Seymour Duncan unveils a trio of humbuckers to help you nail Eddie Van Halen, Angus Young and Peter Green’s tone

Seymour Duncan Vintage Humbuckers
(Image credit: Seymour Duncan)

Seymour Duncan has launched three sets of humbucking electric guitar pickups that are voiced to replicate the iconic tones of Eddie Van Halen, Angus Young and Peter Green.

The pickups are available individually for neck and bridge positions, or as pairing, and are mainline versions of models that were only previously available through the Custom Shop. 

The ‘78 Model is for the Eddie Van Halen super-fan, and offer a modded PAF humbucker sound that is a little hotter and with an enhanced harmonic response, and could be just the thing to soup-up the hot-rodded electric guitar in your life. They feature an Alnico II magnet and have a slightly scooped EQ profile, with the bridge ‘bucker having a DCR rating of 8.82k, the neck 7.85k.

The High Voltage humbuckers also have an Alnico II construction, and are vintage humbuckers with a bit of added aggression and bite. The bridge pickup is rated at 8.79k, the neck at 7.68k.

Finally, the Green Magic humbuckers are similarly be inspired by vintage stock, offering golden era guitar tone for blues-rock with a balanced tone profile from a 8.75k bridge pickup and 7.73k at the neck. 

But of all three models, this is the one where you will want to pick up the set for the full effect, because with the neck pickup’s reversed magnet you’ll be able to dial in those much sought-after Peter Green tones when both pickups are selected.

Seymour Duncan offers these for six-string guitars with nickel covers at $149 apiece, $298 for a set, or with open-coils in black or zebra finishes for $129 per pickup, $258 for a pair. A Trembucker option is available for guitars that’d benefit from the wider bobbin and pole-to-pole spread, such as vibrato-equipped Fender guitars or any with a Floyd Rose.

Head over to Seymour Duncan for more details.

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.