Gibson low impedance pickup identification

amptech · July 29, 2013, 02:41:14 AM

I recently boght 4 low impedance pickups for repair on ebay. (maybe one of you guys in here?)
The seller claimed these were used picups from les paul recoring basses, but it did seem strange to have that many
broken low impedance pickups - as they rarely break open in the epoxy.

I know they are hard to repair, but iI have the tools for it and wind a lot of pickups. I found many interesting threads
and links here on the outpost, an did some extended research on their design.
When they arrived, I got two pleasant surprises.

1. They were new (or NOS, if you like)

2. Two of them were working, reading 10,5 ohms wich I believe is correct.

I contacted the seller, who informed me that they came from an ex gibson employee. That makes sense,
the two working units might have been rejected at the factory because there is some minor cosmetic flaws on them.

Now, I still wonder: There is only two wires on them - I've seen pictures of four wires here. So what is correct?
I have a brown and a red wire. Were the pups different on the recording bass and the triumph bass?
Any extended knowledge on this issue will be greatly appreciated. I'll post som pictures if needed.

Basvarken · July 29, 2013, 03:40:02 AM

If they have only two wires they're not bass pickups . They're guitar pickups.
They look similar but they are in fact a little smaller.
Lo-z LP Bass pickups have eight wires.

But the guitar pickups work great for bass too.

I have a lo-z LP guitar pickup in the bridge position on one of my basses and it sounds great.

You can see the difference in size between the bass pickup (neck pos) and the guitar pickup (bridge pos)

amptech · July 29, 2013, 03:55:08 AM

Oh, thanks!
I'll measure them and post a pic.
They are huge, didn't cross my mind that the guitar pups were also rather big.

I understand they sound quite good. Might have to get myself yet another eb bass project.

amptech · July 29, 2013, 03:57:21 AM

By the way, that bass you got there looks great.

Granny Gremlin · July 29, 2013, 09:10:25 AM

Those guitar pups have plenty of low end (there is a reason the Lo Z LPs had a passive bass tone control as well as the standard treble rolloff); and yes, only 2 wires (they also come in a gold plated version that was used on the early run of L5-S jazz guitars - later ones have standard humbuckers)

Some pics of that and the regular guitar version + info here (they don't allow hot linking): http://www.gould68.freeserve.co.uk/lprusers/lprusers.html

When I first started reading your post I thought you mighta been stuck with Melody Maker / SB series bass pups, which look similar (down to the surrounds) but are much tinier (and rather unimpressive single coils).

This:

VS this:

Basvarken · July 29, 2013, 10:18:09 AM

Although I don't think it is very likely you bought a set of these, I should mention that the very early Les Paul Signature Basses (semi acoustic) were equipped with lo-z guitar size pickups too.

Fellow Outposter Daniel aka Doombass scored one of these years ago

Note they have two wires too.

Grog · July 29, 2013, 10:38:19 AM

Years past, many ebay sellers thought they were selling bass pickups when in fact they were guitar pickups. Many NOS pickups were mis marked right from the Gibson warehouse where they must have been bought or auctioned off from. Side by side it is easy to tell them apart but from a photo the two types look identical. The bass pickup having eight wires is the giveaway.

Granny Gremlin · July 29, 2013, 10:52:01 AM

Quote from: Basvarken on July 29, 2013, 10:18:09 AM
Although I don't think it is very likely you bought a set of these, I should mention that the very early Les Paul Signature Basses (semi acoustic) were equipped with lo-z guitar size pickups too.

Fellow Outposter Daniel aka Doombass scored one of these years ago

Note they have two wires too.

I wonder - since the LP Sig bass and guityar use (what appears to be) the same pup (just that the guitar has 2 of them) - is this one just a custom colour guitar Lo Z pup or a weird bass one without all the coil taps (I'd still want it either way).

Basvarken · July 29, 2013, 10:59:02 AM

The very early LP Signature Bass had this pickup.

It inspired me to use a Gibson Lo-z Bass pickup for my Epi JCS

Grog · July 29, 2013, 03:18:16 PM

According to my parts book, there was only one pickup for both the guitar, (both bridge and neck pickup), and the bass. They all have the same part number 13649. I wonder if the earliest examples with the oval pickups all had the same pickup also??

I'll add a photo I took a while back of my spare pickups. It shows the low impedance guitar & bass pickups along side of each other. I think both of the guitar pickups were mistaken as bass pickups by the sellers. They were not being dishonest, they were just relaying what they were told. They likely would have been worth more as guitar pickups............

Basvarken · July 29, 2013, 03:39:04 PM

Quote from: Grog on July 29, 2013, 03:18:16 PM
According to my parts book, there was only one pickup for both the guitar, (both bridge and neck pickup), and the bass. They all have the same part number 13649. I wonder if the earliest examples with the oval pickups all had the same pickup also??

I'll add a photo I took a while back of my spare pickups. It shows the low impedance guitar & bass pickups along side of each other. I think both of the guitar pickups were mistaken as bass pickups by the sellers. They were not being dishonest, they were just relaying what they were told. They likely would have been worth more as guitar pickups............

Well maybe the parts book is talking about the LP Signature Guitars and Bass.
The Les Paul (Professional) Bass and Triumph always had the bigger size pickup with eight leads.
Even my prototype Gibson Les Paul Bass has big size stacked humbuckers with eight leads.

And yes you're right about the pickups easily being mistaken for bass pickups. The guitar lo-z pickups are quite big.
But anyone trying to install them in a Gibson Les Paul Bass is bound to find out they're too small to fit.

To make it even more complicated: the Japanese copies of the Gibson Les Paul Bass all have guitars size pickups...

Grog · July 29, 2013, 05:24:06 PM

I was referring to the rectangular low impedance pickups from the Les Paul Signature guitar & bass. These were referred to as Low Impedance Super Humbuckers in some literature. My parts book shows both pickups from the Les Paul Recording as having the same part number, but the Les Paul Bass had different part numbers for neck and bridge pickups. The cream color pickup is for a Les Paul Signature.

amptech · July 31, 2013, 01:31:49 PM

Quote from: Basvarken on July 29, 2013, 03:40:02 AM
If they have only two wires they're not bass pickups . They're guitar pickups.
They look similar but they are in fact a little smaller.
Lo-z LP Bass pickups have eight wires.

But the guitar pickups work great for bass too.

I have a lo-z LP guitar pickup in the bridge position on one of my basses and it sounds great.

You can see the difference in size between the bass pickup (neck pos) and the guitar pickup (bridge pos)

Ok, finally got a pic of it. It measures 98mm.
So, that´s the guitar pup size, then?

Basvarken · July 31, 2013, 02:23:16 PM

Absolutely. (The Bass pickup is 110mm)
Plus the red and brown leads are a dead giveaway.

amptech · August 01, 2013, 12:54:01 AM

Thanks a lot, guys!

Anyway, there is no need for saving one of them for a new project,
thinking of a mid positioned eb0. Wasn´t there a chopped up ´69 on ebay now?

I´ve already explained to my wife that this pickup needs a project, and that she needs not worry
because selling the other three pups will finance the body.

Aah, summer...