Origin Of The Species

The first Patent Applied For humbuckers were rather different to what followed. Stuart Robson of Sunbear pickups tells Jamie Dickson why

-  Jamie Dickson

If there was such a job as 'tone archaeologist', Stuart Robson of Sunbear Pickups would qualify. His forensic examinations of vintage pickups have led him down many an interesting path in the design and development of his own pickups. His latest prototype, however, tells a particularly interesting story. While Gibson's fabled Patent Applied For humbuckers of the late 50s are endlessly discussed and copied, less light is shed on the earliest examples of the breed – the 1957 examples that, as Stuart explains, were built just a little differently from the ones that followed and had a sound all of their own – quirks that he has sought to faithfully emulate in his latest vintage-inspired humbucker. What's the story?