What year did the bobbins change from the ones use on PAFs?

[belwar]

Does anyone know what year gibson changes the Bobbins on the PAF pickups? Were they the same bobbins from 1955 to 1963 or later?

Also does anyone know if the Base Plate of the the early 60's pickups are the same?

belwar

[RedHouse]

Not to be a smart-arse, but do you mean the pole spacing? ...or the material type? ...or the magnets? ...or...

I believe the 1.937"/49.2mm (PAF) style pole-spacing changed in the mid 70's to the 50mm/1.96" spacing, and then the "Bridge" spacing came later due to the "Nashville" bridge which I believe was the same as the "F" spaced types (53mm/2.08")

"Vintage" (pre-74?) Gibsons and the repro's like the Gibson Historic series R7, 8, 9, 0, all have the 1.937"/49.2mm (PAF) types and IIRC most 80's-98's have the 50/53mm types.

[David Schwab]

Were the "T tops" the same bobbins as the PAF's? I know they changed with the Shaw pickups in 1980.

[belwar]

Not to be a smart-arse, but do you mean the pole spacing? ...or the material type? ...or the magnets? ...or...

I believe the 1.937"/49.2mm (PAF) style pole-spacing changed in the mid 70's to the 50mm/1.96" spacing, and then the "Bridge" spacing came later due to the "Nashville" bridge which I believe was the same as the "F" spaced types (53mm/2.08")

"Vintage" (pre-74?) Gibsons and the repro's like the Gibson Historic series R7, 8, 9, 0, all have the 1.937"/49.2mm (PAF) types and IIRC most 80's-98's have the 50/53mm types.

That's not a smart ass question at all.. Thats a really good question on which I should have been more specific. I guess to be more specific I would ask this.. Are the bobbins on a 1965 pat sticker humbucker going to be the same as the bobbins on a PAF? See THIS auction for an example..

I'm concidering duplicating the Bobbins of a PAF but don't want to spend a fortune on a PAF. If the bobbins were the same that would save me a fortune.

belwar

[David Schwab]

Those bobbins are in bad shape. You can't see it well in the photos, so I adjusted and sharpened them in Photoshop.

The screw bobbin seems all scared up, and they both looks like they have either been exposed to some chemical that affected the plastic. Look at the fingerprint on the slug bobbin.

They look real though, and even have a mahogany spacer like the set I used to have.

[belwar]

So the question is, would those bobbins be the same as the ones on the PAF's?

[David Schwab]

So the question is, would those bobbins be the same as the ones on the PAF's?

Probably. But the bobbins are scared up, so what good are they for use in reproduction?

[David Schwab]

From the thread with PAF pictures..

Here's a PAF



And here's a "late 60's" T top:



So I'd say since the patent label pickups aren't the T tops, they are probably the same as the PAF bobbins...

[belwar]

Well I have not come across a perfect set of measurements anywhere. I would probably 3D Model the bobbins (flaws included). I think a moulder would probably want a 3D model rather than a 40 year old bobbin..

I would think one could draw a perfect replica.. As long as you knew what you were looking for .. What are your thoughts?

I'm trying to find the cheapest way possible to get a bobbin that would be used on a PAF and I've had NO luck..

belwar

[David Schwab]

I don't know enough about this subject...

Possum would be good here... Dave, where you at?

He has some real PAFs and I think early patent label pickups.

I mean if you want the bobbins for dimensions, that would work.

[dpm]

I've never had plastic moulds made, but I do get quite a bit of custom hardware machined. My advise is to find the people you're going to have make them, then find out what kind of information they like to work with. If it's a 3d model you'll find certain places prefer to deal with certain file types and software versions, other places prefer accurate 2d drawings, or a combination of both. If you can work in the same software application the manufacturer uses you avoid the possibility of issues with file exports not translating properly. What that means to you is lower cost and an easier process overall.

[RedHouse]

Interestingly, those wishbone shaped cracks extending from the 3rd and 4th screw poles in this pic look very much like a set of black-bobbins I got from Stew-Mac some time ago which I thought had experienced some trauma en route (shipping) or something, maybe they were intended to be there...

Stew-Mac bobbins:



Hmmmm....

Personally I don't give a toss, but it is noteworthy.

[David Schwab]

I've seen the same marks on Stew-Mac bobbins. I assumed they aren't cracks, but some artifact from the injection molding process.

[Possum]

....

Yeah my '62 patent has those same marks, they are some kind of flow marks, at first I thought I'd been ripped off but pickup is genuine, I think these show up on the later patent sticker ones, the pickup in the photo with that wire color seems to be a late model I'm betting...

[Joe Gwinn]

I've seen the same marks on Stew-Mac bobbins. I assumed they aren't cracks, but some artifact from the injection molding process.

Exactly. It usually means the the plastic resin being injected was not quite hot enough and/or the injection pressure was insufficient, so the plastic flowing around an obstruction (the screw hole in this case) didn't quite weld back together.


I first ran into this in the late 1970s, in a washing-machine sized removable-pack 40 megabyte disk drive made by Control Data Corp (CDC). Each disk pack had a plastic spinner on top of the removable assembly, which was a pack of seven or nine 14" diameter platters. The spinner was there to give the printing a home, was about 6" in diameter, and was held to the hub by four machine screws. The pack spun at 2400 rpm, day and night. CDC got a bad batch of spinners, and we got our share. You could see the lines where the plastic didn't quite knit back together while flowing around the screw holes, but we thought nothing of it. One fine day, the spinner broke apart with a terrifying bang-squeal-bang-bang-screech-...., and the young female programmer standing near dove for the power switch fearing that it was all somehow her fault. Everything in the disk chamber was destroyed, the platters were dented, and we found plastic rubble everywhere in the cabinet. When we called CDC, they immediately and without argument agreed to fix the drive at their expense, if we paid travel expenses, which we did.

So, the moral of the story is to make sure that those bobbins don't rotate too fast too long.