Re: Why are minihums so relatively unpopular?
I think it's a matter of fashion (they aren't "hip"), and that is largely a matter of the stigma that is attached to them from being the standard pickup in regular (i.e. non Custom) Les Pauls in the 'late '60's and '70's, when everyone wanted the old style big humbuckers. They're actually some of the best pickups for a Les Paul IMO; they counteract some of the tonal properties I like least about Les Pauls, but without losing the Les Paul flavor completely. Deluxes are probably my third favorite LP model ever, after '54-'56 Customs and gold tops with P90's. And they are good in any guitar. I don't think the sound they produce has a thing to do with why they aren't popular. It has to do with the circumstances of their history, and their almost total lack of use on stock Gibsons since the Deluxe died out, IMO.
When the Les Paul was first reissued, it was due to it's hipness on the rock scene, and because in order to get one, you'd have to search for an >8-year old guitar that was made in small numbers. Of the three models released, the Deluxe was the odd man out, because it was not a "vintage" pickup layout. That is why it was never widely accepted, and why you see so many Customs played by rock-n-roll bands in the '70's; they wanted the full size hummers because they were "vintage." They had the "proper" Les Paul look and sound, not this new, fangled mini humbucker stuff (never mind that they actually sounded great, if not better). Add the fact that Norlin started making some of the worst guitars that Gibson had ever turned out, screwing that period in general in the public eye, and you have a doomed pickup combo, due solely to public perception, not based on them actually sounding bad.
There was good reason behind putting them in Les Pauls in the first place. Les Pauls were originally intended to be jazz and/or country guitars - clean, not too loud, played by highly skilled professional players. But they got latched onto by rock and rollers, at the same time that amps were increasing in loudness, distortion was becoming popular, and you saw utter amateurs making it as pros, bashing on their instruments with little finesse. Gibson looked at the popularity of Fender, and thought that the old style humbuckers were too muddy for this "new" type of music. They said, I'll bet we can sell more Les Pauls to rock and rollers if we put these brighter Epi mini-buckers in. They'll cut better for distorted, loud rock. But they underestimated the influence of fashion and nostalgia – the fact that people just wanted the classic Paul back, for better of for worse, not an "improved" version.
