The Gibson "finger rest" pickup (better know as the McCarty Pickup) was originally presented at the June 1948 NAMM Convention as a device to electrify an acoustic archtop guitar without compromising it's acoustic tone. It was initially offered as a standard appointment on the L-7. By the time it was pulled from the gibson catalog in 1971, had been available in many variations (cutaway/non-cutaway, single/double, gold/nickel hardware). It was essentially a pickguard with a built-in Gibson pickup, similar to a P-90 but thinner, (or two) that would allow owners of acoustic archtop guitars to amplify their instrument.

Pickup manufacturer, Jason Lollar, said, "McCartys use rod magnets 3/8" long but they use a dog ear baseplate so if you looked at the bottom of one you could mistake it for a P-90. They sound pretty impressive - a little less mids than a typical P-90 but still fat. You can get a good clear powerful cutting tone or roll back some tone and get a nice round jazz tone without getting too muddy." Jason is the only pickup maker I'm aware of that has made McCarty-style pickups for archtop guitar.

The McCarty Pickup, named after Ted McCarty, who, after joining Gibson in 1948 and becoming vice president and general manager just one year later, contributed to it's development).

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This one shown here is the double pickup, cutaway model, and, originally came with gold hardware to match the higher-end L-5 and Super 400 acoustic models it was designed for.

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Single/cutaway and a double/cutaway models

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