Duncan PAF question

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Duncan PAF question

I don't mean anything covert by it, just that where else, in the "authentic reissue" world do we see companies making these kinds of attempts? If Sony reissued the cassette Walkman they would most surely make it out of the best bang for the buck plastic. Strongest/cheapest. There would be zero regard for the plastic used in the original. But they would tell you "it's just like the original" with little or no pressure for transparency from the marketplace. Even in our own industry there are reissue Les Pauls made of Mahogany from Africa instead of Honduras, 1968 reissue Fender amps with very little in common with my 1968 Showman head...part of it is because we have better methods today, but things like the RoHS initiative have pulled lead out of solder and other parts. Sometimes matching step-by-step to 1950s accuracy, a $2000 amp might be $10,000. Making a Sony Walkman in Japan today with the same everything would probably be $500. Yet you can still get a butyrate PAF style pickup with Alnico magnets, maple spacer, nickel silver components, plated slugs cut from rod stock, not cast. All for less than $200. Quite amazing in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks wasnt trying to start something just the wording made me wonder exactly what you meant

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Duncan PAF question

Thanks wasnt trying to start something just the wording made me wonder exactly what you meant

Yeah I know, but it was good to clarify. I am currently lucky enough to be working in cutting edge pickup technology, so its important for me that people know I wasn't referring to one pickup company vs another, rather vintage pickup recreation in general vs other consumer goods, in and outside the music industry. You think a Twinkie is made the original way anymore? LOL

 

[blueman335]

Re: Duncan PAF question

You think a Twinkie is made the original way anymore?

They're not???

I don't know what to believe in anymore.

 

[Artie]

Re: Duncan PAF question

If Sony reissued the cassette Walkman they would most surely make it out of the best bang for the buck plastic. Strongest/cheapest. There would be zero regard for the plastic used in the original. But they would tell you "it's just like the original" with little or no pressure for transparency from the marketplace.

You just made a killer point. If Sony made a true-to-the-original Walkman, who would buy it? I wouldn't. My SansClip MP3 player would blow it into the weeds in every aspect. Fidelity, distortion, freq response, etc. So, the best winders get together and make the "perfect" PAF. Then, one or two of them wind their own favorite pup . . . and it sounds "better".

The whole "authentic" PAF stuff goes out the window.

 

[Janglin_Jack]

Re: Duncan PAF question

I know I will sound just as bad with my Seth's, PGates, 57 Classics Antiquities or a real '59 Les Paul.

To that extent, I think Robben Ford would sound like Robben Ford if he played my 1981 Ibanez AR-50 with Super 70s pickups. I guess my point is, chasing good tone is fun and we all want to find "the best" but not sure another promise of holy grail humbucker is neaded......

Mike

 

[KRKBAB]

Re: Duncan PAF question

Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!!!

Almost everything we become attached to and try to replicate is due to nostalgia, plain and simple. If you randomly designed a pickup today, went back in time and had a lot of famous guitarists use them, people today would be clamoring to attempt to reproduce, or replicate them.
I think a lot of it stems from not being happy with the present and a desire to go back to a magical time.
When I sculpt my sound, I could care less how much a pickup, guitar or amp reproduces the sound of another pickup, guitar or amp.
All I am asking myself is do I like it. If there is an aspect of the sound I don't like, I proceed to try to adjust the pickup (guitar or amp) until it's pleasing.

Presently, I'm diggin' the DMZ 36th set. I'm diggin' it not because it sounds just like sumthin' else, but because I like what it itself sounds like.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Duncan PAF question

I have Les Pauls and 335s with Seths, 50th Anniversary A2 Seths, Ants, BB 1&2s, '57 Classics, and '57 Classic/Classic Plus sets. I like them all. (I've posted many times that I don't like the 490r/498t pickups that came in my LP Supreme, and I replaced the pickups in my 1960 Classic LPs because they were too hot for my Mesa amps.)

Now say--I have a favorite set among the sets listed above. Does that matter to anyone else?

Probably not. Because my styles is probably different than anyone else's, my band situation is different, I hear things differently than others, and I probably don't care about some of the minute details that others obsess over--either in construction, or tone.

For me, if it is good enough, it's good enough.

++++++++++++++++

Musings and ramblings:

I think the concept of a totally accurate PAF is interesting. I can certainly see the appeal. I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay the premium they would surely bring.

But, I think the one thing I can give credit to Seymour for is consistency. I think over the years, he has heard and played on some really great PAF pickups--and probably some not-so-great. I think with the Ants, Seths, '59s, Pearlys--he's given us a variety of flavors of the '50s PAFs--that are consistently good, if not great--without the risk of buying a "clunker", which certainly happens when buying some actual vintage PAFs. I would never want this company to give up that consistency.

I'm actually not sure how much this pursuit of "vintage tone" is even relevant anymore. So many players are using over-top-gain as their basic tone that all subtlety is lost. I recently heard a bar band do a couple of The Eagles' hits, and the lead guitarist was using so much gain and distortion on the solo parts originally recorded with a clean tone--let's just say, it sounded awful. And he played that way on all their songs. I got bored and left.

So, if you're gonna play like that, is the pursuit of vintage '50s tone a worthwhile endeavor? Not sure.

Hmmmm. Fifty years from now, will everyone be playing on Black Winter re-issues/clones? Or paying thousands for vintage EMGs? Maybe.

And then there are the Zephyr's; seems to me that if you wanted the "ultimate" PAF, that would be it--not '50s clones, but if the hype is all true, it's the "ultimate".

My pockets aren't that deep, and certainly not for $5,000 vintage PAFs either.

Bill