How are the pickups constructed in a Gibson-Johnny Smith, Firebird, Deluxe Humbucker?
The pickups all use the same bobbin configuration with both coils wound in the same direction. Gibson used a smaller injection molded bobbin made of a natural colored nylon with a slot instead of individually spaced stud and adjustable pole pieces. Here are some of the various design specifications for the various models. Johnny Smith: 6 adjustable pole pieces, ferrous bottom plate, bar magnet fits into the slot of the non-adjustable bobbin. Firebird: 2 bar magnets fit into the slot of each bobbin, ferrous shim underneath to couple the 2 opposite magnetic fields. Deluxe: 6 adjustable pole pieces, ferrous bar in non-adjustable bobbin, bar magnet underneath to couple pole pieces and ferrous bar. (similar to the Epiphone style pickup construction). Some inside information on Johnny Smith the great jazz player whom the Gibson Johnny Smith was named after. I was told Johnny would remove the adjustable poles in his pickup to record and do live performances. He apparently didn’t like the soun
