“It delivers the raw clarity, but still hits with the force of an active pickup”: Seymour Duncan teams up with Dino Cazares for signature Machete humbuckers – and the Fear Factory riff-master says their versatility might surprise you

Seymour Duncan Dino Cazares Machete: the new pickup looks passive, but it's a fully active design, with bite, clarity and nice cleans too.

Seymour Duncan has unveiled a new signature electric guitar pickup that it has co-designed with Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares, and to the surprise of no one the Machete is an active, high-output humbucker that could take your head off.

But wait, says Cazares, there is more than meets the eye. For a start, the Machete doesn’t even look like an active pickup.