ripsrv Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 hey guys im looking to swap the pickups out of my 87 studio les paul for a more vintage sounding pickups so i can get that old rock sound from the 70's style rock. i tried serching for them on google and ebay and such and keept geeting 59 reissue pickups and reissues of everything. i think p 90/s are cool to but i dont really know anyhting other than they are all old. can you guys tell me the scoop on what the differences is between the reissues/originals/ and all that good stuff. thanks abunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 alot of views but no posts...obviously im not the only one who doesnt know. i did some more research and i thouhgt id share my findings. PAF stands for patent aplied for. 50's and 60's les paul standards came with them. the reissues by gibson are calld the 57 classic and the 57 classic pro. they are soposed to be a bit brighter sounding than the originals but than again the orignals are 50 years old and that might be a factor. the reissues are said to be a pretty close match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester700 Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 Why not look into PAFs made by DiMarzio or '59s made by Duncan? Every bit as good as a Gibson product, and cheaper. Or, go ballz out and pay $125 each for custom wound ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester700 Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 Oh, yeah - some basics. The P90 was Gibson's earlier pickup, and it was a single coil model. Some call it a "soapbar" because it kinda looks like one. It was more muscular than the strat or tele single coils, becauseit had a big magnet underneath instead of magnetic polepieces, and more winding - maybe 8k resistance instead of the 6k or so typical of strat pups. Great for blues, but also cool for classic rock. The PAF was Seth Lover's creation - the humbucker. It used 2 coils with 1 magnet underneath like the P90. Although each coil was weak by itself, together they were thick, full, and midrangey. Probably the most popular classic rock pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeR Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 If you REALLY want to go for that 70's type sound, why not consider the Dimarzio Super Distortion? It was, I think, the first avalible replacement pickup, and was used most notably by Kiss. Personally, not my sound at all, but it may be worth looking into. Luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 If you REALLY want to go for that 70's type sound, why not consider the Dimarzio Super Distortion? It was, I think, the first avalible replacement pickup, and was used most notably by Kiss. Personally, not my sound at all, but it may be worth looking into. Luke ← Not to jump too far off-topic, but in the early 80s I had a SDHB in a late 70s SG. Sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 i did a bit of searchin and played some axes at guitar center the other day. here are my findings. on the dimarzio super distortion pickups.... i played an ace frelehy signiture lp with 3 othe sd pickups. i liked them overall. they sounded great in the rythm pickup selector position. i liked the neck positin but the bridge/treble was way to squirely. to high pitched. had no balls. on the paf reissue{paf classics}...i played a 57 reissue gold top. if i was offered that guitar in exchange for licking a hookers ass i would do it. the onyl hting i didnt like 100% was the thick neck profile. im sure i would get used to it tho. the pickups were amazing. they sounded as if the rockgods were harminizing at choire practice. i have desided on the paf reissues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeR Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Good for you, man! I am glad you did try out the Super Distortions though- your findings are the same as mine! Actually though, I forgot to mention that I have a Dimarzio Virtual PAF in my SG- I think its a really great pickup. I liked it a bit more than the other PAFs Dimarzio offers. good luck with it, Luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
music99 Posted October 14, 2005 Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 SD '59 pickups do not have the same resistance as the 1960's Gibson PAFs. This makes an apprecialbe sound difference. If ever you want a great PAF sound I'd try Fralin pups whose specs are much closer to vintage PAFs than what Gibson or SD makes. Franlin pups are scatter wound, proper wire type, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted October 14, 2005 Report Share Posted October 14, 2005 I hear from a lot of people that the Gibson Burstbuckers are closer to the PAF sound than the 57 classics, this is what they curretly put in the Les Paul Historics. BB2 in the neck, BB3 in the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiffy Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 on the dimarzio super distortion pickups.... i played an ace frelehy signiture lp with 3 othe sd pickups. i liked them overall. they sounded great in the rythm pickup selector position. i liked the neck positin but the bridge/treble was way to squirely. to high pitched. had no balls. on the paf reissue{paf classics}...i played a 57 reissue gold top. if i was offered that guitar in exchange for licking a hookers ass i would do it. ← Oh well it's important you found what you wanted. There must of been some kind of defect on that guitar or pup, cause dimarzio sd usa 100s strength is in the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailman Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 i have a dimarzio PAF on my beater ibanez i never use neck pickups, but in this case, its 1000x better than the stock bridge pup on the ibanez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.