Used Seymour Duncan ZSL-1s Zephyr Silver Strat Pickup Set — Black

This Zephyr Silver Strat set is in excellent condition. The pickups were purchased but have never been installed — all three sets of wax cloth hookup leads are untouched and stored in their original positions under the pickup tray. The pole pieces show some light natural patina from age, which is purely cosmetic and has no effect on function or performance. The pickups themselves are clean, with no damage, cracking, or corrosion.

The set comes in the original wooden ZephyrSilver presentation box with velvet-lined lid and latch closure. The interior foam carries three builder signatures in silver marker, consistent with Seymour Duncan's Custom Shop practice of having each Zephyr pickup signed by its builder. Each pickup is individually serialized (SN: 00001, SN: 00016, SN: 00023), and a handwritten date notation of 6-10-11 is visible on the foam.

No additional documentation or accessories included.

Seymour Duncan's Zephyr Silver series came out of a simple challenge to VP of Engineering Kevin Beller: design a pickup without worrying about cost or materials — just build the best thing you can. The result is a set wound with solid silver wire instead of copper, paired with nickel/stainless steel bi-metallic pole pieces, glass-fiberfill nylon bobbins, and cryogenic treatment applied to the completed pickups. Every material choice in this set was made for sonic reasons, not economic ones, and the retail price reflects it — these run around $1,000 USD new.

Silver wire's lower electrical resistance compared to copper (about 5.36% lower DC resistance per unit length) means faster transient response and a wider, smoother frequency range without artificially boosting highs or lows. The bi-metallic pole pieces shape the magnetic field differently than standard alnico or steel poles. The glass-fiberfill bobbins add rigidity and stability without introducing the tonal coloring of conventional plastic. And the cryo treatment tightens up string definition across the set. The middle pickup is reverse-wound, reverse-polarity for hum cancellation in positions 2 and 4.

This is a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop product — hand-built in Santa Barbara, not a production-line pickup. These are niche, expensive, and not for everyone. But for the player who wants to hear what a no-compromise single-coil set actually sounds like in their Strat, this is what Seymour Duncan built when cost wasn't a constraint.

Type: Passive Single-Coil SSS Set
Coil Wire: Solid Silver
Magnets: Alnico 5 Pole Rod
DC Resistance (Neck): 6.13k
DC Resistance (Middle): 6.2k
DC Resistance (Bridge): 6.27k
Middle Pickup: Reverse-Wound, Reverse-Polarity (RWRP)
Pole Pieces: Nickel/Stainless Steel Bi-Metallic
Bobbins: Glass-Fiberfill Nylon
Treatment: Cryogenic
Potting: Wax
Hookup Cable: Wax Cloth
Application: Strat Single-Coil Route
Output: Vintage
Covers: Black
Country of Origin: USA (Santa Barbara, CA)