PAF parts

[Possum]

...

Phishing now are we?

[the great waldo]

Years ago when I was in London I swapped out a paf and replaced it with a dimarzio paf, both sounded the same (very good) I did of course swap the pickups back. Dimarzio and mighty mite were the only game at the time, the dimarzio paf was always a sweet sounding pickup.

Cheers

Andrew

[Possum]

....

I'm not going to further comment on this stuff except to say if it were a simple puzzle I wouldn't still be doing work on it, and I've already said as much as I can. The minor details are where the interesting stuff is and is what I'm working on, probably into next year even. There isn't one secret and a chem analysis won't get you there and only represents maybe 1/3 of the work to recreate the technology and it IS technology, its not magic, though the tone for me sure is and why I stick with it....

[RedHouse]

I'm not going to further comment on this stuff ... I've already said as much as I can. ....

[Joe Gwinn]

I'm not going to further comment on this stuff except to say if it were a simple puzzle I wouldn't still be doing work on it, and I've already said as much as I can. The minor details are where the interesting stuff is and is what I'm working on, probably into next year even. There isn't one secret and a chem analysis won't get you there and only represents maybe 1/3 of the work to recreate the technology and it IS technology, its not magic, though the tone for me sure is and why I stick with it....

I sure hope you are writing your monograph on the One True PAF, to be published only after retirement to the rocking chair. Only then can it be told...

[the great waldo]

Hi Possum

I would check your web site, you mention the possibility of a 16 ohm pup. That would be ineteresting not to say the least.

Cheers

Andrew

[Possum]

....

I don't make a 16 ohm pickup but I believe my EB bass Fender pickup is around 22 ohms, check 'em out.

Well for fun here's what I've learned from this thread so far....
Every PAF sounds like a completely different pickup...
If you had Jimmy Page's guitar you would sound like Jimmy Page, Duane Allmans' you would sound like Duane, etc....
PAF tone is made of chemicals...
Keeper bars are useless, throw 'em away...
6 months of research yields more data than 7 years...
PAFs were wound on 4 different vintage winders, use one and you get instant PAF tones....
There is no such thing as a PAF tone, which is why no one wants one and you can get them for free on Ebay...
I should tell everything I know and write a book so no one will actually have to do any work of their own....
StewMac makes an exact PAF kit anyone can buy that nail it perfectly....
Tim Shaw is a degreed metallurgist and engineer...
If you name your pickup PAF, it is one....
Everyone here drives 55 MPH and never swears...
I should join a Zen monastery and make bird houses for a living.....

sorry couldn't resist

[JGundry]

Don't jump to any conclusions.

Here is what I already knew. The PAF is a framework of parts and processes. Work within that and you can have a lot of fun making a variety of PAF style pickups. Duplicate the parts and processes as accurately as resources will allow.

Share what you can if you want others to do the same for you. People are also pretty understanding about what you can't share. But holding your cards close to yourself when you are the only one playing poker does not make for much of a game.

[Down Time]

One of the major wire manufacturers recently told me that back in the day the American Wire Company in Sandy Hook CT. was a major supplier of plain enamel wire. The machinery they used to draw the wire was primitive by today's standards. What he said was you would end up with an inconsistent gauge reading throughout the roll. A roll of 42 could be 42-43 -41 -44 changing in one roll of wire. Plus the enamel coating on the wire was not consistent. If this is true these factors I would think could have a big effect on the sound of a pickup. How do you reproduce that type of wire today?

[Possum]

...

I have shared as much as I can, I certainly don't want others making my product which has so much time and ridiculous amounts of money invested in it, which I am only beginning to harvest back. these are damn slow to make and not all that profitable so far as all the damn hand work that goes into them. Therein lies the problem, no one sells accurate parts except covers and baseplates. So if you cut corners you end up making BurstBucker copies or something similar. I'm hard headed I prefer to do them right than scoop up money and tell the public I'm making something thats different than I know what is real. I'm doing this as my only source of income so of course I have to protect the details. I do try to point in the right direction but all I get is yelled at Kevin especially, man that guy is a mean mo'fo'

[Possum]

......

I have personally seen this in one PAF coil I unwound from finish to start. How do you reproduce it? Well, you can't, you could stretch the shit out of it then back off but then you end up with a real tight coil and wire stretched that much doesn't sound that great. Like I said before there are some things that can't be reproduced. Though actually I had an MWS roll of wire go from .00265 suddenly went down to .00255", sounds like a small amount but it totally fudged up the coils I was winding.

[RedHouse]

I don't make a 16 ohm pickup but I believe my EB bass Fender pickup is around 22 ohms, check 'em out.

Well for fun here's what I've learned from this thread so far....
Every PAF sounds like a completely different pickup...
If you had Jimmy Page's guitar you would sound like Jimmy Page, Duane Allmans' you would sound like Duane, etc....
PAF tone is made of chemicals...
Keeper bars are useless, throw 'em away...
6 months of research yields more data than 7 years...
PAFs were wound on 4 different vintage winders, use one and you get instant PAF tones....
There is no such thing as a PAF tone, which is why no one wants one and you can get them for free on Ebay...
I should tell everything I know and write a book so no one will actually have to do any work of their own....
StewMac makes an exact PAF kit anyone can buy that nail it perfectly....
Tim Shaw is a degreed metallurgist and engineer...
If you name your pickup PAF, it is one....
Everyone here drives 55 MPH and never swears...
I should join a Zen monastery and make bird houses for a living.....

sorry couldn't resist

Wow, here's what we've learned:

...I'm not going to further comment on this stuff .... and I've already said as much as I can....

apparently not true.

...I'm hard headed...

apparently quite true.

...all I get is yelled at...

you bring it on yourself.

sorry I couldn't resist

[Joe Gwinn]

Well for fun here's what I've learned from this thread so far....
...
I should tell everything I know and write a book so no one will actually have to do any work of their own....

After retirement. Secrets of the PAF-Masters, Revealed at last. Sell copies of the book to pay for your dotage, and for the rocking chair...

[David King]

I thought every self-obses.. errr- respecting PAF maker was changing awg multiple times in each wind. I'm beginning to suspect that a few of you are too lazy to bother with this indispensable step?

[JGundry]

One of the major wire manufacturers recently told me that back in the day the American Wire Company in Sandy Hook CT. was a major supplier of plain enamel wire. The machinery they used to draw the wire was primitive by today's standards. What he said was you would end up with an inconsistent gauge reading throughout the roll. A roll of 42 could be 42-43 -41 -44 changing in one roll of wire. Plus the enamel coating on the wire was not consistent. If this is true these factors I would think could have a big effect on the sound of a pickup. How do you reproduce that type of wire today?

This is true. The size varies through the spool with the old stuff. It becomes real clear when you machine wind that this is happening. I keep the space I wind in at 74 degrees and the variation is not from wire stretching but from changes of the wire within the spool. I measure every coil immediately after winding so I can adjust turn count if needed. I think it is part of the PAF sound. I never use the same spool for both the slug and screw bobbin for any one pickup. I mic each spool and use a spool of a different size for slug and screw within the 42AWG tolerance.

Buy AWC wire. They recently started making it again. All Star Magnetics tried to sell me some that I think was AWC.