« Vintage look and all around tone »

This is the Seymour Duncan SH-4 Zebra pickup. I think its cool that they put out their popular pickups with different colored bobbins so you can get a different look for your guitar. The Zebra bobbins on this pickup give it a real 70s look and they look great in a Les Paul or SG. Under the surface this pickup is the classic Seymour Duncan JB originally designed for Jeff Beck. I guess Jeff Beck told them to make the best all around pickup and thats what they did. This pickup is usually found in the bridge with a Duncan 59 or Jazz in the neck although they do make JB's for the neck position. The best and worst thing about the JB is that it really brings out the natural tone of your guitar. This can be good or bad depending on if your guitar has good natural tone or not. This pickup seems to be voiced best to work in mahogany. It would make sense since its a humbucker and most humbucker guitars are made from mahogany. The pickup is naturally a bit bright and with a mahogany guitar this is balanced perfectly. The brightness gives the sound good clarity. The bottom end is not overly huge so it does not sound boomy. With the high end clarity each string retains a good clear sound even with high gain. If you put this pickup in an alder or maple guitar you might get an overly harsh sound. Bright wood and bright pickup does not equal a good tone usually. In mahogany or a neutral sounding wood this pickup works great if you want a wide open good overall sound. This pickup can do many styles but if you are just doing 1 specific style you may want a more specialized pickup. If you have a 70s Les Paul and you want to make it sound awesome while still looking 70s this Zebra JB might be the pickup you want.