Peoples PAF Journey - Experiences

p90fool · November 2020

You'll get closer to what most people think of as an authentic PAF tone by playing any low output humbucker guitar into a powerful non-MV amp wound up to huge volume than you will by chasing the tiniest pickup production details then bunging it through a smooth modern amp or modeller.

I think a lot of guitarists might be very surprised at the sonic detail and dynamics available from pretty much all guitars when played through a great quality loud amp.

MikeC · November 2020

No one’s mentioned Gil Yaron. I’ve one of his bursts. Lovely. You can sometimes get his PAFs second hand. They are great pickups but not cheap - £500? I’ve not a/b ‘d them against one half or double the price in the same guitar. I had a Dave Johnson replica LP with voodoo pickups and compared the two. The Yaron lp was twice the price and about 5% to 10% more special. Is that worth it?

Like all the comments above, it’s a rabbit hole.

Danielsguitars · November 2020

MikeC said:

No one’s mentioned Gil Yaron. I’ve one of his bursts. Lovely. You can sometimes get his PAFs second hand. They are great pickups but not cheap - £500? I’ve not a/b ‘d them against one half or double the price in the same guitar. I had a Dave Johnson replica LP with voodoo pickups and compared the two. The Yaron lp was twice the price and about 5% to 10% more special. Is that worth it?

Like all the comments above, it’s a rabbit hole.

I mentioned yaron in my above post and my customer compared mojo beast buckers to them and raves about mojo

hyperben · November 2020

I’ve tried and spent far more than I should have done. Right now I’m sticking with the stock Gibson p/us (unpotted Custom Buckers, 68 Alnico 2s and MHS). The worst for me was easily OX4s as I didn’t find them very articulate and I felt they lacked harmonic overtones. The best were Wizz and Stephen’s Design. I don’t really feel there’s anything out there significantly better than the stock pickups in my Gibsons though tbh, and that’s after lots of comparisons. Stephen’s Design were good but remarkably similar to Wizz (which are a LOT cheaper!).

normula1 · November 2020

I really reckon that the guitar the pickups are in make a huge difference. I have a BK Mule that works great in my Strat but not in in my PRS which has been a pain to get a bridge pickup I'm happy with. The Burstbucker 2 in my SG bridge is awesome. I quite like the stock BB pros in my Goldtop and I've a old Duncan '59 that reads between 6.9 and 7k depending on the day sounds amazing in anything. My PRS is currently sporting a 61 Burstbucker converted to short leg in the neck (which splits really well) and following a comment from @ICBM a Duncan Custom Custom converted to Custom 5 in the bridge, which I've never liked in any of the other guitars it's been in.
And just for a bit of balance on what could appear to be a bit of a love in with Burstbuckers, the BB3 I have is awful with a capital f***ing.
I've also got a pair of Oil City Forces Sweethearts which are really good too

Danielsguitars · November 2020

This is what my customer in the state's sent me recently and the reason i don't chase pafs, it's lots of bs imo, Marc at mojo doesn't do it, there's loads of it out there

Hi Darren,

Just wanted to say- you were so right about the Mojo PAF’s- just got my set and (I don’t say this lightly) they are tied with the Gil Yaron PAF’s for the title of the best I’ve ever played (and I’ve dropped a LOT of money into boutique PAF pickups over time!). No other set (other than the Yaron’s) capture the subtle-yet-complex snarly overtones that original PAFs had. Thanks for putting Marc on my radar...now I gotta buy more of his sets!

menamestom · November 2020

I’ve got Mojo’s in my Midtown. They are nice, but probably not a massive upgrade over the burstbuckers which were in before. Very nice pickups though, It’s just the BB’s are already pretty nice.

hyperben · November 2020

normula1 said:

I really reckon that the guitar the pickups are in make a huge difference. I have a BK Mule that works great in my Strat but not in in my PRS which has been a pain to get a bridge pickup I'm happy with. The Burstbucker 2 in my SG bridge is awesome. I quite like the stock BB pros in my Goldtop and I've a old Duncan '59 that reads between 6.9 and 7k depending on the day sounds amazing in anything. My PRS is currently sporting a 61 Burstbucker converted to short leg in the neck (which splits really well) and following a comment from @ICBM a Duncan Custom Custom converted to Custom 5 in the bridge, which I've never liked in any of the other guitars it's been in.
And just for a bit of balance on what could appear to be a bit of a love in with Burstbuckers, the BB3 I have is awful with a capital f***ing.
I've also got a pair of Oil City Forces Sweethearts which are really good too

I agree. There’s no denying that different pickups do sound different. Like you though I’ve found the guitar itself makes a much bigger difference. A great pickup can’t make a bad sounding guitar sound good.

PonchoGreg · November 2020

Just had a bit of an epiphany with an A3 magnet in a neck PAF by Hayden from Bulldog. That's awesome! A very clear, natural sound, no harshness or boominess. Sounds kinda like an A2 with the smoothness, but with less of that midrange push. Absolutely awesome for cleans.

