This is a set of the original series of pickups designed for and endorsed by Joe Bonamassa and made in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop. These are amazing sounding pickups, with an original PAF vibe (Joe and Seymour Duncan did extensive R&D to match these pickups to Joe’s favorite sets of original PAFs).
The pickups come with all of the original packaging, including the black fabric bags and the USB stick. They have been previously installed and played, but the leads are still full length and thus should have no problem installing in your guitar of choice.
The information below is from the Seymour Duncan blog (, describing these pickups and the collaboration of Joe and Seymour in their design:
“In 2011 Joe Bonamassa teamed up with Seymour Duncan to design a pickup set which he could install in other guitars so that he wouldn’t have to take his prized 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard on the road. The result is what we know today as the Joe Bonamassa Signature Set . The premise is actually quite neat: a PAF-inspired pickup designed to capture the best tonal features Joe heard in that particular guitar. Seymour Duncan could have used completely different materials for the wire, bobbins and magnet but chose to start with materials close to the original. The final product is very PAF-like, no modern ‘edge’ in the design but very apt to be used in a more modern setting.
“The vintage ‘voice’ of this limited-edition set is what drew me in. The way it was packed is exactly in the tradition of the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop: a small, black box with the pickups inside. A USB stick with digital goodies is included as well, but I was most enthusiastic about Seymour Duncan’s and Joe Bonamassa’s signature on the bottom of each pickup! I had a guitar with a set of Antiquity humbuckers, so installing the Bonamassas instead of the Antiquities would give me a unique opportunity to hear these two PAF-inspired pickups.
“The Antiquities are of course true replicas of a set Seymour examined, while the ‘Bonamassa set’ was made to sound like a set Joe has, but the similarities with a ‘true’ PAF are striking. Also 42 AWG wire, plain enamel isolation, butyrate bobbins, rough-cast magnets (Alnico 3 in the bridge, Alnico 2 in the neck), German silver (nickel silver, as it’s more commonly known) baseplate, etc.
“But what’s the tone like? In short: amazing. Will it make me sound like Joe? Well, no. These pickups are so pure, so clean and true that they offer a great platform for your own tone and your own sound. If you wanna sound like Joe, you’ll be needing his amps, his tone, his attack and his effects. These pickups are just a small link in the large chain that makes Joe’s sound.