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Does anyone know anything about the super 70's pickup in the roadstar II 140?

5K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  fab.regnaut 
I would imagine it's just a prequel to the V1. But you'd have to measure it. I've seen Japanese "V1" style pickups (slug and screw poles) from way back to the Roadstar days, and as recent as the SCA420 that basically are a match. Within manufacturing tolerances or slight variances, they're all standard output PAF types. Maybe slightly beefier if you consider +/- 8.5kohms to be a "hot" PAF. I have one Ibanez pickup here like those that measures around 15k. That's the only one I've seen that deviated from the typical V1 style. So measure your resistance and that will tell you most of what you want to know.

Your guitar could have been made in Korea, and I don't know if the lower line RS' had Japanese pickups in them or not. Some of the hardware was the same on Koreans vs. Japanese ones from those days. It wasn't like it is now, where there is a clear divide between the factories. They used to ship parts back and forth more than they do now. So if it's a Korean made pickup then who knows.

Either way, it's not a "first quality" pickup. Any suitable Duncan or Dimarzio would be an upgrade. The manufacturing on the Japanese pickups (if it is in fact Japanese) is great, but whether it's magnets, wire, or wind tension, something about them sounds a little lifeless when compared to a top grade replacement pickup.
 
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