Seymour Duncan SH-1 '59

Humbucking pickup. Not quite sure if it's supposed to be a PAF clone or not.

I had this pickup in an Epiphone Les Paul Ultra in the bridge position. Replaced the stock Epi Alnico pickup.

I didn't find the pickup to be too terribly hot. I am the type of player that uses my guitar's volume knob to get more grit (no pedals or anything). The tone was incredibly clear and articulate and exceptionally clean and shimmering. When turned up, it got very crunchy and leads were screaming in a good way. Sounded a bit "thin" in the LP Ultra

However...I must say that I didn't care much for the pickup. I usually like a cleaner tone, but I've found that I gravitate to amps and pickups that would be considered more "gainy"...I find that I'd rather have the gain and not use it than need it and not have it. To get any sort of crunch I'd have to turn my guitar up to at least 7.

I have to add a disclaimer though: I had this guitar in an Epi LP Ultra, which was a guitar that I didn't care much for either. I am not totally ready to hate the SH-1 because I realized that it may have made a difference in the tonal qualities being in a guitar that had no weight to it and felt like a piece of plastic.

I play blues, blues/rock, and AC/DC and GNR style hard rock. It was a good pickup for those, I just needed a hotter pickup.

I've had plenty of other trials with Seymour Duncan Pickups (SH-5 Custom, SH-6 Distortion, JB-4), and this one rates probably at the bottom. However, like I said before, it very well could have been disagreeable for me because of the guitar I had it in. I have actually been considering buying another SH-1 and trying to put it in a heavier bodied guitar to see if it sounds beefier.

Passive Humbucker. 7.4k neck/ 8.1 bridge. Alnico 5 magnets. Mine were special ordered with Zebra bobbins, gold pole pieces and slug pieces. I later added Gold covers.

I put these in an '05 Flying V (both positions). I left the stock Gibson 300k linear taper volume pots, and the 500k audio taper tone pot in. These are replacing the stock Gibson 500T & 496R ceramic magnet "way too high output, no clarity/muddy as hell, and useless for anything other than heavy metal-buckers". Sorry for the lil' rant, I just don't understand the appeal of those pups. Ultimately, I wanted a vintage PAF vibe.

Vintage output, these are very close to Gibson Burstbuckers in regards to output and tone (I happen to like that by the way). The bridge is smooth, not a ton of bass and a little more on treble side and not too middy. I've used these several times over the years and mostly with good results. The neck is fairly smooth although a bit on the warm side. Not a ton of clarity, but not super muddy either. I'll call it a neutral sound, not the best or worst. These seem to work best for blues, classic rock/blues rock, or country (which is what I do), but not the best for heavy duty rock/metal.

I've used them on more than one occasion over my around 18 years of playing. I'd most likely use them again. They are a decent PAF style pickup. Not the most exciting tonewise, but thay are very useable and much more affordable than the boutique makers. I like them, I guess there is nothing that I "hate" about them, they are very good (not great). I'm satisfied with them as they get the job done for me. I'm not the big tone seeker, I just wanted a PAF style pickup and these are, as always a safe bet.

Humbucker pickup for bridge position. I bought it with four conductor cable which is an extra $10

I put this into my epi les paul custom in the bridge with a jazz in the neck replacing the stock pick ups. The stock pickups were very muddy and lost a lot of treble when the volume was turned down.

The out put is moderate. I have played it through a legacy blues twin, a marshall quad and a fender super chorus it sounds great through all of these. The pick up has a full bright tone that is well balanced. I use this pickup basically for rock, metal, and blues and suits all of these styles. This would be good for the neck position as well

Definitely would buy this pick if it was stolen or destroyed. I have been playing for about ten years and electric for about six. I have a legacy blues twin amp. this is a great pick up and i will probably never need to change it again. It leaves nothing to be desired in the humbucker department a coil split would be cool tho.

humbucker, passive, I think its med. output.

I put one in a Jackson KVX10/neck. I replaced a duncan designed/jazz. I also replaced a duncan designed/distortion with a real distortion. The designed pickups sounded crummy, a guitar tech. told me the real deals were a lot better so I went for it. A lot of pros use the distortion, I don't know about the '59.

