Seymour Duncan Black\Back Pickups

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The Black\Back Pickup is a proprietary pickup owned & designed by The Ultratone division of New Technologies Ltd. The architectural specs were to concentrate entirely on versatility but not to lose any discernible Brown Sound, Gibson Sound Or Fender Sound.

Seymour Duncan actually manufactures the pickups in their custom shop.  Seymour Duncan paints them black with a special black powder coating that we have specified, The Technology is owned by several different parties and it is almost impossible to patent. The R&D costs alone to try to get a patent for this product would be astronomical. The patent would also have to extend to the mounting system and wiring in the guitar. The possibilities are quite broad. Therefore anyone who is involved in the project is sworn to secrecy and has to sign a non disclosure agreement.

In 2008 our Attorney notified us that it could be patented and trademarked. The only problem there would be we would have to reveal the secret sauce to the US Patent Office. Anyone could look up the patent and simply copy us in their bedroom.  So we have opted not to patent it.

The original product was named Black/Back ND.  ND meant non disclosure. However many people thought that ND stood for Neo Dimium which is a rare earth magnetic element.  Neo Dimium is a more expensive magnet than Aluminum Nickel Cobalt (Alnico) and of course much more costly than standard ceramic magnets. Many people have heard of the Electrovoice "NDYM" Microphones "Pronounced endime". These Microphones came out in the early 90's & they literally blew the Shure SM 57 and 58 out of the water. Today many speaker companies are also using Neo Dimium technology when they want much more powerful magnets.

These pickups are slightly more expensive than the usual Duncan pickups. Although we have been told numerous times that our price of $125.00 each is much lower than they would have expected to pay. We have also been told that people have paid that much for the normal Duncan pickups.
 

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Charvel has the closest sounding model to the black back but we aren't worried because they sell theirs for 300.00 each.
 

On the discontinued Eddie Van Halen guitars the lower brass assembly and back were painted black. This is where the name Black/Back TM came from. Ultratone has simply trademarked the black painted backs in an effort to try to lock out competition.  There are a few people who are Grand-fathered in before the trademark was granted so be careful. Make sure the pickup is a Seymour Duncan. Some of the very early ones about 350 were manufactured under license by Dimarzio. 

We have seen these sell on Ebay for $400.00 a pickup. We think that is ludicrous because the Seymour Duncan product is far superior in quality. We do have several sets of totally Brand New Dimarzio Black/Backs in stock. If you are a Dimarzio freak then please give us a call.

I realize of course that tone and sound are objective. I also know that these pickups aren't for everybody.
We feel they are the most powerful, clean and controllable pickups We have ever used.  Originally they were designed for the LSR line of guitars back in 1997 and today there are about 14 companies that use them.

Seymour Duncan was not the first company to produce the Black/Back pickups for Ultratone. But Seymour Duncan was the company that helped them perfect it. Thanks to Evan Skopp @ Duncan Pickups.

The Black/Backs are a matched set, You can use them separately of course but they are a matched set. One is specifically for the bridge position while the other one is made for the neck position.

You should never mount a single coil pickup in between them. Magnetism from the center magnet will interfere and alter the intended sound..

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We also recommended that utilizing 2 pickups would sound better than just using one.  However we have heard these pickups used individually and the still sound great.

Using the gold or chrome pickup covers as on the green Enterprize model above degrades the tone slightly. Most people cannot tell the difference.  We tried using plastic & wooden covers and no one could tell the difference,  Currently we are experimenting with Abalone, & Mother of pearl covers on our new Viceroy Model.

We also offer EMG Pickups, Tom Holmes Pickups, Jason Lollar Pickups & Even PRS Pickups on our guitars.
Overall We Like The Black/Backs for Versatility, Tone & Sustain!!!

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