Gibson releases exclusive new 'historic' PAF: 1959 Humbucker Collector’s Edition Series 1

[NickiC]

In my standard 50’s. #27.
These are loud, clear and noticeably compressed. Not sure about them, or how to describe beyond this. Personally, I prefer burstbuckers character over these. In this particular guitar. Only been played for a week so far, so I’ll see after a month. But I would ideally want to have a third guitar for these.

 

[NickiC]

Didn’t make a month, I yanked them and put the BB2 & BB3 back in. Better match for the guitar.

 

[audioeffects]

Gibson goes 'Double Vintage White' with the 1959 Humbucker Collector’s Edition Series 1

$999 a set... but you get a little Lifton, and 59 serial numbering...

The Most Accurate Recreations of the Legendary Patent Applied For Humbucker Pickups Ever Made

Gibson’s original “Patent Applied For” humbucker™ pickups from the 1950s are considered the holy grail of humbucking pickup tone. They have been highly influential, with many imitations. The originals are some of the most highly valued vintage pickups on the used market – when you can find someone willing to part with theirs. Using a combination of 3D scanning, scientific analysis, reverse engineering of original examples from the late 1950s, and specifications from the Gibson archives, the Gibson Pickup Shop has developed the most accurate recreations of these acclaimed pickups ever made. Packaged in a high-quality Lifton™ presentation case, this set features double Vintage White butyrate bobbins, Alnico 4 roughcast magnets, and vintage-accurate nickel covers.

These exceptional pickups will be limited to only 1,000 sets, each individually serialized with 1959-style numbering.

• Position: Both (Set of Two)
• Magnets: Alnico 4
• Wiring: 2-Conductor
• Cover: True Historic Nickel
• Double Vintage White Butyrate Bobbins
• Unpotted
• Average DC Resistance: 8.6k (Treble), 7.7k (Rhythm)
• 42 AWG plain enamel wire
• Each individually serialized with 1959-style numbering
• Details: The most historically accurate Patent Applied For replica ever made, with unbalanced coils, and a sweet, woody, loud, and present tone.

 

[charlie]

Looks like these have bombed out a bit, still “in stock” at Gibson.com. And a bunch of people going no where trying to flip for a quick buck.

 

[Wizard1183]

Looks like these have bombed out a bit, still “in stock” at Gibson.com. And a bunch of people going no where trying to flip for a quick buck.

That’s ok. They’ll shove em in a guitar and upcharge a grand and everyone will say the pickups are the best. Then Gibson will announce these were the left over PAFS. EVERYONE will want a slice of the pie then ?

I guess Jared Brandon failed to recreate the PAF pickup. That’s a kick in balls for Gibby

 

[jb_abides]

We haven't seen or heard enough about how they actually sound, and that's a shame.

If they don't sell out I envision them being used for artist relations 'gifts' and promotional contests, written off at full price.

Then, a follow-up non-collector release without the accoutrements will be priced to undercut boutique competitors. Perhaps they'll sell more... assuming they well reviewed.

But... how do they sound?!

 

[Wizard1183]

We haven't seen or heard enough about how they actually sound, and that's a shame.

If they don't sell out I envision them being used for artist relations 'gifts' and promotional contests, written off at full price.

Then, a follow-up non-collector release without the accoutrements will be priced to undercut boutique competitors. Perhaps they'll sell more... assuming they well reviewed.

But... how do they sound?!

For something of “limited” amount, not to mention collectors edition; you’d have thought they’d have advertised the shit out of it as they did with Greeny? But like JPs EDS 1275, I’m betting the $50k version is a made to order thing. They probably haven’t even sold nearly all 50….

So why put out a product that you’re supposed to market as THE BEST and just pretend like “limited to 1000 sets” is supposed to sell them for you. No audio clips other than a couple YouTube vids. Weird how you make an exclusive product but advertising is null and void on it. What’s REALLY going on here?

