They really are some of the best Strat pickups for honing in on Gilmour’s legendary tone – even though they’re not what he used in the Pink Floyd days, you can certainly achieve that sound with ease.

Unless you’ve been hiding away in a cave for the last few years, you’ve probably heard of Cory Wong. Making his name with the undisputed masters of groove, Vulfpeck, Wong is known for his perfectly timed choppy funk rhythms. As such, his signature Strat pickup set from Seymour Duncan is perfectly equipped to handle clean, but fat sounding funk tones.

The middle and neck pickups are nice and warm, sound great clean, and retain clarity well, with a strong attack. The bridge is actually a stacked pickup with a stronger magnet so sounds a little fatter – almost humbucker-esque. This can handle overdrive really well too, though of course it still sounds fantastic clean, making this pickup set a little more versatile than perhaps its name suggests.

This is a high output humbucker condensed into a Strat single-coil sized pickup – a secret agent of distortion, if you will. As the name suggests, this pickup is geared towards playing with distortion. It’s a high output pickup, so will push an amp to break up quicker. Expect a big, fat sound, with plenty of sustain.

The regular Super Distortion has become somewhat of a classic, with lots of rock and metal players gravitating towards it to achieve huge, chunky tones. DiMarzio have taken the same pickup and repackaged it so that it can fit into a Strat, though have also made a few tweaks to accommodate for the angle at which it will be placed, and the 25.5” scale length. Tonally, it’s not as bright as a regular Strat bridge pickup; it’s a lot warmer, with a tighter and more focused bottom end.

Best Strat pickups: Buying advice

There are lots of options when it comes to shopping for the best Strat pickups, but how do you know what is right for you?

Single coils or humbuckers?

The Strat is known for having three single coil pickups, however, it’s not uncommon for a humbucker to feature in there somewhere – usually in the bridge position. Some of the best Strat pickups are even humbuckers but in a single coil format. So, at first glance, they look like a regular Strat pickup, but they’re actually packing a lot more punch.

A Strat bridge pickup is normally quite bright – it’s too much for some (though for others, it’s perfect). A humbucker will be warmer and thicker sounding. You don’t have quite as much top end, but you get lots of mids, and a powerful bass. They’re also usually more powerful, so if you want to drive your amp with your pickups, then a humbucker in the bridge position might work well for you.

A quick look through the history of the Strat will show you that there have been many variations of what looks like the same guitar. Strats from the early 60s are particularly sought-after, as are the early ones from the mid-50s, and whilst they definitely share many of the same tonal qualities, there are some subtle differences. This is why many companies offer pickups based on particular eras. So, if you like the clean and chimey sound of those early Strats, or the nuance of a ’63, then you can hone in on your favorite time period.

Look to your heroes

If you’re playing a Strat, then chances are, some of your favorite guitar heroes have also played a Strat. If you like their tone, look at what pickups they use, and if possible go for something similar. If you’re a Stevie Ray Vaughan fan, then anything claiming to have the ’Texas blues’ sound should do the trick. By default, John Mayer fans will also probably like the same thing! Some of the best Strat pickups are even signature models endorsed by the player themselves, making them a great choice for fans of that particular artist.

Pickup output

Any discussion about pickups will usually include talk of output, or how ‘hot’ a pickup is. The higher the output of a pickup, the stronger the signal that gets sent to your amp. When using a tube amp, a hotter pickup will push it into natural overdrive sooner. Strats aren’t particularly known for having high output pickups, with a lot of stock models having a low or medium output so, if you want a bit more juice sending to your amp, then replacing it with a hotter pickup can help you on your way. Whilst it’s not a perfect way of measuring output, a good thing to look out for is the DC resistance.

Find out more about how we make our recommendations and how we test each of the products in our buyer's guides.

Related buyer’s guides

• Best electric guitar pickups: top single coils, humbuckers and P-90s
• Best acoustic guitar pickups: recommended acoustic pickups for all budgets
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NAMM 2023: One of today’s most tasteful virtuosos Lari Basilio has teamed up with Seymour Duncan to announce her own set of signature electric guitar pickups.

The same set found in her Ibanez LB1 signature guitar (one of the company’s best-selling signature offerings, don’tcha know), the pickups offer a versatile combination of Strat, Tele and humbucker sounds – although you wouldn’t know it just from looking.

The neck single coil is Tele-voiced and the bridge humbucker is, of course, a humbucker, but it’s the middle position that houses the surprise: that right there is a Strat pickup in uncovered Telecaster pickup clothing.

There’s more tonal ingenuity elsewhere in the construction, too: the single coils feature Alnico V magnets beneath the low strings, while Alnico IV magnets lie underneath the high strings of the neck, and Alnico IIs under the high strings of the middle.

