The Victory bass series pickups were designed by Tim Shaw of the Kalamazoo plant R&D team. The Victory standard pickup used thinner diameter wire than the Artist, in order to produce more mid-range and presence. According to Gibson, "due to the exceptional efficiency and balance characteristics of this new design pickup, no adjustable pole pieces are necessary".
Dimensions: 87.3mm x 34.8mm x 27mm (excluding protruding mounting tabs).
From the 1982 Gibson Victory owners manual:
instead of using the traditional side by side placement of the humbucking pickup coils, and "end to end" coil placement design is incorporated. This enables each string to pass over only one coil of the pickup producing the pure, sweet, full frequency response of a true single coil pickup. However the pickups incorporate standard "humbucking" wiring to cancel the unwanted noise and hum frequencies unfortunately inherent in a simple coil pickup design
As can be seen, this pickup is mounted to the pickguard with three screws, to adjust height and tilt.
The underside of each pickup has a code stamped in white - typically a three digit code, a space then a date code. The three digit code seems to be a part code, presumably short for Gibson parts 13437, 13438, 13439 and 13459:
| Pickup code | Model and position |
| 437 | Standard, Custom bridge |
| 438 | Artist neck |
| 439 | Artist bridge |
| 440 | Standard (later examples) |
| 459 | Custom neck |
The final three (or four) digits are a date code in the format myy, e.g. 781 signifies July 1981; 1282, December 1982, etc. So the pickup in the third image below, with code '438 881' would be a Victory Artist neck pickup, dated August 1981.
Some basses fitted with this pickup
List of Gibson bass guitar pickups
Gibson Victory bass pickups for sale
Vintage 1981 Gibson Victory BASS Pickup 5 61 ohms
Miami, Florida, 331**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
$280
Sales tax will be added by ebay. I will ship most of my items to many countries other than USA, but I ask that all buyers contact me before ... more
1981 Gibson Victory Bass Pickup w / Harness Pots Knobs & Input Jack ~ Vintage
Edmond, Oklahoma, 730**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
$350
Email us with questions. Please see pics. Sold as-is, no warranty, no guarantees, no refunds and no returns. Global shipping is available. Follow Renegade Supplies for more great deals!
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1981 Gibson Victory Bass Guitar Loaded Pickguard Pickup Part
Plano, Texas, 750**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
$575
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Same as Dlx above, I've got a March 3, 1982 Victory Bass (clearly printed on the underside of the neck). Standard + Brass nut, but the pickup has 440 382 and the wiring includes a 103k orange drop on bridging the black and clear wires on a 3-pin (not 6 pin) switch. An additional blue-drop cap is included in the same location as above. Also, while trying to troubleshoot some output issues, tapped the pickup with a pin to try to suss out where the coils are, and it looks like it's split up just like a Fender P-bass pickup, which, at least to me, seems like it would defeat the purpose of having it angled. I'm trying to figure out if a previous owner monkeyed around with the electronics, so if anyone has additional information, I'd be happy to send pics while I have it dismantled.
I bought a pickup off eBay recently. The version code on the back is 440 with a date code of 882. It's a 4-wire (3+shield) so it's not an Artist pickup. Series DC resistance measures 11.5K. There are angled "string marks" on it meaning it was either a Standard or a Custom Neck pickup. So something is missing in the table above. So, 440 is either a 1st version of the Custom Neck or a later version of the Standard pickup.