 

[NickiC]

In all reality, Gibson stated these are the “most accurate recreations ever made”. And go on to talk about 3D scans, reverse engineered, archived specs…. Where did Gibbo’ say these are “The Best”?
I’ll give these a tryout in a R8 after I get familiar with the guitar. Custombuckers A3, are a new beast to me. A4 to me, sound and have characteristics that are different than how most would describe them. I have two guitars w/ A4 that I rarely play.

 

[Godtherapy]

Six months into 2024 and I still haven't seen one proper, serious review (written or on YT) of the exclusive Ltd Ed 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series 1 p-u's. How come? I think there's a simple answer.

When I was a kid, my uncle worked in a radio store. He taught me an important lesson: a mid-price, budget stereo will sound far better than a high-end stereo. The high-end stereo will expose every audio-shortcoming whereas the mid-price, budget stereo will filter any audio-shortcoming and make everything sound ok.

Fastforward 50 yrs, and I watch a noted jazz guitarist do a blindfold test on YT. Most guitarists who are into jazz, would convincingly claim a late 50's Gibson arch top is a far better jazz guitar than a Fender Telecaster. But when you blindfold test arch tops, strat's, tele's etc - very few guitarists can actually tell the guitars apart. We assume Jimmy Page plays his Burst on all the essential Led Zeppelin-tracks, when in fact they were recorded with a telecaster.

When Gibson launched their 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series in mid-Jan, it created quite some buzz. For decades, we've experienced Gibson every now and then claiming they've managed to blueprint the legendary PAF-humbuckers. The PAF's are part of the Burst-legend. The looks and the sound of a '59 Burst, walks hand in hand. A beautiful AAA top but with junk p-u's, would never create a legend. But since certain rock guitarists performed nice tracks on albums highlighted by reviewers and the common denominator was a '59 US guitar, a myth slowly started to grow. Lots of buddying young guitarists bought up to the myth that the look and the sound of a '59 Burst as the holy grail of r'n'r. With a limited number of manufactured '59 Bursts, collector's are willingly forking out + $ 100 000 for a '59 Burst in good condition.

Since these scarce guitars are financially out of reach for most, we have a growing market for official and non-official replicas. And since modern technology and luthier craftsmanship makes is easy to create very accurate replicas, the p-u's becomes the breaking point. How do we go about to recreate the sound of the '59 Bursts?

Well, first of all it's a matter of understanding that the electric guitar is the sum of its' parts. The second important understanding, is that an electric guitar (or any wooden instrument) is living materia that changes over time. For several centuries, luthiers have tried to recreate the amazing violins of the master builder Antonio Stradivari but to no avail. Eventhou we can examine his violins with modern technology and break down the recipe, we will never be able to build amazing Stradivari-violins.

So we find ourselves chasing the myth of the '59 Bursts in a similar way. Machinery from the Kalamazoo plant, old wood, old winding machines for the p-u's etc. Instead of focussing on building as good LP's as possible, the market steers us into the futile chase of trying to recreate something that cannot be recreated. And the most naïve of ideas, is the dream to recreate a '59 Burst to a fraction of its' original cost. We can buy a piece of wood that looks similar to the '59 Burst, but recreating the sound of a '59 Burst is far too complicated - which is why Gibson fails in their attempts.

So, when Gibson happily announces they've created the best PAF-clones ever, it will attract the attention of every LP-owner there is - because every LP-owner owns a LP to invoke a part of the myth of the '59 Burst. Which brings us to the topic of the 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series - and the lack of proper reviews.

I think the early customers gravitated towards these humbuckers for the wrong reason. I think they expected these humbuckers to transform their budget LP's to something perhaps outer worldly, to transform a budget LP into a '59 Burst-sounding LP. The dream of dreams. But when the p-u's didn't work Cinderella magic on their budget Gibson LP's, these early customers got disappointed. And because their ears couldn't detect significant differences to the better, there was no bang for the money.

