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.
