Gibson Conundrum

Inspector #20 said:
I doubt i would ever swap out a genuine Gibson pickup
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I have, a couple of times for hotter pickups. Thing is, I ended up going back to either stock Gibson pickups, or reproductions of the T top pickups that Gibson no longer produces. The only Gibson's that I now have that don't have stock pickups have T top types in them. I'd like to see Gibson offer this type again. Cheers
 
jtcnj said:
Were it me, I would wire the connector up with wire nuts or twist them together and tape them until proven, then solder the connector to the leads and shrink tube them.
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U think like me, JT. I do this crap on cars.

Once on my Mustang 5.0, I had no brake lights. Until I could do some proper short tracing, I took some wire and a manual switch, hooked them into the brake light wires where I would then know I had good wire, and then every time I hit the brakes, I would flip the switch to activate the brake lights. Then I would flip the switch off once I let off the brakes.

The culprit turned out to be a number of worn wires in the main loom as it passed through the firewall. My buddy went up under the dash with a small butane torch to solder the wires and put heat shrink around them so that no more damage would affect any of the other components.

Brake lights resumed normal function.
 
Headache said:
I'm sorry that I am just now reading this. I went through the same issues with my sg. And one of my LPs.

I took this picture to keep for future reference.


qMnSBDs.jpg
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I only have one Gibson with a PCB. It is my SG Classic with P90's.

Forgive me for my clueless question since I never closely examined the wires. Can't someone pull the toggle switch, loosen the pups to see how it is wired, then trace the leads to the corresponding ones on the PCB to figure out the logic?
 
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I think my problem was figuring out the colors. The eBay quick plugs are colored weird.
 
ivan H said:
I have, a couple of times for hotter pickups. Thing is, I ended up going back to either stock Gibson pickups, or reproductions of the T top pickups that Gibson no longer produces. The only Gibson's that I now have that don't have stock pickups have T top types in them. I'd like to see Gibson offer this type again. Cheers
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Check out Planet Tone's MHS III or their Soul Serenade. Both are built to the early specs you mention...
 
I have T top repro's by the Canadian winder Vineham after reading consistently good things about them on the MLP forum (winder is member "copperhead road"). These are very reasonably priced too. Also by a locally well known Aussie winder. This guy told me that T tops are an easy pickup to reproduce as they were originally so consistently made.
I have swapped between the Vineham & locally made T top repro's to see if there was any difference (one set in an SG & one in an LP), only to find no discernible difference in how either guitar sounded.
Inspector #20 said:
Check out Planet Tone's MHS III or their Soul Serenade. Both are built to the early specs you mention...
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Looking at these, they are in the correct T top DC resistance range, though one has an A3 magnet while the other an A2. The opinion of most people is that the T tops used a short A5 magnet. That said, I am aware of one well known winder that uses an A2 in their T top repro's, stating that they'd found this type in originals.
I do know that the short A5 equipped repro in my SG, plugged straight into the bright channel's Hi input of my '68 plexi, or any of my Marshall type builds, can pretty much nail early Angus Young tone. Likewise the LP will quite well cop a Thin Lizzy Gorham/Robertson type tone etc.
It's a pity that "original" T top prices have gotten so high, there must be literally stacks of them sitting unused in draws, shoe boxes etc, as so many people would rip them out of new guitars to fit super distortions. If I could find an original set at a reasonable price I'd buy them. Cheers
 
Ivan,. I have 3 original T Tops. A pair of 1979 dated Sept 27 and 29 I think. And My Sunburst 79 LP was supposed to have 2- double cream ones,. But a previous owner put a DiMarzio Al Di Meola in the Bridge. And added the toggle switches for out of phase and coil splitting.
 
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