All of which should produce a most balanced tone indeed – Seymour Duncan reckons the pickups deliver enough clarity “for even the most clustered chord voicings”.

On Basilio’s Ibanez LB1, these pickups are wired to the Japanese guitar co’s dyna-MIX9 switching system, which offers nine potential sounds, so there’s a lot of potential for various wiring configurations. Ask your guitar tech.

Available with gold or chrome covers, Lari Basilio’s signature Seymour Duncan pickups start at $109 (chrome)/$119 (gold), while a full set will set you back $377 (chrome)/$407 (gold).

See Seymour Duncan for more info.

This may not be the only gear release we see from Basilio this year; recent videos have seen the guitarist teasing a white-and-gold version of her signature Ibanez. Roll on NAMM…

Seymour Duncan, meanwhile, has been on a veritable pickup release spree, launching a Tele-sized Pearly Gates humbucker, Cory Wong Clean Machine set and Mark Holcomb Scarlet and Scourge humbuckers in 2023 alone.

Seymour Duncan has unveiled its latest signature electric guitar pickup set for Periphery’s Mark Holcomb. The Scourge and Scarlet humbucker set features the one-two punch of a ceramic and Alnico 8 design, for an electric guitar tone that sounds suitably punishing through a digital modeling amp.

We are, after all, living in the future right now, and what an exciting time to be a live playing metal guitar, chasing new extremes on ever-more technologically advanced platforms. Anyone who has some digital in the rig, be it in plugin or hardware, and who has designs on hench riff chug, these should be worth investigating.

Holcomb’s new pickups are available individually or as a set, and for six, seven and eight-string guitars, with cover options comprising Black, White, or, like the Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, Matte Black. 

We’d bet good money that the latter option is what sells the most amongst the prog-metal djent demographic who right now are spitting Huel over their keyboards in excitement at this launch.

There is a lot to get excited about, especially if high-output passive humbuckers are your thing. Like Holcomb’s Seymour Duncan Alpha humbucker, the Scarlet is designed around a ceramic magnet and is voiced for enhanced note definition when playing clean or at the edge of breakup – just what a metal player needs from a neck pickup.

The Scourge, meanwhile, that’s a face-ripper constructed around an Alnico 8 magnet. If you read much into DCR values, this is rated at 11.06k while the Scarlet is rated at 7.56k. As for the EQ profiles, the Scourge is moderate on the bass, a little more on the mids, with a pronounced high-end.

The neck is similarly pronounced on the treble, but with more oomph in the low-end it might be ever so slightly scooped. Either way, you’ve got clarity; that seems to be the goal here. After all, Periphery might be operating “in the metal space” but they’re not Full Metal Jacket about it. There are dynamics. There is string definition.

It’s all gourmet sounds with these guys. And a bit of fun, too, with their new album, Djent Is Not a Genre, not only a good title for a 21st-century prog-metal album but a great dinner party conversation starter, too. It’s out March 10 on CD through 3DOT, with a vinyl release following a couple of weeks later. You can pre-order Djent Is Not a Genre now.

Jazz has come a long way from its roots in 19th-century New Orleans, where enslaved people of African and Caribbean origin blended their own traditional music. Today, it's one of the most diverse and influential genres, filling everything from smoky bars to world-famous clubs and theaters. If jazz is your bag, and you’re deep in the world of complex chord voicings, polyrhythms, wild improv, and ending every song on a major 13, then you’ll want to check out the best guitars for jazz.

Jazz has many different sub-genres, and as such the guitar styles within it vary. Sometimes the guitar acts as a backing, providing texture for others, other times it’s the lead instrument, and often it can be used to create complex, improvisational solos that drive the entire performance. With this in mind, the best guitar for jazz will depend entirely on what you need from it.

That said, all the choices on this list will sound great through a clean amp and deliver on the fundamentals of jazz guitar tone. There are no super high-output pickups here. All of these options deliver great clarity, ensuring every note you play is heard. We’ve handpicked them to let you play your style of jazz comfortably and if you need any more advice, go check out our FAQs section.

Our top picks

Best overall

It doesn’t get much more traditional than this. Based off John D’Angelico’s original design, this guitar is dripping in vintage, jazzy mojo. You wouldn’t use it for much else other than jazz, but that’s why you’re here after all. It’s fitted with a Seymour Duncan designed floating mini humbucker located near the neck for plenty of warmth. It’s also fairly mid-rich so you’re not just getting the lower end frequencies.

It’s built to a very high standard, so if you’re looking for a professional grade jazz guitar for less than a grand, then you’re in the right place. The neck profile is a slim C, making it comfortable for as wide a range of players as possible. If you’re having to perform speedy jazz licks, then this won’t hinder your performance at all. It’s classy, it sounds incredible and it looks the business too!

