Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass 1992 Pickups

[garybaldy]

Hi
Do these pickups seem correct? I think they're supposed to be Alnico Classics. Other ones I've seen have the covers fixed with solder. Were the 90s ones like this?
Thanks.

[Emperor]

They look similar to the original pickups in my 1989 Emperor (Pre-Joe Pass). But the magnets were ceramic, I think. They were also microphonic and not great-sounding, so I swapped them for a couple of ProBuckers. Definitely an improvement.

[Gitterbug]

Are there marks of a removed top brace in the photo?

[garybaldy]

They look similar to the original pickups in my 1989 Emperor (Pre-Joe Pass). But the magnets were ceramic, I think. They were also microphonic and not great-sounding, so I swapped them for a couple of ProBuckers. Definitely an improvement.

Thanks.
According to epiphone wiki.org the pre JPs from '84 right up to the current EEJPs are fitted with Alnico Classics. I very much doubt that is totally true and expect the pickups have gone through many changes over the years. Mine could very well be ceramic in view of the cheap appearance but I wouldn't say they sounded like ceramic (they're quite dark sounding) neither are they microphonic. It wouldn't be a pickup that JP would want to use!! I will probably change mine at some point. Cheers.

[garybaldy]

Are there marks of a removed top brace in the photo?

Looking at the photo I see it looks that way but I've checked the 2 parallel braces are there! Can't work out what the scratches are. May be caused by the tapering process with the brace glued in. Just a guess.

[neatomic]

looks like potting wax

early 90's epi's had cheapo ceramic pups....the epi alnico's were a much later development

i have a 93 samick made epi...had cheapo pups and mini pots...the wood build is good, but the hardware was weak

cheers

[Greco]

looks like potting wax

Or epoxy potting.
This is from a guitar I recently worked on and it looks very similar to me.

[neatomic]

yeah pup makers variously used wax, laquer, and epoxy on their pups

cheers

[Herbie]

(...) Mine could very well be ceramic in view of the cheap appearance but I wouldn't say they sounded like ceramic (they're quite dark sounding) neither are they microphonic. It wouldn't be a pickup that JP would want to use!! I will probably change mine at some point. Cheers.

The darkness is often achieved with bad/wrong valued pots or capacitors. With them the new pickups will sound dark too. New pots and caps are not expensive, so get new ones in the same time as the new pickups.