1979 Gibson T-TOP Humbuckers PAF pickups

PAT. NO. 2.737.842 engraved bottom

Date stamped MAY 16 1979 and APR 4 19879


Amongst Gibson owners the T-Top humbucker is, next to the PAF, arguably the most sought after 'vintage' Gibson pickup. Examples change hands for what can be quite a lot money ... so what's the deal with the T Top.


 
Well firstly the T Top (it was never called that by Gibson) isn't so much one pickup, as a family of pickups from around 1968 to about 1980/1981, that all happen to use the same type of bobbin. The old PAF bobbin with its distinctive little holes at one end was distinctly fragile, and when Gibson re tooled the bobbin they made it a beefier moulding stamped with a T on top of the mold. All T Tops are wound with 42awg poly wire and Gibson's production techniques were much more standardized in the T Top era than in earlier PAF days, so it's not surprising that most T-Top's came in around 7.5k bridge and neck.


 
The set for sale is a matched set of very hard to find early 1979 date stamped T-Top humbucker pickups with a perfect medium output of 7.82K (Bridge) and 7.74K Ohm.

Usually vintage T-Tops are just available as random single pickups, so here is a great opportunity to own an great sounding, matched DC resistance set, from the same 1979 / 1980 Gibson guitar, most likely a Les Paul Custom or ES with gold hardware.