Which isn't surprising, as the p-u's will only amplify whatever tone the tone wood in the guitar creates. High-end p-u's will never be able to amplify tones and nuances that are not present, due to the wood in these guitars. Burstbuckers, custombuckers and other humbuckers, have been created to enhance the natural tones in the LP's manufactured with "modern wood" and that's why we're ok with how they sound. And within the limits of the guitar (and our wallets), we may toy with the thoughts of bettering the amplified sound - but we will never really enhance the sound, merely just change the sound. The wood in the body and in the neck, will be just some of the limitations that will be a hinderance to bettering the sound.

So, bottom line: I wouldn't waste $ 999-Humbuckers on just any LP, as I wouldn't be able to achieve the goal to turn a standard sounding LP into the genuine sound of a '59 Burst. And I guess there are a number of disappointed customers out there, who's imagination led them to believe they could transform a standard or low-end CS LP into a '59 Burst-sounding guitar just by shopping $ 999-humbuckers. And I reckon few of them will actually step forward and admit that they fooled themselves into paying $ 999. Dreams are important, dreams are essential but dreams can also trick us into poor judgement.

On the other hand: I wouldn't be surprised if the research dept of Gibson have now come up with the best new p-u's for electric guitars in 60 years. P-u's whos' performance surpasses all other humbuckers/p-u's as for the ability to pick up and amplify even tiny natural nuances in the audio spectrum and weave a broader and deeper more 3-D like audio spectrum. That would be fantastic. So I won't rule out that these new 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series, may well be a bit ahead of their time, p-u's perhaps a bit too good for the standard of electric guitars of today. I may even swop out the custombuckers in my CS '59 ES-335. I'm a huge P90 fan and not content with how now a-day humbuckers lacks some of the warmth and richness of the P90. Maybe these new 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series, will be a better option than the default A3 Custombuckers.

​

 

[60thR0]

Six months into 2024 and I still haven't seen one proper, serious review (written or on YT) of the exclusive Ltd Ed 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series 1 p-u's. How come? I think there's a simple answer.

When I was a kid, my uncle worked in a radio store. He taught me an important lesson: a mid-price, budget stereo will sound far better than a high-end stereo. The high-end stereo will expose every audio-shortcoming whereas the mid-price, budget stereo will filter any audio-shortcoming and make everything sound ok.

Fastforward 50 yrs, and I watch a noted jazz guitarist do a blindfold test on YT. Most guitarists who are into jazz, would convincingly claim a late 50's Gibson arch top is a far better jazz guitar than a Fender Telecaster. But when you blindfold test arch tops, strat's, tele's etc - very few guitarists can actually tell the guitars apart. We assume Jimmy Page plays his Burst on all the essential Led Zeppelin-tracks, when in fact they were recorded with a telecaster.

When Gibson launched their 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series in mid-Jan, it created quite some buzz. For decades, we've experienced Gibson every now and then claiming they've managed to blueprint the legendary PAF-humbuckers. The PAF's are part of the Burst-legend. The looks and the sound of a '59 Burst, walks hand in hand. A beautiful AAA top but with junk p-u's, would never create a legend. But since certain rock guitarists performed nice tracks on albums highlighted by reviewers and the common denominator was a '59 US guitar, a myth slowly started to grow. Lots of buddying young guitarists bought up to the myth that the look and the sound of a '59 Burst as the holy grail of r'n'r. With a limited number of manufactured '59 Bursts, collector's are willingly forking out + $ 100 000 for a '59 Burst in good condition.

Since these scarce guitars are financially out of reach for most, we have a growing market for official and non-official replicas. And since modern technology and luthier craftsmanship makes is easy to create very accurate replicas, the p-u's becomes the breaking point. How do we go about to recreate the sound of the '59 Bursts?

Well, first of all it's a matter of understanding that the electric guitar is the sum of its' parts. The second important understanding, is that an electric guitar (or any wooden instrument) is living materia that changes over time. For several centuries, luthiers have tried to recreate the amazing violins of the master builder Antonio Stradivari but to no avail. Eventhou we can examine his violins with modern technology and break down the recipe, we will never be able to build amazing Stradivari-violins.