The difference between the real duncans and the designed is massive. So far I've only played through a roland microcube and a marshall micro amp, but even through these amps the sound is remarkable. The low's are boomy and the highs are crisp and clear, even when I'm using high gain distortion. I play a lot of chords using distortion and I can hear things I never heard with the designed pickups. I'll soon be able to play on my 2x12 combo, and I can't wait. It's gonna be vicious!

I guess that's too much distortion talk for '59's. I actually play a lot of melodies, too. I wanted something moody. The Jazz was too bright. You can listen to all of the duncan pickups on their website. It's very helpful. It's hard to explain the sound of the '59's. Their not really bright or crisp, but they have a cool sound. It's almost (if this makes sense) like reverb, without the echo. Whatever. Their perfect for me, very moody and I can make some dark melodies with it.

If I lost this pickup I'd definetly buy another. I've been playing for about 13 years. I play metal (death and black). This pickup is perfect for me, it's exactly what I wanted.

Humbucker, 8.3k ohms (Spec?) passive. Open coils. Bought a pair. The neck says SH-1N and the srews are arched to match strings. Bridge model is flat.

1965 Gibson firebird. The 2 wire braided configuration is perfectly suited for this guitar. Other pickups of various types did not get it as far as output or clarity, 4 wire setups were unbalanced. The p90s that were on it were beginning to dull.

Wow. Full, rich sounding. Roll off volume to 9 to clean up, 10 for some perfect tube overdrive. Pickups perfectly matched on gibson dual volume setup which I love. Set the toggle to the middle position and adjust tone by "panning" to bridge or neck pu as desired. Pretty, sweet and perfect.

The SH-1B and SH-1N are a great set for a Gibson or any dual HB guitar. Absolutely none better as far as I can tell. 30+ years and still gigging. Teles, Strats. Les Pauls and the '65 Firebird which has the Maestro tremelo. You can't make it go out of tune. Peavey Memphis Blues tube amp with a johnson J-station modeler for boost and effects.

Humbucker passive, a copy of famous '59 PAF, you guys already know. Impedance.....once I measured with my friend long ago, but do not remember. Please refer to SD site.

I installed them on my specially ordered Tokai Les Paul law-suit copy LS-200, 1979 (about 1,600US at the time). At that time, both Gibson and Fender did not make good guitars, but all old guitars were either not in good condition or were too expensive, thus I decided to go for Japanese. They were installed on both bridge and neck positions. Many artists use the pickups, but do not know exactly. One of them is Robben Ford. the guitar came with the pickup from their factory. I installed all the best stuff including Switchcraft parts, etc. In late 70s and 80s some Japanese guitar makers made great guitars. Some examples were Greco, Yamaha and Tokai, etc. Some people critisized their products without knowing grade og their guitars. I am talking about the top of the line Japanese guitars. It is not fair to them who made one of the best guitars. I have had Greco (Japanese Ibanez although it is not correct term....They used to share the same factory....) EG-1200 1979, Les Paul copy. Without changing pickups and electrics which considered to be weakness of these Japanese guitars, it was better than any recent Les Paul I have played including Custom shop reissue. The reason I had the pickup on my guitar was that I admire the sound of PAF thanks to Seth Lover!

It is moderate output. The reason why I submit this review is that many guys who wrote review did not have enough knowldge about pickups. Some complained about output level of this pickup. Even Seymour Duncan himself says in his site this is moderate output pickup! Others critised muddiness of this pickup. I installed this pickup on Les Paul 80, and ES-335 Dot 1981. They sound like crap. It was not wood or guitar itself, but electrics. Some do not seem to understand how to pick up the best pick up for each position based on output difference. Without working with these issues on your guitar, please do not evauate the product. I use Mesa Boogie MarkIIa. PAF has different sound depending on the product. Regardless, it sounds like vintage PAF I know of. I do not understand some user place this pickup without knowledge about how PAF sounds like. I do not mean to sound like snob though......

My long time wish was granted at the time. Without paying crazy money for old guitars, you could become Page or Clapton in late 70s. The users who pick up Fralin, WCR, etc. seem to know about guitars very well. Due to great price, unfortunately it is not the case for all of Duncan users. While no one made great vinatge pickup copy, Duncan was the pioneer to create real vintage sound at the time. Everybody either bought old guitars with crazy price or went to Dimarzio at the time in late 70s. I thank you for SD for his effort. And I will keep your pickup on my guitars. One thing I would like to try is Seth Lover SH-55. I know I won't be dissapointed.....

