This is beautiful. Listen to them, they sound like an old married couple! Jokes aside, no matter who they are, there's something special & spiritual about listening to a couple speak about a life of shared experiences & memories.
I married my Kathy in 1978, we had wonderful 28 years. That was us too,, us against the world didn't have much but each other. I got a very happy memory from you guys sharing. Thank you
There's thousands of guitarists out there who are very grateful for what you've done for the greatest instrument in the world. I'm one of them........Thank You!!!! It's now time to fit my new Jazz and JB pickups to my old Les Paul copy....yep, it's only a copy but I can guarantee it'll make it sound a whole lot better!
I saw this video was almost 32 minutes long and almost stopped watching. Glad I stayed with it. Very nice story. You 2 look like you make a great couple. Thanks for this!
Met Mr. Duncan at the Chicago NAMM show in 1980 . I was still going to electronics school and was 19 years old . I stopped by Seymour's little booth. He talked to me about his first pick-up winders ,and even told me to contact him after I graduated , I wish I would have now . He sold me a PAF for $25.00. I still have it along with other SD pick-ups.Great couple story
This is a great story about the Duncan pickup history. Seymour has always been a nice guy the handful of times I have met him. His pickups are part of the culture of electric guitar that is always changing. I have been using Duncan's since the 80's, thanks Seymour and Cathy for the passion and dedication.
I bought my first set of Seymour Duncan pick-ups back in 84-85,and it was the quvarter pounders for strat and I got this fantasic sound,and ever since the I have had Seymour Duncans in all my guitars. Amazing pick-ups,amazing company,and amazing people,-and as a coustomer you feel as part of the family. I been offered other pick-ups,but I will never change. You always have what I am looking for when I set up a guitar,and I have never been dissatisifyed,and its one off the reasons I will never change company,I trust your company 100%. Thanks for the journey for far.
As a poor teenager in the 90's I got to own most of the SD pickup models by buying used guitars loaded with Duncans and reselling with generic pickups. Great memories discovering all the flavours! I had a special appreciation for the Hot Rails, it's gain and harmonics were unmatched. Alot of respect for you Mr. Duncan, and as we can see your fantastic wife who's been an incredible ally in your journey. Thank-you!
Thank you so much for this video, you two were so great to listen to, you remind me of my wife and I, we wouldn’t know what to do without each other!! Love your video series! Thank you!!!
Wow! He mentioned Hank! I bought enough guitars and amps from Hank and Jack to full an Amazon warehouse! Hank got me into Duncans. I had a whole bunch of Duncans installed on my guitars at Ace, probably ten of them, not including guitars I built myself from Warmoth and Chandler and Fender parts. Great shop. I bought a mint condition Charvel strat there for almost nothing around '89. It came loaded with a classic JB wound by Lidia Daniel. Best sounding pickup I've ever owned to this day. I gigged with that guitar for a decade. I tried a lot of pickups and learned how right Hank was when I almost bought a DiMarzio at their store. Hank said, "DiMarzios sound like crap! Get a Duncan!" The first one I got was a JB, and also had a number of Customs, Distortions, Pearly Gates, etc. Best pickups you can buy. They sound like sonic gold.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, (Sorry if my text is too long and sorry again, because I am going to put your “we answer every question” statement to the test here) You have no idea how moved I was by your words not only as guitar aficionado but also as an entrepreneur, but mostly about the partnership and commitment you both have to each other as a couple for so many years. Both my girlfriend and I are EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers, but, unlike her, I decided to quit working for “the man”. I have a small English tutoring business here in Brazil where I provide private lessons for learners with specific purposes. It is very soothing to see that some of my customer service practices are very similar to those practiced by such a great company yet today. Not only for providing great products and services but also in providing feedback to those as eager to learn as you once were when you started. Absolutely inspiring! There is a great to see such a great synergy in you as couple. You show a great deal of care to each other. If there ever was a lesson to this video is that our better-halves do bring out the best in ourselves. I hope we can manage to learn from dedication you have to each other through the years to come. Congratulations! I literally had a tear or two rolling down my eyes. Seymour Duncan as company has no need for compliments, considering its history, but I am not sure if you are aware of this, but guitarists in Brazil love your plastic cases. I guess, at least for people my age, it remind us childhood. We say that each box could fit a G.I. Joe or some action figure. For the case alone to bring such happy thoughts, that is not to mention the tone improvements the pickups provide, is proof enough of the success of the business. I would also like to ask you something about guitars. I have a 52 AVRI Telecaster (2005? I think) and a Gibson SG Standard (2006). I am absolutely in love with the tele, however the neck on the SG is very dear to me and my lefts thumb, for that matter, considering I tend to have a firmer grip than I should sometimes. Anyway, the pickups on this SG are very far behind in tone when compared to the tele. I do understand it’s single coil vs humbucker, but I am disregarding this fact with regards to the about of brightness and definition (especially when overdriven) it lacks. The sound can sometimes be too dark even with tone at 10 and the treble-bleed. It has improved after changing the nut for a Tusq one as well as getting a full setup to fit 0.11 Dean Markley Strings, but I still have to play on volume at 3 and if I tweak my Marshall Code 25 well maybe to 5 while very overdriven/distorted not to lose the little I have on these characteristics. I am very found on the tones of your PAF sounding pickups with low or medium output, because that’s pretty much what I like to play. Therefore I kindly ask you, what should I do to find my tone? Should I change pickups and/or electronics? Thank you for reading my text and I wish both the company and the couple many years to come. Hope to hearing from you soon, Sincerely, Pablo Negócio.
