QUESTION
I read all the hype about vintage guitar pickups and the infamous PAF and pre t-top pickups but are the pickups from 1975-1980 with the pat#s stamped into the base plate good or are they junk. The reason why i am asking is I have a 1975 Gibson Flying V with Duncan pickups and I don’t know if I should replace them or leave the Duncan’s in
REPLY
Good question . Well it is true that the early Gibson humbuckers are the best and do get all the press but again tone and sound is a personal thing. I Will give you a few examples and hope this helps you in your decision.
The pickups you are referring to do have t tops and will have stamped in pat# on the base of the pickups. One can argue all day on the validity of these pickups and their character but the fact is at that time these were good sounding pickups and I will Gladly say these pickups have graced many of the records today we listen to or have listened to.
From what i have gathered a 1974 pat decal pickup and a 1975 stamped in pat# are the same pickup. I have tested them and I cannot hear the difference. Ok I am not a technician or a pickup builder but that is my opinion. Are they as good as PAFS , NO are they as good as PRE T-TOPS NO! are they good pickups YES.
By the 1980 They were producing a few different models like dirty finger pickups , the shaw series humbuckers, reissue pafs etc so they are many different ones and this was the time Gibson figured out that the pickup made a hell of a difference. Also the music was changing and a hot and more aggressive pickup was need so these changes were incorporated. Also Gibson was reissuing les pauls hence the reissue paf pickup but these are all for other posts in the future.
Back to the 1975-1980 humbuckers. I would replace them for two reasons if you are a collector definitely and if you are not happy with your current sound go with the stock pickups which usually adapt good to most amplifiers made. If you are happy and a player I would not change them why. If you have duncan pickups in there they are good pickups to begin with or most models are not all.
I will say now that as I have seen over the years 20 years ago no one wanted pre tops only pafs 1o years ago no t tops only pre t tops and paf ’s . Today all the above and I feel these pickups have already doubled in price and will soon be sought after also . This is the nature of the beast.
I hope this has helped I have tried to answer your questions from the view of a collector a player and as a parts specialist. If you have any questions please feel free to e mail me at THE PARTS DRAWER and I will answer your questions within 48 hours
JIm Pasch
Tags: gibson guitar pickups, gibson humbucker pickups, vintage gibson pickups, vintage guitar parts