Seymour Duncan has announced it’s bringing one of its most popular humbuckers, the Pearly Gates, to the Telecaster.
The Pearly Gates has long been prized by guitar players seeking a P.A.F. tone with a little extra attitude. Now the iconic humbucker has been shrunk down to fit the footprint of a typical Tele single-coil bridge pickup.
The design was first developed for ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons in the late ’70s. Gibbons wanted a road-worthy reproduction of the P.A.F. pickups found in his priceless ’59 Gibson Les Paul ’Burst, nicknamed the Pearly Gates.
Seymour Duncan gained access to the instrument and replicated the higher-output sound of Gibbons’ originals, naming the resulting design after the guitar. Since then the pickups have become synonymous with the hotter Texas blues sound.
In particular, players prize the Pearly Gates for its rich, thick dynamic response. When paired with the right amp, it allows you to surf the line between clean and distorted tones, using only your picking attack to drive the tone into heavier territory.
While the Pearly Gates news undoubtedly steals the headlines, the firm has also announced the BG1400 – a popular custom shop option – is now available in its standard line.
Again aimed at Tele players, the BG1400 offers a vintage-style tone with, as Seymour Duncan puts it, “a little extra howl and growl”. It’s designed to fatten up the Tele sound without compromising on its iconic twang, and features a pair of stacked, overwound coils, resulting in a noise-cancelling pickup that offers a little more attack.
Both the Pearly Gates for Tele and BG1400 pickups are available to order from Seymour Duncan now, for $119 and $129, respectively.
Head to Seymour Duncan for more information.
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