I was at Guitar Center in Hollywood, CA the other day, and a Gibson rep was there. I asked about the Tradbucker pickups in the GC exclusive Trad Pro V.
He said the Gibson reps were told that they started with a Burstbucker Pro pickup and used alnico V magnets. Then slightly under wound the neck, and slightly overwound the bridge, and then tuned them to take full advantage of the HP-4 electronics. (ie, in/out of phase switch, coil tap vs split, high pass filter treble bleed switches, etc) So they are a little different than any other normal Burstbucker.
They are a little clearer than normal Burstbuckers, with the neck having more on the low end but not as much on the high end, and the bridge being the opposite, with a brighter tone and more highs, but slightly less punch on the low ends. As a result, you can get more interesting tone blends when in the middle position and with a clean amp, than with standard Burstbuckers. But when you push them through a good dirty amp or OD pedal, they can still growl with the best of them.
He said that Gibson does not currently sell Tradbuckers as replacement pickup options. They are only available in some Traditional Pro guitars, like the Trad Pro V. But Gibson did apply for a patent on them, as they even have a “Patent Applied For” sticker on the back of each pickup. So they might make them available to purchase separately in the future.
Very interesting pickup. When I was playing with it in the store, I was going back and forth between a Marshall and a Fender amp, and comparing it to a LP Standard with Burstbuckers. To my ears, I surprisingly preferred the sound of the Tradbuckers in every combo I tried. Especially the neck. However, I tend to prefer brighter pickups anyway, since I always feel it sounds better to darken up a bright pickup, than it does to brighten up a darker pickup.
Hope this helps.
