how to decode t top pick ups for year and or date

[brownsound]

hello i purchased a pair of gibson t top pick ups and im not sure what year they are and im curious to know . i think i have two diffrent years as one has a slightly diffrent sound than the other.

i love the sound of theese so much id like to buy some more but need to understand how to decode the numbers on the back of the pick up. can someone please help and tell me what i have .

 

pick up one has the following on the back of the plate. pat no. 2.737.842

 

pick up two has unlegiable minute pieces of a black and gold pat pending sticker thats to messed up to even begin to read. all i can make out is a 27 84 and the rest is gone.

 

werent the ones with pat pending stickers from the 60,s or eailer.?

 

any and all help you can tell me will be greatly appericiated.

[brownsound]

aw come on i know someone is heavily into gibson knowledge. help a guy out please.

[stein]

I. too, am anxiously awaiting a knowledgeable answer. But until..I'll just say what I know the best I can.

 

The sticker does predate the stamped #. I was not aware of a t-top having a sticker, but I could be wrong. The best I can figure is that the plastic bobbins were the last change for a while, previous changes being the screws that hold the bobbins (brass to steel?) then the magnets, then the wire for the coil, then the plastic bobbin. I could have the order wrong.

 

I THINK these changes would have all happened by 1965. The REAL changes, the coil wire and the magnets, happened before the patent# sticker replaced the PAF sticker, and there is all kinds of debate which PAF sound better. There is also patent # sticker pups that are identical to later PAF sticker pups.

 

I do not know much about t-tops, but I think they may have been the same as the later stickered pups, and I think that for a long time they were unchanged.

 

I do know that when I have encountered old Gibson pups from the 70's, they all sounded great, and seemed to have something to them. So, I too am curious to hear an opinion or knowledge of what changes they had from the early ones to the later ones.

 

Also, now that I type this, are you sure the sticker pup is a t-top? have you removed the cover? and, what do they measure in ohms?

[brownsound]

there are no covers on them thats how i got them. i was planning to install a set of 72 embossed gibson covers on them and maybe i wont. hard to say. they ohms are one is 7.47 and the other is like 7.42 if i remember right. i an recheckthem both tomorrow when i am back home .