Hey Pablo, thanks for the kind words! Give our support team a shout at customerservice@seymourduncan.com, or give us a call and we'd be happy to talk this through with you!
Seymour and Cathy - It was great to watch this! Seymour may recall me from his Kentucky days. I worked at Hughes Music then in both Erlanger (KY), and Norwood (Ohio). His old band, Surdy Greebus and mine (I think it was Mimsy Borogoves then...late 60's/early 70's) rented a room at a Northern KY firehouse then and put on a dance event one weekend. Somewhere, I thought I have an old mimeographed flyer for that event, but haven't been able to find it as yet. I've run into him at NAMM a number of years ago. We both knew Adrian (Steve) Belew then, and in fact, I sold him his first guitar, a Gibson Firebird when I worked a Hughes. I also have some stories about how Seymour and his buddies used to research pickups, by distracting some of the staff at Hughes while Seymour "investigated" pickups in some of the trade-in guitars in our back room in Norwood. I think this was during his time when he worked at WCPO TV as a tech/gopher....
I left Northern KY (where I grew up) in '71, and landed in Northern California in '78, so hearing what transpired with Seymour over that period was really very interesting. But, I'm curious, what was the path for Seymour from Cincinnati/Northern KY to Santa Barbara? I went to UK in Lexington for a few years, then took a job in Chicago, and then landed in Silicon Valley in 1978.
I remember sending away for a demo cassette tape featuring SD pick ups. It featured a cool bass solo on one side and a great rendition of "When a Man Loves a Woman"
I still have saved your letters from 1978 when I sendt my pickups for rewinding and I had a lot of questions that you answered (all of them :) ) Good times!
This is a really good video of the history of Seymour Duncan. I am proud to be a Seymour Duncan builder, and enjoy using your pickups in the guitars I build. They are reliable and can be counted on being accurate pickups from run to run. Thank for the great products.
This is FANTASTIC! It was cool to see photos in the beginning but it would have been nice to see photos (if any exist) of the events and people they talked about in their history throughout the interview.
Love your pickups - I have 6 of them in my double caster alone. I've had a deep connection with my Seymour Duncan convertible amp('86); I'll never part with it, and I hope you do a vid featuring it.Being in business myself, I truly loved this video, You two are too cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great story's, I love ur pickups got a different set in everyone of my guitars, it's like having history in my guitar, I never heard of a bad sounding Seymour duncun, I'm so glad that u followed ur dreams. You both make a great team. Just want to say thanks
Well... It seems that Cathy is the one who made the company what it is today! No slam on Seymour, but he seems to be tech genius who'd still be turning the hand grinder while waiting to gig that night with Beck's Esquire!!!
The after market business has boomed. I have a question. After reading and watching loads of info from different pickup makers I've noticed that most all of their advertisements read that they all use the same wire, bobbins, pole pieces, scatter winding (or machine, depending), potting (or non potting, depending on the pup) etc. "as the originals". If you make a pup out of the same materials and wind them with the same amount of turns, how are they different?
In some cases the point is to replicate the originals - see our Seth Lover and Antiquity models for example, while in others it's to use the original formula and tweak it to get a specific outcome (Saturday Night Special, 59 model). Hope that helps!
I find it funny to see SD uses a shirt with the word "Seymour Duncan" in its pocket. We know who he is. No need to write his name as big as it is. Another topic. Many comment say Cathy and Seymour as couple. But, why Philips Mcknight says they have divorced in one of his weekly Q&A ? In previous video, SD himself say Cathy as "his partner". I think it's weird to call his wife as his partner. If they have divorced, why Cathy still called Cathy Duncan ? CMIIW Regardless of their relationship, I love SD pickup and will buy it again and again if my guitar needs sound improvement.
It's easy to not realise you started out with nothing. I've spent big money twice on botique pick in my telecasters and my basic 54 tele ( not even a antiquity, blows my botique pups away) SD from now on ! Next up Jazzmaster build mjt body ,usacg neck, antquity 1s by SD are gone make it sound right.
![GEEK TIMË [OFFICIAL AUDIO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ry-6RvkH880/mqdefault.jpg)
This is beautiful. Listen to them, they sound like an old married couple! Jokes aside, no matter who they are, there's something special & spiritual about listening to a couple speak about a life of shared experiences & memories.
They got divorced a couple of decades ago..
@@LPCustom3 Didn't know that! But they run a great company.
I married my Kathy in 1978, we had wonderful 28 years. That was us too,, us against the world didn't have much but each other. I got a very happy memory from you guys sharing. Thank you
There's thousands of guitarists out there who are very grateful for what you've done for the greatest instrument in the world.
I'm one of them........Thank You!!!!
It's now time to fit my new Jazz and JB pickups to my old Les Paul copy....yep, it's only a copy but I can guarantee it'll make it sound a whole lot better!
Great couple and products. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Duncan.
Skeet Schuler they haven’t been married for at least 20 years. But they are still good friends!
I saw this video was almost 32 minutes long and almost stopped watching. Glad I stayed with it. Very nice story. You 2 look like you make a great couple. Thanks for this!
Amazing story of such huge success from incredibly humble roots...these two are the genuine American dream!...and i just love his pickups
I remember meeting you two in late 1981 when I flew out from Texas. Great times back then. I'm happy to still be friends with both of you! Don Butler
Great show, Mr. Duncan. Such an inspirational story.
Met Mr. Duncan at the Chicago NAMM show in 1980 . I was still going to electronics school and was 19 years old . I stopped by Seymour's little booth. He talked to me about his first pick-up winders ,and even told me to contact him after I graduated , I wish I would have now . He sold me a PAF for $25.00. I still have it along with other SD pick-ups.Great couple story
This is a great story about the Duncan pickup history. Seymour has always been a nice guy the handful of times I have met him. His pickups are part of the culture of electric guitar that is always changing. I have been using Duncan's since the 80's, thanks Seymour and Cathy for the passion and dedication.
I bought my first set of Seymour Duncan pick-ups back in 84-85,and it was the quvarter pounders for strat and I got this fantasic sound,and ever since the I have had Seymour Duncans in all my guitars. Amazing pick-ups,amazing company,and amazing people,-and as a coustomer you feel as part of the family. I been offered other pick-ups,but I will never change. You always have what I am looking for when I set up a guitar,and I have never been dissatisifyed,and its one off the reasons I will never change company,I trust your company 100%. Thanks for the journey for far.
I could listen to you two tell these stories for hours. I learned a lot.
As a poor teenager in the 90's I got to own most of the SD pickup models by buying used guitars loaded with Duncans and reselling with generic pickups. Great memories discovering all the flavours! I had a special appreciation for the Hot Rails, it's gain and harmonics were unmatched. Alot of respect for you Mr. Duncan, and as we can see your fantastic wife who's been an incredible ally in your journey. Thank-you!
I love hearing stories about my favorite guitar merchandise brands. I've had the 59 neck, and now SSL2's and 6 custom flat. Can't wait to test em out
Thank you so much for this video, you two were so great to listen to, you remind me of my wife and I, we wouldn’t know what to do without each other!! Love your video series! Thank you!!!
"Thanks, for the memories!" Hank, the best. Leo, from Fender, when I meet him I was in heaven. More to come!
Wow! He mentioned Hank! I bought enough guitars and amps from Hank and Jack to full an Amazon warehouse! Hank got me into Duncans. I had a whole bunch of Duncans installed on my guitars at Ace, probably ten of them, not including guitars I built myself from Warmoth and Chandler and Fender parts. Great shop. I bought a mint condition Charvel strat there for almost nothing around '89. It came loaded with a classic JB wound by Lidia Daniel. Best sounding pickup I've ever owned to this day. I gigged with that guitar for a decade. I tried a lot of pickups and learned how right Hank was when I almost bought a DiMarzio at their store. Hank said, "DiMarzios sound like crap! Get a Duncan!" The first one I got was a JB, and also had a number of Customs, Distortions, Pearly Gates, etc. Best pickups you can buy. They sound like sonic gold.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Duncan,
(Sorry if my text is too long and sorry again, because I am going to put your “we answer every question” statement to the test here)
You have no idea how moved I was by your words not only as guitar aficionado but also as an entrepreneur, but mostly about the partnership and commitment you both have to each other as a couple for so many years.
Both my girlfriend and I are EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers, but, unlike her, I decided to quit working for “the man”. I have a small English tutoring business here in Brazil where I provide private lessons for learners with specific purposes. It is very soothing to see that some of my customer service practices are very similar to those practiced by such a great company yet today. Not only for providing great products and services but also in providing feedback to those as eager to learn as you once were when you started. Absolutely inspiring!
There is a great to see such a great synergy in you as couple. You show a great deal of care to each other. If there ever was a lesson to this video is that our better-halves do bring out the best in ourselves. I hope we can manage to learn from dedication you have to each other through the years to come. Congratulations! I literally had a tear or two rolling down my eyes.
Seymour Duncan as company has no need for compliments, considering its history, but I am not sure if you are aware of this, but guitarists in Brazil love your plastic cases. I guess, at least for people my age, it remind us childhood. We say that each box could fit a G.I. Joe or some action figure. For the case alone to bring such happy thoughts, that is not to mention the tone improvements the pickups provide, is proof enough of the success of the business.
I would also like to ask you something about guitars. I have a 52 AVRI Telecaster (2005? I think) and a Gibson SG Standard (2006). I am absolutely in love with the tele, however the neck on the SG is very dear to me and my lefts thumb, for that matter, considering I tend to have a firmer grip than I should sometimes.
Anyway, the pickups on this SG are very far behind in tone when compared to the tele. I do understand it’s single coil vs humbucker, but I am disregarding this fact with regards to the about of brightness and definition (especially when overdriven) it lacks. The sound can sometimes be too dark even with tone at 10 and the treble-bleed. It has improved after changing the nut for a Tusq one as well as getting a full setup to fit 0.11 Dean Markley Strings, but I still have to play on volume at 3 and if I tweak my Marshall Code 25 well maybe to 5 while very overdriven/distorted not to lose the little I have on these characteristics.
I am very found on the tones of your PAF sounding pickups with low or medium output, because that’s pretty much what I like to play. Therefore I kindly ask you, what should I do to find my tone? Should I change pickups and/or electronics?
Thank you for reading my text and I wish both the company and the couple many years to come.
Hope to hearing from you soon,
Sincerely,
Pablo Negócio.
Hey Pablo, thanks for the kind words! Give our support team a shout at customerservice@seymourduncan.com, or give us a call and we'd be happy to talk this through with you!
Loved this one. By far my favorite so far.
Seymour and Cathy - It was great to watch this! Seymour may recall me from his Kentucky days. I worked at Hughes Music then in both Erlanger (KY), and Norwood (Ohio). His old band, Surdy Greebus and mine (I think it was Mimsy Borogoves then...late 60's/early 70's) rented a room at a Northern KY firehouse then and put on a dance event one weekend. Somewhere, I thought I have an old mimeographed flyer for that event, but haven't been able to find it as yet. I've run into him at NAMM a number of years ago. We both knew Adrian (Steve) Belew then, and in fact, I sold him his first guitar, a Gibson Firebird when I worked a Hughes. I also have some stories about how Seymour and his buddies used to research pickups, by distracting some of the staff at Hughes while Seymour "investigated" pickups in some of the trade-in guitars in our back room in Norwood. I think this was during his time when he worked at WCPO TV as a tech/gopher....
I left Northern KY (where I grew up) in '71, and landed in Northern California in '78, so hearing what transpired with Seymour over that period was really very interesting. But, I'm curious, what was the path for Seymour from Cincinnati/Northern KY to Santa Barbara? I went to UK in Lexington for a few years, then took a job in Chicago, and then landed in Silicon Valley in 1978.
FYI, Mimsy Borogoves was myself (guitar), Mike Fletcher (bass), and Mike Bobbit (drums), if he remembers them.
