Joe Bonamassa demos the new Seymour Duncan Cradle Rock '63 Strat pickups

Joe Bonamassa Cradle Rock Strat Set pickups
(Image credit: Seymour Duncan / YouTube)

NAMM 2023: "55s are a little brighter and have more air on top, '63s are a like a powered Strat… Stevie Ray's number 1 was a '63 and there's something to them, they're really powerful pickups," so says Joe Bonamassa about wanting to share the examples on his own Cradle Rock 1963 Strat with other players. Now the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop has made that a reality.

Limited to 1000 sets, SD used period-correct wind, aged the magnets and even colour-matched the covers to Joe's exacting standards. The originals are close to his heart as they're on the guitar he bought as a teenager in 1994 at the Philadelphia Guitar Show. When a teenage guitar prodigy could afford a '63 Strat. 

"If you're a Strat guy you'll like this version because if you have a green box and a Fender amp and you want to play Stevie Ray Vaughan kind of stuff, you'll like these pickups," says Joe. 

Find out more at Seymour Duncan 

Rob Laing
Reviews Editor, GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars

Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.