Joe Bonamassa’s collection of vintage guitars is full of treasures from the golden era of electric guitar manufacture. This means Joe knows a thing or two about Gibson’s® P.A.F. humbuckers – the earliest versions of Seth Lover’s milestone innovation in pickup design. Vintage Gibson ES-335s® are known to be some of the finest semi-hollow instruments ever built—and the P.A.F. humbuckers they were originally equipped with are the vessel for the powerful sound and sustain that these guitars are known for.

When Seymour Duncan approached Bonamassa to recreate a set of humbuckers from one of his favourite ES-335s®, he was quick to bring us one of the finest instruments in his collection – his rare 1960 dot®-neck Gibson ES-335® with blonde finish, aptly named “The Blonde Dot®”. Purchased from a friend who had an impressive collection of vintage dot® neck 335s, Joe found that the pickups in the pristine Blonde Dot® were some of the most balanced P.A.F.s in his collection.

Careful to keep the guitar in its immaculate condition, Seymour Duncan measured and recorded the original pickups to faithfully recreate them as “The Blonde Dot®” 1960 P.A.F. Humbucker Set. Joe describes the neck pickup as “stratty and clear” and the bridge pickup as “punchy and dark”, making a balanced set that he knew would sound good in any guitar. To capture these tones, this vintage set uses an Alnico 2 magnet in the neck, whereas a stronger Alnico 4 magnet was found to best deliver the qualities of the original bridge pickup.

To match the like-new original Blonde Dot®, the nickel covers are unaged and come with black pickup rings. The first 800 sets come in limited edition packaging, and with bottom plates signed by Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan himself. After these limited-edition sets are sold, “The Blonde Dot®” pickups will be available with standard Custom Shop cosmetic options to perfectly match your ES-335®, Les Paul®, or any guitar that demands great P.A.F. humbucker tone.

ES-335®, Dot®, and Les Paul® are registered trademarks with Gibson. Seymour Duncan’s pickups are in no way authorised, sponsored by, or affiliated with Gibson.