Value of Gibson patent number pickups.

[John Bell]

A friend of mine has a set of patent number pickups he may sell.With all the ridiculous prices on PAFs I was wondering what these go for.
TIA.

 

[Two-Octave]

There are several variables on those pickups that will affect value.Do you know if they are patent # stamped base or sticker base?

 

[John Bell]

Originally posted by Two-Octave
There are several variables on those pickups that will affect value.Do you know if they are patent # stamped base or sticker base?

Sticker.They came out of a 60's SG.

 

[Two-Octave]

The stickers are quite valuable,more so than the stamped pickups.

 

[Ian Anderson]

Pat # stickers were made up through the '70s. What you are looking for is the non t top pat number pickups. Those are basically PAFs with a shorter magnet and some were machine wound to a consistent 7.6 k starting in '64

 

[bigolcasino]

Originally posted by Ian Anderson
Pat # stickers were made up through the '70s. What you are looking for is the non t top pat number pickups. Those are basically PAFs with a shorter magnet and some were machine wound to a consistent 7.6 k starting in '64

The ones with two double black lead wires are basically short mag PAF's. The ones with the one black and one white lead are not; but still don't have T's on them.

Here's a good reference starting point going from PAF's to stamped T-tops:

57-59
Original PAF. Long magnet, PAF sticker (except for 57's that had no sticker), purple wire, black leads on both coils, nickel covers, phillips screws on base, ohms can run from low 7's to high 9's, black bobbins until 59 when Zebra (black bobbin is adjustable) and DW vary thru 60, 'L' shaped toolmarks on feet
60-61
Very last PAF. Short magnet, PAF sticker, purple wire, black leads on both coils, nickel covers, phillips screws on base, by 61 both bobbins are black again, toolmarks on feet
62-65
Early patent # sticker, short magnet, PAF bobbins, purple wire, some point in here lead wires change to one black, one white, nickel covers, phillips screws on base, ohms run pretty consistent at 7.5 from here on out.
65-67
Late patent # sticker with no T-top, orange wire, one white lead, short magnet, covers are now chrome, phillips screws on base,
67-75
T-top, patent sticker, no longer has hole showing wire, orange wire, short magnet, screws on bottom of base are now slotted

 

[TheAmpNerd]

What do the stickers go for?

I've got some on an old 335, that only
have "PAF" on them.

 

[Lex Luthier]

The stickers should say 'Patent Applied For', not just 'PAF'. 'PAF' is just an abbreviation, and is a trademark of Dimarzio.

 

[PAF]

Originally posted by bigolcasino
The ones with two double black lead wires are basically short mag PAF's. The ones with the one black and one white lead are not; but still don't have T's on them.

Here's a good reference starting point going from PAF's to stamped T-tops:

57-59
Original PAF. Long magnet, PAF sticker (except for 57's that had no sticker), purple wire, black leads on both coils, nickel covers, phillips screws on base, ohms can run from low 7's to high 9's, black bobbins until 59 when Zebra (black bobbin is adjustable) and DW vary thru 60, 'L' shaped toolmarks on feet
60-61
Very last PAF. Short magnet, PAF sticker, purple wire, black leads on both coils, nickel covers, phillips screws on base, by 61 both bobbins are black again, toolmarks on feet
62-65
Early patent # sticker, short magnet, PAF bobbins, purple wire, some point in here lead wires change to one black, one white, nickel covers, phillips screws on base, ohms run pretty consistent at 7.5 from here on out.
65-67
Late patent # sticker with no T-top, orange wire, one white lead, short magnet, covers are now chrome, phillips screws on base,
67-75
T-top, patent sticker, no longer has hole showing wire, orange wire, short magnet, screws on bottom of base are now slotted

One more - the Byrdland style, slightly narrower pole piece spacing, not sure if all of the same variants were in place through the years.

 

[bigolcasino]

Originally posted by PAF
One more - the Byrdland style, slightly narrower pole piece spacing, not sure if all of the same variants were in place through the years.

Yeah, I figured it was best to stay away from all the hollow/semi-hollow variables. That'd be just too big a can of worms to take this into.

 

[vortexxxx]

There is another variable if the covers are off. Some have the purple wire like the PAFs and some have the orange wire they used later on.