The NAMM show of 2015 is behind us for a couple of weeks now and the dust of all the newly released gear is settling down. It’s time to see what’s new, hot and smokin’ in the world of guitars, as well as taking a look at who’s using Seymour Duncan pickups, granting you the possibility to perhaps try out a pickup you always wanted to hear in your favorite brand or model!
Jackson
The 2015 lineup of Jackson for 2015 is extensive, as usual, including a great many with Seymour Duncan pickups. For instance, there are several hard tail Pro Series Dinky models with JB and ’59 humbuckers with graphite strengthening rods in the necks, plus dual action truss rods with the adjustment at the end of the fretboard. For instance…
The DK2 HT with solid finish, Alder body and Maple fretboard…
The DK2Q HT with Alder body, Quilted Maple top and Ebony fretboard…
And the DK2QM HT with similar specs as the DK2Q HT but with a Maple fretboard.
Or if you’re more of a Floyd Rose fan, there’s the DK2Q and DK2QM.
Soloist more your style? The SL2 Pro Series Soloist has a Distortion set.
And there are plenty of 7-string and 8-string models too;
The SLATHX-M 3-7 has an arched Soloist Basswood body, a through-body 
Maple neck with graphite reinforcement, and Nazgul and Sentient pickups..
The SLATXSD 3-7 has active Blackouts and a Floyd Rose Special bridge…
And the SLATHXSD 3-8 8-string rocks a set of active Blackouts too.
Fender
Dave Murray California Strat
One of my favorite guitarists of all time, Dave Murray from Iron Maiden, has a new signature Strat with Fender in 2015. I’m absolutely surprised to this guitar as well as its feature set! It’s got an Original Floyd Rose double locking trem as well as three Seymour Duncan pickups: two Hot Rails in neck and bridge and a JB Jr. in the middle, exactly the way Dave wants it.
Steve Harris P-Bass
Steve Harris is known as the bass player and founder of Iron Maiden. His signature ‘gallop’ is infamous and helped shape the metal-genre as we now know it and he loves to rock out on the P Bass. He teamed up with Seymour Duncan to create a pickup perfect for the tone he always had in mind. Fender has the Steve Harris Signature P-Bass which features a full maple neck and a maple body, allowing for a tight, clear and punchy tone. His bass is loaded with Harris’ own signature pickup, of course.
Dean
Dave Mustaine Zero Punk
Dave Mustaine was known, for years, for using the Flying V, but in recent years he started donning the Z shape. This year, the Zero is a new incarnation of the standard Z-shape and features very simple controls: just one pickup and one volume control! Of course, the standard pickup of choice to go with this guitar is Dave Mustaine’s Livewire pickup! Coincidentally, available in several color options starting in 2015! Dave also mentions this guitar and his new pickup options in our interview with him here.
Outfitted with a flamed maple top, mahogany body and neck as well as Dave’s Livewire pickups, this guitar is bound to turn some heads when you rock it on stage!
Karl Sanders V
From the band Nile, Karl Sanders’ signature guitar features a maple top, mahogany back and neck and a single Invader pickup in the bridge. Simplicity without sacrificing diversity, this guitar is bound to howl!
Dimebag Razorbolt
When Dimebag Darrell died in 2004 he was working with Dean on his own design, the Razorback. Now, new for 2015, a slightly different take on the Razorback is being released. This new guitar, the Razorbolt offers the same feature set as its older sibling but in a sharper package. Expect the same bonecrushing tones, delivered through Seymour Duncan Dimebucker and an Original Floyd Rose Tremolo.
Aristides
SSS 060
Aristides Instruments’ latest 060 Guitar model has an SSS configuration with Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 Pro single coils available in the bridge, middle, and neck positions. The SSS 060 is a one piece constructed, 25.5” scale guitar with a five-way switch combined with a single volume control and single tone, a C shaped neck which is 1.65” wide at the nut and topped off with a compound (12”-16”) radius fretboard (in either maple, rosewood or ebony) and fitted with 24 medium jumbo frets. The hardware is available in chrome, black, or gold finishes and includes a Hipshot Countour temolo, Hipshot Griplock tuners and Schaller straplocks.
Diamond Guitars
Long time users of Seymour Duncan pickups, Diamond Guitars (formally known as DBZ Guitars), don’t just use our most favorite pickups the JB and ‘59 in many of their guitars, they started designing pickups of their own with us.
New for 2015 is the Zoltan Bathory Signature Halcyon. This double-cut guitar features a Mahogany neck with a smooth Ebony fretboard matched with a Mahogany body which is topped with a gorgeous Maple top. In Five Finger Death Punch, Bathory needs a tone that’s tight but has the ability to cut through the mix. To that end, his guitar is loaded with a Pegasus/Sentient set of pickups.
This guitar invokes a classic, vintage association but at closer inspection is a totally unique, modern tonal behemoth in its own right. Loaded with classical tonewoods like Mahogany and Rosewood, this axe is topped with a stunning spalted Maple top. Like the other top of the line instruments in the Diamond range this guitar also features the Diamant Signature, which are Diamond-exclusive pickups wound by Seymour Duncan.
