Pricing and availability
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Average Price: $212
High-end/Boutique
$99
$200+
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Budget
Standard
High-end
Price History
Based on price data from 4 merchants for "Seymour Duncan Black Winter Humbucker Pickup". Prices shown reflect NEW condition. Tracking began Apr 2, 2026.
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Description
Give your guitar the voice it deserves with the Seymour Duncan Black Winter Humbucker Pickup, a true monster of metal. Engineered for the fiercest tones, it's the perfect companion for those who play with aggression and demand ultimate power from their instrument.
The Black Winter is not just a pickup; it's a statement. Its high-output design is born from three large ceramic magnets, ensuring an unrelenting power and sustain even in the most punishing high-gain situations. Its custom overwound coil design offers an unmatched clarity in the mids and highs, while the low end remains controlled and focused. This is a pickup that doesn't just handle extreme tunings - it thrives in them.
Whether you're delivering crushing palm mutes, fluid sweep picking, or mind-shattering leads, the Black Winter handles it all with ease. With this pickup, your guitar will roar with a ferocious intensity, without sacrificing string-to-string separation or sensitivity.
The Black Winter doesn't just sound brutal - it looks the part too. The Seymour Duncan logo graces the pickup in an Old English font, while black poles, black screws, and a black bottom plate add to its menacing aesthetic.
Key Features:
- High-output passive humbucker pickup designed for extreme metal
- Three large ceramic magnets for maximum output and sustain
- Custom overwound coil design for clarity in mids and highs
- Designed to handle low tunings and aggressive playing styles
- Comes with 4-conductor lead wire for multiple wiring options
- Vacuum wax potted for squeal-free operation
- Unique aesthetics with black bottom plate, black poles, and black screws
- The Seymour Duncan logo in Old English font
Product specs
| Type | Set: Humbucker |
| Active/Passive | Passive |
| Configuration | HH Set |
| Magnet Material | Ceramic |
| Number of Conductors | 4 wire plus shield |
| DC Resistance | 16.6K (bridge), 13K (neck) |
| Connectivity | Soldered |
| Number of Strings | 6 |
| Covering | Uncovered |
FAQs
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Are Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups suitable for metal music?
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Yes, the Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups are specifically designed for extreme metal, offering high output and aggressive tone with ceramic magnets for maximum sustain and clarity.
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What type of magnets are used in the Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups?
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The Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups use ceramic magnets, which provide a powerful and articulate sound ideal for high-gain music styles.
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Are the Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups active or passive?
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The Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups are passive, offering a natural and dynamic response suited for aggressive playing styles.
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Can the Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups be used with a 6-string guitar?
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Yes, the Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups are designed for 6-string guitars, providing a balanced and powerful tone across all strings.
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How are the Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups wired?
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The Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups feature a 4-conductor wiring plus shield, allowing for versatile wiring configurations such as coil splitting or series/parallel switching.
Videos
Ola Englund
Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups
Reviews
PROS
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Exceptional clarity and articulation, even with high gain settings
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Versatile tone, suitable for metal and clean genres alike
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Powerful distortion with perfect saturation and crunch
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Coil-splitting offers unique single-coil tones
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High output without sacrificing warmth and richness
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Great separation of strings, even with complex chords
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Surprisingly versatile across various music styles
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Excellent response to pick attack and volume adjustments
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Rich and articulate lead tones in neck and bridge positions
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Easy installation, even for novices
CONS
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Bridge pickup not versatile for non-metal genres
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Some may find high output difficult to control at first
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Seymour Duncan Black Winter Humbucker Pickup.
Comparisons
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Owners compare the Black Winter to active pickups like EMG 81/85, noting that Black Winter offers more "life" and balanced highs with articulate low-end, unlike the high-end snap of some active pickups.
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The Seymour Duncan JB is described as more mellow and rounded, whereas the Black Winter offers a metally tone with less bass and cutting mids, suitable for heavy genres.
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Users frequently compare Black Winter to the Nazgûl, noting Nazgûl's design is supposedly better for lower tunings, though preferences vary.
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Some users prefer the Nazgûl bridge pickup over the Black Winter for certain tones.