So we find ourselves chasing the myth of the '59 Bursts in a similar way. Machinery from the Kalamazoo plant, old wood, old winding machines for the p-u's etc. Instead of focussing on building as good LP's as possible, the market steers us into the futile chase of trying to recreate something that cannot be recreated. And the most naïve of ideas, is the dream to recreate a '59 Burst to a fraction of its' original cost. We can buy a piece of wood that looks similar to the '59 Burst, but recreating the sound of a '59 Burst is far too complicated - which is why Gibson fails in their attempts.

So, when Gibson happily announces they've created the best PAF-clones ever, it will attract the attention of every LP-owner there is - because every LP-owner owns a LP to invoke a part of the myth of the '59 Burst. Which brings us to the topic of the 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series - and the lack of proper reviews.

I think the early customers gravitated towards these humbuckers for the wrong reason. I think they expected these humbuckers to transform their budget LP's to something perhaps outer worldly, to transform a budget LP into a '59 Burst-sounding LP. The dream of dreams. But when the p-u's didn't work Cinderella magic on their budget Gibson LP's, these early customers got disappointed. And because their ears couldn't detect significant differences to the better, there was no bang for the money.

Which isn't surprising, as the p-u's will only amplify whatever tone the tone wood in the guitar creates. High-end p-u's will never be able to amplify tones and nuances that are not present, due to the wood in these guitars. Burstbuckers, custombuckers and other humbuckers, have been created to enhance the natural tones in the LP's manufactured with "modern wood" and that's why we're ok with how they sound. And within the limits of the guitar (and our wallets), we may toy with the thoughts of bettering the amplified sound - but we will never really enhance the sound, merely just change the sound. The wood in the body and in the neck, will be just some of the limitations that will be a hinderance to bettering the sound.

So, bottom line: I wouldn't waste $ 999-Humbuckers on just any LP, as I wouldn't be able to achieve the goal to turn a standard sounding LP into the genuine sound of a '59 Burst. And I guess there are a number of disappointed customers out there, who's imagination led them to believe they could transform a standard or low-end CS LP into a '59 Burst-sounding guitar just by shopping $ 999-humbuckers. And I reckon few of them will actually step forward and admit that they fooled themselves into paying $ 999. Dreams are important, dreams are essential but dreams can also trick us into poor judgement.

On the other hand: I wouldn't be surprised if the research dept of Gibson have now come up with the best new p-u's for electric guitars in 60 years. P-u's whos' performance surpasses all other humbuckers/p-u's as for the ability to pick up and amplify even tiny natural nuances in the audio spectrum and weave a broader and deeper more 3-D like audio spectrum. That would be fantastic. So I won't rule out that these new 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series, may well be a bit ahead of their time, p-u's perhaps a bit too good for the standard of electric guitars of today. I may even swop out the custombuckers in my CS '59 ES-335. I'm a huge P90 fan and not content with how now a-day humbuckers lacks some of the warmth and richness of the P90. Maybe these new 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series, will be a better option than the default A3 Custombuckers.

​

Dude with all due respect I think you’re overthinking it. There’s no serious reviews because virtually all serious gear reviews are sponsored in some way and Gibson had no interest in sponsoring reviews of these for good reason. The lack of reviews has nothing to do with how these actually sound.

Hardly anyone actually installs or plays them because they are clearly and firmly aimed at the collector market and “amateur invester” as I call them, flippers etc which is who mainly bought them. For those folks, if used it immediately reduces the value. Why else would it come in a lifton display case. You don’t use coins from the mint.

 

[JamesATX]

Six months into 2024 and I still haven't seen one proper, serious review (written or on YT) of the exclusive Ltd Ed 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series 1 p-u's. How come? I think there's a simple answer.

When I was a kid, my uncle worked in a radio store. He taught me an important lesson: a mid-price, budget stereo will sound far better than a high-end stereo. The high-end stereo will expose every audio-shortcoming whereas the mid-price, budget stereo will filter any audio-shortcoming and make everything sound ok.

