Gibson has resurrected its cult classic T-Top humbuckers, offering the electric guitar pickups with the choice of black or white bobbins – and it makes a compelling modding option for anyone who is a fan of those early ‘70s Gibson tones.
These are wound to 1968 specs. Look closely at the pictures and you’ll see how they got their name, with the letter “T’ stamped on the top of the bobbins to show who’s installing them which end is up.
For fans of Michael Schenker – especially those with a Flying V in need of a pick-me-up – these might well be worth checking out.
When Gibson launched its Murphy Lab replica of Schenker’s black-and-white 1971 Flying V, it came with a megabucks price tag that left the majority of us with our noses metaphorically pressed against the glass.
But the Nashville-based guitar giant has just offered us a workaround, because the the T-Top humbuckers from that model are a much more affordable option, priced at $149/$$229 each. In theory, you could grab yourselves a 70s Flying V in Classic White, swap out its Tribute humbuckers for a pair of T-Tops, and tone-wise – vibe-wise – you’d be halfway there (don’t ask us about how much a black-and-white refin would be).
But the T-Tops are not just a Michael Schenker pickup. As Gibson notes, they are a Randy Rhoads pickup, an Angus Young pickup. Nancy Wilson of Heart, BB King, and Peter Frampton all played electric guitars with T-Tops, too.
Produced between 1966 and 1979, the T-Top was seen as a modern update of the OG ‘Patent Applied For’ humbuckers that gave early Gibson electrics their voice.
They were designed to be similarly versatile. But given that they ran a little hotter than the PAF, it’s no surprise that the players who gravitated towards them were rock players. Pete Townshend, Tony Iommi… the list goes on and it included one of the men who started it all, Chuck Berry.
The T-Tops are based around an Alnico V design, have two-conductor wiring, and they can be fitted at the neck or bridge position, and have an average DCR reading of 7.5k. As per their vintage counterparts, they are left unpotted.
Given that anything vintage and Gibson and out of production tends to be super collectible, it is no surprise that the original T-Tops became highly sought after, and Gibson rolled out the T-Type pickups as a next-generation version of the T-Top.
It’s the T-Types that you will find in the new Jake Kiszka SG Standard, for instance, or the Jim James ES-335. Gibson sells these too, with nickel housings and they are each voiced for the neck and bridge.
Find out more over at Gibson.
