“The combination of them all can be turned to on a dime, according to the feel and vibe that I’m going for”: Seymour Duncan’s Eric Gales signature pickups promise balance across all five positions
Seymour Duncan has announced a new set of signature pickups for Eric Gales that look like they could solve some headaches for any Strat players who are fed up with dropping outputs in certain switching positions.
The Strat-inspired set encompasses a trio of single coil pickups and will slot in nicely to his glitzy S-style Magneto RD-3 signature guitar. They use Alnico IV magnets in their construction, which are known for offering a nicely balanced EQ and more of an even sound than their stronger Alnico V brethren.
This is important to Gales, as he explains in the accompanying Seymour Duncan clip, given his propensity for frequently switching across all five pickup positions in his playing.
“Any one of these pickups,” says Gales. “The combination of them all can be turned to on a dime, according to the feel and vibe that I’m going for. It’s so second nature for me to just go back and forth between them all. That well-roundedness just aids in me being able to get my message across.”
In addition, Seymour Duncan says the coils have been slightly overwound, ensuring an even blend of “vintage warmth and modern clarity,” which should see them well-tailored for anything from buttery clean blues lines to overdriven rock sounds.
The pickups have been developed directly with the head of Seymour Duncan’s Custom Shop, Maricela ‘MJ’ Juarez, who is something of a legendary figure herself – having worked on pickups for everyone from Eddie Van Halen, to Slash, Angus Young, Billy Gibbons, and David Gilmour.
Elsewhere in Seymour Duncan clip, Gales talks us through how he views and uses the different switching positions.
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“For me it’s all a feel thing, man,” says Gales. “And the neck pickup, I generally call it the Albert King pickup and it has a mid-range-y, meaty tone. The combination of the first and middle pickup, I call that the Stevie Ray tone. It gives this Hendrix-y, Little Wing… sort of sound as it’s a very, very, very beautiful tone.
“The middle pickup I go to for nice strong rhythm stuff. The combination of the middle and the back pickup I use for funk, R&B, you know, chicken-pickin’ and it has this crystal-y, Castles Made of Sand sound. I call it the glassy tone. And then the bridge pickup I’m making a statement in a solo or something like that. I want to the gas and go wide open.”
The Seymour Duncan Eric Gales signature pickup set is priced at $375. For more information, head to Seymour Duncan.
There’s been a growing trend for signature pickup sets in recent years. Last month, Joe Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan debuted a set inspired by the P.A.F. humbuckers on one of his favorite Gibson ES-335 – all further evidence of the new golden age for pickups.
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