Seymour Duncan Hendrix signature pickups: Marketing Voodoo ?
Voodoo tone or just voodoo hype?
Seymour Duncan has just announced a set of Stratocaster pickups which they claim are based on the ones Jimi had wound by a young Seymour Duncan in 1968. But is this just an example of marketing hype?
Voodoo
Stick Jimi Hendrix on any guitar product and some poor unsuspecting soul will part with their money to own it. Or so it sometimes seems. But in this case, Mr Duncan did actually make a custom set of pickups back in the late 1960s for this guitar legend. There is a shred of truth in here somewhere.
Marketing
I personally have the feeling that Hendrix’s little sister (she owns the rights to the family name for her late brother) is probably taking a cut somewhere along the line and that this is all a marketing ploy. But then I am biased, as I have a distinct lack of respect for her personally and always believed she would stick his name on anything to make a fast buck!
1968
As I have no real basis for my opinion other than my gut feeling, I will give Mr Seymour Duncan the benefit of the doubt and hope that 50-odd years hasn’t clouded his memory and that these new ‘Signature’ pickups may be close to the ones he wound for Jimi back in ’68.
Go read all the hype here.
RRP: USD $279 a set or as a pre-loaded pickguard with an optional reversed bridge pickup for USD$379.