Passive. Neck 7.43k; bridge 8.13k.

I used this in an LP in the neck. I wanted something I thought would be closer to an original PAF.

The original pickups in the guitar were cheap. So I put in a '59 in the neck. I had recorded some clean tones with the original pickup, then I recorded a clip with the '59, trying to copy the same set up to record.
The '59 was a lot muddier. I found it not as dynamic and less responsive than the cheap pickup. So I took it out.

I don't know why people like this pickup. It's too dark and muddy. There are much better pickups out there.

Passive humbucker.

Put it into my Agile AL-2800 LP style guitar in the neck position because I didnt like the stock pickup.

Sounds a lot better than the stock pickup, but this pickup really is meant to be a neck pickup. The jazz is usually put in the neck. Its nice and smooth, but as far as neck pickups go it just wasnt hot enough for me. It could be better, although it sounds decent.

If it were lost i'd go with something else. I think SD's are a little overated...or maybe I just havent tried the right one.

Passive SH-1 '59 thats all I know

Epi LP in both positions. Changing PU cause the OEM bridge went bad

Why I went this way in pickup choice? The OEMs in my Epi LP were not bad, not great but sounded good to me. fit my style which is Blues and some Rock. I also play Jazz and they barly do the job for that.

The SD SH1 sound GREAT for Blues , classic Rock, Jazz. VERY clear, articulate. As clear as a good vintage Tele or Strat single coil.
Goes into distortion well with a good tube amp. I also have a Gibby Vintage LP with BurstBucker Pros. While the SH1 is not as strong, they nail the vintage sound as well as the BB Pros though not as versitile for modern music. (The BB Pros can do almost any kind of music really well IMO)

Been playing for 6 years. A student for Jazz & Blues.

The SH1 is desined for an era which the PAF covered musically which BTW is a large pallette of sound, Country, Blues, Jazz, Rock. If you are not into metal and into what this PU is designed for, I highly reccomend the SH1.

Passive HB

Epi standard plus LP. Bridge position. Replacing stock pup. Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck. Changed to get something less muddy, more bite and better oveall tone.

Listed on website as moderate output, I'll go with that. Slightly hotter than the Burstbucker 2's in my Gison SG. Using this with an array of Pete Cornish distortion pedals through a 1982 made in England 50 watt Marshall 800 series 1x12 and/or a 2001 made in England Vox AC15 with the blue alnico speaker. Both amps have been fitted with early 1960's NOS Mullard tubes (worth every penny). Also playing straight into a Mesa 50watt rectoverb 1x12. The tone is everything I'd hoped for. Crisp, snappy highs with big ballsy bottom, tight not flabby. Mega sustain. Can easily go from gorgeous chimey cleans to ass-ripping high gain depending on amp/pedals. I used to love my Burstbuckers in my SG but now they sound thin by comparison and they'll probably be replaced with the SD '59/Jazz combination soon. I bought the Epi fully intending to replace the pickups in order to save big $$$$ from the somewhat overpriced new Gibsons. Also, no squealy feedback like I get from the Burstbuckers (the guys at Gibson warned me about installing the Burstbuckers aftermarket and I can see why). I can't say if the SD'59 is comparable to an original 59PAF but man, it's one helluva good sounding humbucker. I haven't tried it in the neck but alot of reviewers seem to think that's a pretty cool deal, too. I've got Seymour's SSL1's in my Strat, an STL1 54 lead in my Tele and now the SH1'59 and SH2 Jazz pups in my Epi LP and love all. I've also owned a couple of sets of Seymour Duncans that I've hated. You just have to find the right pickup for your taste, which is why I really like they're exchange policy. I originally tried the Seymour sh5 custom in the bridge but found it to have too high of an output for my distortion pedals. No problem, you get 21 days to try something else. Good deal. Duncan guys were very pleasant and helpful as well. They've got the service thing figured out.

Great pickup, especially for under $70. I highly recommend the Epi LesPaul/SD 59pup combo for anyone wanting the Les Paul look and tone that can't afford the Gibsons. No disrespect to the quality of the new Gibson LP's, they're really nice, but some of their prices are just sick and the Burstbucker is an OK pickup but, IMO, not worthy of a $3000-$7000+ guitar which is what Gibson's asking for many of there new LP models.