The Sweetest Sound This Side of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Dreamed up by Sweetwater and designed by Gibson, Sugarbuckers mark Sweetwater’s grand entrance into the world of signature guitar pickups! A wholly unique reimagining of the mighty PAF pickup, these honeyed humbuckers were designed in collaboration with Gibson’s pickup-winding wizard, Jared Brandon. So, what sets these apart from the pickup pack? Sugarbuckers forgo pure period-correct specs to offer modern players and vintage diehards alike a “sweeter” spin on classic humbucking sonics. Built upon the foundation of Alnico IV magnets (found on only one other Gibson PAF-style pickup since the 1960s) and a wax-potted construction, the Sugarbucker’s distinctive set of Sweetwater specs works in perfect harmony to merge legendary PAF clarity and complexity with modern, microphonic-free performance. Furthermore, these pickups boast a subtly underwound construction, which works in tandem with the naturally lower-output voice of the Alnico IV magnets. The result? Superb dynamics and a transparent tonality that allow your guitar’s inherent voice to shine through every lick, riff, and solo. It all equates to what we’re proud to call our ideal PAF-style humbucker — and you can only get it at Sweetwater!
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A pickup confection like no other: The story of the Sugarbucker
Here at Sweetwater, we’re privileged enough to work alongside brilliant and dynamic guitar builders on a day-to-day basis. We build close-knit ties with these companies and the brilliant minds behind them, giving our guitarists the much-welcomed opportunity to pitch all-new products that we know our customers will love. In the case of the Sugarbucker, we leveraged our ever-fruitful friendship with Jared Brandon, Gibson’s pickup product manager.
Our idea? Engineer a Gibson-style humbucker that stands apart from the legions of PAF-style pickups on the market. We described our dream dual-coil tone to Brandon, pulling extensively from our massive humbucking pickup shootout to nail down what exactly makes an excellent PAF-style pickup tick. Armed only with our thoroughly nonscientific tonal descriptions and a few spec requests, Brandon went straight to work.
It’s a testament to Brandon’s genius that from the initial prototype, we knew we had something extraordinary on our hands. In fact, “prototype” isn’t quite the right word — his first crack at the design so thrilled us that we didn’t dare change a single thing! However, one hurdle remained: What do we call Sweetwater’s first signature guitar pickup? As you can imagine, many names were proposed. But it soon became evident that the sweet, sweet sound of Alnico IV all but inferred one honeyed title: the Sugarbucker.
Engineered by Gibson pickup maestro Jared Brandon
While we feel Sweetwater’s first signature pickup design represents a milestone collaboration with Gibson, we also wholeheartedly believe the Sugarbucker shines brightly amid the vast assortment of PAF-style pickups on the market. How so? For starters, we opted for a non-vintage-correct wax-potted construction, thus allowing Sugarbuckers to hang in far higher-gain territories than an old-school PAF without squealing or feeding back. We also wanted to clearly differentiate our pickup from Gibson’s current offering, so we chose Alnico IV magnets — a spec that’s only been utilized in one other ultra-limited-edition Gibson PAF-inspired pickup since the 1960s.
Through sheer fate, these two components perfectly play off one another to form our perfect PAF-inspired pickup. Potting a pickup is desirable for any guitarist who plays with a decent amount of gain at less than whisper-quiet volumes. Yet plenty of vintage humbucker fanatics favor unpotted designs for their clarity and enhanced dynamics. Luckily, the sweetness, bell-like character, and naturally lower output of Alnico IV magnets comprehensively compensated for these traditional downsides of potting. It all adds up to a pickup that retains all the crisp articulation and complexity the PAF is revered for — only without the microphonics. Just wait until you hear this beauty for yourself!
Ready to sweeten any 6-string’s sound
Whether clean or dirty, Sweetwater’s Sugarbuckers sing with a clear, complex, and (yes, indeed) sweet character that you can’t get anywhere else. On the clean side of the spectrum, Sugarbuckers clock in with a slightly rounder and mellower tone than your typical PAF-style pickup, all without introducing a hint of mud. Crank up the gain to venture into the Sugarbucker’s wild side, where you’ll be rewarded with biting presence, harmonic-rich sizzle, and a hard-hitting crunch to rival far more powerful pickup designs.
Gibson Accessories Sweetwater-exclusive Sugarbucker Pickup Set Features:
- Sweetwater’s first signature pickups, designed in collaboration with Gibson pickup product manager Jared Brandon
- Rough-cast Alnico IV magnets (rarely found in Gibson guitars since the PAF era) that result in a clear, rich, and supremely sweet-sounding response
- Wax potting that cuts out unwanted squeal and feedback, especially when you start dialing up the gain
- Slightly underwound construction that maximizes the dynamics, complexity, and transparency of the Alnico IV magnets
- Delivers a slightly warmer and mellower tone than vintage-correct PAFs when played clean, with a harmonic-rich sizzle and an articulate, complex presence when you kick into overdrive
