Stuck on deciding which pickups for my 3-pickup LP

[freefrog]

As the tarback is a series vii, they run a bit hotter with the bridge being at 8-9k and the middle/neck a little lower. Think it would sound okay with it being in the bridge?

Sorry, I hadn't seen your question.

if memory serves me, Gibson mounted low DCR TarBacks in both positions of 76 Explorer so I'd certainly try in bridge position the TarBack that you've now in the mid slot. Not saying it's the solution but it's worth to be tried to me.

 

[freefrog]

I would say yes, I don’t think they were made different for bridge/neck in the early ‘70s?

The 3PU Custom whose head is shown in my avatar has three stricty identical T-Tops (measured DCR and inductance: 7.5k, 4.2H)...

In order to add possibly helpful ideas to this topic, a few additional observations on T-Top alternatives:
-Gibson T-Types are not exact repros of original T-Tops for various tech reasons that I won't list here but these small differences might be a bonus for bridge position.
-If money is an issue, an humble Duncan "Jazz" SH2 (neck) can give a decent T-Top clone once fitted with a short magnet. Another potentially inexpensive alternative is the Schaller "Golden 50s" which is in fact a German variation on the T-Top recipe (Schenker had it in his V for a while and I had this PU in the neck slot of a LP decades ago: it had the readings and tone of a T-Top)...
-Those who want T-Top clones often opt for a ReWind pickup or a Manlius (winder from NY who also offers TarBack clones, if memory serves me).

About other pickups evoked above:
-IME, a Tim Shaw is more or less a T-Top with different bobbins and a longer magnet of a different alloy. I've measured once an uncovered double cream Shaw whose DCR and inductance were exactly those mentioned somewhere above for T-Tops...
-Low resistance TarBacks are also close to T-Tops actually: they have no baseplate but are epoxied in their covers (hence their "tar back"), have a bar of magnetic steel under their slugs instead of a keeper bar under their screws and host magnets made from "Indox", which is a kind of ceramic. These specs make them more powerful and possibly a bit darker than T-Tops but these different models are not miles apart IME...

FWIW.

 

[LPTDMSV]

Another potentially inexpensive alternative is the Schaller "Golden 50s" which is in fact a German variation on the T-Top recipe (Schenker had it in his V for a while and I had this PU in the neck slot of a LP decades ago: it had the readings and tone of a T-Top)...

Low resistance TarBacks are also close to T-Tops actually: they have no baseplate but are epoxied in their covers (hence their "tar back"), have a bar of magnetic steel under their slugs instead of a keeper bar under their screws and host magnets made from "Indox", which is a kind of ceramic. These specs make them more powerful and possibly a bit darker than T-Tops but these different models are not miles apart IME..

I had Tarbacks in my 1980 Explorer - the bridge pickup measured 7.86KOhms and the neck pickup measured 5.45KOhms. At the time I didn’t get on with them, but back then I didn’t understand the significance of the 330K volume pots.

I agree with you on the Schaller Golden 50s, not far from the T-Top sound. They were fitted on a lot of early Heritage guitars and people take them out (because Schaller pickups are not considered hip/cool/mojo?) so there are bargains to be had.

 

[freefrog]

I had Tarbacks in my 1980 Explorer - the bridge pickup measured 7.86KOhms and the neck pickup measured 5.45KOhms. At the time I didn’t get on with them, but back then I didn’t understand the significance of the 330K volume pots.

I agree with you on the Schaller Golden 50s, not far from the T-Top sound. They were fitted on a lot of early Heritage guitars and people take them out (because Schaller pickups are not considered hip/cool/mojo?) so there are bargains to be had.

I wish I'd kept some Golden 50s on the shelf. :-/

And yeah, that underwound neck TarBack... my archives state one of these as measuring 5.2k only and an inductance of 1.9H: it's lower than a Strat PU!...

@f12: if your mid TarBack is a 5k something, let it in mid position, so, or try it the neck slot: a HB with an inductance of 1.9H would risk to sound a bit weak in bridge position... ;-)

 

[howlermonkey]

3 pickups?