Best budget

As well as being a major player in the world of metal guitars, Ibanez makes some of the best guitars for jazz too. This traditional style hollowbody rings out beautifully, with great sustain and resonance. The hardware - namely the Gibraltar bridge and art-deco style tailpiece - help increase the guitar’s resonance, sustain and tuning stability too. It’s made well, and it’s very well priced. 

It’s fitted with a pair of Classic Elite humbuckers that dish out a really cool, vintage tone. Combined with the hollow body, you can get a whole range of jazz tones out of this guitar – that’s essentially what the guitar was made to do. A volume and tone knob for each pickup allows you to find your perfect tone with precision. Whether you’re sitting back playing rhythm in a traditional jazz quartet, running gypsy jazz scales or doing big band jazz, this thing has you covered. 

Best for beginners

Since its inception in 1958, the Jazzmaster has moved away from being a primarily jazz guitar, instead being adopted by surf rockers and indie players alike. However, it’s sort of come full-circle now, with jazz guitarists realising that the unique circuit design does indeed lend itself to the genre very nicely. 

The pickups lend an almost P-90 like quality to the tone making them fairly versatile. However, switch over to the rhythm circuit and you can immediately cut out that unwanted top end. It’s fairly dark sounding, which is perfect for certain styles of jazz, but the single coils still retain a good amount of clarity.

The Squier Classic Vibe series is really popular and offers players amazing value, however if your budget allows for it, then we really like the Fender Vintera 60s Jazzmaster. 

Best for fusion

Eastman makes some great versions of tried and tested designs, and this take on one of jazz’s most ubiquitous guitars is no exception. That said, it does offer something slightly different to more mainstream models. 

The Eastman T386 has a lovely open and airiness to the sound that really helps chord extensions ring out and sound full and luscious. The pickups are very responsive and dynamic, with a fast attack.

The Traditional Even C neck profile makes for a super comfortable playing experience, and the ebony fingerboard feels great under the fingers. This is a superb jazz guitar, though it’s also a great choice for players who want to venture into fusion or blues too. 

Best solid body

Les Pauls have been used by countless jazz players over the years, including the main man himself. How much impact the construction of the guitar actually has on the tone of the instrument is widely debated, but something clearly works here because the Les Paul is undoubtedly one of the best guitars for jazz.

The ’50s Standard Les Paul is the top choice in Gibson's current range for handling jazz. Made in the USA with high-quality materials, components, and exceptional pickups, it's the best-equipped Les Paul for the job. The Burstbucker 1 and 2 pickups have a lower output compared to those in the ’60s Standard Les Paul, allowing them to maintain clarity and stay clean when needed. 

Two pickups with a volume and tone control for each really let you dial in the perfect tone, whether that be mellow and warm, or cutting and bright, depending on the style and scenario you’re playing in. On the other hand, Les Pauls are known for their heft, and the ’50s Standard is no exception. With no weight relief, you might want to sit down for those long jazz sessions.

Best with tremolo

Whilst Gretsch might not be the first brand that pops to mind when thinking about the best guitars for jazz, the construction and pickups fitted in this G5420T make it a really good contender. The semi-hollow body helps it resonate – ideal for letting chords ring out. The trestle block inside also helps lend a nice, fast attack making it great for speedy lead lines.

The pickups have plenty of body and definition allowing you to hear notes individually within chords. With the tone dialled fully up, they can be fairly bright, which works well to cut through a band mix, but they can easily be tamed allowing for a much warmer and mellower tone, especially in the neck position. 

These are really cool looking guitars, though not all jazzers may appreciate the 50s aesthetic. They’re built well too, and offer that classic Gretsch vibe for less cash than the Japanese made models. 

More options...

Inspired by some of the classic archtop guitars of the 1950s, the Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin delivers a lot for your money. Made in Canada using high quality materials, this is a really resonant guitar, and that’s before you’ve even plugged it in – it sounds great acoustically.

The two P-90s are punchy and articulate, allowing those chord voicings and melody lines to really shine. Using the tone knob, you can dial in some lovely, warm and mellow sounds, but if you need to cut through a mix, you’re able to do that. It’s surprisingly versatile too, with enough of a bite to the sound to allow you to stray past traditional jazz into more contemporary territory. It’s a beautiful looking guitar as well, with an understated burst finish, and really cool F-holes – definitely one to stand out from the crowd with!