Mind you, it's in a 24-fret PRS so that imparts its own clarity/treble to it. And it's wound a touch stronger than your typical neck PAF (about 7.7k). I'm now very, very curious as to what that would sound like in an LP or 335.

So the journey continues

rainer2859 · November 2020

Cirrus said:

Vintage said:

Stephens Design: ok, this are in another league. Dave is a mad guy.....he have an obsession for the PAF, he build every parts on his specs for recreate the PAF magic. For me the best PAF replica. Very rare on the market due the waiting list for buying directly from Dave....over 24 months...
If you can and you have a guitar that is your favorite, put his PAF on it.....magic.

There's a guy selling a pair on the classifieds - you should pick them up!

Would they be the ones that sold in a week??

Cirrus · November 2020

rainer2859 said:

Cirrus said:

Vintage said:

Stephens Design: ok, this are in another league. Dave is a mad guy.....he have an obsession for the PAF, he build every parts on his specs for recreate the PAF magic. For me the best PAF replica. Very rare on the market due the waiting list for buying directly from Dave....over 24 months...
If you can and you have a guitar that is your favorite, put his PAF on it.....magic.

There's a guy selling a pair on the classifieds - you should pick them up!

Would they be the ones that sold in a week??

Yes, must have taken my advice!

TTBZ · November 2020

normula1 said:

I really reckon that the guitar the pickups are in make a huge difference. I have a BK Mule that works great in my Strat but not in in my PRS which has been a pain to get a bridge pickup I'm happy with. The Burstbucker 2 in my SG bridge is awesome. I quite like the stock BB pros in my Goldtop and I've a old Duncan '59 that reads between 6.9 and 7k depending on the day sounds amazing in anything. My PRS is currently sporting a 61 Burstbucker converted to short leg in the neck (which splits really well) and following a comment from @ICBM a Duncan Custom Custom converted to Custom 5 in the bridge, which I've never liked in any of the other guitars it's been in.
And just for a bit of balance on what could appear to be a bit of a love in with Burstbuckers, the BB3 I have is awful with a capital f***ing.
I've also got a pair of Oil City Forces Sweethearts which are really good too

Interesting that you have the same problem with your PRS as I do with my SG bridge pickup and we've both ended up with the Custom 5 (for now)! Mine also started life as a Custom Custom haha. I assume the PRS is quite a middy guitar? My SG seems to be all mids so the scooped C5 seems to work great. I didn't like it at first because I was used to so many mids but it's quite balanced in this guitar

meltedbuzzbox · November 2020

Man there is some magnificent bollocks on this thread. Superb!

RandallFlagg · November 2020

I like the “PAF” sound, that hollowness of the neck pickup that can sound like a fat warm single coil clean and does't get too muddy with a bit of gain to the slightly underpowered, mid range twang of the bridge that can be a little spiky in the top end fully open with overdrive.

I haven't tried many but of the ones I have tried all sound there or thereabouts including the PRS 58/15 LTs I have in my 594. The Seymour Duncan Seth Lover in my Tele is another great example.

The new Joe Bonamassa signature Epiphone Custom has some Epiphone “PAFs” and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between them and the original Gibsons in this demo from Joe and they do sound like what I expect a PAF to sound like:

https://youtu.be/T7YQztvE4TE

https://youtu.be/t_NA4uN5-Vg

SquireJapan · November 2020

meltedbuzzbox said:

Man there is some magnificent bollocks on this thread. Superb!

Everybody wins!

bodhi · November 2020

Wolfetone Legends.

mikem8634 · November 2020

57 classics for me, preferably in a 335.

But the thread title makes me want someone to make The People's PAF.

Cranky · November 2020

I don't even know what PAF stands for

Lebarque · November 2020

Cranky said:

I don't even know what PAF stands for

Probably Another Four hundred quid

impmann · November 2020

Cranky said:

I don't even know what PAF stands for

People Are Fools

Genuinely, I've been chuckling my head off here. I love boutique pickups - a lot of my fave guitars have been modded by me to change their output. But... seriously??? Dropping hundreds of quid on a pickup because its "more authentic" sounding than another "authentic" sounding pickup to chase a tone that probably only exists in your head or exists thanks to studio compression/the effect of a good mixing desk EQ/excellent mic placement in a superb room/someone else's fingers... lunacy.

That clip above with Joe B sums it up perfectly - its a good sounding Les Paul that sounds uncannily close to his vintage guitar *IN HIS HANDS*. I bet they are machine wound G&B-made pickups based on the Epiphone Classic 57 (based on the Gibson one that so few folks seem to like) and cost to make less than $10 the pair. Then look at your daft-priced "hand wound" pickups... do they really sound *that* much different? Hundreds of pounds different?

Fools are parted with their money easily.

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