Humbuckers

In June, 1955, an inventor named Seth Lover applied for a patent on what he called a hum neutralizing magnetic pickup. It had two coils wired together and two opposing poles. The patent was granted to the Gibson company in 1959, and that original pickup is now famous as the "Patent Applied For" humbucker.

The humbucker eliminates annoying interference hum caused by nearby amps and other electric equipment, because the two coils pick up the interference as equal but opposite currents, which cancel each other before the interference reaches the amp.

You can order any of my humbuckers from stock in your choice of double cream, double black, or zebra (one cream, one black) bobbin colors.

The '59

The most important thing about the vintage "Patent Applied For" pickup was its warm smooth sound and sustain unlike anything heard before. I wanted to make a huiribucker that would duplicate it in every way.

Before I went into production with the SH-1, I talked to Seth Lover about his original models. He used a small diameter wire with a dark brown enamel coating; but after the early 60s, Gibson started using a different film insulation. Seth said he wrapped more turns of wire in the old days, and used a longer magnet. So I made mine like his.

If you look down through the square pin hole in the bobbin of the SH-1, you can see the dark enameled wire. Seth's kind of bobbin wasn't available any more, so I had to track down a manufacturer who could mold them the right way. And then I had a long search to find the right adjustable pole pieces: HI-HAT fillister head screws, which have more mass. You can move the magnetic field closer or further from your strings to make the pickup more responsive to your personal picking style.

You can order my '59 humbucker in either neck or bridge models. The neck model is designed so that its volume output is balanced with the '59 bridge humbucker, and so its tone has just the right amount of bass.

The Jazz

The ferrous pole pieces and studs on humbuckers aren't actually magnets. They conduct magnetism up from a single bar magnet nestled under the coils. The screws touch one pole, and the flat nickleplated studs touch the other. The SH-2 has a specially designed magnet and coil to capture and reproduce the clean, clear tones and fast runs that the jazz player is after.

It can be ordered in either neck or bridge models. The Jazz neck humbucker sounds great when used with my JB or Duncan Custom models in the bridge position.