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Seymour Duncan Joe Bonamassa Broadcaster Set - LTD Signed
These are signed pickup sets (Joe and Seymour) limited to 250 total sets worldwide....
If there is a cool and rare guitar that you can name, Joe Bonamassa probably has one. That includes the Fender Broadcaster, which got Fender in hot water with Gretsch who were already using the Broadcaster name on a line of drums. Early Fender Broadcaster and Telecaster guitars had pretty beefy bridge pickups, which were descended from their pedal steel guitars. This is the tone that many guitarists continue to chase, and differs from the ultra bright and twangy Telecaster tone that most people associate with the guitar.
The Joe Bonamassa Broadcaster set is designed to capture the sound -- if not the exact specifications -- of Joe's rare guitar. Using a formula similar to their Brad Paisley set -- Alnico 4 in bridge and Alnico 2 in the neck -- the Joe Bonamassa set captures the elusive combo of punchy clarity and roundness that makes a good Telecaster so special.
Neck pickup - Typical 6K DC resistance
Bridge pickup - Typical 8.8K DC resistnace
In the words of Seymour Duncan:
In the history of electric guitars, few are as iconic as the Fender Broadcaster®. As few as 250 of these instruments are believed to have been built from the fall of 1950 to the spring of 1951, before Fender transitioned the model to what we all know as the Telecaster® at the end of 1951. To say Broadcasters are incredibly rare is an understatement, and to find one in pristine condition is an even greater challenge. Lucky for all of us, our friend and vintage guitar authority Joe Bonamassa had a very special one in his collection with a tone so remarkable that he wanted to share it with the world. Carefully testing and documenting the original guitar’s pickups, the Seymour Duncan team was able to faithfully recreate the sound and look of Joe’s coveted 1950 Fender Broadcaster.
The Joe Bonamassa 1950 Broadcaster pickups are a faithful replica of the set found in this guitar. Joe describes the neck pickup as bright and perfectly balanced with the punchy flat-pole bridge pickup. Authentic to Leo Fender’s original design, these pickups evoke the early days of blues, rock and roll, and country.
Built in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, this set features Alnico 2 magnets in the neck, Alnico 4 magnets in the bridge, and cloth push-back cable. The raw steel bottom plates of the first 250 sets will be signed by Joe and Seymour W Duncan and will also be aged to match the original set from Joe’s guitar. These sets will be numbered in limited edition packaging.
After the 250 limited edition sets have sold out, Joe and the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop will offer these pickups as built-to-order models.