Greco pickup identification?

[Bubblewrap]

Hi guys!

I?ve got a little pickup problem for you/us all to try and solve. The pickups are from a Greco Super Real SA-900 (ES-335 copy) and the serial on the headstock implies that the guitar was made in 1980. According to the catalogue from that year, the guitar should come equipped with PU-2 pickups. However, when I googled PU-2 pickups I found that those pickups (usually?) came with the model name etched/stamped into the base plate, like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Greco_Maxon_PU-2.jpg

Being a Japanese pickup, I take it there?s always room for interpretation

Now to the details:
- neck pickup gave a reading of 8.06 with a multimeter, measured using a short cord from the output jack
- bridge pickup reads 8.07 using the same measuring technique
- both pickups have braided wire, a wire hole in one corner and some potting wax residue on the base plate
- both pickups have the same serial 210214 stamped on the base plate, which I?ve interpreted as Feb 14th, 1981. Feel free to correct

So what do you think? I take it these cannot be Dry-Z?s, because of the lack of the ?Z? stamps, but is there a way to confirm these as PU-2?s?

Neck pickup:

Bridge pickup:

 

[Freebird]

Not all PU-2 were stamped. Since it was an SA-900 from 1980 and they are stamped with a 1981 code they may not be original. However, that said, maybe the they are and the guitar and pickup date codes are just overlapping.

 

[Reborn Old]

I think these are probably U-1000 or U-2000 pickups thanks to the date code, resistance values, braided wire and lack of engraved base plates.

I would look at or post a pic of solder joints on pots to see if they have been resoldered, as confirmation pickups were swapped.

To determine if pickups are U-1000 or U-2000, you would need to measure continuity of a magnet.
Many U-1000's had ceramic magnets that would read as open. If they had Alnico 8's they would read 0 ohms. You would need a gauss meter to determine Alnico magnet types.

If they are U-2000's, both U-2000 and PU-2 resistance values are similar, and both use Alnico 5 magnets. U-2000's would be closest to PU-2 tones, but frequency ranges might differ slightly.

PU-2's did briefly feature inked model numbers on back plates instead of engraved ones, but these would have had earlier Maxon date codes.

 

[Bubblewrap]

I think these are probably U-1000 or U-2000 pickups thanks to the date code, resistance values, braided wire and lack of engraved base plates.

I would look at or post a pic of solder joints on pots to see if they have been resoldered, as confirmation pickups were swapped.

To determine if pickups are U-1000 or U-2000, you would need to measure continuity of a magnet.
Many U-1000's had ceramic magnets that would read as open. If they had Alnico 8's they would read 0 ohms. You would need a gauss meter to determine Alnico magnet types.

If they are U-2000's, both U-2000 and PU-2 resistance values are similar, and both use Alnico 5 magnets. U-2000's would be closest to PU-2 tones, but frequency ranges might differ slightly.

PU-2's did briefly feature inked model numbers on back plates instead of engraved ones, but these would have had earlier Maxon date codes.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate your effort.

I need to look into taking pics of the pots and solder joints. I?ve never owned a semiacoustic before so the process of getting a pot out is beyond me at this point. Perhaps it isn?t as hard as it seems once you put your mind to it

Anyhow I?ll post pics if and when I get it done.

 

[Reborn Old]

Unthreading one pot nearest the F hole would probably be good enough,
or earier yet, insert a small mirror through the F hole, if you have one that's small enough. A flash pic would probably be required if using a mirror.
The best method I found for removing sticky volume control knobs was levering them off with a pair of 180* opposed spoons, that rest on a towel or sock, in order to protect your guitars finish.
Using methods that don't exert equal pressure on each side can crack knobs.

 

[Bubblewrap]

Thanks for the advice, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

Here's a picture of the volume pot for the bridge pickup:



The serial on the pot is 304072. I read somewhere that the first number indicates the value of the pot, which would mean this is a 300K pot? Other than that I think the soldering looks original, or at least untouched. There's also a capacitor (Fujicon 0.022) between the volume pot and the tone pot
(you can see some of it in the picture, bottom right).

 

[Odin39]

Hello,

Sorry for hijacking this thread but i thought it would be better to ask here than to start a new thread.

I have a similar problem id:ing pickups from a 1980 egc800 super real. These should be pu-2s but they have no engraving on the baseplate. I asked the guys over at mylespaul.com and was told that if it had an alnico magnet it should be a pu-2 but i wanted to check with you guys aswell as you seem to have some more info. So...what do you think?

 

[muccax]

as wolfman said .. look at the magnets ,,, alnico magnets ,,,, is only in the highend pickups ... ceramic are in the lower models
all the best
otto

 

[Odin39]

Ok great! Two people telling me the same thing is good enough . Sorry if i come out as a pain about this but i want to be as certain as i can be. Guess its time to be less anal about this and just enjoy them pickups!

 

[muccax]

one thing i know about MIJ ..... they never stop to surprice me ....
and it is only when they put a sticker on the pickups from 1982 to 1985/87
you can tell what pickup it is ... before 1982 ,, not easy if they dont dont have pu 2-u 3000-u4000 (just to name a few i have seen ) stamp on the back of pickup
but only the lower models have ceramic and the higher models have alnico
i have a few (+20) greco ... and have seen UD -u 1000-u2000 -PU2 -DRY 1982 -cheap tricks ...
and all the lower model have ceramic magnets ... does not mean the dont sound good ,,, just they used them
all the best
otto