Seymours vs Tokais

I have a 2003 Love Rock, the pickups are very nice, but I was wanting opinion about the Sh1 59, and the sound achieved.

The LR was a bog standard LC60 maple top in Violin Finish, so I guess that makes the pickups Mk1's??

Do like the Tokais a lot, but we all like to try stuff as I have now aquired an SH1n and SH1b.

Is it more lively, higher gain? Can someone tell me the stats on each?

yo

8bit

Hi,
I have the SD SH-1n & SH-1b combination on my 1980's Burny Les Paul. My only point of comparison is against the Burny/Fernandes PAF pickups that I removed, and the Gibson Humbuckers on my 2001 Les Paul Standard Plus. I removed the original pickups because they sounded a little thin and tinny, and also squealed a lot at high gain. The Duncans are not a super high output pick up but have a great tone, very warm and full. They are a much warmer/fuller sound than the Gibson Humbuckers which were very dissapointing (although they are not the Burstbuckers that are getting rave reviews at the moment) I am having SD Aged Antiquity Humbuckers put on my Gibson as the guitar is being given a Tom Murphy style upgrade at the moment. I am looking forward to hearing them when the guitar comes back from the Luthier.
All in all though, I would strongly recommend the SH-1's, I find them a very versatile pick up, and with careful use of the volume control quite a range of sounds can be acheived.
Saying that, the Tokai pick ups are very highly regarded anyway, but as you already have the SD's it would be a simple job to put them in and compare them, and put the originals back in if you prefer them.
Keep us updated on your choice.

Seymour Duncans all the way.Gotoh MK II(2001 year) are fine however.I trid a Seth Lover and a 59 on neck.Better no doubt.

I have 2 LS70F's, a 99 and an 01. The 01 is stock, loaded with the Gotoh PAF's, where the 99 has an SD '59 neck and a JB bridge.

The 99 sounds great, plenty of full bodied warmth that Seymour's bring, but there is also "something" there that feels really "generic" about the sound. It sounds like a Seymour loaded guitar.

The 01, although stock, is a different kettle of fish. You can get the pickups to be full and warm sounding, or thin & brittle, depending upon what mood you want to set. They have a real woody texture to them as well, and in a word, versatile.

The one advantage of the Seymour's over the Gotoh's is that the SD's are less prone to microphonic's, where the unpotted Gotoh's tend to squeal a bit, but there again, SD Seth Lover's will do the same (as they're unpotted too) and they are more than twice the cost of the Gotoh's!

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself what you want form your sound, and how best to acheive this.

Seymours win hands down. I've just put a pair of Seths in my Korean 335 and they're awesome - the best ?140 I've ever spent.

Antiquities and Seth?s are nice too but check out this from a thread that I posted a few weeks ago.

http://www.webervst.com/wwwboard/guitars/messages/2192.html

Nik,

I assume you are having the Murphy ageing process done on your guitar?

If you're in the UK, who is doing the honours for you?

You can send me a private message if you don't want to blag it around.

Dazzle,

Where the hell did you get a pair of Seth's for ?140?!

Hi Lee,
Very Good post. Its so difficult to describe a sound to someone in writing though isnt it ! And opinions of what is good, and what is not, vary.
I have given my Les Paul to John Diggins (JayDee Guitars in Bham) and asked him to do the business with it, Ive pretty much given him a free hand to do what he thinks (nitro aged finish, yellowed cream binding & plastics). I had seen my "Holy Grail" Les Paul at John Thomas's Shop, JT's (of Rock Band Budgie) A beautiful '59 Replica that someone, possibly Murphy, has aged, but he is asking ?10 Grand for it ! So I picked up a nice figured top 2001 Les Paul Standard Plus that had some bumps on it for ?850 on Ebay in September. I have bought the Aged Antiquities, Nickel Klusons, Nickel ABR-1 bridge and a historic Nickel lightweight stopbar for it, so when John has finished with it (this month hopefully) it should be a cracker !!! Will keep you posted, especially on how the Duncan Antiquities Sound.
Nik

oldflame said:

Antiquities and Seth?s are nice too but check out this from a thread that I posted a few weeks ago.

