Seymour Duncan ’78 Model humbucker captures “biting clarity and warm, crunchy overtones”

[@shanedavis3414]

"Hey Mcfly, I thought I told you to never come here again"

[@jasoniriarte8215]

“I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”

[@realguitarshredder]

He plays like a chicken

[@mickenilsson]

😂😂😂😂

[@ScottTheNews]

Hilarious ! I thought the same thing

[@pchong312]

Damn I haven’t seen Paul in years! Glad to see your playing and tone kept improving after all this time

[@BoyAditya]

Woa.. they finally make production model out of this custom shop model!

[@richarde3378]

Paul Riario always gives the best reviews. Thanks, guys!

[@cc5053]

I don't care what anyone else thinks. I appreciate the fact that you demonstrated a VH pickup without just playing 15 straight VH riffs. It's nice to hear what else it can do.

[@billieg826]

These pickups sound great !

[@ardiris2715]

Automatic Thumbs-Up for any video that starts by scaring my cats. (:

[@leftygtrplr6184]

Great demo Paul!

[@angusorvid8840]

Great pickup. Similar to the Custom Custom SH-11 which I own, but more PAF sounding. A big part of the magic in Eddie's early tone is that his pickups still have a very PAF vibe with a slightly hotter tweak to bring out the harmonics, but the strat scale axes he used still had that 25.5 scale snap to them. The rest of the signal chain is the stuff of history and mystical speculation, so I'm not going to get into it. But a pup like the '78 is a great place to start. It sounds radically different in Paul's LP than in the Kramer, and that's a perfect example of how a pickup can act very different depending on the guitar it sits in.

[@isaiahmarquez9717]

The coil-tapped Kramer 05:01 was pure VH tone. Amazing. 👏

[@m-funkshun]

Outstanding review & sick playing. Love it!

[@SoloDallas]

Ended up buying this pickup - largely because of you. And also, you're definitely a Marty McFly in more ways than are obvious - brother! Looking forward to bumping into you again, Fil 'SoloDallas'

[@truthteller1951]

This is awesome! I remember when Paul couldn’t play worth a crap.

[@saltyphucker777]

Great demo! I'm curious to see how this pickup stacks up against the Bare Knuckle VHII?

[@zafira976]

it's a different sound completely.I got both and the VH2 is an Al5 magnet pickup that has an offset and has got regular winding (not over-wound). The 78' is an over-wound Al2 pickup. They are totally different pickups

[@saltyphucker777]

@@zafira976 Thanks, man! I appreciate your insight! I saw also that EVH just released the new Frankenstein Classic pickup (Alnico 2), so I'm just wondering which one is the best out of the three.

[@Tatted-ne7tu]

@@zafira976Different in What way? sharper? Muddier? Crisper? Anyone know what difference the mags make?

[@zafira976]

@@Tatted-ne7tu yes, the different magnets are "highlighting" different frequencies but also have a different strength in the attack. The Al2 is sweet/smooth on the top end has a mid-range and is light in the bass. The Al 3 similar (soft sounding) but a lot more top end. Al 4 is very well balanced but in my ears sounds like it totally lacks in character. Al 5 scooped mids and not soft on the attack, sounds very modern with a tight low end. Al 6 which most pickup companies don't offer sounds a little more mid-rangy and fantastic when under-wound and so does the Al 8 but the attack is really not soft which is the reason I don't use them. If you want crisp bu soft go for Al 3. The Al2 can sound muddy when over-wound so it should be avoided to over-wind an Al 2 pickup

[@Tatted-ne7tu]

@@zafira976 Thank you so much for the break down. This helps me in my journey to replace the Duncan JB in my Danhenge Charvel. I find the stock JB just doesn't really compliment the Area 67 that's in the neck. The JB is a bit too hot and compressed. So far I'm considering the Thornbucker, BK VHII, BK MULE, SD 78 and the Pearly Gates. All great pickups and I'm sure I could find many more to go on the list but I have to start somewhere. I am a fan of Eddie's glassy toned early albums and I know that I need to get to a lower wind pickup.

[@thefeloniousscot3955]

And here I thought Ed just dropped an A2 in place of the A5 in a JB or the ceramic in a Custom

[@extrememike]

Wonder how this compares to the Antiquity JB

[@CS_Murphy_R9]

Different beast altogether! The '78 is very close to a old 50's P.A.F. where the JB uses Different wire and magnet. The JB is also much hotter in output and more modern sounding. My favorite is the Duncan Custom-59 hybrid which falls right in the middle of a 78 and JB. Best pickuo I ever tried and will cover any style🤘💥

[@zipchtkdn7804]

Not this axe is all maple ..Eddie used heavy ash in the Beretta . and korina in the shark....basswood in ebmm....and basswood in peavey and evh with maple tops .....

