Dating Gibson T Top

[Sam SG]

Is there any way to tell what exact year or atleast what era(60s 70s) a random T Top pickup is from?
I have a neck one here that appears to have had its cover removed.

 

[freefrog]

If the coils have the regular black bobbins with a T, watch the baseplate. If it has a glued sticker with patent number, it's from the second half of the 60's to the mid 70's. If the patent number is stamped / engraved in the metal of the baseplate, it's from the second half of the 70's. The pic gets blury at the end of the 70's, where T-Top parts were used to build technically different humbuckers (with double thick ceramic magnets, plastic spacers, and/or the same kind of wire than in the incoming "Shaw" humbuckers).

I've seen my share of butchered / rebuilt T-Top's and some oddballs, too. The supposed "consistency" of T-Tops therefore appears to me as "discussible" (but it's true for most pickups models as soon as one dives deep in details, anyway).

FWIW. HTH.

 

[hamerfan]

• Second half of 1967 to 1975: Patent number pickups with poly wire and white and black leads, T-top bobbins, "patent no." sticker, no longer has hole in bobbin showing wire, orange wire, short magnet, screws on bottom of base are usually slotted but could be phillips too. "L" toolmark can be seen on early T-top pickups up to late 1972
• 1976 to 1979: Poly copper colored wire, standard long magnet. On the backplate besides the stamped Pat No there is a black rubber stamp with a date like ‚Jan. 15 1976‘
• early 1980 had a period of partly Shaw features and older T-Top parts, starting around June they are full Shaws like new shorter magnet, maroon tinted poly wire, plastic spacers and Shaw PAF bobbins.

 

[freefrog]

I'm the first to appreciate precision but the lack of it in my first answer wasn't due only to my blury memories (even if, well, granted, it was due partly to that )...

Some testimonials state T-Top bobbins sooner than 1967. Some others say that inked dates did become an habit only at the very end of the 70's... (and as a matter of fact, I don't remember inked dates on the baseplates of a 3 PU LP Custom from 1976 that I've refreshed again recently).

That's for such reasons that I've commented the consistency of T-Tops as "supposed" and "discussible". ;-)

EDIT - Examples below - of stock pickups from the two T-Tops "eras" but with non typical features in both cases, for the record. ;-)

 

[Sam SG]

Here is mine. Late 70s?

 

[freefrog]

Here is mine. Late 70s?

Yes. And my old eyes have a hard time to decipher your lateral pic but it makes me wonder what is the magnet...

 

[Sam SG]

Not sure about magnet.
But its been in my posession 20+yrs so i dont think its ever been apart.
Sat in drawer for years then went in one of my dads strats for few years. Now its in my parts box

 

[Sam SG]

How would i tell what color magnet wire it has? Copper or Purple. Im really hesitant to peel the bobbin tape.
Anyway to tell magnet without popping off the baseplate?

 

[freefrog]

Not sure about magnet.
But its been in my posession 20+yrs so i dont think its ever been apart.
Sat in drawer for years then went in one of my dads strats for few years. Now its in my parts box

Ok, thx for the information. Being a dad myself, I tend to see such parts inherited from the past as precious. ;-)

I was wondering about the magnet because of the color and texture as my old eyes see 'em. If you want to check if it's an alnico bar without extracting it from under the coils, set a multimeter to check DCR and put one probe on each side of the magnet. If it's an AlNi(Co) bar, it will be conductive and the meter will display a resistance. If the bar is not resistive, it's a ceramic magnet.

 

[Sam SG]

Thank you. Good info.
Yea that pickup was in that same strat when i inherited it 2yrs ago. I pulled it planning on swapping it into one of my Gibsons.
Put a Duncan in its place

 

[Sam SG]

I cant get to the opposite side of the magnet. But putting both probes on the same end of the magnet( probes not touching obviously) i get nothing.

 

[hamerfan]

Looks black and matte like a ceramic, tests like a ceramic, then its maybe a standard sized ceramic magnet.

In the years before Mr. Shaw came to Gibson (´78 til ‘80) Gibson did a lot of variationson the T-Top bobbin basis without notice. Only the Dirty Fingers (double screws, thick ceramic magnet) and the Standard Humbucker aka T-Top survived.
Read here: https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/late-78-81-t-tops-are-they-different-and-how-do-they-sound.484077/

 

[freefrog]

I cant get to the opposite side of the magnet. But putting both probes on the same end of the magnet( probes not touching obviously) i get nothing.

Well, it might be a ceramic bar, then. Not necessarily a bad thing - but I'm not sure of my own feelings about that in this case: it might just be time for me to change my glasses... So, don't hesitate to double check the DCR measurement by varying the range of the multimeter.

 

[Mincer]

You could also loosen the baseplate a little and push the magnet out one side.

 

[Sam SG]

Either way ill probably just do my usual. Stick it in the hole turn the screws see what it sounds. If i ever put it in anything anyways.

 

[Aceman]

A lot of effort for a meh pickup...

 

[freefrog]

It's for people that I do efforts to help online, personally. Not for pickups.

That said and to come back on topic...
-one of the best neck humbuckers I've played was a Patent Number in a SG (and Seymour did something with the T-Top recipe, since the SH2/Jazz is largely a "Duncan improved" version of T-Top's. I've already shared about that here: https://forum.seymourduncan.com/thr...utes-to-gibson-patent-sticker-t-tops.6255977/ ).
-among the Gibson guitars that I have / had at disposal, my Flying V with T-Tops is an absolute rock machine. The T-Top loaded LP Custom that I played in the 80s was less exciting, albeit decent: it was more a neutral sonic tool, that I could use for anything from hard rock to country or Jazz runs. Which means that like any passive pickup, T-Tops shine in some instruments and less in others. How surprising!
I stand on the idea that any guitar is waiting its optimal pickup(s) and conversely. In some cases, stock pickups are the optimal ones. It's not that frequent. So, trying various associations is worth the effort IME/IMO. Mileages may vary.