Washburn
New for 2015 is the Priestess. This guitar takes design cues from older designs but with modern appointments like the Floyd Rose and the customwound Seymour Duncan Pickups. This guitar promises to deliver quite the punch!
Ibanez
After years, Paul Stanley is back at his old nest, Ibanez. In conjunction with the master builders of Ibanez, Stanley decided to release his favored shape, the PS10. Three models – the ‘Cracked Mirror’ PS1CM plus the PS10 BK and PS120 BK – feature Paul’s preferred pickup combination of the Custom 5 in the bridge position and the ‘59 at the neck.
RC2720
Ibanez also released the RC2720. This Japan-exlusive guitar seems to take some design cues from the old Talman range and it has Seymour Duncan P-Rails for single coil, P-90 and humbucker sounds.
Dino Cazares
Longtime Ibanez player Dino Cazares of Fear Factory, Divine Heresy and Asesino’s new Retribution pickup finds its way into his Ibanez signature RG, the DCM100. The Retribution is part of the Blackout family of active pickups and is voiced to be more organic, more natural and have less output and compression than its older siblings. The DCM100 is a bare-bones instrument with just one pickup, one volume control and a tremolo bridge.
Paul Reed Smith
Mark Holcomb Signature
Mark Holcomb is the guitarist for Periphery and now has a brand new PRS signature guitar. It was one of the most popular guitars at the NAMM show and if you read the specs, you’ll know why. It’s got 24 frets, seated in a 20” (super-flat!) ebony fretboard. The top has an amazing quilt and the back and neck are a lovely piece of mahogany. Mark was in dire need of a special set of pickups, suited for his tonal needs. He talks about his pickups quite elaborately in this video and gives us a sneak peak of the tone. The Alpha and Omega pickups, as they’re now being called, are for now unique to his instrument but they are on the shortlist to be released in March of this year. Keep your eye tuned to the website, forum and blog of Seymour Duncan to know more about these awesome pickups.
Kramer Guitars
Steel Panther is taking of the world, by force! On the helm, we have Satchel on lead guitar. He loves Kramer guitars. When I say love, I mean, adore, and he has consolidated his love with a brand new signature guitar with a full Maple neck, Maple body, Original Floyd Rose trem, Custom 5 pickup in the bridge and a ‘59 in the neck (or so we were told at the Gibson Booth!). Of course, his guitar can’t have a standard paint scheme. The choice was made to use a ‘Leopard’ print color scheme, one in purple, one in yellow. I urge you to try them: I was absolutely amazed at these guitars!
Schecter
Keith Merrow KM-7 Lambo Orange
What do you get when a metal-behemoth of Keith Merrow’s stature and a hailed company as Schecter get together and start designing a new guitar intended to be Merrow’s signature? An awesome metal-shredstick. Merrow’s guitar was released as a 7-string version in 2014 in trans black and trans white and featured the Nazgul and Sentient pickups. The lineup has been expanded with a 6-string version which uses the ‘Blackened’ Black Winter set, a KM exclusive.
Yamaha
Aside from the cool custom model with a DynaBucker from the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop pictured above, Yamaha has also opened up their full Pacifica line-up internationally again, including the PAC510V with Seymour Duncan P-Rails…
And the PACIFICA611VFM with a Seymour Duncan Vintage Soapbar SP90-1n in the neck position and a Custom 5 TB-14.
Carvin/Kiesel
In 1946, Carvin was founded under the name of Kiesel. Now, they have split the company again and Kiesel will be the moniker for their more exclusive, exotic lineup. One amazing guitar to come out of their shop this year, released for the public, is the new Jason Becker Signature Numbers guitar. In fact, this guitar marks a very special moment in the Carvin/Kiesel history: this is the first time in their history they ship out a guitar loaded with pickups other than their own manufacturing as standard. The Jason Becker guitar features colored numerical inlay on a full maple neck, an ash body, Floyd Rose trem and the electronic department is being handled by a Jazz in the neck, Perpetual Burn in the bridge and a Vintage Hot Stack in the middle. The price will be, as always with Carvin, at the affordable end of the spectrum, but without sacrificing craftsmanship or quality. If you want a unique ‘Superstrat’, consider this guitar. Really. I tried it, I love it.
Martin Guitars
An easy forgotten part of the Seymour Duncan lineup are the acoustic guitar pickups. Fortunately, Martin Guitars hasn’t forgotten us, at all. New for 2015 is the CEO-8. This gorgeous guitar features their largest bodysize, the Grande Jumbo and has sycamore sides, back and neck topped with a Sitka spruce top. The electronic department is being handled by the DTar Multi Source electronics.
The NAMM Show is always a hectic couple of days and even though we try to cover it all, it’s a given we’d miss something somewhere along the line. What’s your favorite guitar of the NAMM show and what brand have you seen at the show that we missed? NAMM, see you next year!
