Trying to identify two pickups

**AlohaJoe** · 07-17-2022, 07:03 PM

My experience with pickups is pretty limited, and I have two unidentified pickups, a humbucker and a P90.

The humbucker came out of a '61 single-pup Guild Starfire I. It was replaced with the original Dynasonic, but sounds so good it's headed for an older Guild X150. The (now spare) P90 was sold as a Pete Biltoft, but isn't. I've since bought other pickups from Pete and the backs are different. Still, it sounds good and it would be fun to know its source as well.

Any ideas?

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**blille** · 07-17-2022, 08:05 PM

Top one could be a late 65 stickered Gibson TTop if you’re lucky.

Not and expert on Gibson but check this website in the summary part it gives a timeline and what to look for. Gibson PAF Humbucking Pickups Humbucker Patent Applied For Pickups M69 M-69 pickup rings - Vintage Guitars Info

No idea about the bottom one.

Putting front pics may help.

**sgosnell** · 07-17-2022, 08:11 PM

Nothing to see on the second other than the supposed resistance. That's not much to go on.

**AlohaJoe** · 07-17-2022, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by blille

Top one could be a late 65 stickered Gibson TTop if you’re lucky. Not and expert on Gibson but check this website in the summary part it gives a timeline and what to look for. Gibson PAF Humbucking Pickups Humbucker Patent Applied For Pickups M69 M-69 pickup rings - Vintage Guitars Info

No idea about the bottom one.

Putting front pics may help.

Thanks for the link... as sgosnell pointed out, not much to go on, but I thought I'd toss it out there. Here are the front pics, but not much to go on there either.

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**icr** · 07-17-2022, 09:15 PM

The 'Patent No.' humbucker can be challenging to date. Gibson have been putting those stickers on for ages. Even my 1999 ES 335 came with 'Patent No.' pickups. Though that one from 1999 has cross-head screws on the back.

I don't know what the other pickup is, but it is not a Gibson P-90.

**sgosnell** · 07-18-2022, 10:09 AM

The front of the P90 looks like a Vintage Vibe pickup, but I can't say for sure. He does lots of custom jobs, so not all are exactly the same. He does offer humbucker sized P90s that look similar.

**blille** · 07-18-2022, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by sgosnell

The front of the P90 looks like a Vintage Vibe pickup, but I can't say for sure. He does lots of custom jobs, so not all are exactly the same. He does offer humbucker sized P90s that look similar.

The back looks too.

Like a HS-90A

Humbucker P90 Single Coil Pickups with ALNiCo Rod Magnets

Here’s an example with a picture of the back Vintage Vibe HS-90A humbucker sized P90 pickup (Black, Alnico | Reverb

**Stringswinger** · 07-18-2022, 11:47 AM

The Patenet sticker pickup could be any of a number of things. It could be a T-top or it could be an early patent sticker pickup, some of which are identical to a late, short magnet PAF and are quite valuable (you would have to remove the cover to be sure).

Or it could be a 57 classic.

**blille** · 07-18-2022, 01:18 PM

@OP do the legs in the Gibson pickup have markings like this?

Originally Posted by Stringswinger

The Patenet sticker pickup could be any of a number of things. It could be a T-top or it could be an early patent sticker pickup, some of which are identical to a late, short magnet PAF and are quite valuable (you would have to remove the cover to be sure).

Or it could be a 57 classic.

Yup, a lot of pickups have that sticker. But I don’t think the 57s do, I think they have the PAF sticker.

**Cunamara** · 07-18-2022, 02:16 PM

My Classic 57s have the PAF sticker, not the Pat. No. sticker. And they have Phillips retaining screws rather than slotted. But that's all the info I have about Gibson pickups. The front picture looks like the cover is chromed instead of nickel plated.

The underside of the humbucker-sized P90 looks just like the underside of my Biltoft humbucker-sized CC floater. The cutout cover is one he uses too, and the captive nuts for the height adjustment screws are consistent. Looks like a Biltoft.