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Writer's pictureJDZ

Maxon 'S' Stamp P-90 Discovered

Updated: Apr 12, 2020


Maxon made pickups of the late 70's and early 80's are widely acknowledged as some of the best used in vintage Japanese guitars. Late 1970's Navigators were sometimes equipped Maxon Humbuckers stamped with an 'S'. While fairly rare, they are considered to be an outstanding humbucker by those that have experienced them, which I would agree with.

1978 Maxon S Humbucker
Navigator with Maxon S Humbucker dated 1978

I recently acquired a 1978 Navigator Gold Top equipped with its original P-90's and was surprised to find that these pickups were made by Maxon and had the same 'S' stamp as the humbuckers.

1978 Maxon S stamped P-90
Navigator with Maxon S Stamped P-90 dated 1978




I could find no references to these pickups, so it appears to be the first set found. I happened to have a 1980 Greco EG 800GS which came with 'Hot Lick' P-90's which were made by Maxon for Greco in 1980 so I compared the resistance on both. Neck pickups measure 8.00 on the Navigator and 8.06 on the Greco. Bridge measure 8.31 on the Navigator and 8.19 on the Greco.


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Doug Jack
Doug Jack
Sep 23, 2021

I picked one of these up last year, not in the stellar condition of yours - lots of greening in the gold. I'm working on correcting a little backbow in the neck so haven't played it much - another unfinished project, must get it done!! From what little I've played, the pickups are certainly P-90 to equal the S stamp humbuckers & you know what I think of those ... DJ

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