“I started crying. I never thought in these 42 years I’d see my work on the stage. I’m going, ‘Damn it, Joe!’” Maricela Juarez is a legend in the pickup game – and she was given the ultimate shoutout by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith

Joe Bonamassa .

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.