help me identify this pickup

[guitardude]

hello, im rebuilding my baby. first guitar i ever bought.


i dont have a clue what brand/type pickup this thing has. i want to say its a custom one, but idk. i had it looked at when i first bought it and they didnt have a clue what it was either. i just want to see if anyone here knows what it is, or know of one i can get that is similar. it has two screw mounts on the left side and one on the right side.








also, if anyone knows what kind of switch this is.




just realized this might be in the wrong section, please move if need be.

[Sweetfinger]

It is likely an old Korean made copy of an older Dimarzio(at least in looks). I can tell you that it isn't the kind of pickup that most players would care about. You can occasionally find them in guitar stores' junk pickup box for real cheap. Personally, I like some of the Korean pickups from that time period. The switch is a common 3 or 5 way that came on a zillion cheep-o guitars from the late 70's to the late 80's. IIRC it has a narrower mounting screw footprint than the USA switches, which can be annoying when upgrading components Again, many guitar repair shops will have some of these laying around that they've pulled from projects.

[guitardude]

yea, one guy said it looked like an old dimarzio. when i first got it, this thing screamed...it sounded freakin amazing sounded better than my emg-81 on my ibanez. then it sat for a couple years and it just doesnt sound right anymore. the pots are starting to seize up and the switch is scratchy. it just doesnt sound as solid as it did. im tryin to find a replacement. anything really, but i cant find one with the to mounts on one side and one on the other.

and i think i found a switch on ebay. and yea it is the narrower switch. i had bought a strat replacement switch and it was WAY bigger than this one.

[David Schwab]

I think it's a Schaller, or a copy of a Schaller. They made copies of DiMarzio pickups, and that's the guitar version of the Bassbucker that they used to make. I used to use these back in the 80's, and they were in a lot of aluminum neck Kramer guitars.

The other two pickups look like Schaller's as well.

http://schaller-guitarparts.de/hp12677/Pickups.htm

This is the bass version, It used to be cream, now it's black. And the surface was smooth, now it has texture.



Now they make the guitar version with closed covers. That's a cream plastic cover.



The single coil version.



They used to sell these at Stew-Mac.

In a Kramer bass

[Sweetfinger]

I think it's a Schaller, or a copy of a Schaller.

The other two pickups look like Schaller's as well.

http://schaller-guitarparts.de/hp12677/Pickups.htm

The Schaller SC's have plastic molded bobbins, the Korean ones in the pics have orange fiber bobbins. I've seen those same pickups in several Korean stratoid things. One was a SURPRISINGLY accurate Strat copy with Harmony on the headstock. Never seen one so close to the real thing- as if the Koreans spec'd out a mid 60's Strat. One of the non-accurate parts was the orange colored bobbins on the pickups. IIRC they sounded real good. The Humbucking pickup in the original post isn't constructed like the Schallers either. The fact that the Korean makers and Schaller were copying the Dimarzio look back then is probably a big part of the reason Dimarzio is all weird about their double cream trademark.

[John_H]

I rewound a Schaller like that. Brass baseplate, double screw, and three magnets. It was clearly embossed Schaller on the bottom. I didn't think it sounded all that great, but the owner was happy.

[David Schwab]

The Schaller SC's have plastic molded bobbins, the Korean ones in the pics have orange fiber bobbins. I've seen those same pickups in several Korean stratoid things. One was a SURPRISINGLY accurate Strat copy with Harmony on the headstock. Never seen one so close to the real thing- as if the Koreans spec'd out a mid 60's Strat. One of the non-accurate parts was the orange colored bobbins on the pickups. IIRC they sounded real good. The Humbucking pickup in the original post isn't constructed like the Schallers either. The fact that the Korean makers and Schaller were copying the Dimarzio look back then is probably a big part of the reason Dimarzio is all weird about their double cream trademark.

Yeah, I have a bunch of generic Korean DiMarzio knockoffs. They all look like SDHB, but with black bobbins.

I've used some of the Schaller pickups back in the 80's, mostly the bass pickups.

Those Korean pickups in the guitar above are more of a Schaller copy than a Dimarzio, though that's what Schaller was copying. But the cases are clearly Schaller knock-offs. So we have a copy of a copy!

Funny thing about DiMarzio's double cream trade mark. I was on their web site last night and found this in their FAQ:

What is the "standard" color for DiMarzio? pickups?

Unless otherwise noted, the standard color for all full-sized Humbuckers, Soap Bars, Tele, Bass and Acoustic pickups is black. The standard color for all Strat replacement pickups is white. The standard finish on pickups with metal covers is polished nickel.