DiMarzio Virtual PAF

[David Schwab]

I was checking one of these out at the work shop the other day. My partner was putting one in a guitar he just finished and he had to made some modifications to the baseplate, so he removed it.

The interesting stuff is all under the pickup. What looks like studs from the top are actually flat heads on studs that are the same diameter as the screws. So the screws and studs are the same, just made to look different. The screws also end at the bottom of the pickup, and don't extend out the back.

There was no keeper, and the A5 magnet doesn't touch either the screws or studs. There's a small air gap between them (the magnet is glued to the bottom of the bobbins).

Lastly, both bobbins have extra slug sized pieces of metal added between the screws or studs that are flush with the bottom of the bobbin, and aren't visible from the top. These increase the inductance.

I haven't heard the pickup, but he reports that they sound very good.

Each coil was 4.3K.

Seemed like an interesting approach to making a vintage sounding pickup.

[SkinnyWire]

I have a VPAF. Never pulled it apart to see what's going on inside, so all of that is very interesting. My recollection is it doesn't sound too bad. Most folks here can probably do as good or better, but it was worth the relatively little it cost me used.

[kevinT]

Interesting.

I was checking one of these out at the work shop the other day. My partner was putting one in a guitar he just finished and he had to made some modifications to the baseplate, so he removed it.

The interesting stuff is all under the pickup. What looks like studs from the top are actually flat heads on studs that are the same diameter as the screws. So the screws and studs are the same, just made to look different. The screws also end at the bottom of the pickup, and don't extend out the back.

There was no keeper, and the A5 magnet doesn't touch either the screws or studs. There's a small air gap between them (the magnet is glued to the bottom of the bobbins).

Lastly, both bobbins have extra slug sized pieces of metal added between the screws or studs that are flush with the bottom of the bobbin, and aren't visible from the top. These increase the inductance.

I haven't heard the pickup, but he reports that they sound very good.

Each coil was 4.3K.

Seemed like an interesting approach to making a vintage sounding pickup.

[madialex]

Hmmmm, seems like a lot of extra work to acheive what most of the guys here do already with the normal parts.... WTF

[madialex]

Whats up Kevin

[EtLa]

Lastly, both bobbins have extra slug sized pieces of metal added between the screws

If I understand correctly there is no (brass) screws under the baseplate that hold the bobbins... everything is glued?

[jrfrond]

Steve Blucher, the engineer at DiMarzio, loves to experiment. I've spoken to him on many occasions, and he's a thinker and likes to solve problems and think outside-the-box. Yes, some Dimarzio designs are radical departures from "traditional" pickup construction practices, but one thing is always for certain: DiMarzio pickups do EXACTLY what they say they do. Nothing more, nothing less, and I have yet to hear anything bad that they've made, and I've been using their pickups since they hit the market. Sure, there are a ton of great pickup makers out there nowadays, both mainstream and boutique, but Larry DiMarzio and Steve Blucher always had it "right" from the start.

You should hear their Virtual P-90. All of the tone and none of the hum.

[David Schwab]

If I understand correctly there is no (brass) screws under the baseplate that hold the bobbins... everything is glued?

No, there are the standard 4 brass screws. The magnet is glued to the bottom of the bobbins, or maybe it was glued to the whole thing, but it came off with the bobbins. There were no spacers between the bobbin and poles as on some DiM designs.

We removed the brass baselate and used a nickel silver baseplate because it had shorter legs.

My friend liked it, but on this particular guitar it was too boomy on chords.

[EtLa]

extra slug sized pieces of metal added between the screws

Thanks for the response David but I'm confuse... the brass screw holes are not filled by the extra slugs between pole pieces?

[David Schwab]

Thanks for the response David but I'm confuse... the brass screw holes are not filled by the extra slugs between pole pieces?

No, they didn't have the extra slugs there. I'll try to get a photo of it next time I'm at the shop, because it's coming out of the guitar it went in, and we are designing a custom design instead.

I just thought it was an interesting design. They made it operate as if both coils had screw poles, but then made it look normal. Obviously they wanted to have perfectly balanced coils, and also use a full strength alnico 5 magnet, but have it sound like a weaker magnet.