[@isaiahmarquez9717]

The 5150 Kramer isn’t a Baretta. It’s a Pacer body with a mystery neck. Some say it’s a Baretta neck with added wood to make the longer hockey stick headstock. But there’s various stories out there designed to throw any lurkers off the trail… If anything, it’s a hybrid mutt, just the way Eddie liked it.

[@robertaustin1945]

The shark was Ash not Korina wood. Ash is brighter sounding . And Ash is a cheaper priced wood.

[@muleblues71]

need this in my 84

[@adamduncan123456]

It kinda sounds like the ultimate pickup for the Polyphia sound. I'm getting one lol

[@stevekirkby6570]

Is that a 'coil tap' or a 'coil spilt'? Sounds great in both positions.

[@tashsquad7054]

He said "Coil Tap" but I think what he meant was "Coil Split", since coil tap is actually something you do not find too often because it's not the same as coil split, even though it does sound similar. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5uYeYl3mLt-nZo I find this video to be very insightful for this topic. Hope I could help!

[@zAvAvAz]

WOuld love to hear this guitar and 78 pickup through a Randall Thrasher and a This Heavy Earth Grimm 3 boost, Titan amp sweetener, and the Chrome waves reverb delay pedals.

[@fedboy21]

Im accidentally using this pick up on my old les paul...and it was great and awesome. Why i said that? its kind a funny story. my original standart pickup got swapped accidentally when my guitar at the tech place for a general check up and do refretting. And one day when i go to my friend place he try and feel weird about the pickups. And then we check em, and we knew thats not a original gibson pickups. After we check little more guess what my les paul equipped with 78 custom neck and an antiquity neck....oooo maaan what a lucky ✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️ 😄😄

[@michaelbevins2405]

sounds good ,Dont think it could kick my Dimarzio super distortion out of my explorer tho, naa

[@BBGuitars]

Warmer and darker because of the scale length, not because of the wood types...

[@aek4018]

yeah, never-ending tonewood crap... ;)

[@greekfreak1980]

Also, the neck construction plays a big part. A bolt-on sounds different than a neck-through, even if it both guitars are made of the same woods.

[@aek4018]

@@greekfreak1980 maybe, but does not make any difference in live/band situation 😀

[@greekfreak1980]

@@aek4018 Sure, people play their guitars through a pedalboard with a dozen pedals, pre-amps and high gain amps, but claim that they can hear " the warmness of the mahagony" or some BS.😆

[@BBGuitars]

@@greekfreak1980 heres the thing, a lot of these "tone facts" about guitars originated when they were first coming into popularity. You had to main competitors, Gibson and Fender. Gibson doing 24.75 scale and fender 25.5, arguably the biggest difference in defining tone is the scale length. People were attributing tonalities to many things while ignoring a lot of factors at the same time. Yeah, that bolt on is brighter and snappier because the strings, which were mostly available in the same gauge set at the time, because they were under more tension due to the scale length, amplified they sounded significantly brighter too, due the fact we are listening to the sound of single coils vs humbbuckers and P90s on a shorter scale guitar. Everything plays its part, its a recipe for sure, but bolt on vs set isnt going to be as large a factor as you think it is....

[@BillyE5150]

Greatest pickup EVER!!

[@joshfugate6018]

How does the SD ‘78 sound compared to the EVH frankenstein pickup?

[@x7stringinJSCx]

The Frankenstein is a lot hotter. It's more like a JB just better. I have it in a Charvel. Sounds great. This demo didn't really capture the "voice" of the 78 model. Other vids out there have it sounding exactly like Van Halen 1. Even the old Demo that SD has as their video is spot on Van Halen.

[@patrickwilliams2530]

the frankenstein pickup is the humbucker which was used for fair warning and women and children first the 78 model was the one used for vh1 and part of vh2. When eddie began to use floyd roses he switched humbuckers to find what he needed he finally settled down with an overwound super distortion he replaced the ceramic magnet with the paf magnet and duncan copied this humbucker for eddie by replacing the hex screws by normal pole pieces and screws for the frankie because originally this was the bee humbucker. However the 5150 had a damaged duncan jb which read 180k instead of the supposed 16.5k.

[@J.C...]

So, why wouldn't you mention Eddie's name?

[@PerryCodes]

Seriously... but anyone who sees a single humbucker and that hockey puck Kramer headstock knows.

[@rickcrotts6673]

Cuz it would be wrong and Wolfzilla would probably throw a tantrum and stomp on Tokyo...

[@PerryCodes]

@@rickcrotts6673 what about it would be wrong? You can go to the product page where they DO mention Eddie by name, along with a bit of the backstory. This is THE pickup that Seymour Duncan designed for EVH in the late 70’s.

[@aceshowing]

It used to be called the Evenly Voiced Harmonics. 😂

[@zikkicharade]

Whats the difference of this guitar kramer 84 and kramer baretta vintage?

