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I saw these on eBay from a seller who recently inherited a bunch of his dads old guitars. Among his listings were a bunch of 60's Fender gear and pickups, then he had these listed as an 'Unknown Brand' Stratocaster set that 'needs rewind'.
Looking at his pictures, I noticed in particular that this wire looks like some of the old 'maroon-colored' Plain Enamel, so I thought, eh what the heck, they look old, I think I'll try 'em. They were on the expensive side for 'dead pickups' though.
Now after doing a bit of research, I'm starting to find that they look an awful lot like a lot of the early Strat pickups from 1964-1966, and it would make sense for these to be in that era, given the sellers other listings. My guess is that they were probably rewound a long time ago, and that whoever rewound these removed the original signature and date (ARGHHH!!)
Some things that looked good:
1. To ME, This Plain Enamel wire looks OLD. After comparing the color to some other 60's/70's Plain Enamel and some modern stuff- I'm pretty sure that's what is on this bobbin. Probably a rewind, but a vintage one at that.
Wire specs: .00285" (min), .00305" (max)
Pickup spec's (from the 2 that are working):
6.06k - South Polarity UP (was in the Middle pos.) - This is the Reverse Wound one - Still South UP
6.20k - South Polarity UP (was in the Neck pos.)
The other pickup looks to be about the same amount of turns, same wire, also South Polarity UP
2. The Black/White Lead wires look to be the same age. Very worn and somewhat stiff, definitely vintage
3. They do have really old-looking gray bobbins, with a natural patina on them. They are light gray in color
4. They were potted, and the potting material looks just like what Fender would have used at that time
5. There is a pencil-written signature on the back that looks very old - but it has no date. Signature reads 'BWP'
6. There are other markings underneath that signature, but they are far too faint to make out, even with a Hi-Res photo
7. There is no bevel on the gray bobbin around the height screws - an identifier for '64-'65 strat pickups (and post 70's)
8. I saw a listing on Reverb sell for $895 for a pickup identical to one of these in pretty much every way except the signature
9. The bevels around the magnets are definitely hand-cut, and not one of the newer Tone-Krap bobbins that are totally even and a bit more beveled than vintage pickups
Some things I'm concerned about:
1. The big red flag and reason I got these so cheap is that there are NO Dates visibly written on any of these in the set.
2. The next big red flag is that one of these is definitely 'Reverse-Wound' - it uses the same wire, so my guess is that all of these have been rewound ) :
3. The sides of the bobbin are very sharp and look laser cut - I've seen one other example exactly like this that sold for around $900 per pickup - but that was one listing of many. If anyone can verify whether this is authentic or not, that would pretty much be the nail in the coffin for me.
Most bobbins I've seen have a 'rough edge' going about halfway up the bobbin.
4. There are 'razor marks' around the edges of each bobbin - looks like from a long-ago rewind? Unfortunately this is on all of them ) : and pretty much guarantees that even if they are original bobbins, this is most likely not the original wire.
I'll post some better pictures once I get them uploaded to my computer.
I saw these on eBay from a seller who recently inherited a bunch of his dads old guitars. Among his listings were a bunch of 60's Fender gear and pickups, then he had these listed as an 'Unknown Brand' Stratocaster set that 'needs rewind'.
Looking at his pictures, I noticed in particular that this wire looks like some of the old 'maroon-colored' Plain Enamel, so I thought, eh what the heck, they look old, I think I'll try 'em. They were on the expensive side for 'dead pickups' though.
Now after doing a bit of research, I'm starting to find that they look an awful lot like a lot of the early Strat pickups from 1964-1966, and it would make sense for these to be in that era, given the sellers other listings. My guess is that they were probably rewound a long time ago, and that whoever rewound these removed the original signature and date (ARGHHH!!)
Some things that looked good:
1. To ME, This Plain Enamel wire looks OLD. After comparing the color to some other 60's/70's Plain Enamel and some modern stuff- I'm pretty sure that's what is on this bobbin. Probably a rewind, but a vintage one at that.
Wire specs: .00285" (min), .00305" (max)
Pickup spec's (from the 2 that are working):
6.06k - South Polarity UP (was in the Middle pos.) - This is the Reverse Wound one - Still South UP
6.20k - South Polarity UP (was in the Neck pos.)
The other pickup looks to be about the same amount of turns, same wire, also South Polarity UP
2. The Black/White Lead wires look to be the same age. Very worn and somewhat stiff, definitely vintage
3. They do have really old-looking gray bobbins, with a natural patina on them. They are light gray in color
4. They were potted, and the potting material looks just like what Fender would have used at that time
5. There is a pencil-written signature on the back that looks very old - but it has no date. Signature reads 'BWP'
6. There are other markings underneath that signature, but they are far too faint to make out, even with a Hi-Res photo
7. There is no bevel on the gray bobbin around the height screws - an identifier for '64-'65 strat pickups (and post 70's)
8. I saw a listing on Reverb sell for $895 for a pickup identical to one of these in pretty much every way except the signature
9. The bevels around the magnets are definitely hand-cut, and not one of the newer Tone-Krap bobbins that are totally even and a bit more beveled than vintage pickups
Some things I'm concerned about:
1. The big red flag and reason I got these so cheap is that there are NO Dates visibly written on any of these in the set.
2. The next big red flag is that one of these is definitely 'Reverse-Wound' - it uses the same wire, so my guess is that all of these have been rewound ) :
3. The sides of the bobbin are very sharp and look laser cut - I've seen one other example exactly like this that sold for around $900 per pickup - but that was one listing of many. If anyone can verify whether this is authentic or not, that would pretty much be the nail in the coffin for me.
Most bobbins I've seen have a 'rough edge' going about halfway up the bobbin.
4. There are 'razor marks' around the edges of each bobbin - looks like from a long-ago rewind? Unfortunately this is on all of them ) : and pretty much guarantees that even if they are original bobbins, this is most likely not the original wire.
I'll post some better pictures once I get them uploaded to my computer.
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