Jeff Beck
“I’ve got a Jeff Beck in my guitar” is something many of us have said over the past nearly five decades. And while the classic Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB was never actually a signature pickup, without Jeff it may never have happened…
One of the many, many guitarists obsessed with Jeff Beck was a young Seymour Duncan. Here’s what he told this writer back in the 90s: “I first heard Jeff Beck in the summer of ’65, I was playing in a talent show with a local band. The local radio station played a recording of Heart Full Of Soul by The Yardbirds, their second hit. The unique guitar sound was from Jeff Beck. I tracked down many of their recordings and saw them performing on 60s TV shows such as Hullabaloo, Shindig! and Ready Steady Go!.
“I’d noticed Jeff was playing a Fender Telecaster but without the neck pickup,” he added, “making it an Esquire [from 1954]. Originally it had a white single-layer scratchplate that Jeff changed to a black phenolic one. He’d bought the guitar for $60 [or £75, according to Jeff! – Ed] from John Maus [aka Walker], guitarist with The Walker Brothers when they toured England in the mid- 60s. Years later, John visited my workshop in Santa Barbara and told me he’d contoured the front and back of the body to make it feel more like a Stratocaster.”
Continuing the story in Guitarist back in 2005, Evan Skopp, a long-time employee of Seymour Duncan, related the tale: “In 1972, the late American country blues guitarist Roy Buchanan passed through Ohio where Seymour had achieved cult status as ‘The Midwest’s Eric Clapton.’ Buchanan told the 20-something Seymour, ‘Come with me to England. They’re gonna love you there!’ Soon, Seymour found himself burning it up in London’s bars and clubs by night. By day, he performed guitar repair for Ivor Arbiter at the Fender Soundhouse on London’s Tottenham Court Road. It was during those days that Seymour struck up a friendship with his guitar hero, Jeff Beck – and had the honour of introducing Jeff to Roy Buchanan.”
The story continues that Jeff ’s favourite Les Paul was sent to be repaired “with a volume control problem”, Seymour
