This is my first post here, so :wave: howdy, all.
Sorry for the long post. Some may find it interesting (I hope).
I have a Gibson ES-300 (1941 vintage) and I had to rebuild the pickup in it. This model of the ES-300 has a single pickup that is canted about 10 degrees off horizontal which was supposed to give better treble response. So an "off the shelf" pickup was out of the question. After the war, Gibson started putting P-90s in them. The first year the pickup was slanted about 70 degrees and went from the neck to the bridge.
The original pickup was covered in rust. The magnets were not salvageable. They came apart when I took the bronze mounting plate off the bottom. I managed to get the pole pieces out of the base bar/spacer and saved it. Other than the cover and bobbin/windings that's all I could salvage.
This pickup is constructed similar to a P-90. It has pole pieces screwed through a single bobbin into a base bar with magnets on either side of the base bar.
The only place I can find replacement magnets are at Stewart-McDonald. I bought a couple of 15Gauss magnets meant for a humbucker. They are the correct size for this pickup. I also bought new pole pieces from them. The magnet is also an Alnico-V and this pickup was originally made with ferrous magnets (I think -- they rusted).
I'm somewhat concerned over the guass rating of the magnets. I have no way of knowing what the original magnets were rated at. I'm wondering if, with the original wound bobbin, and these magnets are too strong, will I get a too hot signal out of it?
Any guidance you guys can sling my way about rebuilding this pickup (it works, by the way -- I just haven't mounted it back in the guitar) would be greatly appreciated.
I haven't put it back into the guitar, yet because there are some issues with the vintage tone pot (it's rusted in position and appears to be an open circuit). There's also a vintage cap on the tone pot that has a broken lead that I need to fix (broke it trying to get the tone pot loose) from the guitar body (it turned and I didn't notice it).
There is also a wire going from the shield of the internal wires and soldered to the tailpiece. That wire is modern. I think it was put there to ground the strings. I'm wondering if I should keep it or think of some other way to ground them.
I thought of going to Bill Lawrence to get a copy of the custom pickup they have made for other ES-300s but I don't know if I can/want to afford one of those. I also wanted to keep as much of the guitar original as possible.
Sorry for the long post. Some may find it interesting (I hope).
I have a Gibson ES-300 (1941 vintage) and I had to rebuild the pickup in it. This model of the ES-300 has a single pickup that is canted about 10 degrees off horizontal which was supposed to give better treble response. So an "off the shelf" pickup was out of the question. After the war, Gibson started putting P-90s in them. The first year the pickup was slanted about 70 degrees and went from the neck to the bridge.
The original pickup was covered in rust. The magnets were not salvageable. They came apart when I took the bronze mounting plate off the bottom. I managed to get the pole pieces out of the base bar/spacer and saved it. Other than the cover and bobbin/windings that's all I could salvage.
This pickup is constructed similar to a P-90. It has pole pieces screwed through a single bobbin into a base bar with magnets on either side of the base bar.
The only place I can find replacement magnets are at Stewart-McDonald. I bought a couple of 15Gauss magnets meant for a humbucker. They are the correct size for this pickup. I also bought new pole pieces from them. The magnet is also an Alnico-V and this pickup was originally made with ferrous magnets (I think -- they rusted).
I'm somewhat concerned over the guass rating of the magnets. I have no way of knowing what the original magnets were rated at. I'm wondering if, with the original wound bobbin, and these magnets are too strong, will I get a too hot signal out of it?
Any guidance you guys can sling my way about rebuilding this pickup (it works, by the way -- I just haven't mounted it back in the guitar) would be greatly appreciated.
I haven't put it back into the guitar, yet because there are some issues with the vintage tone pot (it's rusted in position and appears to be an open circuit). There's also a vintage cap on the tone pot that has a broken lead that I need to fix (broke it trying to get the tone pot loose) from the guitar body (it turned and I didn't notice it).
There is also a wire going from the shield of the internal wires and soldered to the tailpiece. That wire is modern. I think it was put there to ground the strings. I'm wondering if I should keep it or think of some other way to ground them.
I thought of going to Bill Lawrence to get a copy of the custom pickup they have made for other ES-300s but I don't know if I can/want to afford one of those. I also wanted to keep as much of the guitar original as possible.
(