[@roosternm6830]

The headstock and the color of the hardware. The vintage has a smaller hockey stick head and black hardware. Also it has a rosewood fretboard. The hardware is black. Everything else is the same. The vintage has a maple body. I own the white one. Bought the last one at Zzounds in 2019

[@fattony4961]

What year Barretta is that? Is it one of the new versions?

[@Angelo-fo8de]

It’s not a baretta, it’s a 84 model.

[@fattony4961]

I ordered a 78 from custom shop which sounds great but didn’t buy my 78 eruption guitar until last month and man is it one fun guitar to play. I can’t mount it though as it has the wrong legs on the pickup to fit properly without modification. Or so I’m told. But I also picked up a Charvel 2004 NOS OEM prototype pickup for the evh art series. (Verified with Fender). It does have the correct mounting legs. Ironically it was meant for a black and white art series (eruption style model) The neck is the most comfortable I’ve ever played so I was wondering if yours happened to be the current model with the 12 inch radius or a different spec neck on the same model guitar? I was curious to try one of the Kramer guitars and didn’t want to waste my time if it was looking like something I would not like. If anyone knows differently about mounting a standard pickup to this guitar please let me know as I’d love to actually hear VH1 tones as opposed to Wolfgang. It’s a nice pickup but I prefer old VH tones. Besides having the 78 would be more accurate to the original. Which is my goal.

[@ScottTheNews]

Looking for that EVH 1 sound? Yep it is this one

[@aek4018]

Yup, sounds like another HB :) Probably it's impossible to spot in a blind-test And I think that artificial/tapped/pinched harmonics are more about the technique, not the pickup :)

[@rickcrotts6673]

This...

[@ardiris2715]

Let's not ignore the compressor set to maximum squash. (:

[@gtrman12887]

Not true at all. High output pickups make it easier to use those techniques. Can it be done with a single coil? Yes, but technique changes subtly to make it happen. Higher output makes it easier to pull off even if its subtle.

[@aek4018]

@@gtrman12887 Yeah, in a way output matters, but still - technique matters MORE :)

[@luislanga]

Why is it forbidden to say this pickup was wound for Eddie if it says it on Seymour Duncan's website lol Also it sounds different on the les paul because of the shorter scale length and hardware

[@jimmychesteen6559]

Lawyers... the devil is in the details and it usually involves lawyers... just my guess.

[@mottosierra1372]

Sounds more like lynch than eddie

[@evalex71]

Is this a passive or active pickup?

[@jedinakfoor]

passive

[@evalex71]

@@jedinakfoor Thanks

[@johnmoyle4195]

I challenge somebody to prove that a maple fingerboard or neck actually produces a different sound than any other choice of wood on an electric guitar. It’s the fingers, pick, strings, pickups, wiring, capacitor, cable and amplifier that produce your tone.

[@NoneMcNobody]

I wouldn't have believed you 6mo. Ago, then I discovered a uy on KZbin named Jim Lill who has videos on where tone comes from.....he made a 'guitar' using strings, bridge, pickups, wiring, capacitors and machine heads attached in between two desks....sounded the same as his real guitar and the guitar he built on a piece of plywood. You are 100% correct. It feels heretical but it's true.

[@fasteddievh2072]

@@NoneMcNobody💯🎯

[@dannyllerenatv8635]

@@NoneMcNobody Ultimately, everything boils down to feel and how it makes you play.

[@jolosantiano5159]

Well I had a chance. 2 N4s one was Padauk and one was Alder. Same pots, same L500XL. The Padauk was harsher than the Alder. Of course, playing live won't make much of a difference anymore, but if you're just A/B-ing the two guitars, you could hear the differences.

[@bassplyr13]

Curious what the pot values in these guitars are...

[@BlueThunderFan99]

500k

[@Sandman.68.]

I think the pull pot puts it out of phase , could be wrong 👍

[@Mac102250]

meh, I think a dimo super distortion gets closer to the first album sound than this.

[@philipcasey9991]

𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖒 🤣

[@michaeltrust5121]

What on earth are you plugged into? You can’t even hear the pick up. There’s so much distortion. This is a really bad video.

[@BAND-MAID-USA]

I don’t know man. Didn’t sound good at all to my ears. I mean if you’re going for that blanket over your cabinet tone I think it’s for you.

[@holysmoke8439]

Does it just come in black n not look like a mistake? That could b the best sounding ugliest pick up on utube

[@bonzology322]

Never ceases to amaze me how guys can take perfectly good gear and make it sound horrible, i mean ffs, this is a pickup showing for a VH style and you play verbed out nonsense that gives no indication how the thing actually sounds, get a clue man

[@YouSoundButtHurt]

It's Guitar World, what did you expect? At least this guy can play decently, they usually demo these with people that sound like 12 year olds at Guitar Center.

[@cc5053]

There are plenty of 78 demos on YT of guys wanking the same old VH riffs over and over. At the end of the day, it's just a hotter wound A2 PAF. I like hearing what else it can do.