Seymour Duncan SH-9 Silver Bird 1980 Black

Description

Review below is From Darthphineas ..Facebook Pickup and Gear Blog :
The Silverbird is a rare humbucker that was made almost 35 years ago.  It’s more prominently known as the pickup found in the Silverbird guitar made by Zion, as commissioned by Guitar Player magazine in 1983.  Reports of how many were made are generally the stuff of legend.  It’s been said that less than 100 were produced, while it’s also been suggested there were only a few dozen.

At first glance, the Silverbird might make people think it’s the mid-90s Iommi model that the Duncan company made (that is commonly mistaken as the current ).  Preceding the Iommi by a solid decade, the Silverbird provides a little of the DNA for what followed.  Mostly when it comes to the bobbins and the magnets.

More recently, there is also the , but the darker ceramic magnets can help to more quickly identify it from these others.

The bobbins are Tele bobbins, which might have someone thinking they are too big.  Fret not (ha! a pun!), I had no issue fitting them into a humbucker cavity.  It is also generally found with it’s own fitted pickup mounting ring, but a trem-spaced ring should also do the job.

What looks like big thick rails are actually the magnets.  The Silverbird has a pair of Alnico 2 magnets, right out there to grab a hold of that energy firsthand. Incidentally, the 90s Iommi and the current El Diablo also use Alnico 2.

If you’re looking for a hard-to-find Duncan pickup, it doesn’t get much better than this.  Even so, the Silverbird is almost as scarce as any hands-on evaluations.  Fear not, gentle readers…

Review by Darthphineas . Facebook Gear page