1960’s S-100 Polara pickup questions

[BradHK]

I have a 1964 Polara that I saved from a person who buys vintage guitars, strips them down, and then sells off the individual components (you know who I am talking about but I thought I would be nice and not list names). I brought the guitar back to life with all original period correct components. However, the one item I have been unable to find are the original chrome single coil pickups. I have only seen them in some Polara and Slim Jim guitars of this era and I have never seen a set for sale.

I had Pete Biltoft (Vintage Vibe Guitars) make me a custom P-90 style set to fit the original pickguard. They are ALNICO 2, not too hot and sound great in this guitar. However, I keep wondering what the original pickups would sound like in this guitar. Does anybody have any specifications on the original pickups such as resistance, magnets, etc that I could use to have another set custom made that “reproduce” the originals as close as possible? Alternatively, if you have a set for sale let me know!

I know we all love photos at LTG so I will provide a brief into to the guitar and some pics:

The body is mahogany and the original finish is showing its age from what appears to be temperature changes and poor storage rather than play wear. The frets were non-existent and it had fret buzz above the 15th fret or so. However, it has the best neck profile out of all of the vintage Guilds I own with a wide nut (just over 1 11/16”) and a very full feeling neck. I decided to spend the money and had Glaser Instruments in Nashville refret and set up on their Plek machine. I used vintage width frets but a little taller than the originals. It now plays beautiful all the way up the neck with very low action. Definitely a keeper!

 

[mellowgerman]

I don't have specs for the original pickups, but man oh man does that look like a sweet player! Cheers to you on the restoration.

Always warms my heart to see somebody invest in old guitars to bring them back to life! I did the same with a big ol 1950's Gretsch jazzbox and it is an absolute pleasure to play and admire. I invested enough in luthier restoration to where I could have likely gotten a cleaner/playable specimen for a little less without having to wait 6+ months, but it just brings me so much joy to have saved such a beautiful instrument from being a wall-hanger or scrapped.

 

[BradHK]

I don't have specs for the original pickups, but man oh man does that look like a sweet player! Cheers to you on the restoration.

Always warms my heart to see somebody invest in old guitars to bring them back to life! I did the same with a big ol 1950's Gretsch jazzbox and it is an absolute pleasure to play and admire. I invested enough in luthier restoration to where I could have likely gotten a cleaner/playable specimen for a little less without having to wait 6+ months, but it just brings me so much joy to have saved such a beautiful instrument from being a wall-hanger or scrapped.

Thanks! I have a hand full of vintage Guilds that are “nicer” or more collectible (or both!) but this guitar has become my go-to guitar. There is just something about it that feels right

 

[matsickma]

There has often been a misunderstanding about the early Guild chrome single coil pickups. First off...they are not DeArmond. They were made by Guild. Pretty sure "The Bible" does say that but I believe Hans also commented on Guild being the manufacturer of these pickups in various threads. Apparently the earliest version of these pickups had white plastic tops and eventually migrated to an all chrome pickup cover. I saw my first plastic cover version of this pickup model just a few years ago.

It is my understanding these pickups are constructed like a small sized P90.
Also... I believe their is no difference between a neck and bridge pickup.

Finally...they are difficult to source but occasionally have showed up on eBay.
M

 

[Default]

If you take a look at my partial teardown thread, these are basically an adjustable height Franz-like pickup.

 

[hansmoust]

There has often been a misunderstanding about the early Guild chrome single coil pickups. First off...they are not DeArmond. They were made by Guild. Pretty sure "The Bible" does say that but I believe Hans also commented on Guild being the manufacturer of these pickups in various threads.

https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index.php?threads/soon-to-be-ngd-64-jetstar.192660/page-2#post-1758678

https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index...ngle-coil-teardown.208804/page-2#post-1973040

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[BradHK]

i just saw this new posting on Reverb. For those of you that have this pickup, does the back and wiring look correct for this pickup?

Guild Dearmond single coil p90 pickup c 1960’s Chrome t50 t100-d ce-100 slim Jim starfire original vintage USA | Reverb

Worldwide Shipping!Original vintage c 1960’s guild mini p90 style dearmond Rowe single coil guitar pickup, excellent reading, correct for your vintage “slim-Jim” t-50, t-100, t-100d, etc. Enjoy!!

reverb.com