Seymour Duncan 78 Model Humbucker Review
As Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario explains, “In the late ‘70s, Seymour Duncan – the man – was well-known as the guy to custom-wind pickups for some noteworthy guitarists who were looking to venture beyond what was available and create their own identifiable tone and sound."
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MusicTranscript
00:00Hey, what's up?
00:06It's Paul here from Guitar World, and today we're going to be checking out an exciting
00:09humbucking pickup from Seymour Duncan that articulates the very best in harmonics and
00:15crunchiness, the Seymour Duncan 78 model.
00:18Let's check it out.
00:25Whether you knew it or not, in the late 70s, Seymour Duncan, the man, was well known as
00:44the guy to custom wind pickups for some noteworthy guitarists who were looking to venture beyond
00:49what was available and create their own identifiable tone and sound.
00:54In 1978, hence the 78 model name, one such artist handed a PAF to Seymour to have it
01:00rewound to bring out more natural harmonics and a hotter wind to make harmonics scream
01:06and notes jump.
01:16So in case you're wondering, the 78 model is wound to those exact specs with what Seymour
01:21describes as his hot wine that allows for a slightly overwhelmed vintage-spec Alnico
01:262 humbucker to yield a responsiveness normally heard in high-output Alnico 5 and ceramic-loaded
01:33pickups.
01:34To put it another way, this 78 model is undoubtedly meant for guitarists who want to bring out
01:39the clarity in their tapping, warm crunch tones, and the ability to coax both natural
01:44and artificial harmonics with ease.
01:54And interestingly enough, this particular pickup is one of the most talked about humbuckers
02:08on many online guitar and tone chasing forums because prior to this, it was only available
02:14as a custom shop option.
02:15But thankfully, Seymour Duncan has now made this pickup a production model at an affordable
02:20price point.
02:21But I can tell you this 78 model delivers that familiar tone and feel, and I'm going
02:26to show you it on two different guitars on this Floyd-equipped Kramer and also my very
02:31own Les Paul.
02:32Okay, let's start on the Kramer here.
02:34You can see the 78 is a direct mount, Floyd-equipped.
02:37Obviously, the maple neck on this guitar is going to bring out a lot of screaming harmonics,
02:41so it's going to sound great.
02:42I'm going to start on the clean channel, then also hit the coil tap, and then move over
02:47to the rhythm channel as well as the lead channel, and here we go.
03:08So you already can hear just how mid-heavy it is in a lot of that full bass, and then
03:13when you pop the coil, it kind of tames that a bit.
03:16Here we go.
04:47Let's try that with a coil tap.
05:10Moving over to Les Paul, now you're going to hear a little more of a warmer, maybe possibly
05:37darker sound, obviously because you have a mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard.
05:43No coil tap on this, but definitely a warmer and darker sound, but still full and filled
05:50with harmonics.
05:51Let's take a listen.
06:20The 78 model comes in a Trembucker bridge, a standard space bridge, and by customer demand,
06:25a matching neck model, which is all available in Seymour Duncan's assorted colors of black,
06:31gold cover, nickel cover, reverse zebra, white, and zebra.
06:51Let's give it a listen.
07:16The Seymour Duncan 78 model humbucker is a wildly responsive overwound pickup with biting
07:21clarity and warm, crunchy overtones.
07:24It's a humbucker that over delivers the very best of classic and hard rocking tones for
07:28tappers and shredders alike.
07:30A lot of guitarists have been waiting for a pickup like this, and it doesn't disappoint.
07:35Let's take a listen and check it out.