Fastforward 50 yrs, and I watch a noted jazz guitarist do a blindfold test on YT. Most guitarists who are into jazz, would convincingly claim a late 50's Gibson arch top is a far better jazz guitar than a Fender Telecaster. But when you blindfold test arch tops, strat's, tele's etc - very few guitarists can actually tell the guitars apart. We assume Jimmy Page plays his Burst on all the essential Led Zeppelin-tracks, when in fact they were recorded with a telecaster.

When Gibson launched their 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series in mid-Jan, it created quite some buzz. For decades, we've experienced Gibson every now and then claiming they've managed to blueprint the legendary PAF-humbuckers. The PAF's are part of the Burst-legend. The looks and the sound of a '59 Burst, walks hand in hand. A beautiful AAA top but with junk p-u's, would never create a legend. But since certain rock guitarists performed nice tracks on albums highlighted by reviewers and the common denominator was a '59 US guitar, a myth slowly started to grow. Lots of buddying young guitarists bought up to the myth that the look and the sound of a '59 Burst as the holy grail of r'n'r. With a limited number of manufactured '59 Bursts, collector's are willingly forking out + $ 100 000 for a '59 Burst in good condition.

Since these scarce guitars are financially out of reach for most, we have a growing market for official and non-official replicas. And since modern technology and luthier craftsmanship makes is easy to create very accurate replicas, the p-u's becomes the breaking point. How do we go about to recreate the sound of the '59 Bursts?

Well, first of all it's a matter of understanding that the electric guitar is the sum of its' parts. The second important understanding, is that an electric guitar (or any wooden instrument) is living materia that changes over time. For several centuries, luthiers have tried to recreate the amazing violins of the master builder Antonio Stradivari but to no avail. Eventhou we can examine his violins with modern technology and break down the recipe, we will never be able to build amazing Stradivari-violins.

So we find ourselves chasing the myth of the '59 Bursts in a similar way. Machinery from the Kalamazoo plant, old wood, old winding machines for the p-u's etc. Instead of focussing on building as good LP's as possible, the market steers us into the futile chase of trying to recreate something that cannot be recreated. And the most naïve of ideas, is the dream to recreate a '59 Burst to a fraction of its' original cost. We can buy a piece of wood that looks similar to the '59 Burst, but recreating the sound of a '59 Burst is far too complicated - which is why Gibson fails in their attempts.

So, when Gibson happily announces they've created the best PAF-clones ever, it will attract the attention of every LP-owner there is - because every LP-owner owns a LP to invoke a part of the myth of the '59 Burst. Which brings us to the topic of the 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series - and the lack of proper reviews.

I think the early customers gravitated towards these humbuckers for the wrong reason. I think they expected these humbuckers to transform their budget LP's to something perhaps outer worldly, to transform a budget LP into a '59 Burst-sounding LP. The dream of dreams. But when the p-u's didn't work Cinderella magic on their budget Gibson LP's, these early customers got disappointed. And because their ears couldn't detect significant differences to the better, there was no bang for the money.

Which isn't surprising, as the p-u's will only amplify whatever tone the tone wood in the guitar creates. High-end p-u's will never be able to amplify tones and nuances that are not present, due to the wood in these guitars. Burstbuckers, custombuckers and other humbuckers, have been created to enhance the natural tones in the LP's manufactured with "modern wood" and that's why we're ok with how they sound. And within the limits of the guitar (and our wallets), we may toy with the thoughts of bettering the amplified sound - but we will never really enhance the sound, merely just change the sound. The wood in the body and in the neck, will be just some of the limitations that will be a hinderance to bettering the sound.

So, bottom line: I wouldn't waste $ 999-Humbuckers on just any LP, as I wouldn't be able to achieve the goal to turn a standard sounding LP into the genuine sound of a '59 Burst. And I guess there are a number of disappointed customers out there, who's imagination led them to believe they could transform a standard or low-end CS LP into a '59 Burst-sounding guitar just by shopping $ 999-humbuckers. And I reckon few of them will actually step forward and admit that they fooled themselves into paying $ 999. Dreams are important, dreams are essential but dreams can also trick us into poor judgement.

