I've got a couple of older pickups...59 NL, and 59 BL..what are these?

[Sir Ricardo]

Hello!

I just got this Les Paul, and the prior owner, sometime back in the late 80s or early 90s, took out the stock pickups and put in Seymour Duncans.

They have gold covers.

I pulled them, and looked at their backs:


Neck: it says 59 NL

Bridge: it says 59 BL


What pickups are these? What kind of tonality should they have?

thanks much - - -

Richard
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[Simon_F]

Re: I've got a couple of older pickups...59 NL, and 59 BL..what are these?

Welcome!

They are '59s, N for neck and B for bridge. The L is the initial of the person who made them.

See here for pre-2002 label codes: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/labels.shtml

They are essentially replicas of Gibson PAFs with alnico 5 magnets.

"Late-‘50s, vintage-correct, humbucker sound. Warm and crystalline clean tones. Full and bright distorted tones. "