Gibson T-Top ... Dating these ?

[Lyrebird Steve]

Hi Guys,

hoping someone can help with some info on Gibson T-Tops to more accurately date them.

I have
a Pat No decal with wooden a spacer (pre 74)
a Pat No stamped with wooden spacer (74 - 77 ?) .
a few Pat No stamped with white plastic spacers and no apparent date stamp on them (pre-77 ??)
a few Pat No stamped with white plastic spacers and a clear date stamp on them

When did the T-Tops change from single maple spacer to 2 plastic white spacers ?

[Lyrebird Steve]

Ok,

further research I've found that the plastic "Shaw era" spacers came in around beginning of 1980.

The T-Tops with the plastic spacers are transitional between T-Top and Shaw eras.

[copperheadroads]

Cool

[David Schwab]

I think the stamped patent numbers are Shaw pickups, no?

[Lyrebird Steve]

Yes, Shaw's were stamped with Patent numbers as well ... I believe the early ones also had ink stamps with format 13xMMyy (x: 7=neck, 8=bridge) MM=month yy=year (mostly 80)

Here are some pics of my T-tops showing progression from PAT decal to Shaw ... still looking for the date of spacer transition.

Pat Decal - Pre 74 (I believe 73 as I was told it came from a 74 LP)


Stamped - 76 (pre date stamping) wooden spacer still


Stamped - May 79 (78?? its hard to make out the last digit)... bit I'm told its a 9 (so there you go) - 2 x white spacers


Shaw Era - Stamped no-T with peephole bobbin, no ink stamp


Ink stamping of the dates on T-Tops began in 1977, so if anyone has a T-Top dated between 77 and May 79 I'd love to know what type of spacer(s) it has to narrow down the transition period a bit more .

Thanks

[David Schwab]

I had an early set of patent label pickups once. They had mahogany spacers.

Here's the baseplate from a Shaw pickup from the '81 LP Standard I used to have. Stamped and inked!



It used two white plastic spacers: