PRS Pickups year ID

[DopplegangeR]

Hi all,

I just wanna ask what year of production these pickups are since the sticker label looks different from the ones I see over the net. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

 

[Artist]

Man, an exact year will be a hard one. These should be very early models. HFS/VBs went into production guitars on 1991 if I am correct.

I do have to tell you that I have seen this white label sticker on other early pickpups like here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRS-Dragon1-pickups-original-and-rare-matched-set-/221168459264
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-PRS-Dragon-I-Pickups-Rare-White-Label-FREE-Shipping-/140898722458

 

[DopplegangeR]

Man, an exact year will be a hard one. These should be very early models. HFS/VBs went into production guitars on 1991 if I am correct.

I do have to tell you that I have seen this white label sticker on other early pickpups like here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRS-Dragon1-pickups-original-and-rare-matched-set-/221168459264
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-PRS-Dragon-I-Pickups-Rare-White-Label-FREE-Shipping-/140898722458

Cool!

Thanks for the input, bud! I thought of these as having been early production, as the newer ones have different labels now. The specific year could be a shot in the dark like the previous owner of these set of pickups are of not much help.

Are early production pickups be any different from the newer ones? Like in this case, a set of HFS/VBs compared to the current produced ones?

At some point there are also Blank Back PRS pickups that I have seen, are these any better or just a placebo effect for "vintage being more sought after" premise.

 

[Artist]

As far as I know there shouldn't be any major difference. Possibly some variation in the number of coil turns or who knows.
These look in very good shape, almost no rust for the years. I think those with the silver back plate is just because that is what they had available at that point, but maybe somebody else can say more.

Usually the earlier, the more people tend to pay for them.

Do you know what is their DC resistance reading?

 

[DopplegangeR]

I haven't check the readings on these since I do not have a muti meter w/ me now.

As per Shawn, he said it could be within the 91-95 era, I used to have a 94 CE24 but I never looked into the pickups labels. But I surely loved them HFS/VBs in that CE24 maple top. You got 2 CE24's right, did you chance upon checking the labels on your HFS/VBs?

Up close, there are a few rusts on the screwheads, but overall, it's still in good shape, w/ long wires. The owner left em inside the guitar case and swapped a pair of duncans instead. It's hard to say no to these when they were priced so cheap that I took it in a hearbeat lol!