Musicians Roadhouse

I was down at my parents' house today picking up some furniture they were giving us. My mother also gave me some boxes of stuff of mine that she had in storage. Inside one of the boxes was a set of pickups. When I saw them, I remembered what they came out of. They were in a Gibson Custom Shop XPL from the early '80s (still kick myself for trading that guitar... ). I had them swapped out for DiMarzio SDs. I was surprised I still had them. They must have been in storage for over twenty years. Anyway, I tried to do some research and there is confusion as to what they are. T-Top? Shaw? Early 498? They have the Patent Number 2737842, which is for a Gibson bridge and tail piece.

Here are some pics:

After further review, they might be Dirty Fingers. The twin set of screws in the bobbin lead me to believe that...

Hate it when that happens. I was going to say 496/500T ceramics.

I put a meter on them. One reads 15.96 and the other 16.86. Those are some pretty high output pickups, no?

Hell yes, those are hot for sure, not Gibson pickups.

Did a little more digging... They are Gibson PUs, as evidenced by the stamped patent number. I believe they are Dirty Fingers from the early '80s. DFs were a "super humbucker" Gibson made (and has reissued) with insane output, so the 16 ohm readings are accurate for that model.

Two things I read but can't substantiate:

1) The cream coils are not as common as the black coils

2) John Sykes may have had a set of DFs in his LP Custom when they recorded the self-titled Whitesnake album.

Anyway, I might spin them in my LP Standard, as I think the Duncan Distortion I have in there is a little tired.