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November 2001 Issue - A Few Secrets About Gibson PAF Pickups, with Lindy Fralin: Part 2 By Larry Meiners

In Part 1 I discussed the origins of the PAF pickup and exposed some of the more prevalent myths. Next, I want to explain a few of the adjustments that can be made to humbucking pickups, including the guitar's controls and set-up to influence the amplified sound. Also, I'll discuss the T-Top pickups that came after PAFs. Volume Control Pot - Changing the volume pot (potentiometer) resistance value can marginally enhance the high-end response. A higher K Ohm value will make the pickup sound a bit brighter. Conversely, a lower value will enhance the mids and lows by reducing the treble sound signature. For PAF humbuckers, Gibson used a 500K Ohm pot and Fender used a 250K Ohm pot for most of their single-coil pickup guitars. Tone Control Capacitor - Changing the capacitor connected to the tone pot effects the treble response of the pickup. Different cap values roll-off the treble at different frequencies. A higher value cap will reduce more of the pickup's treble response. Vintage Fender guitars used caps from 0.1mfd to 0.05mfd. Gibson used different cap values with 0.02mfd and 0.01mfd being popular choices. Removing the Pickup Cover - Removing the metal humbucking pickup cover will marginally brighten the pickup. Be aware that removing the cover improperly may damage the windings on the coils and make your pickup useless. If a pickup is damaged in this manner, one or both coils will have to be rewound. Setting the String Height - Raising the action (string height) of the guitar's strings will generally allow for a clearer and cleaner amplification of the notes and especially chords. Also, the string gauge affects the guitar's amplified tone. Higher gauge strings have more mass and ultimately change the frequency response, overtones and sustain. Setting the Pickup Height - Raising the pickup close to the strings will increase the output (sound louder). The downside is that a strong pickup magnet may dampen string energy (reduce sustain) and may pull the string slightly out-of-tune. Lowering the pickup may produce a clearer and cleaner signal with less output. Remember, the neck pickup will sound louder than the bridge pickup (given the pickups are the same output specs and the same distance from the strings). You can adjust the pickup height to equalize this output difference if you switch between the neck and bridge pickups while playing live on stage and want similar sound levels. T-Top Patent Number Pickups -The T-Top patent number decal pickups followed the non-T-Top patent number decal pickups that followed the original PAFs. The patent number decal pickups were produced from 1962 until 1975. During 1975 Gibson stamped the patent number into the bottom of the pickup's base and these markings lasted until the early 1990s. By 1967 Gibson added a mold mark on the top of the pickup bobbins in the form of a 'T', with and additional small number. The T-Top humbuckers, as they are called, sound very similar to Gibson humbuckers made from 1961-1967. Most of these pickups measure a resistance of 7.5 K Ohms nominally. The existence of T-Top humbuckers helps to determine if the pickups are original equipment for a particular guitar. Vintage guitar dealers assign more value to non-T-Top pickups made before 1967 than T-Top or later pickups. These T-Top pickups have the smaller Alnico 5 magnet and sound different when compared to early PAFs with more high-end and less warmth. Many players prefer the sound of the later patent number humbuckers, including Michael Schenker. Gibson's 1971 Medallion and early 1975 Flying V guitars included these patent number T-Top pickups as standard equipment originally. This is the end of the first Gibson humbucker pickup primer. Flying Vintage Publications hopes this information helps you make great music. Copyright © 2001 Larry Meiners All Rights Reserved