TYLE
FS
TONE
WORDS
BY
YOEL
KREISLER
Unfortunately, there is a lot of snake oil,
smokescreens, and “mojo” out there,
from pickup winders trying to sell you
their products at a higher price point, and
without any real facts or science to back
it up. In this feature, we will not discuss
whether aged nickel baseplates or maple
spacers add to the “vintage tone”, because
we would be here for a week (and the
tonal differences are so very minute and
hard to measure). Instead, I have stuck to
talking about tried and true specs of PAFs
that are proven make a difference in the
tone and response, and I have stayed away
from “vintage correct” specs, because in
my opinion, at the end of the day it’s your
fingers that make the tone, not the Alnico
magnets that were hand massaged and
read bed time stories for a year.
For the feature, we are
only going to focus on the two
main types of PAF, the ’57 and
’59 styles. The ’57 styles usually
use Alnico II magnets, while
the ’59 styles usually use Alnico
IV magnets. There is a lot of
information out there about
the differences between Alnico
magnets, and some can be
inaccurate. Speaking to different
pickup winders, and doing lots
of research, has gotten me this
list. Please remember to take
it with a grain of salt, because
everyone’s tone will sound
different in their own respective
situations.
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