It’s about time we seven and eight stringers had some more passive humbuckers designed just for us! There are relatively few ‘extra string’ pickups out there that aren’t based on existing models, but that’s starting to change now that the guitar world really seems to be accepting 7 and 8-strings as part of the musical landscape. Seymour Duncan has launched three 7/8 pickups this year, the Nazgul, the Pegasus and the Sentient. You can hear the Sentient (along with the Nazgul) in this video featuring Keith Merrow and Ola Englund:
And here’s the press release:
When you’re a seven-string player, you need a lot from your pickups. You need them to be able to handle the full sonic range, from the lowest of lows to the most screaming highs. You need them to be adaptable, because seven-stringers tend to explore a wide range of styles, sometimes within a single song. And more than anything, you need them to be articulate: to connect directly to your psyche and then to take your innermost feelings and send them screaming out of your amplifier for your audience to hear.
That’s what the Sentient is for.
The Sentient is a neck pickup which pairs equally well with the Pegasus (for prog rock and modern metal) and the Nazgûl (for aggressive metal). It’s voiced to capture a blend of vintage PAF and modern tones with enough output to deliver harmonically rich distorted lead tones, but subtle enough to give you deep, detailed cleans. Think of it as combining the best qualities of the ’59 Model and the Jazz: clarity, detail, depth, attack and expression. The Sentient is available for both 7 and 8 string guitars and also comes in an active mount (soapbar sized) version for those who own a guitar that came with active pickups.