Based on a popular jazz guitar from the 1930s, the Epiphone Broadway is perfect for traditional and more contemporary jazz. It’s loaded with a pair of Alnico Classic pickups that deliver vintage style tone – they don’t break up early so it’s easier to keep your sound nice and clean. The bridge pickup is more cutting and brighter, as you’d expect, but that neck pickup, combined with the big semi-hollow body helps deliver lovely, fat, rounded tones that are perfect for jazz chords and melody lines.

It’s certainly a striking guitar too, and it’s very much in keeping with the traditional jazz aesthetic. The gold Frequensator Split Trapeze tailpiece looks fantastic, and it actually helps with resonance and intonation. The Slim Taper C neck profile, while not necessarily traditional, will be comfortable for most players. 

Like another iconic guitar brand, Heritage Guitars began handcrafting high-quality instruments in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1985. But unlike others, Heritage is still there. Much of Heritage’s appeal lies in doing things the old-fashioned way – by hand in the USA – an ethos that lends itself incredibly well to creating unbelievably good archtops.

Arguably the best archtop in their catalog, the Eagle Classic features a large, fully hollow body that delivers a deep, resonant tone with a bright attack, thanks to its maple tonewoods. Being fully hollow, it’s also lightweight and comfortable – a win-win, especially for live performances.

The Eagle Classic is equipped with a pair of Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups, which couldn’t be more ideal for jazz. Based on a mid-’50s PAF sound, they are clean, mild, and dynamic. The ’50s vibes continue with the hand-sprayed nitrocellulose lacquer, allowing the guitar to breathe and improve with age. Although this premium guitar may not be terribly suitable for gigs in dingy clubs, if you’re after a bucket-list archtop, accept no substitutes.

FAQs

How we test

When testing a guitar for jazz, there are certain things we'll have to take into account that make them different from your average guitar. A jazz guitar can be versatile but primarily has to meet certain criteria to be useful for players of the genre.

The majority of our tests will be similar to those of other guitars, so we'll start by looking at build quality and finishing in general. We're sure to look over every guitar we get our hands on in-depth, making sure that it's well put together by checking the neck joint, how the hardware is installed, as well as looking for any aesthetic issues with the overall finishing.

Once that's done, we'll start playing the instrument to see how it performs. For jazz guitars specifically, there are certain chords and scales that we'll always try to make sure it's suited to the playing style. Primarily jazz guitars need to be versatile, so we'll try pretty much every technique you can think of to see how it copes in terms of playability.

Finally, we'll look at the crux of the matter, which is the guitar's sound. When it comes to a great jazz guitar our first port of call is the clean tone, which needs to provide the warm, low-output tones beloved by jazz players as a minimum. We'll check all the other ways it can be utilized as well, but this is the core requirement of a jazz guitar so gets most of our attention.

Find out more about how we make our recommendations and how we test each of the products in our buyer's guides.

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Back in 2021, Fender teamed up with funk guitar master Cory Wong to create a new signature Stratocaster. 

Unique in its beautiful Sapphire Blue transparent lacquer finish, the signature guitar also stands out sonically, with its trio of Seymour Duncan Cory Wong Clean Machine electric guitar pickups.

The Clean Machines have proven to be popular enough since the guitar's release that Seymour Duncan has now made the pickups available as a standalone set. You can hear Wong show off their sonic capabilities below.

Based on Seymour Duncan's Antiquity Surf units, the Clean Machines are designed to provide the squeaky-clean funk rhythm guitar tones that made Wong famous, coupled with "singing" lead tones. 

Wong liked the Antiquity Surf single-coils, but felt he needed a bit more oomf from the set's bridge pickup. At the same time though, Wong loved the classic look of the single-coil trio on his Stratocaster, and didn't want to transform the guitar into an HSS model. 

So, with Seymour Duncan, Wong created a high-output, hum-cancelling stack bridge pickup with an Alnico V magnet. The middle and neck single-coils, meanwhile, feature Alnico IVs. 

"I just like the look of an SSS Strat, rather than an HSS, but I like the thickness and sound of that humbucker in the bridge," Wong explains in the video above. "The single-coil in the bridge doesn't quite have enough body to it – it sometimes feels like it empties out – so we decided to try an Alnico IV magnet in the neck and middle, and a hum-cancelling, stacked Alnico V in the bridge.

"We wound them a little hotter," Wong went on. "It gives a really nice, spanky tone. It handles overdrives and distortions a lot better than the softer-wound one. It captures that spanky, clean thing, but as soon as you hit the overdrive, it still has the nice, warm thing and it pushes the drive in a really pleasing way."

Seymour Duncan's Cory Wong signature Clean Machine pickups are available now. The neck and middle pickups ring up at $99, while the higher-output bridge pickup will set you back $119. The full set, meanwhile, costs $317.

For more info on the pickups, visit Seymour Duncan.