Didn't like the Seth Lovers

[ashbass]

I put a neck and bridge set in my R7 and the brightness was overwhelming. There was no toning it down. Every string was too chirpy, even with both pups sitting just about under their rings. I tried larger value caps, the resistor trick on all four of my 500k pots, nothing helped.

So I took the nice covers off and put them on my swapout-worn burstbuckers 1&2 and put those stock muthers back in. Now I feel better.

The Seths are zebras BTW and soon to be gone on the bay.

 

[fast ricky love]

I felt the same way about the set I had. Antiquities are MUCH better sounding.

 

[Tex Ecco]

I'm surprised.
I have a set and they sounded a little dark in my 1960 Classic.
Maybe pickups respond differently in different guitars.
They looked great though, being double creams.

 

[Garampingat]

my Seth Lover Bridge sounds best at about 1/16" from the strings(string fretted @ last fret) which is fairly close.

 

[Garampingat]

I'm surprised.
I have a set and they sounded a little dark in my 1960 Classic.
Maybe pickups respond differently in different guitars.
They looked great though, being double creams.

probably because classics have 300K vol. pots

 

[Desertdawg]

Heh....I guess you guys are way into distortion guitar?

Try the Seth Lover PUs on a few Joe Pass finger style licks. You'll get the point.

Nothing wrong with distorted guitar if that's your thing but the stock BBs or ceramic PUs cover that ground anyway.

:note

 

[jrr]

I put a neck and bridge set in my R7 and the brightness was overwhelming. There was no toning it down. Every string was too chirpy, even with both pups sitting just about under their rings. I tried larger value caps, the resistor trick on all four of my 500k pots, nothing helped.

So I took the nice covers off and put them on my swapout-worn burstbuckers 1&2 and put those stock muthers back in. Now I feel better.

The Seths are zebras BTW and soon to be gone on the bay.

wow....just goes to show how perspective is everything...i'm a long time seth user who switched to tims recently....your description just about duplicates my initial tonal response to my tims,until i played them for a month...now i wouldn't trade them for anything,ya i'd sell all my seths before i gave up my tims...my tims sound SO much like one of the most cherished/sought after PAF sounds that i can't tell the difference...they have DYNAMIC range...pick softly,get a (true)soft clean clear bright sound...pick hard,get a much harder dynamic sound,with edge and clear distortion...warm and bright..that 3D thing...very woody sounding...those are my tims

...my (3 yr old)seths are darker,thicker and smoother by comparison,just as warm as tims,with somewhat less dynamic range....rauchy as hell in overdrive,with great sustain...a great juicy paf sound,another paf variation...my tims are chirpy as hell...its called HARMONICS...tame them if your willing and the sonic rewards come back in spades,pinch harmonics that is...both pickups excel at honk....

then again,your seths might reflect a new wind on the part of Duncan et al...scatter winding with slightly unbalanced coils can produce pickups of varying tonal qualities,sometimes more prominent upper harmonics,and more treble...its what makes the search for THE paf repro of your dreams all the more challenging,as the originals were...it'd be a drag if all pickups of a particular paf reproduction sounded the same imho....

 

[Cream Fan]

Heh....I guess you guys are way into distortion guitar?

Try the Seth Lover PUs on a few Joe Pass finger style licks. You'll get the point.

Nothing wrong with distorted guitar if that's your thing but the stock BBs or ceramic PUs cover that ground anyway.

:note

Let us not forget that when PAFs were invented, distorted guitar was something no one wanted. The idea was to get as close to the P-90 CLEAN tones (both neck and bridge) as possible with NO HUM. It was only when us upstarts in the Sixties discovered they sounded so good and CLEAR when distorted.

 

[Don]

I replaced the BB1s in my GM Signature LP with Seth Lovers and the tone darkened up considerably even though I replaced the 300k volume pots with 500k pots, in fact it might be a little too dark.

The guitar was very bright with the stock BB1s.

