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what was Gibson thinking when they designed the Burstbuckers ?

Greywolf

Greywolf

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Oct 2, 2023
Messages
450
I tried desperately to like the burstbucker pro's in my SG Modern .. they are the ONLY Stock Gibson pickup I've ever replaced.
They lacked warmth and clarity , dirty is fine , but you have to be verastile . They've been replaced by Harmonic Designs Z90's .
 
B

BurstPipe

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Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Messages
116
To expand on what I wrote earlier I think the problem is the contrived “mismatched coils” design. My real PAFs probably don’t have drastically mismatched coils.

I have always felt the same way about calibrated neck / bridge pickups. Many great instruments do just fine with identical pickups. The BB 1 & 2 pickups are too different. I feel that my Custombucker equipped R9 suffers less from this.
 
B

BurstPipe

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Jan 31, 2003
Messages
116
MarcB said:
The choice of eq is up to you..

my point is: eq is vastly overlooked when searching for “the sound” and is much cheaper than a set of wizz pickups.
Click to expand...
100% agree. I’m a little over excited by the EQ2 (I’ve toned down my post). I have set up 8 presets for different uses (all MIDI selectable) including one that mimics my Keeley Java Boost. Yes I’m completely with you on using the EQ as a quick and easy solution.
 
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Wilko

Wilko

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Mar 11, 2002
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21,058
EQ can be as simple as the tone control on the guitar.
 
G

Grand Funk fan

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Jul 2, 2023
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Burst buckers are the epitome of LP tone. I totally get that not everyone digs em, but like it or not thats what Lps are about. I have no allegiance toward Bbs or Lps but I'm wondering if people are buying a guitar based on how it looks and not how it sounds. I've never bought a guitar that didn't sound good to me. It's nice if it looks cool, but it absolutely has to sound good., first and foremost. Am I missing something?
 
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Jethro Rocker

Jethro Rocker

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Nov 6, 2022
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377
I'm not saying anything pro or con burstbuckers, just that LP tone is subjective depending on style, there is no one LP tone.
Jazz in the early days. Early 70s rock tones. Randy Rhoads. Zak Wylde. Just examples of the wide array of fantastic tones an LP is capable of. It's personal taste.
Rik Emmett of Triumph plays a wide variety of material and when he was last gigging it was a Les Paul.
 
jb_abides

jb_abides

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Apr 6, 2005
Messages
7,026
Grand Funk fan said:
Really? I guess I should have explained more clearly for the obtuse. Probuckers are based on Gibson P.A.F. pickups. In general, the tone most associated with most rock music is produced by those pickups.Obviously, you can always find exceptions for the sake of coming across as an idiot . Go pick some nits and leave the intelligent dialog to those who are equipped to engage in it.
Click to expand...

@MikeSlub We really don't need replies like the above here; it's coarsened the discussion on this forum.

Grand Funk fan said:
Burst buckers are the epitome of LP tone.
Click to expand...

Why are you engaging in an aggressive ad hominem attack on a contributor? Especially untoward as said opinion wasn't in direct reply to your post, merely expressing their opinion?

The @Jethro Rocker post offered the broad palette of sonics for which Les Pauls are famed, no doubt. Not limited to a narrow conception of rock. Just simply stating there are different flavors suited for multiple styles, all of in which the Les Paul has excelled.

If you want to measure against those cited: it's very clear "the Les Paul sound" spans decades and styles, the LP sound having originated on P-90/Alnico staple pickups prior to Seth Lover's invention of the original Patent Applied For hum buckers which did not appear until 1957. Not to mention, given the choice, the man whose name is on the guitar model preferred low impedance pickups with no lineage to PAFs.

Categorizing "most" rock music reductively narrowed to the original flavor of PAF is hardly proper, as Patent Numbers, T-Tops, mini-humbuckers, Dirty Fingers and other varieties followed with nuanced differences that have all contributed to, and used famously throughout, the rock era. Not to mention what the amp and other elements of a signal chain bring...

Now, I have BurstBuckers in different varieties in many guitars; they are a fine pickup, maybe to not everyone's tastes in every situation. As can be said of every pickup ever made.

Are they the "epitome" of a PAF? Perhaps to some, maybe to you.

But let's examine your statement, prima facia.

In Gibson's own hierarchy, the CustomBucker is the epitome, as marketed and sold. CustomBuckers are reserved for Historic/Custom Shop guitars, and as an aftermarket accessory is sold for approximately $100 more that equivalent BurstBuckers. So CustomBuckers are seen by the manufacturer and presented in the market as above BurstBuckers. Their epitome of a neo-PAF.

CustomBuckers, BurstBuckers, 57 Classics, even 490R/498T are considered PAF variants. There is a contingent of folks who still regard the earlier PAF variant 57 Classics as better than BurstBuckers.

It's subjective to application, so stating BurstBuckers as the epitome is very much a stretch. Highly subjective.

Fine if you feel BurstBuckers are the best for you; absolutely zero reason to bring commentary like 'obtuse' and 'idiot' into the thread and cast aspersions. And completely wrong to confine the Les Paul to your view of what constitutes what music it's being employed to create.

Especially for someone who cannot distinguish Epiphone's ProBuckers [another fine pickup] from Gibson's BurstBuckers... in a thread about BurstBuckers!



Merry Christmas ?
 
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Jethro Rocker

Jethro Rocker

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Nov 6, 2022
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377

Wow. Anger a bit there. Seems like most of his posts.
Touched a nerve somehow.
Ignore function time.
 
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