Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

P

Powerglide350

New member
I had a Dimarzio PAF Pro in the neck position of my old Kramer focus 2000. Since I got it I wasnt really happy with it's sound. Today I decided on a whim to swap the magnet to an A2 as opposed to the A5 that pickup comes with.


It was easy to take the pickup apart, just 4 screws on the bottom, scratched away the tape covering the base plate, and I was in. I took note of the polarity of the magnet with a polarity tester,

I went to install my A2 magnet and it was too wide to fit between the metal spacers under each coil.(the pole pieces go through this part) I had heard you can create the "Air mod" by removing one of these spacers and taking up the remaining space with plastic or wood.

So I removed the front spacer, slid in the A2 magnet took up the space between the pole pieces and magnet with a cut up zip tie (you just dont want the adjustable pole pieces touching the magnet), and put it all back together.

I LOVE THIS PICKUP. It has killer tone, sustaining notes and a bell like clean sound. Pretty much everything I want from a neck pickup.




I figured I would share here in case anyone was bored and wanted to try something different,I tried to explain so if someone never did it they could try it. Peace.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

iiiiiiinteresting...

I might try this next time I change strings on my Ibanez.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

Awesome...Some Dimarzios have the magnets epoxied....Not pretty getting those out!
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

I would like to hear a PAF Pro with an A3 in the neck position.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

PAF Pro with an A2? Hmmm - probably even closer to a CC IMO...
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

I wonder how that A2 PAF Pro would sound in the bridge? Probably pretty nice!
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

appar111 said:
I wonder how that A2 PAF Pro would sound in the bridge? Probably pretty nice!
Click to expand...

A stock PAF Pro sounds great in the bridge, but my only complaint is the out of control brightness. The A2 would probably smooth it all out and make it nice and chunky sounding while retaining the articulation and perhaps adding a bit more touch sensitivity. I gotta try that out sometime.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

CTN said:
A stock PAF Pro sounds great in the bridge, but my only complaint is the out of control brightness. The A2 would probably smooth it all out and make it nice and chunky sounding while retaining the articulation and perhaps adding a bit more touch sensitivity. I gotta try that out sometime.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember the PAF Pro being pretty bright in the bridge position, making it into the "harsh" category when using a 500K pot and no tone knob (which is how I usually wire my bridge humbuckers up).

My current single humbucker strat only has a single 500K vol pot because the tone pot (even all the way up) takes a little too much high end off for me. I should just get a PAF Pro for that guitar so I can actually use the tone pot. Have brightness on tap for when it's needed, and dial it back a bit to take the out of control brightness away.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Awesome...Some Dimarzios have the magnets epoxied....Not pretty getting those out!
Click to expand...

I've swapped mags in many makes and models of PU's, and have only seen it on DMz's. Don't know why they feel the need to do that, seems to be mostly on overwound PU's. They use different kinds of glues too; the rubbery kind makes it easy to get the magnet out, peels right off. With the epoxy the mag has to be chisled off.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

Same reason they need to trademark a color.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

oh come on, that's more an issue of how the patent/trademark system works, not Dimarzio's fault.
 
Re: Swapped an A2 magnet into a Dimarzio PAF pro.

blueman335 said:
I've swapped mags in many makes and models of PU's, and have only seen it on DMz's. Don't know why they feel the need to do that, seems to be mostly on overwound PU's. They use different kinds of glues too; the rubbery kind makes it easy to get the magnet out, peels right off. With the epoxy the mag has to be chisled off.
Click to expand...

Exactly...One of the DMZs I did,I had to break the magnet up into pieces to get it off the plate...That one was definately epoxy or something non-pliable....
 
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