Legendary pickup builder Maricela “MJ” Juarez has recalled the time Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith brought her to tears of joy as the two blues guitar greats gave her the ultimate shoutout on stage.
Today, Juarez heads up the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop. Over the course of her career she has designed and built electric guitar pickups for some mega names, including Eddie Van Halen, Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, and Peter Frampton.
During Sweetwater's recent Guitar Fest summit, Juarez was taking part in a panel event when she was asked to name her proudest achievement. Her answer was incredible.
“I was going to say making my 40th anniversary [set] with Peter Frampton,” she jokes in the newly shared footage. “But no, something [else] happened. Last Saturday, I was on an Alaskan cruise with Joe Bonamassa [the Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea Alaska cruise, where JoBo traded licks with Marcus King]. I see Joe and the other guitar player, Josh Smith, and I go, ‘Oh, they’re both using my pickups.’
“Obviously, Joe Bonamassa uses my pickups. Then Joe comes and starts playing right in front of me, because I was in the front row. And Josh Smith goes to the pickups, [pointing] ‘Your pickups are right here.’
“At that moment, something clicked in me. I got emotional and I started crying. I'm going, ‘I never thought of myself in these 42 years, seeing my work on stage and and saying, ‘Yes, it's part of me up there.’ I started crying. I'm going, ‘Damn it, Joe, Peter hasn't made me cry, but you make me cry!’”
One of Juarez's most notable recent creations was her painstaking recreation of the Frampton Comes Alive! humbuckers, a key component in one of the most celebrated live albums in rock history. The release came in recognition of her 40 years of service at the company, and was joined by a set of Strat single-coils that paid tribute to Steve Miller Band's 1973 album, The Joker, and Tele pickups for journeyman guitarist Pete Anderson.
She was also likely to have been involved in Joe Bonamassa’s latest Seymour Duncan collaborations, which have brought the pickups of Tommy Bolin’s famous Les Paul to the masses, as well as those featured in the bluesman’s revered Greenburst Strat.
The firm has also reconfigured its famed JB pickup for Telecasters, at long last. It's huge news for Tele fiends.
