what pickups are in a 1980 LS80?

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Bluefinger

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Hi,

Just out of curiosity ... what are the pickups that came in '80 LS80s? They are open coil zebras with adjustable pole pieces on both coils. Are those the original pickups anyway? They look exactly like the ones in the pic:

I am not too crazy about the look of open coil pickups on a Les Paul but "unfortunately" they sound so good that I will probably keep them ...

img_769141_25400254_0
 
i think theyll be gotoh if both bobbins have adjustable pole pieces
likely original..
 
Hi Bluefinger,

For 1980, the LS-80 had Goto pickups, with zebra bobbins and nickel covers. It was the only model with Zebra and the only model with covers in general production - in 1980 model lineup.
The LS-200 in 1980 also had covers but was 'order-only'.

Peter mac
 
Peter Mac said:
Hi Bluefinger,

For 1980, the LS-80 had Goto pickups, with zebra bobbins and nickel covers. It was the only model with Zebra and the only model with covers in general production - in 1980 model lineup.
The LS-200 in 1980 also had covers but was 'order-only'.

Peter mac
Click to expand...

hmm ... there are no nickel covers and they have adjustable pole pieces on both coils so the covers wouldn't even fit. I have googled a little and these pickups appear on other guitars as well. I think the guitar came this way.
 
Have to get 50 mm. covers avalaible through some japanese part retailers as Gotoh, those would fit. If not then regular USA 49'2 mm. pole to pole mesurement.
 
Who sells covers with dual row screws?
I have black covers from Super-70 pu, dual row opened that would fit, but they are not nice
 
Hi guys,

Again they did come with covers. Only one side of screws were adjusted to pass through the holes in the cover. The other 6 were adjusted down to become the bungs.

They used the Goto till around 81/82 when a single sided zebra was released.

Peter Mac
 
There is a reason for the covers and why people remove them.
With a cover on, the magnetic field is drawn away from the strings making them a little weaker but providing better tone and less natural distortion.

By removing the covers, the bobbins can be adjusted closer to the strings thus increasing the distortion, but losing tone and sometimes causing the strings to go out of tune constantly (depends on the strength of the magnets.)

Gibson PAF's had impedances of 7.0 - 8.1 ohms. Patents had 8.0 - 9.0 and some after market pups have a whopping 14.0 ohm+.

If your pups are sounding great and you want a cover on, measure the distance between the poles and string, When the covers are on, adjust the cover to be level with the surround and adjust the poles to the heights previously measured for each string. For balance, the poles should be staggered slightly.
 
Jim Rolph do prefer no covers on his pickups Peter so I see why.

I always though all LS-80s 78-80 had Goto covered pups but I have seen a lot of them without them. Zabras have a great look to me,I like them.
 
Does anyone know the specs on these? Like, are they alnico or ceramic etc
 

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