1953 Bridge PU?

[nick.s]

Hi and good morning!

would anybody of you knowledgeable folks be able to tell me whether this a real 1953 Pickup? I inherited the PU from a telecaster lover who recently passed away... thanks Nick

 

[Groovey Records]

email the photos to don mare or preeb see what they think.

Don can test it for you

Having the year on it seems bogus but I don't know

 

[UserNotAvailable]

i'm not the right guy here - i can't be 100% - the 1953 stamp looks suspicious
why would anyone stamp a plate 1953 ? - it devalues the unit - and raises eyebrows

 

[tonewoods]

i'm not the right guy here - i can't be 100% - the 1953 stamp looks suspicious
why would anyone stamp a plate 1953 ? - it devalues the unit - and raises eyebrows

So-ooo, without any added markings to draw your suspicion, is there any way for an expert to authenticate an early 50's pickup if you were able to personally inspect it?

Just really curious...

 

[UserNotAvailable]

hi- the vintage guitar dealers are the right ones to look up- Gruhn?guitars [email protected]

after closer inspection the pickups donuts around the magnets - and adjustment holes all look good -- so does the cloth wire-
it does show the right features to be real, but
the base plate stamp - i dont get it - cause, imho: its trying to hard to be a "1953"

I have seen replicas that also nail the features too.. so I decline to be a vintage authenticator, sorry

 

[T2tele]

'53 pickup?

What looks suspicious to me is… comparing the oxidation/rust on the top of the magnets, doesn’t match the bottom of the pickup. The solder joints look too clean/new, the grounding plate looks like it’s been re-soldered, the wax buildup on the inner radius of the plate looks new/recent, the white wire should be yellow and the “1953” stamped grounding plate isn’t right?

I have re-wound and tested a number of ’51 through ’54 Tele bridge pickups; this looks to me like an attempt at a vintage look or a rewind… with the wrong wire reattached??

The only way to tell for sure is to test the magnets and wire/insulation in an SEM/EDX spectrometer; this would validate the age of the pickup.

T2

 

[nick.s]

the 1953 stamp looks suspicious
why would anyone stamp a plate 1953 ? - it devalues the unit - and raises eyebrows

it is not about value... it would simply be nice to know where this PU comes from.

but you are probably all right... the black book has no such stamp on any of the pictures PU's... I should have checked before

thanks anyway...
that's what makes this place a great place!!

 

[arrowheadmp]

Hi and good morning!

would anybody of you knowledgeable folks be able to tell me whether this a real 1953 Pickup? I inherited the PU from a telecaster lover who recently passed away... thanks Nick

If you don't mind me asking, was the tele lover named Joe? If so, I believe I now own the pickup you were talking about. For awhile it didn't read on a multimeter, but still played.. sounded ethereal.. out of this world.. slightly microphonic.. lol you could talk into it. it's got some letters on the bottom bobbin that way SD 53 83 you can only see if you remove the black wrapping thread... and of course the 1953 on the bottom. I used it for years and it finally died. I just brought it back to life... Reads under 5.5 at the moment. Did you ever find out about the pickup in more detail?

 

[arrowheadmp]

If you don't mind me asking, was the tele lover named Joe? If so, I believe I now own the pickup you were talking about. For awhile it didn't read on a multimeter, but still played.. sounded ethereal.. out of this world.. slightly microphonic.. lol you could talk into it. it's got some letters on the bottom bobbin that way SD 53 83 you can only see if you remove the black wrapping thread... and of course the 1953 on the bottom. I used it for years and it finally died. I just brought it back to life... Reads under 5.5 at the moment. Did you ever find out about the pickup in more detail?

 

[hamerfan]

If you don't mind me asking, was the tele lover named Joe? If so, I believe I now own the pickup you were talking about. For awhile it didn't read on a multimeter, but still played.. sounded ethereal.. out of this world.. slightly microphonic.. lol you could talk into it. it's got some letters on the bottom bobbin that way SD 53 83 you can only see if you remove the black wrapping thread... and of course the 1953 on the bottom. I used it for years and it finally died. I just brought it back to life... Reads under 5.5 at the moment. Did you ever find out about the pickup in more detail?

The label SD 53 83 indicates a 1953 Model pickup by Seymour Duncan made in 1983. Hope that helps.

 

[SPUDCASTER]

Now it looks like we've determined it's not an actual '53.

When in the 50's did Fender switch from the zinc baseplate?

 

[hamerfan]

Now it looks like we've determined it's not an actual '53.

When in the 50's did Fender switch from the zinc baseplate?

Zinc plated steel baseplate until early'51, then copper
plated steel (.05" thick)

Pickups specifications, Fender , Gibson, etc..

A page devoted to the different construction factors of winding pickups, and how they affect the pickup's tone.

skguitar.com

 

[dasherf17]

hi- the vintage guitar dealers are the right ones to look up- Gruhn?guitars [email protected]

after closer inspection the pickups donuts around the magnets - and adjustment holes all look good -- so does the cloth wire-
it does show the right features to be real, but
the base plate stamp - i dont get it - cause, imho: its trying to hard to be a "1953"

I have seen replicas that also nail the features too.. so I decline to be a vintage authenticator, sorry

I'm just curious if it wasn't personally marked for reference...
I had a habit of doing that with records and CDs...hard to sell them later...

 

[Full-Tilt-Tele]

Those 'Cloth' insulation covers, tells me it's an early model P/U...

 

[Arfage]

'53 pickup?

What looks suspicious to me is… comparing the oxidation/rust on the top of the magnets, doesn’t match the bottom of the pickup. The solder joints look too clean/new, the grounding plate looks like it’s been re-soldered, the wax buildup on the inner radius of the plate looks new/recent, the white wire should be yellow and the “1953” stamped grounding plate isn’t right?

I have re-wound and tested a number of ’51 through ’54 Tele bridge pickups; this looks to me like an attempt at a vintage look or a rewind… with the wrong wire reattached??

The only way to tell for sure is to test the magnets and wire/insulation in an SEM/EDX spectrometer; this would validate the age of the pickup.

T2

Also, a lot of guys like to "fix" things, make changes to the way they think they "should" be. So it would be no surprise if it was authentic, except that year stamp, that's the first one I've ever seen. The guy who left it to him may have told him the story behind it too, but he hasn't said.

 

[dasherf17]

Hi and good morning!

would anybody of you knowledgeable folks be able to tell me whether this a real 1953 Pickup? I inherited the PU from a telecaster lover who recently passed away... thanks Nick

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...how old was your friend who passed away? It may help determine if he was a hobbiest tinkering with things...
Let's not forget, guys, this was inherited...

 

[Retsoor]

I say it's a repro. Note the 6.60 ohm writing and the fairly clean copper in that area. It makes me think that somebody wrote that, and then taped over it, and then 'aged' the entire pickup.

 

[SPUDCASTER]

Zinc plated steel baseplate until early'51, then copper
plated steel (.05" thick)

Pickups specifications, Fender , Gibson, etc..

A page devoted to the different construction factors of winding pickups, and how they affect the pickup's tone.

skguitar.com

Thanks, just wondering. My '51 has the zinc plated.

 

[Strarcries]

A close up of the photo looks like the number was originally 11153 and someone changed the 1 to a 9.

 

[blue norther]

Hi and good morning!

would anybody of you knowledgeable folks be able to tell me whether this a real 1953 Pickup? I inherited the PU from a telecaster lover who recently passed away... thanks Nick

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Could it be a old lap steele pickup with added baseplate and possibly wax potting?