Pickup opinion please.

Mototech

I know everyone has their own idea of tone, but I'm interested to hear what pickups people think give the most authentic vintage PAF tone.
I ask as I have a set of Gibson Custombuckers that I am thinking of using in a Les Paul build I will be doing, but would like opinions on how they compare with others, Bare Knuckle, Monty's etc.

zepp76

Get ready for the onslaught of different answers! 

TTBZ

Having never actually played a proper PAF, i was happy with my Bare Knuckle Mules as in they did what I expected that sort of pickup to do, but overall preferred the Black Dog which is a bit more "vintage hot" and has a bit more character to it (probably less PAF-like).

p90fool

PAF is a moving target, they don't all sound the same, and neither do their recreations. 

It's really a question of whether you like them on the hotter end of the scale or not, what sort of magnets would suit you, and how imbalanced you'd like the coils. 

A bit of research in that area will narrow it down to a few dozen makers, after that they're much of a muchness. 

designerseye88

I've used a few, Custombuckers, PAF's, DryZ's, Throbaks, Gibson T Top's, BareKnuckle and others

The set I've currently kept is the DryZ's. They're not cheap and hard to find but they are quite remarkable in giving me the classic 50's PAF tone. Theirs alot of hype with them but they never disappoint. Only one's i haven't really tried are Wizz which seem to have very good feedback. 

JohnPerry

Don't overlook OX4. His low-winds absolutely transformed my 61 reissue SG 

ICBM

If you want the ones with the most 'authentic' construction, Seymour Duncan Antiquity. They're built using the correct materials and wound on the actual Leesona winding machines Gibson used in the 1950s, which Duncan bought when Gibson sold them off when they closed the Kalamazoo factory.

But original PAFs varied a lot - they were not made accurately. Every pickup manufacturer who makes a PAF-style pickup has their own interpretation of the 'PAF sound' based on different original pickups in different guitars, so you can't judge them on 'authenticity' - once you get to a certain level of quality they basically all sound like PAFs.