The Mini Humbucker: Gibson’s LOST Gem? | Friday Fretworks

hey guys I'm Chris buck and a very warm welcome to Friday for artworks and this week taking a look at a forgotten gem that you could say was a defining sound of the 1970s of course talking about the mini humbucker [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] all right [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] I think it's probably fair to say that the 1970s aren't exactly considered Gibson's Heyday 1969 saw Gibson purchased by the Norland Corporation and the years that followed saw a succession of increasingly less desirable changes to Gibson's lineup only really improving again once an all-in sold the company in 1986. it's widely thought of as the era of 10 11 pounds sometimes heavier less Paul's three-piece Maple necks pancake bodies headstock for loots etc etc and Mark departure from the construction techniques the typified Gibson Golden Era less than a decade before interestingly however it's also considered to be the era of the mini humbucker which I guess you could say could have suffered by association with a fairly dark period not just for Gibson but for guitar manufacture in general it's not coincidence that a pre-cbs Founder will set you back considerably more than a comparable guitar made only five or six years later and while the image of a mini hand bucket undoubtedly transports you back to the 1970s make surprise you to learn that its design and first implementation actually dates back to a period considered much much better for Gibson the late 1950s so what is a mini humbucker and are we all missing a trick now believe it or not the mini humbucker was first seen in 1959 on the Epiphone Sheraton Sheraton principally be an epiphone's version of the Gibson es 335 introduced only a year earlier in 1958. of course by this point Gibson an epiphone were pretty much one in the same after CMI Gibson's parent company and acquired the Epiphone rights and tooling for the company only a year earlier in 1957. there are actually some sources out there which suggests that they also acquired the design and Technology involved in the mini humbucker but given Seth lever file the payment application for his humbucking pickup in June of 1955. it seems more likely that the mini handbagger was derived from the design of its bigger brother the paf there are actually some mini handbags out there in existence with paf stickers on the bottom of the pickups as well so this seems infinitely more likely couple that with the fact that the mini handbucker as the name suggests is essentially a humbucking pickup in miniature not a quote Jason Lawler a man who knows one or two things about pickups a mini humbucker is made like a miniature paf has one bar magnet positioned under each coil with adjustable pole pieces made out of ferrous alloy the other coil contains a ferrous metal bar that is not adjustable this corresponds to a paf with adjustable pole pieces on one coil and a series of metal slugs in the other coil however while its construction may be very similar to a paf its sound is remarkably different the reasons for which unsurprisingly relate to its size again to quote Jason Lawler the tone of the mini handbucker is also different due to how much iron is in their core the size of the court and content affects the inductance of the pickup inductance has an effect on the output and frequency response more inductance usually gives more output and more bass so a smaller pickup Center in a more focused area of ring with a small amount of iron content in their core will result in less output and an overall slightly brighter clearer sound now of course it's only so far that describing a sound will take you so in this next clip going to be comparing the sound of many humbuckers with the sound of more traditional full-size paf style handbagging pickups in my opinion gold top and purely for the fun of it comparing it with a set of P90s in my Yamaha rev Star as well but before we go any further it is definitely worth touching on the guitar that you will be here in the mini humbuckers in it is a 1971 at least we think 71 Les Paul Deluxe Gibson serial numbering was a little bit scattergun around this period so it's hard to conclusively say very kindly on loan from the good Folks at vintage and rare guitars in bath here in the UK not of course on paper this is a 1970s Les Paul Deluxe and as such comes complete with many of the features that as I said earlier infinitely that's desirable in a less poor wide headstock pancake body and of course the headstock of the loot in reality though it's an absolutely killer kid tar despite its less than desirable specs and as you're about to find out many humbuckers certainly have a character all of their own [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] of course even though it's become fashionable in recent years to pretty much dismiss out of hand anything Gibson made in this time frame so used to forget just so much incredible music was produced on guitars made in this era and specifically those equipped with many humbuckers Johnny Winter of course put in a leper from Wiltshire equipped with many humbuckers to Incredible use in his early career and the who's Peak Townsend using any number of Les Paul deluxes throughout the 1970s the Kings of Leon Caleb follow it of course using a Gibson es325 but undoubtedly the band or the guitarist most widely associate with the mini humbucker is that a Thin Lizzy famed twin guitar attack Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham be an incredible example not only of the sound of a mini humbucker but the difference between the mini handbucker and that of its bigger brother the paf stick on live and dangerous and you'll immediately hear the Brian Robertson's guitar pan to the left so it's thick and meaty and mid-rangey very typical of a Les Paul where Scott gorham's by comparison and to the right sounds brighter and more articulate an infinitely more clear and more saturated in the top end very typical of the sound of a mini humbucker of course the two men being put together incredible effect close enough to work in harmony quite literally but each with their own distinct voice that made the sound of Finn is he so unique in more recent years Gibson have actually reissued the last Paul Deluxe in 2021 albeit without some of the more idiosyncratic features of their 1970s counterparts and generally speaking seems to have been incredibly well received which I guess suggests there is a little bit more love for the mini humbucker out there than you may have thought but honestly spending time with this 1970 Deluxe has been the total Revelation many humbuckers don't sound like any humbuckers that I know at least to my year I guess the obvious comparison given their form factories that have a Firebird pickup but I'll touch on that in a different video in terms of their construction they are very different but in terms of their sound quality I guess the obvious comparison that I would probably leap to would be that of a filter Tron which does make sense to a large degree given the pickup size very much dictating the frequency range that it does detect ultimately though I would say that these mini humbuckers don't really sound like any other pickup that I own or in fact that I've ever really played to be honest and it's definitely got me thinking whether there's any guitars that I have that may benefit from a set turns out not just the 70s Relic not in the 50s Relic as ever I'm Chris Buck thank you very much for watching Big shout out to who price on tone twins TV for any of the accurate information used in this video I'm going to play you out now at vintage and rare but as ever Please Subscribe hit the Bell icon if you haven't already and I shall see you next week for another episode cheers guys take care see you soon [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] thank you

Channel: Chris Buck

Views: 44,382

Keywords: Gibson, Mini Humbuckers, Humbucker Shootout, Les Paul Deluxe, Norlin Era, Norlin Gibson, 70s Gibson, Gibson Gold Top, Gold Top Les Paul, Mini Humbuckers vs Humbuckers, Mini Humbucker Shootout, Rick Beato, That Pedal Show, Pete Thorn, Andertons, Paul Davids, Rhett Shull, Tim Pierce, Mary Spender, Vintage and Rare Guitars, Guitar Shop, Vintage Guitar, 1970 Gibson, Vintage Les Paul, Pickup Shootout, Yamaha Revstar, Panucci

Id: ZhguOmOseTk

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 24 2023