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Mods and upgrades
Setup and maintenance
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Owners encountering out-of-phase issues in the middle position should reverse the hot and ground lead wires to resolve the volume drop problem.
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Use cases and applications
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Black Winter pickups are favored for downtuned settings, enhancing the twangy Fender sound in lighter tunings, while providing fantastic mids for metal genres.
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The Black Winter is praised for its ability to enhance tremolo picking due to its low-end articulation, making it suitable for black metal.
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User experience
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It's noted that the pickups can pick up every detail, requiring players to change chords cleanly, as any imperfections are easily detected.
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Some users report that the Black Winter is the highest output pickup they've used, surpassing even EMGs, requiring adjustments to overdrive or noise gate levels.
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Some owners find these pickups too harsh and bright, suggesting they might not suit all musical styles.
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Features and functionality
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The Black Winter pickups offer high output but maintain clarity in clean tones, appealing to both metal and non-metal players.
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The neck pickup is described as "dark and clear," providing an "evil" sound, while the bridge pickup is noted for being "nasty and tight," appealing to metal players.
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The pickups are known for enhancing pinched harmonics, making them popular for metal guitarists.
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Other
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Customization options include pickups with black or no lettering to address aesthetic preferences.
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Critic Reviews
5.0 out of 5
Based on 2 Reviews and 13 Ratings
381
Great for metal - and any other style you want
Seymour Duncan markets this one for "extreme metal", and it's certainly great in that application, but there is SO much more loaded up in this thing. Balanced tone across the spectrum, and really amazing response to pick attack and volume/tone control adjustments. After installing this pickup, I dialed in a high-gain lead tone on the ADA MP-1, and just for kicks I rolled the volume control back to see how well it handles. Well, it handles - I got an edge-of-breakup clean sound WITH THE AMP STILL ON THE HOT LEAD SETTING.
A+ tone for metal, but also REALLY good for blues, classic/hard rock, jazz (with the tone and volume knobs backed off a bit) and, yes, even COUNTRY. I wired it up for coil-splitting, and due to the high output level, it does a very convincing Telecaster single-coil sound. I haven't been able to get a bad tone out of this thing.
600
awsome
these are in my strat and I'm not taking them out ever. some people don't like the abrasive upper frequencies these have but I love all the extra attack. definitely one of my very favourite pickups for sure.
Artist usage
Add artist
For this video in Portuguese, Andreas gives a rundown of the rig he's using for the Machine Messiah Tour 2017. 5:48 into this video, he mentions using Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups.
In this YouTube video, Keith Merrow was seen demonstrating the Black Winter pickups.
He plays here LTD EC-Black Metal which has Black Winter humbucker.
Spencer changed out the original EMG pick-up from his BC Rich Iron Bird Pro for a Seymour Duncan Black Winter.
In the video showcasing the Stealth guitar for Death To All Tour, Luc mentions it by name: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Yld8pAsB0
In this post he endorses LTD EC-Black Metal which has one Black Winter humbucker in "blackened" satin finish. Few others gods of Norway endorsed this series of guitars.
On live concert he plays very often LTD EC-Black Metal, which has one Black Winter humbucker in bridge position. This all he needs to rock on.
IN this video Hunter mods a cheap Hello kitty 7 string he bought on alie express. For this guitar Hunter installed a Duncan Black winter. Hunter opted to go with the white version to match the rest of the guitar
Andrés Giménez describes the Seymour Duncan Black Winter Humbucker Pickup as his favorite, likening its powerful sound to "a sledgehammer hitting your head." This statement is featured on the Seymour Duncan website, highlighting his use of this pickup to achieve his signature heavy metal tone.
While this is discussed in numerous places on the WWW, I learned it by asking Nate's co-guitarist Scott Hedrick about what pickups they were using during a stop on the "Serpents Unleashed" tour. He told me they'd recently switched from the Duncan Distortion, and recommended the Black Winter very highly!
Album Usage
The Seymour Duncan Black Winter Humbucker Pickup has been featured on the following albums:
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Seymour Duncan Black Winter Humbucker Pickup, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
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