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I definitely heard Pete talk about the PAF dump. Gibson moved on to another pickup design and was promoting it. Pete said there were to factors that led to burying them. The first was that they were not going to put them in new production, and the second was the boxes of PAFs took up shelf space. They were put in a pit in a dump Gibson used. Pete would have told me if he kept any, and he did not. However, there were a lot of billets and damaged guitars that Pete and other employees took home, presumably for firewood. I mentioned before my 15 year old bandmate got a LP ebony Custom that was sawed in half due to some defect. They put it back together at home with dowels and glue. The mother worked in finishing, so this became an ebony. It was a beautiful guitar. Pete Moreno had a ton of guitar wood and metal parts. He kept his shop warm with wood discards from Gibson and Heritage. When Pete died his son managed the estate but didn't know much about guitars. I believe he sold it off as a lot. The really interesting collection Pete had was Marilyn Monroe memorabilia. He had tons of it in his basement. But there was no way I could take that stuff to my home. Another strange Pete Moreno story is that he got four upright basses from Western Michigan University that needed some work. They were being discarded. He fixed them then sold them.

Beauties!! Cherry Sunburst is such a classy finish

On a related subject, I recall Pete Moreno (RIP) telling me that when he was fairly new at Gibson they had him haul a pickup load of stuff out to the landfill in Kalamazoo. Included were multiple bulk packed boxes of PAF pickups that were somehow deemed unacceptable for production. @brentrocks may have heard him tell the same story. I shudder to think what these would be worth today.

He should talk less, play more!

Here you are... with it's H150 brother

That is a nice looking top! How about a pic of the whole guitar?

People will buy anything these days if it says it's limited edition. FOMO is a powerful driver of sales. "How can we sell a $130 pickup for $500?" "I've got it! We can put them in little cases like the guitars and call them a special edition." "Good idea! The boys in accounting will LOVE this one. How many can we make?" "We need to do a thousand to get a break on the little cases. Otherwise the cases will cost more than the pickups." "Perfect!"

Is it just me or did anyone else find it odd to be buying these pickups in a "Lifton Presentation Case" when you are (ideally) going to put the pickups in your guitar? So then what do you do with the case? When these came out I suggested to Larry Dimarzio that he put out a limited run of his 50th Anniversary Super Distorion Humbuckers in a fancy case and sell them for $1k a pair. He declined the idea.

Hey Sky Dog52, it's not mine yet but I'm gonna see if he'll take a look for me.

I had a 2002 with HRWs, so yes. Pull the pickups they are marked.

Heck Big Bob, I thought you were joking about the dot until Marty Grass chimed in. Was there a year range that they used HRW's? Could a 1996 have them?

They really seem to have pared down their lineup, though after the leadership transition and issues that's to be expected. When I put my H535 "back to stock" years ago, they still had the tailpieces, but now they seem to no longer be offered. The roller bridges are still relatively popular for use with bigsby and other tremolo style tailpieces. I've never really noticed a huge deficiency in sound quality from using the bridge, and still remember Vince Lewis saying he liked that bridge because he said it gave him a warmer sound. Still, I don't play my H535 much at all anymore. I've tried to love the stock Schaller Golden 50s for years, and they are great clean, but I really need to get around to having them replaced with something else.

They get a whole lot more "buyer awareness" from someone like Sweetwater having a dozen guitars available on their website. The biggest comment that I used to hear (after "never heard of them") is "I don't know where I can buy one". Their social media posts have to be helping a lot too. People search out stuff that they hear about. We're more "word of mouth" types, and "here, give this a try" people.

That version of the tailpiece and bridge was made by Schaller of Germany. They still sell the roller bridge, but I don't think the tailpiece is a current item. Thomann is a Schaller dealer. https://schaller.info/en/bridges/ If you want to change the style to a more common bridge and tailpiece, many people here swear by the Faber units. The trick it to make sure that you use the correct spacing.

It just became stable when i screw down the pole piece straight to the bottom end.... It still has the pinnacle API locking on the abr1 bridge Am not sure if i do want to try fixing it with a wooden dowel and retap the threads.... so far the pole piece are stable as solid being screwed down to the bottom end...

Hi. I am thinking about replacing the bridge and tailpiece on my H157. Does anyone know which make these are and where can I get replacements? (UK based if that matters)

555 classic’s usually had three piece necks and shipped with Seth lover pickups.

If the pickup has 2 height adjustment screws in the pickup ring on both sides of the pickup instead of just 1 adjustment screw on each side they are probably HRWs.

"makes my big toe shoot up inside my boot!' To paraphrase Little Richard

Suggest using an additional thumb screw to lock it to the top to prevent more rocking that could gubber the threads. Rocking torque will mess up your intonation. Best solution, replace both screws with a Faber steel studs and bridge and lock it down tight.

Hi peeps am concern about slight wobble on my H150CC bridge pole piece as i actually took out and back a few times now i realised even with the pole piece insert 2/4 (estimate) in length it wobbles abit as i gently rock the pole piece unlike the other side it was hard solid... So much that i have to to screw the pole piece till the end and its rock solid.... would there be a concern as i think the intial few thread on the body perhaps has worn... but visual check from the surface of the hole still look ok not enlarged thou lol.... Is this normal due to engineering factor when they taper the screw holes for the pole piece ?

That means it left the factory with HRWs usually. I've put HRWs into guitars and had the switch tips drilled and and sidemarker dot glued in, which is what Heritage did in the factory. Bob is right that the dot is a good indicator.

I've never heard a set of the '59s that I really liked. But I have had some good luck with the Seth Lovers and Dimarzio 36th Anniversarys. 36th Anniversaries are what the higher Zemaitis reissues shipped with, so I have had mulitiple sets, and I left them in two of my Zemaitis guitars and they are getting the job done. I swapped out the original Pearly Gates pickups that my newer H150 had in it, for some some Seths and I liked the Seths much better. I later swapped the Seths for a set of Duncan Custom Shop non potted Peter Green pickups (without the reversed magnets), and they sound great! But the best sounding low gain PAFs I've heard from Duncan is the lowly Jazz pickup which most people just use in the neck, I loved the Jazz bridge pickup, I got some killer tones out it with my Marshall amp...

I am assuming that even though the tuner is covering the brand, it looks like an H-530. This guy gets a nice smooth tone on those P-90s.