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Original pickups on 1980 Special


Will1965

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Other than un-molested soldering:

Normal Dimarzios would be 7.5-8.0 kohm, Hamer's were slightly overwound to 8-8.5 kohm. But they vary and contrary to the popular myth there is no consistent resistance difference 'twixt neck and bridge pickup. By 1980 they would usually be plastic covered wire and triangular mounting ears on the base-plate. Cream bridge, zebra neck - after market zebra PAFs from this period are quite rare.

Other than this is would be hard to tell a Hamer from a 1980 Dimarzio.

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As a quick first check I would take the cavity cover off and check the solder joints for the P/Us, and the soldering in general, does it all look like it was done at the same time ?

If it all looks clean, undisturbed and tidy it's a good start.

To be really sure you would need to pull them out though and others here know much more than me about what to look for.

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Here are some pictures of my 1980 Sunburst serial number 0 1638 with original pickups with square legs and black sleeves that I bought from badgerdave:

IMG_2208.jpg

IMG_2210.jpg

IMG_2213.jpg

I am told that the metal braid sleeves were gone by late 1979, but I have the metal braids and square legs on my 1979 Sunburst serial number 9 0896.

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Other than un-molested soldering:

Normal Dimarzios would be 7.5-8.0 kohm, Hamer's were slightly overwound to 8-8.5 kohm. But they vary and contrary to the popular myth there is no consistent resistance difference 'twixt neck and bridge pickup. By 1980 they would usually be plastic covered wire and triangular mounting ears on the base-plate. Cream bridge, zebra neck - after market zebra PAFs from this period are quite rare.

Other than this is would be hard to tell a Hamer from a 1980 Dimarzio.

What Andrew said. It doesn't get much clearer on what to look for plus they were wired out of phase. The majority of the Sunburst/Specials and Standards from that era have had the pickups removed and changed out for Hotter pups. You can get period correct pups off ebay or other sites but to actually get a Hamer Set is about impossible. If you have an original Neck pup your well more than halfway there IMHO. Those are the hardest to find. Only 2 of my Vintage Hamers have had both original pickups and they sounded great.

Will what is the Serial # of your guitar?

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Here's another example, 0 2166, a later 1980 Special (late enough it has the checkerboard logo) with original pickups.

PC200088.jpg

PC200087.jpg

The two-conductor leads are covered in a black plastic and, as you can see, these have the triangle feet.

I can't remember the exact DC resistance (I have the numbers at home), but I do remember they were around 8.0 kΩ and the zebra was a little lower in resistance, but warmer sounding (the guitar came to me with the zebra in the bridge and creme in the neck and sounded much better that way).

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Here are some pictures of my 1980 Sunburst serial number 0 1638 with original pickups with square legs and black sleeves that I bought from badgerdave:

IMG_2208.jpg

IMG_2210.jpg

IMG_2213.jpg

I am told that the metal braid sleeves were gone by late 1979, but I have the metal braids and square legs on my 1979 Sunburst serial number 9 0896.

I want this guitar

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