Many guitars ship with pickups labelled “G&B” on the back, including most of the South Korean-made PRS SE guitars, as well as the PRS American S2 line.  The general consensus is that G&B pickups are OK, but many players swap them out.  I did.  I thought the G&B pickups in my two PRS guitars lacked note definition when using gain.  They were great for solos, but got a bit muddy for chords.  Long suffering site readers know my fave pickup is the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates, and I put them in both of my PRS guitars.

But I’m a guitar information junkie, and I wanted to learn more about these pickups.  PRS doesn’t leave anything to chance, even in their “inexpensive” line.  So I started looking into G&B pickups.  Here’s the result of my research:

The G&B Pickup company is located in Incheon, South Korea.  They sell pickups and two clients are PRS and Stewart McDonald.  

Yeah, that’s it.  The company HAS NO WEBSITE.

Wait.  WHAT?

To be fair, I am open to the concept that there might be more info out there that I’ve missed.  If you have any info on this company that I can verify, please email me at richard at budgetguitarist dot com.

But as far as I can tell, this business wants the public to know as little as possible about it.  My guess is there’s a link between Word Musical Instruments in South Korea, makers of guitars, and G&B.  I’m not trying to imply anything underhanded here – I’m just interested in details.  I want to learn as much about guitars as I can, which includes pickups.  I’m about six months away from deciding to wind my own pickups, just to learn more about them.

Anyway, G&B Pickups is a mystery company.  Which means I’ve love to learn more about them and can’t.

Update 2-24-22: I’m told that G&B pickups were found in a Michael Kelly guitar.  That makes sense, because from what I understand, Michael Kelly guitars were made in South Korea.  Not sure if they still are, but they definitely were at one point.

Update 7-30-22:  I am also told (and was sent photos) that G & B made the “Wide Range” humbucker found on the Squire Classic Vibe Starcaster.  VERY interesting.  Thanks for the info, Brad!  Brad tells me that he swapped them out because they sounded a little muddy to him.  Yup, that’s exactly how I’d describe the G & B pickups I’ve gotten.

Update 8-14-22:  Joshua sent me the following URL.  You need to check it out:  http://www.wolfguitars3.com/

It’s a Korean company named KHL Co with an annual revenue of between 5 and 10 million dollars per year, and they list G & B pickups as a product.  Do they make G & B pickups, or just resell them?  The website is translated from Korean, but it’s really interesting.  So G & B is made by KHL?  The South Koreans sure do like their letters.  I have two different Korean-made guitars and they’re both fantastic.  No complaints here.  But G & B pickups in general do not impress me.  Do I dare email the company for clarification?  I haven’t exactly said nice things about their pickups… I will potentially make a video about this hunt for information about G & B pickups.