Gibson has reversed engineered some of the world’s most sought-after and grail-worthy electric guitar pickups to unveil “year-specific” replicas of the hallowed PAF humbucker.
There are four pickup sets in the series, with pairs from 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960 – all of which were recreated using 3D scans of the originals, and wired up on vintage Gibson coil-winding machines. The 42 AWG plain enamel wire and butyrate bobbins are present and vintage-correct, with each pickup in the series offering a variation on the them.
Originally rolled out in 1956 on Gibson pedal steels, the design of the PAF subtly evolved over the next four years, with the brand experimenting with different wire-turn counts, and using long, rough-cast magnets of different grades.
The 1957 PAF, for instance, is the most aggressive sounding of the four, and used long, rough-cast Alnico V magnets in its construction. Ironically, it’s probably the most modern-voiced humbucker in the collection, whereas the 1958 PAF, with its Alnico IV design, was warmer and more balanced.
The goal was to create a more harmonically rich, musical and touch-sensitive pickup. Gibson promises a unique voicing from each of these pickup sets.
“The original PAF humbuckers have inspired generations of players because they do more than reproduce sound. They respond to the player,” says Jared Brandon, pickup product manager at Gibson. “With the 1957-1960 PAF Reissue Sets, we have recreated four distinct voices from that historic era, giving guitarists the clarity, harmonic complexity, and dynamic feel that made these pickups legendary.”
These Historic Collection reissues are not cheap. You’re looking at £699/$799. But then, a vintage PAF pairing would cost considerably more, and these just might be the ultimate aftermarket mod for the Les Paul in your life.
Or, indeed, the SG or ES guitar – and of course you could just pull an Eddie Van Halen power move and fit one of these into the bridge position of an HSS-routed Strat body then have at it.
The Gibson Pickup Shop has presented us with a forensic replica of the 1959 PAF before, but that was as a collector edition, limited to 1,000 units, and it came with pickup mounting rings and in brown a Lifton case just like Gibson’s electric guitars of the era.
Expect the same level of detail here – the True Historic nickel covers (double-white bobbins under the hood of the 1959 set, double-black on the ‘57), the ‘Patent Applied For’ decals that give the pickup its name, maple spacers, steel slugs and keeper bars, two-conductor wiring, and the tooling marks on the baseplate feet.
These pickups are all left unpotted and have unbalanced coils – and they are available now.
Head over to Gibson for more details.
