Seymour Duncan Legit?

symbolofmylife

Hi Guys,

I have a question. I bought myself a new guitar today. LTD EC401VF model. So Happy New Guitar Day to me!!

Anyway, in the shop I tested a couple of guits and finally settled on this one and bought it.

It wasn’t until I returned to a PC that I did a bit of a google search regarding the guitar just for kicks that I saw under the specs that it came standard with Seymour Duncans (SD)!! Happy me, right? Extra Bonus!!!

Anyway, the guitar features those Gibson-esque silver pickup covers but unlike the ones on the net, mine’s unmarked. No mention of SD on these plates. Although the ones on the net all clearly have SD engraving on the plates. Silly question I know…it's only engraving but I need to know if I have been shafted.

How do I check this?

Thanks!!!

MikeM

I've not heard of Duncan pups coming on plates that don't have the engraving. Post on the Seymour Duncan forum, you'll get a 100% answer there.

ezietsman

MikeM wrote: I've not heard of Duncan pups coming on plates that don't have the engraving. Post on the Seymour Duncan forum, you'll get a 100% answer there.

Yeah, I've never seen Seymour Duncan pickup covers with engraving on them.

@Symbolofmylife, unscrew one of them (unscrew the pickup mounting ring, the pickup will come out) and look underneath, should say "Seymour Duncan" plus a logo nice and big underneath ? Those LTDs comes with a JB and 59? Nice strong and bright pickups those are, the JB will cut any mix, a bit bright for some people. Good for heavy distortion.

MikeM

Really Ez? In all the ones I have seen they have a plate like this... In fact even the one right here on my table.

Oh I see you editted your post ? Sorry man, was not on the same page there!

ezietsman

MikeM wrote: Really Ez? In all the ones I have seen they have a plate like this... In fact even the one right here on my table.

Ja but not on the covers, thats underneath.

chris77

Yup, unscrew and check the baseplate. If you bought it new you shouldn't be too worried, but it's best to check and make sure. If they aren't the stock pups..., oh boy, then the store has some serious explaining to do.

Garth-S

I had a similar thing when I bought my new Ibanez SZ520, all the pictures, even the models in other stores, had 'Duncan Designed' written on the pickups, but mine... zippo! Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore because I'm in love with the Tonerider Alnico IV's in there now ? . Your best bet is to check underneath.

shaundtsl

Happy new guitar day!

symbolofmylife

Thanks all for your replies!!!

Good to hear from some old friends again also...

Anyway, I checked some proper google pics as my work network is uber shyte and some have the engraving, while others dont.

I also checked it against the older 400VF model online and both guitars share the same specs pup-wise, but if you look at the pics the old and newer models do differ ito pup covers

Old: (no engraving on pup covers)

New: (engraving on pup covers)

I think I'll just go with the specs on this then, as yes, it is brand new and I dont wannt start removing hardware ect just yet. It's way too pretty. So SD's it is then...

I have to add though that the pickups are way less ballsy than my other LTD which features EMG-HZ's. The EMG's rip through triplets and are ballsy as hell etc while on the SD's triplets dont come across that well, and the guitar overall sounds "thinner". Reviews online do mention that the guitar is not a metal monster per se, but more akin to classic rock stuff which is also good.

I basically wanted a guitar I could keep in standard tuning as my other is tuned way down to C. So now I have it.

Just for kicks, a pic of the other (I did have the pickups changed to the black EMG HZ boxes though)

symbolofmylife

New: (engraving on pup covers)