What pickups are on Gibson ES-775? The stickers say PAF

[aborodya]

Need some help from esteemed forum members in identifying the pickups that are installed on my ES-775.
Never had an urge to take my guitar apart, but got a new toy - a boroscope - and decided to test it and have a look at the innards of my guitar. To my surprise the stickers on the pickups were saying "PATENT APPLIED FOR"! I thought the patent was granted in the 60s
Don't get me wrong - I do realize that this is not the original PAFs that fetch a ridiculous amount of money - if you look at them, even though some traits are historically correct (3-D letters on the stickers, 2-strand braid), the rest of them would be a total miss (tooling marks on the legs are absent, the legs and the stickers look wrong, the bridge pickup is definitely potted, although can't see the wax on the neck one). Although theoretically somebody can try to sell them as PAFs. And yes, these are definitely stock pickups that came with the guitar.
Now I have two questions:

1. does anybody know what those pickups are?
2. why would Gibson make something that potentially might cause quite a bit of confusion regarding what they are putting in their instruments?

Would appreciate any insight or hypothesis that would answer my questions.
And here are the pictures of the pickups.

[lawson-stone]

They put that sticker on all the PAF-like pickups. I imagine you have Classic 57 pickups on your guitar. That was the default pickup both for the ES175 and the L5ces, and was only supplanted very recently by the MHS pickups, which appeared on a few late-model ES175's but then Gibson quit making archtops as part of their general production. So I suspect your guitar has Classic 57's, which were an attempt to re-capture the PAF.

[aborodya]

They put that sticker on all the PAF-like pickups. I imagine you have Classic 57 pickups on your guitar. That was the default pickup both for the ES175 and the L5ces, and was only supplanted very recently by the MHS pickups, which appeared on a few late-model ES175's but then Gibson quit making archtops as part of their general production. So I suspect your guitar has Classic 57's, which were an attempt to re-capture the PAF.

This must be it - makes a lot of sense! Thanks so much for your explanation! Actually just found a thread started by Jack Zucker Finally played a Gibson ES-775 - it says
"a stock 775 will have 490R and T pups". Go figure - they look the same. I guess it's time to invest in a multimeter!

[Herbie]

This must be it - makes a lot of sense! Thanks so much for your explanation! Actually just found a thread started by Jack Zucker Finally played a Gibson ES-775 - it says
"a stock 775 will have 490R and T pups". Go figure - they look the same. I guess it's time to invest in a multimeter!

Congrats for the rare and great instrument!

The pics of the pickups seem like 57 Classics. 490R & T would have 12 holes instead of 6 and a ’Gibson USA’ text pressed in metal. The four slug screws are also different: brass in 57 Classic but larger and steel in 490 series.

[aborodya]

Congrats for the rare and great instrument!

The pics of the pickups seem like 57 Classics. 490R & T would have 12 holes instead of 6 and a ’Gibson USA’ text pressed in metal. The four slug screws are also different: brass in 57 Classic but larger and steel in 490 series.

Thanks Herbie! And yes, you are right, I can see that now, thanks! Another lookalike option to eliminate would be a Burstbucker, but I think it is a much longer shot