PAF parts

[Spence]

Now wait a minute, those look like Spence made them :-) Just kidding. WOW, what an incredible find! That guitar should be in a museum, its a wonder Seymour doesn't own it Notice the lower B string slug. I wonder what kind of wire that is, doesn't really look like PE....

Joking aside, if there was a market for that look, I'd be doing it already!

[jonson]

Joking aside, if there was a market for that look, I'd be doing it already!

I'd buy one...

[David Schwab]

Joking aside, if there was a market for that look, I'd be doing it already!

Make a market! Post photos of the guitar and convince players that those are the REAL PAFs! Then of course you have to point out how all the other PAFs are crap.

[Spence]

Make a market! Post photos of the guitar and convince players that those are the REAL PAFs! Then of course you have to point out how all the other PAFs are crap.

Yeah too true and of course I'd have to pretend I have the original winding machine too.

[jonson]

Yeah too true and of course I'd have to pretend I have the original winding machine too.

Nah! we all know where that is along with countless other unverifiable ones.
Your gonna have to do em on your old food mixer mate.

[Spence]

No need Jonson. I'm told Gibson used one of these......

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcM5ZB6qTeQ"]YouTube - A weird and pointless machine[/ame]

[Possum]

...

Spence you just gave away the SECRET!

[Spence]

Spence you just gave away the SECRET!

Oh bugger!

I have screwed up there. It's the wrong video. The other Gibson winder came up with a row of lemons!

[Burny123]

my "PAF"

OH great fun to read this thread!! Many nice observations from a lot of clever people!!
Does anybody know why a PAF sounds like a PAF, and does any PAF sounds like a PAF and ….

I'm a guitar player/builder myself and I love the sound of and original PAF in a nice Les Paul. Some years ago I made a 59 Les Paul replica from old Honduras mahogany, Eastern flamed maple and Brazil rosewood, hide glue etc. I turned out to be a very nice vintage like guitar with almost original old Gibson hardware and a pair of PAF´s taken from a smashed 1959 ES 175. The problem was, that the back pickup was really good sounding, but the front pickup was only OK, but nothing seemed to be wrong with the pickup (8.4 kohms). I tried several replacement pickups from different builders, and many of them was ok, but none of them had the sound, that I was looking for, and the original PAF was still the best.

So I decided to do a little experimentation!!

I took baseplate, slugs, hookup wire and the short Alnico 5 magnet from an old Ttop, the spacer and keeper from a 1961 patent number pickup and bobbins with windings from a Peter Florance Voodoo pickup, put it all together and tried this in the LesPaul, and Voila exactly the sound, that I have been looking for!! I sold the Paf for a ridiculous amount of dollars on E-bay, and some years later I did the same to the back pickup, this time it was the baseplate from the 61 patentpickup, spacer and keeper from the Ttop, a long alnico 4 from a P90 and Peter Florence bobbins from a bridge Voodoo pickup. Again a very nice pickup, and again I sold the original PAF, this time for even more dollars!! I don't regret selling those PAF´s, and I don't know why parts from all these different sources makes such fine pickups, that obviously sounds more like a vintage PAFs, than the Ttop, Voodoos, Duncans, Bare knuckle etc.

Maybe it was just a lucky punch or??

[jonson]

Oh bugger!

The other Gibson winder came up with a row of lemons!

Funny thing that does happen.

[JGundry]

Original Gibson PAF winder at work. Um, that's a slot machine to you Spence.

[RedHouse]

I've noticed the wire too, it looks like... SPN?

Could it be possible????

Not to be a nay-sayer but this guitar just throws-up all the red flags

[Possum]

...

Burny you just proved that the metal alloys DO matter. Thats what I've been working on for all these years. Its why I've been working with a metallurgist for two years now nonstop. Your neck pickup was probably just too high a wind for that position. This is one thing about PAFs, yes they sound cool but too high a DC resistance in the wrong position doesn't work too well. Most of the famous PAF guitars had lower wound ones, Jimmy Page's was reportedly 7.8K bridge and 7.3K neck. I had an 8K '60 in here for awhile and it didn't sound too great in the neck, but it still sounded like a PAF, just not real suitable for that spot. I have a '61 in here now, a real rare one I'm going to try out, very bright around 7.8K. Go to the Showcase here in the forum and watch the demo of my VL set compared to a '60 burst and see what you think. There's more to that tone than just the pickups. your wiring harness is half the equation in any guitar, you want vintage tone you need to duplicate a vintage wiring harness in every respect.

[Possum]

....

BTW the '61 in here has a PAF sticker on it not a patent decal.

[RedHouse]

...Jimmy Page's was reportedly 7.8K bridge and 7.3K neck.....

Nope, the neck was over 8K, here is the communique:.

The Jimmy Page pickups have a special wind alnico 5 magnet Dc on neck 8.2k
and bridge 8.8k both 4 conductor wax potted no covers
ez (MJ)(Custom Shop)

Seymour Duncan Guitar Pickups
5427 Hollister Ave
Santa Barbara, CA 93111
805-964-9610 x 1009 (Custom Shop)

According to MJ, the pickups are exact repros of the sets no.1 and no.2.
The pickups were rated at 8.25k neck and 8.85k bridge, both with balanced coils.

Come now, I would have thought you should know this being the local "PAF Guru" you'd like to be.
(...just bustin-yer-balls Dave)

...The TRUTH is that Jimmy Page's guitar, and Peter Greens', and Duane Allmans, Claptons', Bloomfields', if those guys had all swapped their guitars around you wouldn't notice the difference. The difference is the PLAYER, and his gear, his hands, his talent, and what amp he was plugged into. All of them have identifiable PAF tone. The idea that each of those guitars had special or magical qualities that made each one sound so different is ridiculous....

BTW: if the differnce is indeed the player, how does the whole metals thing and the keeper come into play on individual tone?