LTD 214 Vintage innards. G&B pup?

[Eilif]

Snapped a few pics when I opened up my LTD Vintage 214FL to swap in a set of geezer pups.

Was curious if anyone has any info on G&B pickups.

Here's the P. Ceramic?

Sorry about the dirty fingernails...
The J was an unmarked basic J, so I guess it might not even be G&B.

Despite both pics being marked "ESP Designed" on the covers the P halves were labeled "G&B 4" and "G&B 6"

Also, does this seem like a thin winding for a P or is this standard? IIRC, they measured 10.28k.

Regardless, the tone of the pickups was actually quite good, but not surprisingly the Geezer set is better. I'll be giving the P to my dad who is working on a double p telebass project. The J is destined for the TB classifieds.

Also, it's not technically pickups, but is this shielding only the J cavity usual?

 

[JustForSport]

They look like ceramic magnets, as they are cast, and usually not finished further,
as Alnico magnets are usually machined, and the markings are visible.
Besides, alnico magnets would usually be the poles, whereas ceramics are usually uased with steel poles (CS by EMG terminology, but just ceramic by others).

'P' sets are naturally humbucking, and 'J's are not, so they shielded the cavity for that- for whatever it helps, w/o another 'J' single-coil to help it.

 

[Eilif]

Thanks!
The lack of shielding make sense to me. I accidentally wrote "EMG designed" what they say is "ESP Desgined" I've corrected it above.

I also found one old post related to G&B saying that it's a rather large maker of OEM pups and that it doesn't necessarily mean that the pups are good or bad since they likely make a range of pups.

Any other info would be welcome.

 

[iain westland]

Was just looking at a set of pbass g & b pups as a holding marker until my p46 gets built. how did they sound?

 

[JustForSport]

From what I've come across, G&B pickups were OEM installs (like MightyMite-made) in a lot of (Korean?) made basses. Mostly mid/lower range models, but that's not to say anything about their quality, as the preamp was usually the weak link in the tone.

 

[Eilif]

Was just looking at a set of pbass g & b pups as a holding marker until my p46 gets built. how did they sound?

They Sounded quite good. I got them in a Vietnamese made fretless P/J. They had a really strong output and were very loud, but they didn't have the nuances or mwah that I wanted out of a fretless. My last one was a Carvin LB75F so I was a bit spoiled.

I replaced them with a set of geezers that were better and more nuanced and gave more differentiation in the various pickup selections. The Geezer P in particular was the biggest upgrade. Still, the difference between the two setups was not as big as I thought it would be. They may be replaced someday in my dad's double P telebass, but I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves them in forever.

Where did you see them for sale? Are there more?

 

[iain westland]

There's a set on evilbay, very cheap. Looked on the net and the firm produces loads of different types. A goto for low end basses from name manufacturers. Decided to get a pj set from 'powered by lace' as they can go into the 'hit n hope, right notes, random order, wrong song' bass i use in our 'play fast n loud, they'll never know what we played anyway' band. It also gets abused by kids

 

[alexander_gbass]

i have a vintage 214 natural ash (as seen in pic_ that bass is loaded with emg gzr p/j ... best move i ever made.. gutted the stock system the day i got that beauty.. no regrets.. now the b&g system.. they sounded good.. but i needed more growl.. and the emg gzr's gave me that.. love it

 

[Eilif]

I actually got the Geezers at the suggestion of alexander-gbass and some of the other folks on the Geezer thread. I think the Geezer P/J set and the free solder-less wiring and pots harness it includes is one of the great bass pickup bargains out there. Hard to beat at $140 for the whole package.

The swap is not in anyway a decision I regret, but I'd definitely recommend the G&B (at least the model I have) to folks needing a cheap, basic choice for a project instrument.