Dazzle,

Where the hell did you get a pair of Seth's for ?140?!

Click to expand...

Axesrus.com - they were in the box, never fitted with screws, springs and surrounds. ?140 was delivered price as well!!

Now after another pair for my archtop - Black Rose (www.blackrosecustom.emerchantpro.com) have quoted me $97.30 each + $10 shipping seems quite reasonable but not sure of the VAT/import duty implications. Can anyone elighten me?

Dazzle

Lews guitars in the States are doing them for $189 a pair. The exchange rate is good at the moment and shipping will be around $10 - $15 maybe.

That's about ?115 a pair.

http://www.lewsguitars.com/Contact.html

Nik,

Yes I thought that thread was pretty objective about those pups. To be honest, there's probably not much in it.

JD is doing your guitar. Would love to see some pics of that please.

Are you going to shove it in the chest freezer afterwards?

Hi Lee,
Is that how they get the lacquer to craze/crack then ?
I dont think I will be doing anything else to it after John has finished with it. I may have to try and matt the Bridge & Tail stop Nickel plate down a bit though to match the pick up covers. Any tips on aging Nickel Parts ?
Thanks
Nik

Yes you can shove the guitar in a chest freezer for a couple of hours strung up to concert pitch but it's at your own risk... :-?

There is a process of ageing nickel using a muric acid but it sounds dangerous to me.

Check out these guys:

http://www.bravewoodguitars.co.uk/

Hi Nik,
I had a Gibson Custom Authentic '68 Les Paul Custom for a day once before I sent it back (F*** me you should have seen the binding it was shocking!!!)
and the nickel pickup covers and in fact the paintwork and pickup surrounds seemed to have been aged by being scrubbed with fine wire wool or maybe the missus's placky pan scourer! I think a good old rub with something similar should get you there or thereabouts, I think chrome is too hard to respond in the right kind of way but nickel will be ok. By the way does anyone know if the serial number system for Loverocks works the same way on the ES models. I have a nice old ES100 in for a fret dress and set up at the moment and the owner doesn't know how old it is as he bought it second hand about 6 years ago. The serial # is 1013818 which is stamped on the back of the headstock and on an orange label in the F hole. It doesn't have a "flowerpot" inlay between the tuners like my new ES120 has and it has the old "square bell" type 2 screw TRC, single ring kluson type tuners with lines and Tokai on the back. It is in lovely condition but it could be early '81 as suggested by the # it has some finish checking which does look like it may be cellulose the hardware has all gone "milky" nice and evenly! The stop bar is one of the lightest I've ever felt must be like one of those expensive aluminium Gibson Historic ones! Any info would be very appreciated as I can pass it on to the owner. I am a recent convert to Tokais and have a couple of recent quilt top Loverocks (amber/violin finish and c/sb) a Junior and an ES120 in flamed vintage natural the build quality and value for money blows Gibsons away I can only imagine how good an LS 200 or 320 must be! This website and forum is a great resource also well done to Ned and all you guys!
Regards,
Simon

null

Hi LRUK,

Thanks for the info I'll pass it on. I don't think he's looking to sell it but it would fit nicely in my collection nicely I can tell you! Mind you he has a 5 year old photocopy of an ad from Wizard Guitars ( who are it must be said not he cheapest) in Guitarist magazine where they're asking either a grand or ?1500 quid for an 81 ES100 or ES120 can't remember exactly. So I don't think it'll be coming my way! He told me he paid ?550 5,6 or 7 years ago. My short term memory has gone out the window lately. Must be the old age.....

Regards,
Simon.

Dont mention Wizard guitars to me.. :x

Hi Simon and welcome.

LuvRokka is spot on with the year. I still can't make my mind up about the finish tho. Can't beat them old Tokais. :lol: :wink:

Peter Mac??......... :-?