Magnets from 60's Gibson humbucking pickup

[Lewguitar]

A guy posted this on Facebook. He has an old patent number Gibson humbucker in pieces and didn't know what it was. I asked him to measure and photograph the magnet. He did.

The magnet is not polished. It's roughcast. And it measures 2 3/8" x 1/2".

Not 2 1/2".

2 3/8" magnets were used in the T-Tops, and I've read were also used in some early 60's pickups before the T-Tops.

I'm thinking it's from the early 60's. The coils don't show a T so technically it wouldn't be a Gibson T-Top. The baseplate does have a patent number on it.

I thought this was interesting. I don't have any old T-Tops, but it's interesting to me that Gibson used sandcast/roughcast magnets in those days and not polished.

Last year I bought some roughcast 2 3/8" x 1/2" alnico 5 magnets and some roughcast 2 1/2" x 1/2" alnico 5 magnets from Addiction FX and put them in a set of Antiquitys.

I especially liked the way the neck pickup sounded. with a 2 3/8" magnet. More clear and not so bassy as when I tried that same pickup with a 2 1/2" magnet.

I wound up leaving a 2 3/8" RCA5 in the neck Antiquity and 2 1/2" RCA5 in the bridge Antiquity for a few months, before I put the original roughcast A2 magnets back in.

Ultimately I prefered Alnico 2. More mids, softer highs and a response I found to be more touch sensitive.

But here's the photo the guy with the old 60's Gibson pickup posted:

 

[jeremy]

gibson started using short magnets pretty early in the 60s if i remember correctly. almost every magnet back then wasnt polished on the non-contact sides

 

[Lewguitar]

gibson started using short magnets pretty early in the 60s if i remember correctly. almost every magnet back then wasnt polished on the non-contact sides

Right. I wonder if this guy might not have a pickup like Clapton had in his SG? I told him how to measure the coils and see if they're still working. If they are all he needs is someone to put it back together right and install a shielded cable. His is in pieces. And no cable. But all the parts seem to be there. I told him it was a fairly valuable pickup.

Of course if it needs to be rewound that could get expensive.

How much do you think the Custom Shop would charge to rewind it and put it back together for him?

 

[jeremy]

claptons sg had short a5 magnets im sure. not sure what a rewind costs these days