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b'Seymour W. Duncan\\xa0is an American guitarist and guitar repairman and a co-founder of the\\xa0Seymour Duncan Company, a manufacturer of guitar pickups, bass pickups, and effects pedals located in\\xa0Santa Barbara, California. Born in New Jersey, Duncan grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, during a time when electric guitar music grew into greater acceptance.\\xa0
Duncan began playing clubs and during one show, his\\xa0Fender Telecaster\'s lead pickup broke, forcing him to play the rest of the night on the rhythm pickup. Necessity being the mother of invention, Duncan rewound that lead pickup on a record player spinning at 33\\u200a1\\u20443\\xa0rpm.
While he developed his playing skills, Duncan\'s knowledge of how guitars work grew. Duncan took every chance he had to talk with players about guitars, tone and electronics. After spending time with musicians such as\\xa0Les Paul\\xa0and\\xa0Roy Buchanan, Duncan realized that it was his guitar, and not his playing, that prevented him from producing those wonderful tones that defined great players. Suddenly, and forever, Duncan was hooked on the dynamics and character differences of pickups.
As Duncan tinkered with materials and techniques, his bag of tricks grew and grew. At Les Paul\'s suggestion, he moved to England in the late 1960s where his intention to play soon mixed with the opportunity to further his pickup research working in the Repair and R&D Departments at the\\xa0Fender\\xa0Soundhouse in London. It was here that he did repairs and rewinds for such artists as\\xa0Jimmy Page,\\xa0George Harrison,\\xa0Eric Clapton,\\xa0David Gilmour,\\xa0Pete Townshend,\\xa0Jimi Hendrix,\\xa0Peter Frampton\\xa0and his guitar hero\\xa0Jeff Beck. It was through his work with Beck in particular, that Duncan honed his pickup winding skills\\u2014some of Duncan\'s first signature pickup tones appear on Beck\'s early solo albums. Duncan\'s sabbatical in England resulted in a flock of new fans and friends.[2]\\xa0Duncan came back to the United States and eventually settled in California. He established contact with people such as\\xa0Leo Fender,\\xa0Les Paul\\xa0and\\xa0Seth Lover\\xa0(inventor of a humbucking pickup) and continued learning about and making pickups. Demand for his custom pickups grew and in late 1978 together with Cathy Carter Duncan, he started his own company, Seymour Duncan Pickups. Today the company has over 120 employees.
Fender Custom Shop\\xa0makes a Seymour Duncan Signature Esquire. Duncan is still involved in designing and fabricating pickups at the factory as well as playing guitar and making appearances at clinics and conventions.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/'