WTB - Original Pair of Gibson PAF Humbuckers

williaaaam · March 2022

Long shot but I am after a pair of original PAF pickups.

Danny1969 · March 2022

A mate of mine has a pair of PAF's pulled from a 64 335 if they are of any interest. He's the former luthier of Nevada music in Portsmouth (now PMT) .... he's owned them since the seventies I think

williaaaam · March 2022

Danny1969 said:

A mate of mine has a pair of PAF's pulled from a 64 335 if they are of any interest. He's the former luthier of Nevada music in Portsmouth (now PMT) .... he's owned them since the seventies I think

Thank you but I think they would be PAT as PAF is pre ‘62.

Jimihendrix1987 · March 2022

Gibson made a lot of PAF pickups in 57 and 58 so they could have stock for years. As a result, some guitars post 1962 have PAF. Specially the guitars with gold parts as they didn’t use the stock much and it has been seen PAF on up to 1967 guitars with gold hardware.

williaaaam · March 2022

Jimihendrix1987 said:

Gibson made a lot of PAF pickups in 57 and 58 so they could have stock for years. As a result, some guitars post 1962 have PAF. Specially the guitars with gold parts as they didn’t use the stock much and it has been seen PAF on up to 1967 guitars with gold hardware.

Yes I am aware of that, but I am after some with the “patent applied for” stickers on not the “pat no” ones. It’s basically to go in a guitar that had the PAF’s gutted.

SteveRobinson · March 2022

Those little transfers will be on the underside of the pickups so you won't see them.

williaaaam · March 2022

SteveRobinson said:

Those little transfers will be on the underside of the pickups so you won't see them.

Yes I know that !

designerseye88 · March 2022

I have to be honest the world of finding genuine PAF's is a bit of a murky one. Its almost impossible to tell some 'replica' ones from a real set. I have a set by a winder who's have been passed off as real plenty of times and I also have a real set, The replica set are every bit as good. Then you have to ask yourself why are the paf's you've found being sold? why were they taken out of the guitar in the first place? and have they been messed with? For me nowadays its just too risky when you're looking at £5k plus or a set, maybe even £7-10k now.

IMO the only way to really get a set is to buy a donor guitar and take them that way. It's not something I would encourage but it seems to be the only way to know you're getting. I saw a really good instagram post by JW.Restoration on the 18th January that is really informative.

Obviously It's your call to make , good luck

mark123 · March 2022

designerseye88 said:

I have to be honest the world of finding genuine PAF's is a bit of a murky one. Its almost impossible to tell some 'replica' ones from a real set. I have a set by a winder who's have been passed off as real plenty of times and I also have a real set, The replica set are every bit as good. Then you have to ask yourself why are the paf's you've found being sold? why were they taken out of the guitar in the first place? and have they been messed with? For me nowadays its just too risky when you're looking at £5k plus or a set, maybe even £7-10k now.

IMO the only way to really get a set is to buy a donor guitar and take them that way. It's not something I would encourage but it seems to be the only way to know you're getting. I saw a really good instagram post by JW.Restoration on the 18th January that is really informative.

Obviously It's your call to make , good luck

wisdom for this man ^^^^^
As he said your options are pay stupid money and ask why were they taken out and are for sale or save yourself thousands and buy a quality set ,id be asking @designerseye88 where he got the replica set from .
Too much of a minefield and risks to be going down the original paf search .
But ....your choice.

Danny1969 · March 2022

designerseye88 said:

I have to be honest the world of finding genuine PAF's is a bit of a murky one. Its almost impossible to tell some 'replica' ones from a real set. I have a set by a winder who's have been passed off as real plenty of times and I also have a real set, The replica set are every bit as good. Then you have to ask yourself why are the paf's you've found being sold? why were they taken out of the guitar in the first place? and have they been messed with? For me nowadays its just too risky when you're looking at £5k plus or a set, maybe even £7-10k now.

IMO the only way to really get a set is to buy a donor guitar and take them that way. It's not something I would encourage but it seems to be the only way to know you're getting. I saw a really good instagram post by JW.Restoration on the 18th January that is really informative.

Obviously It's your call to make , good luck

It's a good point but although these things are sought over now, they weren't valued at all 40 years ago. Customers wanted SD or similar pickups as an upgrade back then. Even in the 90's friends of mine took the pickups out of Les Pauls and fitted EMG's and Demarzio's etc and often just chucked the Gibson ones in a drawer. There was no Ebay, Reverb or forums back then.

I have a lot of older friends, because I love old Shadows music and enjoy playing it live at the local club. It's amazing how much vintage stuff these guys have. It's just gear to them that they brought. Just happens they brought it 55 years ago.

guitars4you · March 2022

designerseye88 said:

I have to be honest the world of finding genuine PAF's is a bit of a murky one. Its almost impossible to tell some 'replica' ones from a real set. I have a set by a winder who's have been passed off as real plenty of times and I also have a real set, The replica set are every bit as good. Then you have to ask yourself why are the paf's you've found being sold? why were they taken out of the guitar in the first place? and have they been messed with? For me nowadays its just too risky when you're looking at £5k plus or a set, maybe even £7-10k now.

IMO the only way to really get a set is to buy a donor guitar and take them that way. It's not something I would encourage but it seems to be the only way to know you're getting. I saw a really good instagram post by JW.Restoration on the 18th January that is really informative.

Obviously It's your call to make , good luck

It is a known fact that some have been raided from the likes of an ES!75, from the same era - were the pick-ups can be worth as much as the ES175, or a good % of the guitars value - Replace the pick-ups on that golden era 175 with something credible and it is still a very desirable guitar, albeit price adjusted accordingly - You now have a set of PAF's that are so desirable to some

Koa · March 2022

Following on from the ‘just old gear’ comment,a friend once had a 1978 Gibson SG that had lost its original T Top pickups, replaced by the original owner with a real PAF in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge, a surprisingly good combination, that PAF was an amazing pickup.

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WTB - Original Pair of Gibson PAF Humbuckers

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