Joe Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan have unveiled the latest signature electric guitar pickup set for the blues superstar, and it is a Custom Shop replica of the ‘gray bottom’ single-coils from his “Greenburst” Stratocaster.
The competition is steep, but even so, the Greenburst is surely one of the coolest electric guitars in Bonamassa’s huge collection, even if it violates the established rules of vintage guitars – don’t have them refinished.
Well, all that stuff is for the vintage nerds, cork-sniffers and price watchers to argue over. Frankly, whoever had the idea to refinish this three-colour sunburst Strat from 1964 in Greenburst is a genius. It is beyond cool.
Bonamassa says he watched Michael Lemmo demo the Strat for Norman’s Rare Guitars and called the shop immediately. He was coming down. And it was love at first sight.
But it’s not just the finish that makes it special. This Strat was equipped with the hallowed ‘gray bottom’ pickups, and that made it a bona fide tone machine.
“The ‘gray bottoms’ have a little more high output – they have a punchier sound to them,” says Bonamassa. “[They] are indicative of the transitional logo ’64, ‘65s, and even into ’66, early ’67 Strats right before the Hendrix era.”
These Seymour Duncan replicas are wound to the exact same spec and, ceteris paribus, will sound exactly the same as Bonamassa’s Greenburst. They have period-correct wiring, staggered Alnico V magnets. There are of course some signature details.
The grey bottoms of these signature pickups are pad printed with Joe Bonamassa’s John Hancock. If you are among the first 500 to grab a set, you’ll find them in limited edition packaging, inside which will be a certificate of authenticity signed by Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan. And you might just have the hottest Strat mod of the year.
If you’ve got a Strat – or a Strat-style guitar – whose tone could use a gloss-up. The Seymour Duncan Greenburst set could be it. It’s priced $375 and available now. Bonamassa says you will hear the difference.
“When you play, you feel there’s a weight and a sustain underneath the strings, which doesn’t always happen, especially if you’re pretty clean,” he says. “Sometimes if they overwind a Strat pickup if they they lose the clarity, but you get the power. The ’64, ’65, ’66, those tend to have a nice combination [of clarity and power].”
For more details, head over to the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop.
