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Topic: Has anyone used Seymour Duncan Model ‘59 pickups for Steel? |
Sumit Simlai
From:
Uttar Pradesh, India
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Posted 27 Oct 2023 12:49 am |
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Hello friends
Since I belong to and live in India, some of you know that Indian Steel guitar is mostly played on the first 2-3 strings at the most when on stage, while the accompaniment plays the fillers and backing. When practising, the 4-6 strings are used to play the fillers.
So far the most respected guitarists in India is the Late Sunil Ganguly who has been a major motivator for most guitarists, including me. Though I’ve never met him, my style of playing has imbibed his, without my realising. But while the style of playing is of utmost importance, of equal importance is the quality of sound and tone. This is where most of us fail miserably. And this is what I need help from the respected experts in this forum.
I have consulted a few guitarists in India one of whom suggested the Seymour Duncan SH13 Dimebucker as a set (Dimebag). To reconfirm I contacted Seymour Duncan and after a trail of long emails and after I sent them short samples of Sunil Ganguly’s recordings, they advised buying the Model ‘59 as a set known as Vintage Blues.
Point is I haven’t come across any videos or write ups or even this forum mentioning or taking about this product.
While I admit that I have already made the purchase in a hurry as I was getting a good price, I still would like to be sure that the Vintage Blues kit model ‘59 would really deliver the tone almost similar to Ganguly’s guitar (of course playing skills and other aspects notwithstanding).
A link to the pickup website is here:
https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/vintage-blues
Any help or tip on this would be helpful to put my mind at rest.
I’m also attaching my OneDrive link to Ganguly’s samples that I sent to Seymour Duncan.
[url]https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtFfHEr_6Z7bgc-XMmQ86RCTLuabqEU[/url]
And here’s their response as a screenshot.
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 27 Oct 2023 8:05 am
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What model steel guitar are you trying to improve? What pickups are in the instrument already?
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Sumit Simlai
From:
Uttar Pradesh, India
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Posted 21 Jan 2024 10:56 pm
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| Brad Bechtel wrote: |
| What model steel guitar are you trying to improve? What pickups are in the instrument already? |
Extremely sorry for this late reply. I have been ridden by a long bout of illness and just recovered! Extremely sorry once again
Initially my thought was to modify my current Indian made double neck guitar from GIVSON  . The existing guitar has pickups with no brand names on it. They don’t sound bad with just the bridge pickup but when both the bridge and the neck pickup are switched on, the sound tends to fatten and distort.
I now have to decide whether to replace the pickups and the pots and the toggle selectors in a Gibson style or get a new guitar made. Problem is I don’t have a lot of space in my room.
I have already purchased four pickups of model 59 (2 neck + 2 bridge for double neck), one Switchcraft right angled multi pole toggle switch, one regular three way toggle switch and four pots. Now I need to decide the next step which isn’t going to be easy, given that Delhi where I am based, is not known for good luthiers for Hawaiian electric guitar and I have to travel 1800 km to Calcutta to get the guitar body made and the instrument assembled.
I’ve been thinking about retrofitting, provided the pole spacings match. If not, and if I still want to go for retrofit, there will be considerable modification work, particularly:
- pole spacing
- space and cavity for toggle switches
- circuit modification because I ordered components based on Gibson configuration drawing.
Last edited by Sumit Simlai on 23 Jan 2024 8:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Sumit Simlai
From:
Uttar Pradesh, India
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Posted 21 Jan 2024 10:58 pm
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Just heard it. Beautifully played. I was eager to know whether it was a double Humbucker or a single. Do you have any recording playing high notes on the first string say from 7th to the 14th or 15th fret? |
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Sumit Simlai
From:
Uttar Pradesh, India
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Posted 22 Jan 2024 9:48 am
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| Brad Bechtel wrote: |
| What model steel guitar are you trying to improve? What pickups are in the instrument already? |
Brad
Hi
I noticed that the pole spacing of my SD ‘59 model pick up is 2 1/16” which is an international standard I guess.
But when I compared the spacing with my current Indian electric Hawaiian guitar, the SD pickup is much shorter, pole to pole. In fact, the 1st string to 6th string length at the bridge is 60 mm and at the neck end is 50 mm. When I matched the “1st string - 6th string space” of my existing electric double neck Hawaiian to that of the SD 59 model pickup, the “1st string - 5th string space” of the Indian guitar equals the “1st pole - 6th pole space” of the pick up.
The question arises whether it is important that each string should be above the corresponding screw on the pick up? In other words, is it important that the first string of the guitar should be vertically above the first screw / pole of the pick up and the sixth string on the sixth pole?
I received mixed responses to this question when some people say that no it is not important because there are pick ups where you can’t see the screws. So how do you place those?
A tip would be beneficial, if I were to retrofit my old guitar with SD. Otherwise at this moment, it seems it would be difficult financially to build a new guitar.
Thanks for any help in advance.
Sumit |
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Sumit Simlai
From:
Uttar Pradesh, India
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Posted 22 Jan 2024 10:23 am
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Just received a reply from Seymour Duncan as follows:
“Jeff C (Seymour Duncan)
Jan 22, 2024, 10:14 PST
Hello Sumit,
As long as the string is over the pole it would not matter, there may be some drop out it the string is too far away from the top of the pole.
You will likely need to speak to your Luthier about the mounting.
Thank you,
Jeff Collier
Customer and Technical Support
Seymour Duncan”
I replied back as follows:
Is there some kind of a margin allowed as per the design of the pick up? or does the pick up demands that strings be directly above strictly?
A narrow, pick up spacing than what I am used to playing , may mean a new learning curve adjusting to the new spacing while playing. |
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Sumit Simlai
From:
Uttar Pradesh, India
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Posted 19 Feb 2024 12:43 pm
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Just to close the subject , I did finalise my luthier for a new double Neck double humbucker. So far so good.
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