Billy Gibbons hails innovative 'wooden' pickup

Billy Gibbons with his Norwegian wood.

It sounds like an unlikely collision between ZZ Top and the Beatles but a new humbucker-sized pickup, designed by boutique maker Cream T for Billy Gibbons, has Norwegian wood at its core.

The GTR-T pickup, designed by Cream T's Thomas Nilson, superficially resembles Fender's Wide Range humbucker first fitted to Telecaster Deluxe, Custom and Thinline models from 1971. Nilson's new design is significantly different, however, featuring beeswax-potted coils, a wooden bobbin core and a hot 8.7k output.

The GTR-T has found favour with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top who has installed a GTR-T at the bridge of his 'Stoner' model John Bolin custom guitar, joining Joe Bonamassa in the ranks of top players who have trialled Cream T pickups. The GTR-T is now available in Britain, Cream T report, for around £140.

For more information on UK availability telephone +44 (0)75 3330 6975.

Jamie Dickson is Editor-in-Chief of Guitarist magazine, Britain's best-selling and longest-running monthly for guitar players. He started his career at the Daily Telegraph in London, where his first assignment was interviewing blue-eyed soul legend Robert Palmer, going on to become a full-time author on music, writing for benchmark references such as 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Dorling Kindersley's How To Play Guitar Step By Step. He joined Guitarist in 2011 and since then it has been his privilege to interview everyone from B.B. King to St. Vincent for Guitarist's readers, while sharing insights into scores of historic guitars, from Rory Gallagher's '61 Strat to the first Martin D-28 ever made.