Seth Lover

[1] He developed the humbucking pickup for Gibson in 1955, and designed the first fuzztone distortion device,[2] called the Maestro, in 1961.

Before Lover, electric guitarists were forced to cope with the 60-cycle hum received by single coil pickups.

It was in the mid-'50s, while working as an amplifier designer at Gibson Guitars, that Lover figured out how to wire two coils electrically out of phase and with reversed magnetic polarities.

During this five-year period, Gibson adhered a "Patent Applied For" sticker to the underside of their humbucker pickups.

Seymour W. Duncan, a guitar pickup designer and manufacturer, considered Lover his "humbucker mentor".

After numerous full-page ads, NAMM Show appearances, and magazine interviews, Lover became a minor celebrity at age 84.