when did Gibson start using alnico V magnets?

[Sgt.]

What year did Gibson start using alnico V magnet pickups?

What model les paul were the alncio V pickups introduced on?

 

I was just curious to see if the introductory alnico V pickup was ever offered with pio tone caps such as bumblebee on a les paul?

[Riffster]

Who knows but the most famed humbuckers are the BB Pros, they have been around for like 10 years probably, no PIO caps in the last 35 years probably.

 

The bumblebees that come in Gibson historics are not PIO, they are regular caps with a bumblebee plastic casing.

 

The current bumblebee repros have Russian PIOs inside, they are not true sprague caps.

[Ryan H]

The earliest I can find is the Alnico 5 "Staple" pickup used in the early Les Paul Customs (introduced in '53). It was designed by Seth Lover. Very similar to a P90. P90's themselves started using A5 in 1957. So mid 50's would be about right.

 

-Ryan

[DiamondJig]

When I think Gibson, humbucker and alnico V, I think of the 498T. Don't know how long it's been used.

 

I'm looking to swap the alnico II mag on a BB3 to a alnico V.

[Sgt.]

Who knows but the most famed humbuckers are the BB Pros, they have been around for like 10 years probably, no PIO caps in the last 35 years probably.

 

The bumblebees that come in Gibson historics are not PIO, they are regular caps with a bumblebee plastic casing.

 

The current bumblebee repros have Russian PIOs inside, they are not true sprague caps.

Ah yeah I get that the Gibson bumblebees are overpriced and painted on and the Luxe repros are repackaged Russian pios. The original 'bumblebee' cap would be sprague as you mentioned and used in the early gibson model les pauls because, well nothing else existed or rather that was the best choice of what was available.

There's plenty of types of capacitors used in guitars out there, and different conductive mediums too. I think using the cheap ceramic discs is a cost cutter on the stock models. Is it worth the upgrade, probably yes, the electronics too. It boils down to getting to a comfortable place. I wouldn't say there's something wrong with the ceramic discs, they do the same job as any other capacitor ... to hold an electrical charge. The medium used ie. ceramic gives it a 'tonal characteristic', which may be different good/bad from a another type of cap. The job of the cap is too filter out some frequencies and different mediums do it different. Agreeable though that the cap you should be using in the les paul is .22 400v, that is with 500k pots and humbuckers.

[Sgt.]

When I think Gibson, humbucker and alnico V, I think of the 498T. Don't know how long it's been used.

 

I'm looking to swap the alnico II mag on a BB3 to a alnico V.

 

just curious does the alnico II BB perform any hotter by raising the pickup closer to the strings. i know i lowered my bb pros because they were too hot at factory stock setting.

[badbluesplayer]

Here's something -

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/19108-gibson-burstbucker-pro-alnico-5-and-paf-pickups-history-facts-suggestions/

[Sgt.]

Here's something -

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/19108-gibson-burstbucker-pro-alnico-5-and-paf-pickups-history-facts-suggestions/

 

+ 1 good article!