Checked : SH2N as credible substitutes to Gibson Patent Sticker T-Top’s.

[freefrog]

is the 67 triple pickup Jimi Hendrix' SG possibly driven by T-Tops ?

If it's a 67, it should be loaded with "pre-T" Patent Sticker pickups, half way between P.A.F.'s and T-Top's, if memory serves me.

I'm not even sure what was in his Flying V: Gibson apparently mounted whatever was on the shelf so some V's of this era host HB's from various periods...

 

[Chistopher]

Oh no, I agree. If there's a way to get the sound of a T-Top for cheap without paying >$200 per pickup, that's a good piece of knowledge to have on the internet for people who want a T-Top sound. I was just mentioning how T-Tops were going the way of the PAF, with people acting like $600 for some plastic, magnets, and copper wire is a worthwhile investment for the working guitar player. Same as they convince themselves that $500 for an authentic reproduction of a fuzz pedal that's made of $5 of components is worth it.

I would prefer to get as much of this type of info out there as possible if it means some kid can emulate the sound of the guitar player they want without feeling the need to pay out the wazoo to some dweeb who's product is built entirely off of marketing. Along worth adding to the conversation, I've heard the Gibson 490R at least is based off a T-Top except the magnet being wrong. Have you any experience with this?

 

[freefrog]

Yep, the 490R is meant to be a credible T-Top substitute as well, once fitted with the proper magnet. But no, I've not tried it personally, my own subjective experience with recent Gibson pickups being a mixed bag.... The brand puts dyed poly wire in pickups to make believe it's PE wire, uses discussible alloys for slugs and screw poles meant to be vintage correct and has even commercialized fake PIO caps in an expensive package... I put more trust in Duncan products, hence this thread.

Regarding prices: I've still to find a passive magnetic pickup whose parts cost more than a few bucks, except of course the Duncan Zephyr series...
Now and the market for collectors being what it is, it's always possible to resell without loosing money (and even with a benefit) any device bought for a high price because of its reputation, whatever is the cost of its constitutive parts. So I've a "relativistic" POV on this question.


Footnote to my first post: complementary tests suggest the SH2 is a tiny wee bit faster in its electrically induced attack than an old T-Top and has a slightly different phase response. These differences are not great enough to be sonically noticeable, especially with pickups mounted in N vs B positions, but I might try more vintage correct screw poles in order to see if the slight gap remains...

 

[ToneFiddler]

i tried the 490R with a short A5 before i got the manlius t-top clone.
it pushes it in the right direction, but to me the 490R lacks the clarity.

 

[freefrog]

Great! Thx for sharing, ToneFiddler!

 

[orpheo]

A TTop does something very specific and I, for one, like it. It's brighter and more 'brittle' than a PAF, and offers more twang in the humbucker form. In a 'warm' sounding guitar, and an amp with plenty of gain on tap, it just works so very well. Hype? Not sure. But can it sound great? Jup.

 

[Archer250]

Desirable is subjective but it should be possible to ask their opinion to obscure folks who have played T-Top's, like Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads, Angus Young, the Schenker brothers and a few others... <:0)

And in my very personal opinion, Schenker sounded better with the SH5, Rhoads with the Super Distortion, Page with the pickup that became the blueprint for the WLH, Angus with the 80s PAT NOs

:^

 

[freefrog]

And in my very personal opinion, Schenker sounded better with the SH5, Rhoads with the Super Distortion, Page with the pickup that became the blueprint for the WLH, Angus with the 80s PAT NOs

:^

One man's trash is another man's treasure... ;-)

 

[freefrog]

...to come back to the initial intention of this thread, which was to share potentially helpful info and not to argue about opinions...

I've swapped the stock screw poles of the SH2 for some T-Top style old ones, apparently of a lower carbon content. The remaining parts of the stock SH2 are now the 2 coils, the 4 brass screws holding them and the keeper bar.

Frequency response and Q factor didn't change. They were already right anyway. The "old new" screw poles have just flattened the phase response of the modified SH2, previously a bit "deviant" in the extreme high range. They have also aligned impulse responses. There is stil a tiny wee bit more roundness of the attack with the "old" T-Top ("old" 'cause I've been forbidden to write "vintage" ). But it's way below the threshold of perception. So it wouldn't make sense to change the keeper bar - and I haven't the NOS part required for that. The good thing is that it will avoid my mod to turn to pure OCD if ever it was not already the case. LOL...

FWIW (=rambling from an old fart).

 

[Archer250]

But on a serious note.

I've had a guitar that had a T-Top clone in the bridge. Guy who made it is the local go-to guy for pickup repairs. Guy repairs anything and everything including Tarbacks and those weird Schecter/Tom Anderson pickups.

I don't actually think it's bad lol. Not my thing, but definitely not "bad"

In fact, I never tried the neck version, but I'd imagine it would be quite good in a thicker guitar.

 

[freefrog]

Nothing being perfect in this World, T-Top's have the "flaws of their qualities" and reciprocally, IMHO and IME: it's difficult to get more clarity without losing some thickness and conversely... But yes, they have "something" in neck position, like the SH2: the absence of this low mid mudiness that many other neck HB's produce... and this bell tone of the unfretted E string that Fender 69's also generate as single coils. It's something that I dig personally. Mileages may vary.

Anecdotically, near the end of the T-Top era, Gibson was sometimes putting ceramic magnets in them. Possible attempt to make forget the weak AlNiCo mags not so rarely mounted in T-Tops of the ending 70's...