Re: PAF's in a strat-what to expect tonewise
I've owned a few old Gibson humbuckers from between '57 and '63...probably a dozen or so. They all had similarities but every one was also unique. They all have a certain complex warmth to the tone and a certain vocal quality that's very appealing to me.
But none of my oldies sounded as good or as powerful to me as the Les Paul Jeff Beck used live when I heard him in '67 doing songs off of the Truth album. That's the one that a repairman later stole the pickups out of and Seymour invented the Jazz and JB and put them in an old Tele and gave it to Jeff...because his Les Paul lost that tone when the repairman ripped off the original paf's.
I use Tom Holmes HB's in my favorite Les Paul...I don't think they can be beat. To me, they do get the tone I remember Jeff's Les Paul having.
But I also think the Duncan Antiquity does as good a job at emulating the paf tone as anything out there. To me, they have more of the classic and normal 50's paf tone whereas the Holmes have the hotter tone that just a few old pafs had.
And the Seths are excellant too tho not quite as "open" and "hollow" of a voice as the Antiquity.
The Tom Holmes HB's have more growl and bark to them tho and that's what I was after...Jeff Beck's my favorite guitarist and when I was kid I wanted to sound just like him. Never could tho!
But that's not the tone of Eric Clapton's Cream era Les Paul that he used on Fresh Cream. Maybe it's just the way he played and the way he set his amp, but it's a smoother tone than Beck's and in a way, a more classic and normal vintage paf tone...more like the real pafs I've had in my guitars and like the Antiquitys, IMO.
That Cream era Clapton tone is actually a nicer tone I think than the Jeff Beck paf tone...more refined.
Dan Erlewine swears by the Rolphs.
The thing is, everyone has a differant idea about what the ultimate paf replica should sound like because we all have diferant tastes and play differantly and hear differantly.
When I became a Duncan and Fralin dealer I put my old Gibson pafs on Ebay and sold them all! Between the Duncans, the Tom Holmes and the Lindy Fralin humbuckers, I honestly felt I was getting a better tone out of the newer humbuckers than my oldies...so I sold them.
Maybe Dr. Barlo will join in on this...he'd kind of an expert on boutique humbuckers.
Lew
