PAFs - So I read that...

[Bezore]

I spent a good deal of time experimenting with various pickups and magnets. I wanted to figure out how they worked before I spent a fortune on pickups, since I'd spend about 700 dollars at this point. I set up a guitar as a test mule that I could swap in magnets without even removing the pickups.

It really comes down to your own ears and which magnet you think works best for you.
I find A2 to be sweet, but lacking in low end clarity. Partially demagnetized A5 in the neck is kind of where I'm at right now, but A4 in the neck has a cool sound as well. I have the A4 in the neck of my Lucille with an A5 in the bridge (for Cream stuff).

 

[Hector Arcadius]

Now if your argument is that todays A5 sounds more like yesterdays A4, then I'm all ears!!

My argument is that today's A8 sound like tomorrow's A5. Have I helped a little...? No...?

A3s for the win

A8 I'm telling you!

 

[korus]

"The pickups vary incredibly in 1959. Alnico II, IV and V magnets were common, often with different combinations in the same guitar. The Alnico V up 'till 1964 was isotrophic, meaning it can be charged in any direction, but in 1964 Alcamax also known as anisotrophic Alnico V became the industry standard : it's cast in a magnetic field and can only be charged in one plane."

Guitarist, UK magazine, issue 373 - Sept 2013, article 'The Real Deal' , page 83, words by "Over The Pond Guy" (OTPG) - 'his perspective on the hallmarks of the real thing...' (1959 Les Paul Standard)

(used without permission, but I hope they won't mind ...)

 

[voices]

...

In late '50s and early '60s, the very concept of "specs" and QC did NOT even existed. A p'up was a p'up was a p'up. The winding was made by women on minimum salary, the winding machines were serviced only when they broke down. They didn't even had counters, so every single bobbin was different than the other.


HTH,

I don't believe this to be true.
Please give a source for this information.

 

[Bluefox]

From "Gibson Guitars, Ted McCarty's Golden Era, 1948-1966", quotes from interviewed employees:
"The employees during the early to mid sixties did not know how to make a low quality product. They were trained to build quality and that is what they did." page 157
"To stay on a job for 25 years you need to like it. Gibson was a wonderful place to work. It was like family there. Everyone knew eeryone. But it wasn't the same after Ted McCarty left in 1966...
At one time I wanted to get a guitar. So I asked Julius Bellson, what kind of Gibson guitar should I get? I don't want a cheap one. Julius said. laughing, Harriet, Gibson doesn't make a cheap guitar." page 164
"I was always happy with the pay; the pay was pretty fair. I never thought about leaving Gibson. It was a pretty place to work." Page 165
"Gibson was one of the nicest, most decent factories to work at. I never considered leaving Gibson." Page 169
"I worked at Jolly Kid Togs children's Wear. (at Gibson) $ 1,65 an hour was my starting pay. I was making $0.85 an hour ay Jolly Kid. $1.65 was indicative of industrial pay in the city (in 1955)." Page 209.
So, according to this book, quality was priority and salary was good, ranging from $0,80 to almost $ 2,00 an hour, as a starting point depending on the job, up to $ 10,00-12,00 an hour when specialized. If an employee would exceed the established quota she or he received extra money.
From more than 30 interviews the portrait is of a factory where the pay was perceived as good, good enough to leave other jobs to apply for Gibson, the environment was friendly and everybody was proud of the quality of the products.
All agree that the change of attitude from quality to quantity occurred after 1965 and one of the reasons for McCarty to leave.