61 PAF w/ steel bobbin screws

[SJE]

But he is using traditional components. No one PAF represents all PAFs. Magnets, screws, wire, etc varied drastically from what I have seen. The good thing is that anyone making a PAF copy can do so much more consistently given today's manufacturing methods.

Well as the majority of the pickup makers use non-magnetic screws and that the Seth Lover patent states Brass screws . . . you would be safe to assume it is non-traditional to use steel screws!

Obviously some slipped through the Gibson net as this post demonstrates but I'd guess this was due to a lack of the correct screws at the time. These days in most parts of the world (UK included) they are available pretty much everywhere.

[JGundry]

Holmes told me he has the later molds, he altered them, the Shaw bobbins look alot like this pickup, the TTops were very different. He also told me that his pickup is no way a PAF repro and I probably know that anyway, which I do, having dissected and analyzed the metals.

The wiring is common for later Gibson products, I have early TTops wired like PAFs and latter ones wired with the ground at the opposite end of the plate. The hand made numbering to me says "prototype." I can't take the bobbins apart, there's nothing wrong with it, the magnet wire looks identical all the PAF era wire, the braided wire is 2 strand. The screws aren't thread cutters, I've never seen screws like those anywhere, I love the big heads and the flatness of the tops. I've never seen a Fralin so I can't comment on that, they sound really off the mark to me so not worth buying one to examine. Does anyone have a Fraloidbucker to check?

I have some of the Holmes bobbins that come from the Gibson mold and they look like Shaw bobbins except for a few details where the mold looks repaired. I have not seen a golden era Gibson pickup with those brass screws or with the ground soldered where that is. Certainly not one with plain enamel wire. When did Gibson start using crepe black tape? Does the back of the baseplate where the wire comes through the baseplate look like a Gibson? From what I can tell it has the wrong bobbins, wrong tape, wrong baseplate, wrong pole screws and wrong brass screws to be a Gibson. If I owned it I would unwind it.

[Possum]

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The crepe tape is obviously not orginal, put on when it was potted. Kind of pointless to pot taped bobbins. I wouldn't totally discount a Gibson connection, it could conceivably be a Shaw prototype. Holmes' bobbins really aren't much more than plain TTop specs without the T on top. The core is not totally solid but more like Burstbucker bobbins, but way better detailed.
I am pretty sure there were Gibson PAF stickered pickups right before the Shaws or congruent with them, I"ve seen some on Ebay that were 80's but not Shaws, maybe will try to snag one to examine if I see one again. I offered to trade for it, he still thinks in his mind its a Gibson pickup worth alot of money, but I wouldn't bet a dime on that one.....

[JGundry]

The crepe tape is obviously not orginal, put on when it was potted. Kind of pointless to pot taped bobbins. I wouldn't totally discount a Gibson connection, it could conceivably be a Shaw prototype. Holmes' bobbins really aren't much more than plain TTop specs without the T on top. The core is not totally solid but more like Burstbucker bobbins, but way better detailed.
I am pretty sure there were Gibson PAF stickered pickups right before the Shaws or congruent with them, I"ve seen some on Ebay that were 80's but not Shaws, maybe will try to snag one to examine if I see one again. I offered to trade for it, he still thinks in his mind its a Gibson pickup worth alot of money, but I wouldn't bet a dime on that one.....

This is a Holmes bobbin from a reworked Gibson mold (he does not use these now). I think the square hole on the bottom is part of the rework. If you compare this to a Shaw bobbin it is really close. This is not made from an old or even reworked T-Top mold IMO. A T-Top has the mold tab on the long edge of the flange these have the tab on the end of the bobbin flange.




I think what your photos show is a prototype Burst Bucker. The brass screws, pole screws with the the taper (if they have no slit) and the baseplates without the marks on the feet are totally consistent with a Burst Bucker. Even the keeper looks like one of my burst bucker keeper bars. The solder to ground and even where the braid is soldered to the base plate is like a Burst Bucker. Only the bobbin is different so maybe this is Gibson's first go at the Burst Bucker bobbin.

[Possum]

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I'll look over my BB and see if there's any similarities. The keeper is definitely NOT a BB keeper though. Your Holmes bobbin is different than the ones I have, mine are from when no one knew about him pretty much and my luthier couldn't give his pickups away. The guys who bought them from him almost all returned them for refunds :-) Funny how having some celebrity pimp your stuff suddenly makes it "great." Anyway the bobbins I have aren't anybody else's, possibly he made a change or maybe you have one of the Japanese ones?

[JGundry]

I'll look over my BB and see if there's any similarities. The keeper is definitely NOT a BB keeper though. Your Holmes bobbin is different than the ones I have, mine are from when no one knew about him pretty much and my luthier couldn't give his pickups away. The guys who bought them from him almost all returned them for refunds :-) Funny how having some celebrity pimp your stuff suddenly makes it "great." Anyway the bobbins I have aren't anybody else's, possibly he made a change or maybe you have one of the Japanese ones?

I have verifiable, 100% certainty that the bobbin photos I posted are from the Holmes reworked Gibson mold.

[Possum]

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I'll try to take some shots of my Holmes bobbin, its from his pickup that I took apart so no question there, maybe he changed the mold later on. I looked at my Burstbucker bobbins, they are nothing like the pix I posted, there are only two feed cutoffs on theirs and and they positioned them where holes are drilled.

This is really annoying, getting custom bobbins made is freaking expensive as you know, yet here is a really nice well made pickup that no one can identify. I wonder if it could be some Japanese product....