Ultimate Rhoads

I know Gibson made the super 74 humbuckers for the rhoads lpc but does anyone know if you can buy them just the pickups without buying the entire guitar?

dont think ive ever seen any.... it's sad but true...

I regularly check the Gibson website to see if you can buy the 74 pickups - but alas nothing mentioned yet. The moment you can - Id be replacing the DiMarzio's in my Les Paul with them.

Axeman1956 wrote:dont think ive ever seen any.... it's sad but true...

yep, I'vw been looking for these since the guitar got released,
but to no avail.

Yawn! Didn't Randy use Seymour Duncans ('59 & JB)? I like them (In my Charvel strats) and PAF's from Gibson and Dimarzio PAF Pro's are pretty darn close too. The hard part is in the fingers (technique), heart (timing) and soul (touch).

hansolo wrote:Yawn! Didn't Randy use Seymour Duncans ('59 & JB)?

Duncan Distortion & Jazz as far as Duncans go.
For the time-correct Gibsons, it would've been T-Tops
even though those Norlin-era Gibsons Randy played is considered
pretty low-standard among Gibson-enthusiasts.

The 57 classics in my custom along with my jmp nails Randy's tone perfect

Stiltzkin wrote:

hansolo wrote:Yawn! Didn't Randy use Seymour Duncans ('59 & JB)?

Duncan Distortion & Jazz as far as Duncans go.
For the time-correct Gibsons, it would've been T-Tops
even though those Norlin-era Gibsons Randy played is considered
pretty low-standard among Gibson-enthusiasts.

This.........the pancake body is frowned upon by many of these experts . The T-tops are held in pretty high regard now days esp if they have a stickered patent # and not a stamped one. I assume on the rhoads vos and relic they have recreated them so I wonder how close they get to the old ones??......the vos I played sounded really really really good


there is a very cool 77 LP here http://www.austinvintageguitars.com/electrics.php .......(about half way down the gibson section).

Hey guys, I have the ability to wind pickups... in fact Ive made over 400 in just the last three years. (I also made Kelly Garni's bass... so you know who i am)

The Super '74 would be pretty easy to make, but there are a few changes I'd suggest, if you were going the custom route (Gibson don't sell them). The main one being wax potting, as Gibson didn't wax pot their pickups back then. The amps just didnt really have the gain that they do now, so it wasn't as important.
The magnets they used in the originals were thinner than usual, and tend to lose a bit of charge more easily if your guitar is placed too close to a speaker box etc. Using the regular magnet wont change the tone, just the reliability.

Maybe the members here would like to group together I could make a big batch of them? I can do nickel or gold (or open double blacks) and relicing too if you want that look.

Thanks for the heads up Darin!

correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the old T-tops use short Alnico5 magnets as
opposed to the Alnico 4 magnets for the Super 74's?

Stiltzkin wrote:correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the old T-tops use short Alnico5 magnets as
opposed to the Alnico 4 magnets for the Super 74's?

T-Tops were Alnico 5, yes.

How would the sound of your 74 supers sound differ from a Super Distortion?

dunno 'bout Rhoads56's pickups, but a regular T-top, or any pickup with PAF characteristics
doesn't sound anything like a Super Distortion.

Could some please tell me how a super d sounds different from a t top or a Tim shaw?

well, for one thing, the Super Distortion was design to distort the guitarsignal to the amp in an early stage,
since most players back then were using non-master Marshalls which would only get LOUD AS HELL when
they turned it up whereas the PAFs/T-tops were merely amplifying the signal.