On the other hand: I wouldn't be surprised if the research dept of Gibson have now come up with the best new p-u's for electric guitars in 60 years. P-u's whos' performance surpasses all other humbuckers/p-u's as for the ability to pick up and amplify even tiny natural nuances in the audio spectrum and weave a broader and deeper more 3-D like audio spectrum. That would be fantastic. So I won't rule out that these new 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series, may well be a bit ahead of their time, p-u's perhaps a bit too good for the standard of electric guitars of today. I may even swop out the custombuckers in my CS '59 ES-335. I'm a huge P90 fan and not content with how now a-day humbuckers lacks some of the warmth and richness of the P90. Maybe these new 1959 Humbucker Collector's Edition Series, will be a better option than the default A3 Custombuckers.

​

Lol….what 60thR0 said. Way overthinking it. I have them, they sound killer in my 2019 R9.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

I am so glad I am not one of those guys who thinks they have to have that perfect PAF sound, and feel a need to line up to buy each next perfect PAF sound.

I'd rather have a good P90, Staple, Dearmond, Filtertron, or Gold Foil any day of the week, and as a bonus I get to sound like myself instead of everyone else chasing the mythological PAF sound that has become quite generic to my ears.

 

[NickiC]

I am so glad I am not one of those guys who thinks they have to have that perfect PAF sound, and feel a need to line up to buy each next perfect PAF sound.

I'd rather have a good P90, Staple, Dearmond, Filtertron, or Gold Foil any day of the week, and as a bonus I get to sound like myself instead of everyone else chasing the mythological PAF sound that has become quite generic to my ears.

Which generic PAF sound are you referring to?
The PAF type/design aren’t for everyone.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

Which generic PAF sound are you referring to?
The PAF type/design aren’t for everyone.

I agree they aren't for everyone, but amongst LP players they tend to be obsessed over to the point some dudes have invested close to or more in pickup swapping than than they did the actual guitar.

The same PAF sound that has everybody spending crazy money all chasing after the same basic sound. I don't hate it, it's just not for me. The one that has so many referencing wanting to sound like this person or that person who used PAF's even while in truth PAF's are all over the place in terms of tone.

If I had to pick my favorite out of the crowd it would be either Billy Gibbons' sound on the first three ZZ Top albums, or Page's on Led Zeppelin which is not really him playing PAF's at all for most of the album and tend to not be the tones most people chasing that ghost are after.

The tone I am talking about is the Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, or Peter Green tone so many are chasing not just in terms of guitars and pickups, but also amps and speakers. I never once bought any pickups, guitar, amp, or speakers hoping to reach this or that person's sound that many others chase after. It has always been to reach my own particular sounds. I want my guitars and rigs to sound unique, not like anybody else's.

For me PAF's are too indistinct on the lowend, the highs lack the beautiful air and clarity of a good P90 or single coil, and tend to not play well with octave pedals and fuzz pedals the way most single coils do. Singles tend to have a broader bandwidth and more pronounced fundamental all of which appeals to me.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

Which generic PAF sound are you referring to?
The PAF type/design aren’t for everyone.

I'll add that myself I come from a little different perspective. Growing up my favorite classic sounds were from Hendrix (Strat), Page on the first couple of Zeppelin albums (lots of Telecaster), The Who (P90's), Leslie West (P90), Blackmore with Rainbow (Strat), and Pink Floyd (Strat), and my first guitar was a Strat. I always struggled getting tones that gave me what I love out of a guitar with any kind of humbucker.

However I truly love playing Gibsons or guitars with Gibsonesque construction in terms of neck joint and scale length, so I slowly started converting almost every Gibson I had or purchased to single coils. I may be the odd man out in that regard, and I am personally perfectly happy with the results being so.