T-Top *Facts*

[Possum]

...

For what purpose? I have a naked TTop bobbin here....
will this do:
http://www.provide.net/%7Ecfh/tpick1.jpg

[cryptozoo]

I can comment based on my experience with these, take it as you will. My experience only applies to 60s PATENT STICKER T Tops, not the mid 70s stuff.

(1) Aren't all t-tops supposed to be pretty consistently wound to @ 7.6-7.8K dependent upon temp? Why do I see some advertised here and there at 8K, 8.2K, 8.4K etc? Did they in fact vary that much?

They varied some, not as much as the PAF and PAT #s before them. Typically the earliest versions vary the most. I've personally never seen a T Top higher than 8.2k, and I'd be surprised if they get much higher than that. Most are average 7.4k - 7.6k, with a some around 7.8 or so.

(2) I had mid-70s t-tops back in the mid-80s that has chrome-plated BRASS covers. Some say that stock they were nickel, some say brass. Don't know if mine were stock or not. Are real t-top covers nickel or brass? Or did Gibson use both depending upon year?

See my caveat above, all mine have been chrome. T-Tops, in my experience, exhibit the most drastic difference from cover removal because the chrome covers are slightly magnetic and affect the tone.

(3) Are any REAL t-tops (i.e. w. T marked bobbins) white or zebra? Reason I ask: I thought by the time Gibson adopted full-face SG pickguard, t-tops were being used. So what am I seeing in the neck on Angus Young's SG on the cover of the '74 Jailbreak album? I have seen ebay t-tops advertised as creme etc. ???????? I thought they were all black?

Never seen zebras, but there are some double whites out there. They'd be later versions (70s/80s), not from the 60s.

(4) When did Gibson begin potting these?

Not sure they did, but if so, probably in the late 70s / early 80s

Regarding Possum's odd bobbin, it's likely you wound up with one of the last of the PAT # bobbins. I'd be interested to know -- was it made of butyrate or harder plastic? Right about the time T-Tops appeared, Gibson changed the forumla on their pickup rings as well, making them out of a harder substance than the M-69s were made out of. I assumed the bobbins went through the same change...

[Possum]

....

Yes they were both butyrate, but this was on a '67 so it wasn't even near the earliest TTops, even weirder it wasn't a PAF bobbin, it was the same height as TTop bobbins are....

[Brandenburg]

I believe I have a TTop from 1979... Ill know more when I replace the brass cover and re-wire my guitar.... I know this PuP came off a 1979 Gibson Black Beauty LP and was in a box with an assortment of other PuPs for like 10 years.. atleast until i rediscovered her... Has the date 1979 in black with the patent number stamped on the back of the pick up...

the guitar I put her in was an odd choice I guess..Not sure on the date or model, but I believe it to be an late 90's/early 2000's MIJ Jackson Dinky...

The original PuP this guitar had sucked ass.. damn SD designed.. no tone to speak of.. not much output.. rather stale sounding....The alleged TTOP sounds a bit hotter,has a smother sound and is more responsive...+ it looks bad ass.. i hate gold hardware, but this is the exception i believe

Im going in a weird direction... Modern guitar with vintage PuP's...need a vintage fender singlecoil from the same era i think.. I might just get a SD vintage replica... gunna do a somewhat rewire/customize on her when i get all the parts i need.. new pots,singlecoil,5 way switch,mini-toggle,etc.

Here is a few pics
was taken right after i rewired the pup in.. You can see the wires from this pup on the side as i did a somewhat temp wiring job at initially.. this pickup was in a box for the better part of 15 years or so.. had no idea what to expect... was hopin for sound lmao


the PuP in question... I had to make a slight alteration when i installed it.. it seems some idiot used a screw that was too big.. bored out one of the ears so a regular sized screw wouldnt work.. expedient solution was to tack it to the height screws with solder..seemed to do the trick

my rig

[Tommy 121]

I have this zebra T Top Pretty rare i guess

[Sweetfinger]

The zebras are more rare than black ones. Offhand I know the Gibson Firebrand "The SG" came with a zebra in the bridge.

[Jim Shine]

There were clear T top bobbins too. Supposedly made to be used in tarbacks. They are really brittle and tend to crack easily.

There was at least one import company making T top bobbined humbuckers in the 70's-80's. . But the bobbins just have the T's on top, no other numbers, letters, symbols, or mold marks.

[Tommy 121]

There were clear T top bobbins too. Supposedly made to be used in tarbacks. They are really brittle and tend to crack easily.

There was at least one import company making T top bobbined humbuckers in the 70's-80's. . But the bobbins just have the T's on top, no other numbers, letters, symbols, or mold marks.

I,ve had this one pot waxed and fitted into bridge position of a Gordon Smith Graduate 60 i forgot to ask for the ohm output reading though. i would like to change neck pickup now to suit more, another T top ??? BKP riffraff maybe?? Any knowledge or experiences Please Comment.

[SonnyW]

There were clear T top bobbins too. Supposedly made to be used in tarbacks. They are really brittle and tend to crack easily.

There was at least one import company making T top bobbined humbuckers in the 70's-80's. . But the bobbins just have the T's on top, no other numbers, letters, symbols, or mold marks.

I have a few of the clear T-top bobbins that I bought off of eBay years ago. It was said they were found in the old factory. I think at one time I even posted a photo of them on the forum but the pic probably got wiped out with all the million other photos that got lost. So anyway the clear version did exist. I just bought them for the measurements mostly, I have never used them for any rewinds yet. If I did, I would have to charge extra also since I paid a premium for these, but I haven't needed to since all the original T-tops bobbins I have seen were black including the ones inside two different tarbacks I've rewound. I put modern bobbins in those. All that doesn't mean that Gibson couldn't or wouldn't have used anything they got their hands on in that time frame. It was interesting to see the zebra one that was posted.

By the way, I remember from my engineering days at Texas Instruments that when we were having a new injection mold made, and it was expensive, such as for a calculator case, the vendor would supply a few hundred or maybe even up to a thousand proof parts that were molded in clear. They did this as a matter of course. We would use them to verify dimensions, cosmetics, to test for failure modes, and make up test assemblies. I remember once we made up a whole bunch of clear cased TI-59 Calculators from those proof parts and gave them out as samples to selected important executives and customers. I'd bet that the clear proof parts were a common thing in those days.



I tried to upload a new photo, but had some issues with Firefox crashing, I hope it took okay. These do have the T and some mold marks but not the square in the circle hole for the lead wire.

[jack briggs]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]36931[/ATTACH]

makes sense, since they made clear-bobbined P90s in the 70s as well.


cheers,

[Jason Rodgers]

That's really interesting about prototype/test parts being made in clear. Makes sense, as you'd be able to see all sorts of imperfections and stresses and be able to make changes in your tooling before doing the real product runs in opaque colors. Is this still done, or are new technologies making those R&D-QC processes obsolete?

[SonnyW]

That's really interesting about prototype/test parts being made in clear. Makes sense, as you'd be able to see all sorts of imperfections and stresses and be able to make changes in your tooling before doing the real product runs in opaque colors. Is this still done, or are new technologies making those R&D-QC processes obsolete?

My experience with this was in the 1970's and at the time my job mainly had to do with circuit boards, more than with the molded parts. I haven't been involved with it since, so maybe someone else here on the forum can answer whether it is still being done.