Gibson ES-175CC Pickup

[AndyMI]

Congratulations on the ES175CC. Pickup sound is great.

[starjasmine]

Did the 175CC ever come with the "fingers" style trapeze like on the LeGrande? I saw one recently with that and I'm wondering whether it's a mod or some of them had that tailpiece.
This is a photo of a LeGrande to clarify what I'm asking about.

[Cunamara]

No, the the Oettinger style tailpiece (with the fingers) would be a mod or possibly a custom order, but it was never a stock tailpiece for the ES-175.

[starjasmine]

Do the different lengths of string behind the bridge provide any functional benefit, such as improved string tension or intonation, or is it just a distinctive look?

Update: apparently this was invented for banjo. According to Google:

Oettinger tailpieces offer two main benefits for guitars and banjos:
tone control and improved playability by allowing players to adjust individual string down-pressure on the bridge. This enables players to balance string tension, which creates a more even tone across the strings, and to adjust the bridge pressure to fine-tune the sound.

[D'Aquisto Fan]

Finally got word from one of the main workers at Gibson at the time. These Charlie Christian Pickups ARE INDEED old stock units. They didn't make new ones for this run. These are phenomenal guitars. Absolutely love mine.

Attachment 123180

I'd like to believe this is true, but I've heard from multiple sources over the years it isn't the case. Perhaps they're all wrong.

[Fred Archtop]

Finally got word from one of the main workers at Gibson at the time. These Charlie Christian Pickups ARE INDEED old stock units. They didn't make new ones for this run. These are phenomenal guitars. Absolutely love mine.

Attachment 123180

I am lucky enough to have both models, a 1938 ES-150 and a 1980 ES-175CC, and I can attest that the two CC PUs are completely different, both in terms of their construction and the sound they produce.

Cheers.

[ThatRhythmMan]

I am lucky enough to have both models, a 1938 ES-150 and a 1980 ES-175CC, and I can attest that the two CC PUs are completely different, both in terms of their construction and the sound they produce.

Cheers.

That fits with my experience. It’s worth noting that I have seen some variance in the construction of prewar CC pickups alone. I don’t have as much experience with the 1970s-80s examples, but none of the few I have are quite the same as prewar ones.


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[Herbie]

I am lucky enough to have both models, a 1938 ES-150 and a 1980 ES-175CC, and I can attest that the two CC PUs are completely different, both in terms of their construction and the sound they produce.

Cheers.

As I quoted A. Ingram in another CC pickup thread five years ago:

Adrian Ingram describes in his book Gibson ES-175, Its history and players (1996) how difficult was it to find a original pickup to copy:

"Recreating the original Charlie Christian pickup presented something of a problem in that the specifications of earlier units differed with each production run.

The magnets were initially cast in Cobalt but went on to use an amalgamation which differed as significantly as 17% cobalt, 83% nickel to 36% cobalt, 64% nickel.

Furthermore, the range of windings varied greatly, as can be seen from the following specifications: variant 1, 4,000 turns of number 38 wire; variant 2, 2,500 turns of number 40 wire; variant 3, 3,600 turns of 40 wire; variant 4, 10,000 turns of number 42 wire.

(...) The company settled tor 10,000 turns of number 42 wire, on a cobalt based magnet, for their reissue (sic) Charlie Christian pickup. This amount of winding, coupled with a thinner gauge wire gave the pickup a higher impedance (...) providing a unit with greater output, which was more in keeping with contemporary requirements."