P.A.F. (pickup)

Development In the mid-1950s Gibson looked to create a new guitar pickup different from existing popular single coil designs. Gibson had already developed the Charlie Christian pickup and P-90 in the 1930s and 40s; however, these designs—like competitor Fender's single-coil pickups—were fraught with inherent 60-cycle hum sound interference. Engineer and Gibson employee Seth Lover had developed a hum-canceling circuit for amplifier power supplies and suspected the same concept could be applied to guitar pickups. By early 1955, the design was completed. Rather than routing two single coil pickups in parallel, Lover had "routed two coils with opposite wind and polarity together in series, which caused each coil to cancel out the other’s hum." and in June 1955, Lover and Gibson filed a joint patent. The original design called explicitly for Alnico 5 magnets, but early examples can be Alnico 2, Alnico 3, or Alnico 5. In 1956, McCarty threatened legal action over design similarities between the P.A.F. and Filter'Tron upon learning that Chet Atkins was already performing with Butts' pickups. Butts, however, claimed to have created his humbucker first and no legal action was ever taken, with Gibson and Gretsch mutually agreeing Lover and Butts had arrived at their designs independently and at the same time. Les Paul Goldtops and Customs were the first solid-body electric guitars to receive P.A.F. humbuckers, and Gibson's ES Series were the first hollow/semi-hollow designs to receive them. DiMarzio has opposed Gibson's claims, arguing Gibson is time-barred from challenging DiMarzio's trademark and that Gibson had failed to make any allegations "related to the association in the public imagination between the [trade]marks at issue and DiMarzio." ==Sound==

Pickup manufacturer Seymour Duncan described the characteristic tone of P.A.F.s as a "Tele-on-steroids," with a "full, uncompressed sound that’s slightly less bright than a single-coil" and "a nice balance of warm lows, clear mids and crisp highs." Additionally, the pickups had a tonal clarity and touch sensitivity at higher gain levels that helped make them popular among rock and blues musicians. However, due to manufacturing inconsistencies, each individual pickup is unique in terms of output level and tone. Factors that account for this variation are: • Gibson used four different machines to wind vintage P.A.F. pickups. Two of the four machines lacked auto stop mechanisms resulting in variation in turns for each of the bobbins that make up the P.A.F. pickup assembly. The resulting inconsistency in turn count led to variation in the output and tone. For the same reason, the two coils within each pickup unit usually have a slightly different number of turns, which affects the treble overtones of the assembled pickup. • Gibson used Alnico magnets in P.A.F.s, the same magnet as used in the P-90. Alnico has several different grades with different tonal properties. In original P.A.F. pickups the grades Alnico 2, 3, and 5 were used (with Alnico 3 being the least common). • Original P.A.F. magnets were charged in groups. This process yielded magnets that were not fully charged to saturation. Vintage P.A.F. and P-90 magnets therefore can lose some charge over time, which affects the tone of the pickup. (P-90's in particular are more prone to this effect.) ==Legacy==

In an article exploring how P.A.F.s had become the "most revered and elusive" pickup ever made, Guitarist dubbed them the "Holy Grail of all electric guitar pickups" and noted a cottage industry had formed around companies trying to replicate the vintage P.A.F. design, with much of the pickup's status owing to its popularity with influential guitarists like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, George Harrison, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Despite the popularity of hotter humbuckers in the 1970s, by 1981 Gibson realized that there was still a consumer demand for the sound of original P.A.F. pickups. Engineer Tim Shaw designed a pickup that aimed to replicate the early design, reversing changes made in the 1960s and 1970s. Shaw's efforts are generally considered to be the first of many recreations of the P.A.F. humbucker, and it was used in Gibson's reissue and Custom Shop models through the '80s and '90s. Inspired by Shaw's efforts, pickup manufacturer Seymour Duncan partnered with Seth Lover to design the "Seth Lover Humbucker," a faithful recreation of the original P.A.F. design using one of Gibson's old coil-winding machines. The P.A.F.'s warm, uncompressed sound has remained popular—even as hotter, more powerful humbuckers have become the norm—with notable fans in Dave Grohl, Derek Trucks, and Jeff Tweedy. Many companies have also released modernized versions of the design, with Gibson offering models like the "Burstbucker" and "Custom Buckers." ==References==