Pickups - type

fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
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The earliest of the Early era saw three different pickups, commonly called the "Mickey Mouse", the "other Hagstrom" and the Hagstrom "Bisonic". There is no clear data indicating which pickups were used when. The Bisonic was used at the latter part of the Early era and in the Vintage era. A Guild humbucker was used in the 70's. The 90's reissue had a pickup that was similar in cosmetic appearance to the Guild humbucker and it is most likely to have been made by Duncan to specs based on the 70's pickups. The GSR pickups are cosmetically like the Guild humbuckers and it has been stated that they are original "vintage" pickups, presumably the 70's version. The Newark Street has a new pickup designed to recreate the Bisonic both cosmetically and sonically.

One way to distinguish between the '70's and '90's humbuckers is to remove the pickup and look at the back. The pole pieces protrude from the back plate in the '90's pickups but not the '70's.

There have been several attempts to recreate the Bisonic pickup, of which the "Dark Star" is most common. Cosmetically they appear like the Bisonic and are sometimes installed as a replacement for the humbucker.
 
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