On the shop floor of the original Gibson plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the earliest Gibson Patent Applied For humbuckers were wound using imprecise machines, resulting in pickups with varying degrees of output and tone. The Burstbucker line of pickups represents Gibson's drive to recapture the magic of the original Patent Applied For humbucker pickups. First introduced in the early 1990s, the Gibson Burstbucker — Types 1, 2, and 3 — successfully captured the subtle variations of true, classic humbucker tone with historically unbalanced coil windings and Alnico 2 magnets. They produce an airy, full tone, and when overdriven, they achieve a magical distortion with the slightly enhanced highs that made the originals famous.

The Gibson Pickup Shop Modern Collection builds on Gibson's legacy of innovation and sound evolution with modern components mixed with higher output to shape the sounds for future generations of musicians.