 

[pat furlan]

probably because classics have 300K vol. pots

If the classic is early enought it might also have 100k tones

 

[RE301]

I put a neck and bridge set in my R7 and the brightness was overwhelming. There was no toning it down. Every string was too chirpy, even with both pups sitting just about under their rings. I tried larger value caps, the resistor trick on all four of my 500k pots, nothing helped.

So I took the nice covers off and put them on my swapout-worn burstbuckers 1&2 and put those stock muthers back in. Now I feel better.

The Seths are zebras BTW and soon to be gone on the bay.

Sure...blame the pickups.:hmm

 

[Ringwraith]

Why do classics have 300k pots??

Sean

 

[Mr. Papa]

When I had them in a Heritage 535, I thought the neck was a touch too warm (string to string definition was poor) for jazz and the bridge was too weak or soft sounding for rock. It could have been stronger and had more lows and low-mids. Maybe if overwound to around 9-9.5 it would have suited me. It could have been the guitar / pickup combination, though.

 

[Don]

Why do classics have 300k pots??

Sean

Standards and Studios do as well. Even My Gary Moore Signature LP did. I don't know why.

 

[Don]

My Seth neck is either a zebra or double white. I see white in the adjustable slug holes. I haven't had the screws out of the bottom plate yet though.

I've considered pulling the cover off of it and putting it on the guitar's original BB1 neck pickup.

That and the Seth bridge p/u aren't a bad combo. The original BB1 Bridge pickup was thin and bright though.

 

[jcs]

ive owned dozens of duncans over the years(alnico pro2,pearly gates,59 etc) and they always sound on the bright side with 500k pots,no matter what guitar..

highorder pickups blow duncans away overall,imo...

 

[CFitz]

I know this is an old thread, but if anybody is going through the same thing I was and was wondering about putting the Seth Lovers in their guitar and reading these somewhat mixed reviews, there is validity to both sides. I swapped the pickups in my semi hollow for some SL pups and a 50's style wiring harness, the result WAS difficult to bond with... at first. Some of this may have to do with the new wiring and the new pots, but i do understand the chirpy kind of high end description. the magic of these pickups really is in the hands, though. I played a gig with them the same day i finished the swap and i kept thinking... "yikes this is bright" All was okay for the gig, but after about a month of playing the guitar I really think it is just ALL about how YOU interact with the instrument. Theyre so clear and responsive that when you play light, it cleans up, roll off the volume and the tone a lil bit and that harshness really smooths out. I guess thats what a good pickup does... ? Now i cant put the thing down hahaha

 

[Wilko]

I just read this old thread and thought it was funny. Looked like no one had ever played vintage PAFs.
Seth’s are really good original humbucker sound.

 

['SG Std']

I just read this old thread and thought it was funny. Looked like no one had ever played vintage PAFs.
Seth’s are really good original humbucker sound.

About 15 yrs ago I replaced the 'weak' bridge T-Top in my `70/`71 SG w/ a Seymour Duncan '59 Model' & though it was nice sounding, it wasn`t much of a difference or improvement over the T Top. The reason why I replaced it mainly was because the T Top neck pickup`s output in my SG was significantly louder & bolder than the bridge pickup. I think that Gibson is doing a much better job of calibrating & matching the output of both pickups in their models these days[though I could be wrong].
I`ve always heard great things about the Duncan 'Seth Lover'--I wonder how they compares to Duncan`s '59 Model'.

 

[Wilko]

I`ve always heard great things about the Duncan 'Seth Lover'--I wonder how they compares to Duncan`s '59 Model'.

The Seth Lover is a great sound PAF with vintage look (cover) and AlNiCo II. Very accurate vintage sound. '59 is a bit brighter and has AlNiCo V and no cover.

I think the '59 has a very similar voice to a T-Top because of that added high end. I'm a huge T-Top fan. The PAFs that I had for a long time were 7.6-7.8 pair and they were very much like T-Tops. Seths do it nicely, as do Antiquities