Pickups in 1978 LP Custom?

[Fendercaster]

I have my 1978 LP Custom for sale on CL. A potential buyer wants to know which pickups are in it, 57s, 490s or? It is completely stock, 2 pickups, gold hardware and all that. Does anyone know what pickups were stock then?

Thanks in advance.

[Alex_SF]

Wouldn't those likely have been the "T-Top" humbuckers? Probably impossible to confirm that for sure if the covers are still on them. I know they were using T-tops into the late 70s, but by the beginning of the 80s they were experimenting with some different designs.

 

http://www.vintageguitarparts.org/20100118-vintage-guitar-parts-1975-1980-gibson-humbucker-pickups/

 

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=180070

[headless]

While these links may not help you answer your question, I found them while doing some research and I thought I'd share:

 

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/pickups/110617-gibson-epiphone-pickups-dc-resistance-magnets.html

 

http://www.solodallas.net/gibson-humbucker-pickups-information/

 

http://rowbinet.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/gibson-epiphone-pickups2.jpg

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gregsguitarshop.gregstamper.org/images/pickups%2520018.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gregsguitarshop.gregstamper.org/index.php%3Fmain_page%3Dindex%26cPath%3D4_2&usg=__kzRW0O_4zPkphVEtS_j0afHeF-o=&h=410&w=640&sz=164&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=j6E-O3RGO2b_uM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=153&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgibson%2Bpickups%2Bspecs,%2Bt-top%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D653%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=366&ei=vLXiTNbcNIfQsAO2_9XiCg&oei=vLXiTNbcNIfQsAO2_9XiCg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=44&ty=68

 

Remember, when checking the resistance of the pickups, doing so with the pickup soldered into the rest of the guitar's circuit will give a different (lower) result than check with the pickup removed for the circuit.

 

Of course, the DC resistance of the guitar's pickups and pots will vary a bit, but you could use the Resistance Calculator (linked below) to get an pretty good idea of your pickups' resistance simply by plugging a cord into the output-jack and metering the ring/tip of the plug.

 

Then input the pot value (500000) into the resistance calculator, and input the value of the pickup that you think you have (using one of the references above), and compare the result to your measured pickup.

 

Remember to take your DC resistance measurements with the switch selecting only the pickup you want to measure, and with the control pots turned up to "10".

 

http://www.1728.com/resistrs.htm

[Reverse Entropy]

OK - that was an interesting little search.

 

Original catalog pages here :

http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/gib78.php

 

All Les Paul Standard and Custom variations just list them as Gibson Humbucking pickups. Only the Artisan version lists anything different, those are "Series VII" Humbucking.

 

I don't personally remember them having any sort of 'name' or designation until a couple of years later when they started with the Dirty Fingers and similar pickups.

 

The best thing is to tell the buyer they were just the stock 78 pickups, and there's no formal name for them. That's true from what I can find.

[IamBurnout]

Gibson didn't make 57s or the 49x series in 1978.

[Wyatt]

 

I have my 1978 LP Custom for sale on CL. A potential buyer wants to know which pickups are in it, 57s, 490s or? It is completely stock, 2 pickups, gold hardware and all that. Does anyone know what pickups were stock then? Thanks in advance.

 

 

Classic 57's, 49*/500's, etc were all products introduced in the '80's.

 

Stock humbuckers in the '70's were usually just late-era T-Tops. They weren't called are sold as that, that's the nickname they got from the presence of a capital T on their bobbins. They were just the stock HB then. There were '70's specialty offerings like the Dirty Fingers, Series VII, etc. but those where usually in specific models.