Thanks for sharing, loved it. Behind every successful man is a great woman...
I remember sending away for a demo cassette tape featuring SD pick ups. It featured a cool bass solo on one side and a great rendition of "When a Man Loves a Woman"
I loved that cassette - When a man Loves a Woman was a great track indeed!
I still have saved your letters from 1978 when I sendt my pickups for rewinding and I had a lot of questions that you answered (all of them :) ) Good times!
yes good times. Thank goodness for musician's and their music! its keeping me inspired in these strange strange days
Great story Cathy and Seymour! Just love your pickups and customer service!!
This is fantastic. Thanks for sharing the story! You guys are very cool.
You seem like good people. I have Alnico IIs and Saturday Night Specials. Love them both. Thank you.
This is a really good video of the history of Seymour Duncan. I am proud to be a Seymour Duncan builder, and enjoy using your pickups in the guitars I build. They are reliable and can be counted on being accurate pickups from run to run. Thank for the great products.
This is FANTASTIC! It was cool to see photos in the beginning but it would have been nice to see photos (if any exist) of the events and people they talked about in their history throughout the interview.
Thank you for sharing those great stories. What a lovely couple you are :)
Man , this is just beautiful..
love this. thank you!
Love your pickups - I have 6 of them in my double caster alone. I've had a deep connection with my Seymour Duncan convertible amp('86); I'll never part with it, and I hope you do a vid featuring it.Being in business myself, I truly loved this video, You two are too cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love these two humans! Thanks for the history.x
This was interesting ,What a great success story.
That was great . Thanks for sharing your story
So cool that you guys are sharing all this stuff!
Thank you for this video! Amazing stories. Very inspiring!
Great story's, I love ur pickups got a different set in everyone of my guitars, it's like having history in my guitar, I never heard of a bad sounding Seymour duncun, I'm so glad that u followed ur dreams. You both make a great team. Just want to say thanks
what a beautiful married couple. been together forever!
Behind every great Woman there is a Musician.
Thank you for sharing this with us !:-)
what a great couple !
Oh man!!! You guys are adorable!!! ♥
Seymour Duncan RULES!!
\m/Ò_ó\m/
Fantastic! 👍
More Cathy Duncan please
Seymour picked one faithful beautiful supportive wife...God bless..
Inspirational, thanks
There should be a movie about Seymour
Well... It seems that Cathy is the one who made the company what it is today! No slam on Seymour, but he seems to be tech genius who'd still be turning the hand grinder while waiting to gig that night with Beck's Esquire!!!
Did you ever hang out at Heck's in Ventura?
yes i remember it well
The after market business has boomed. I have a question. After reading and watching loads of info from different pickup
makers I've noticed that most all of their advertisements read that they all use the same wire, bobbins, pole pieces, scatter
winding (or machine, depending), potting (or non potting, depending on the pup) etc. "as the originals". If you make a pup
out of the same materials and wind them with the same amount of turns, how are they different?
In some cases the point is to replicate the originals - see our Seth Lover and Antiquity models for example, while in others it's to use the original formula and tweak it to get a specific outcome (Saturday Night Special, 59 model). Hope that helps!
Queridos Duncan por favor traduzcan al español , ustedes son escuela . abrazos desde Argentina
I find it funny to see SD uses a shirt with the word "Seymour Duncan" in its pocket. We know who he is. No need to write his name as big as it is.
Another topic.
Many comment say Cathy and Seymour as couple. But, why Philips Mcknight says they have divorced in one of his weekly Q&A ?
In previous video, SD himself say Cathy as "his partner". I think it's weird to call his wife as his partner.
If they have divorced, why Cathy still called Cathy Duncan ?
CMIIW
Regardless of their relationship, I love SD pickup and will buy it again and again if my guitar needs sound improvement.
Smart Women!!
Cathy has aged very well.
Maybe we will see you at the surf guitar 101 convention in Torrence this August fourth. Look it up at www.Surfguitar101.com
Let's talk about that background music in this video... what IS that??
That's Seymour's music actually!
SD on guitar? If so, it's great - sounds like Robben Ford.
you two are a very cute couple
It's easy to not realise you started out with nothing. I've spent big money twice on botique pick in my telecasters and my basic 54 tele ( not even a antiquity, blows my botique pups away) SD from now on ! Next up Jazzmaster build mjt body ,usacg neck, antquity 1s by SD are gone make it sound right.