Gibson Celebrates 50 Years of Evil Humbucking Tone August 30
The devil has long played a roll in popular music. Ever since blues singer Robert Johnson’s legendary meeting at the crossroads, the underlord has made his presence felt.
For years, you could hear it in the voices and certainly the words of many artists. Although there were certainly some deviant guitar tones before it, the invention of the humbucking pickup infused the electric guitar with the sounds from below.
Of course, the humbucker started as Gibson engineer Seth Lover’s quest to design a quieter guitar pickup. I’ll bet he no idea what he was actually creating!
Gibson has been kind enough to remind us that their guitars were first equipped with humbuckers in 1957, making this the 50th anniversary of the pickup. They have just posted a bit of history on their website.
To celebrate, Gibson is giving away a pair of ‘57 Classic and Burstbucker pickups. You can enter the contest here.
In honor of this momentous event, here’s a video clip of the man who harnessed the power (and evil) of the humbucker better than anyone else, Jimmy Page.