Gibson T-tops - $999

[smitty_p]

I must admit, I am nervous to use non-potted pickups in my doubleneck build, but Thro-Bak tells me they have methods to make their pickups "squeal resistant" that do not require encasing them in a solid block of wax, and thusly, improving the natural tones of the pickup...

The issue is when the windings start to vibrate. That generates the microphonics. Older mini-humbuckers, as are in my '74 SG, tend to be a little susceptible to the problem.

Anyway, there's nothing special about the wax. Keeping a nice, tight winding and keeping the windings from loosening is the critical part. The wax potting is done to hold the windings secure from vibration. If Thro-Bak has another solution for that, I think that's cool. But, I'd want to know how well that solution works under the conditions you intend to play.

 

[syscokid]

FWIW:
8 years ago, I installed a set of Fralin hummers in my '71 SG. Unbalanced coils and unpotted. The bridge pup would easily squeal at loud volumes with generous amounts of gain. Don't remember if it was Lindy Fralin himself, or another employee convinced me to remove the cover and stick a thin piece of double sided tape across the bobbin and reassemble the cover as snug as possible. Not only did it work, but I've never noticed a change in sound.

 

[Inspector #20]

The issue is when the windings start to vibrate. That generates the microphonics. Older mini-humbuckers, as are in my '74 SG, tend to be a little susceptible to the problem.

Anyway, there's nothing special about the wax. Keeping a nice, tight winding and keeping the windings from loosening is the critical part. The wax potting is done to hold the windings secure from vibration. If Thro-Bak has another solution for that, I think that's cool. But, I'd want to know how well that solution works under the conditions you intend to play.

I'm not too concerned on the 12 string neck, because it is played through it's own amp - a Marshall VS265 - and that neck will likely see almost no gain whatsoever....however, the 6 string neck concerns me...

Here is what's going in the six string neck:

'70/SELECT, T-Top Replica Guitar Pickup specs.:
Neck 7.5K, Bridge 7.8K, short A2 magnets.

Here is what's going in the 12 string neck:

SLE-101 Plus MXV P.A.F. Humbucker Guitar Pickup Specs.:
Neck 7.8K, Bridge 8.4K, Long unoriented A5

 

[Inspector #20]

"Hi Robert,

Great looking guitars! How many do you make a year?

Our '70/Select set is a copy of early patent sticker T-Tops.

Vintage T-Tops are not wax potted. All the humbuckers and P-90's I make are not wax potted unless the customer requests it and almost no customers do. Without wax potting you get treble overtones that are killed with wax potting. The tone is better without wax potting in my opinion and that of many others. There is a risk of feedback from the cover which I can address without wax potting. Without the cover the feedback risk is from extreme gain setting with the guitar very close to the amp. 99% of the pickups I sell are not wax potted.

Regards,
Jon Gundry"

www.throbak.com
www.pafhumbucker.com

 

[ivan H]

Here is what's going in the six string neck:

'70/SELECT, T-Top Replica Guitar Pickup specs.:
Neck 7.5K, Bridge 7.8K, short A2 magnets.

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A T top always had a short A5 magnet. Cheers

 

[ivan H]

So, I've got a question for those the T-tops experts. Did Gibson make a "bridge" and a "neck" version of the T-top? Or, was it like their original PAFs, where they just made the one pickup that was used in both the bridge and neck positions?

They only made the one pickup that was used for both bridge & neck positions. Because of this (& the consistency) the bridge was perceived as underpowered by some. A few winders now offer a slightly overwound bridge pickup & stock T top wind neck pickup in a calibrated set. I have two of these overwound bridge pickups by different winders, 8.8k ohms (1k over stock) seems to be the magic number, both mine are wound to this & I know of one other well known winder that also winds a bridge T top to 8.8k. Cheers

 

[Inspector #20]

A T top always had a short A5 magnet. Cheers

Correct, this is one of their offerings that caught my eye....however, even this is evolving into something totally different. Currently, I have asked for a two sets (both necks) of custom winds using A3 magnets and winding to 8.8kΩ bridge and 8.2kΩ neck.

 

[Gahr]

I just "T-Top-ified" my Faded Special, just for the hell of it. I swapped the '57 Classic i had installed in the neck (I have a 57 Classic+ in th bridge position) for the stock 490R. I had changed the A2 magnets in the 57 Classics for A5s, and I took out the A5 from the 57 Classic and put it in the 490R before installing it. The A5 magnet was a long one though, so it's not "authentic" in any way, but it's fun nonetheless. The guitar sounds really nice. The bridge pup is 8.7 K, the neck pup 7,8 K. A pretty nicely balanced axe. The neck pickup is nice and full, quite rounded and with a very smooth treble. My first impression is that I like it a lot. I haven't got around to doing a comparison, but I'll A/B it with my Future Tribute which has 57 Classics (also with A5 magnets instead of the original A2s) to get an idea of the difference. The most important thing I have learned from this operation so far though, is that I take great pleasure in swapping pickups to hear the differences between them. But I really knew that already.

Btw., how do I find the ohm sign on my MacBook??

 

[ivan H]

The Ozzy winder that wound one of mine told me that the short A5 makes very little (if any) difference compared to a long one. He's been winding pickups for 30 odd yrs. Cheers