Description
Seth Lover’s original PAF humbuckers weren’t uniform – output and tone varied wildly from unit to unit – but the great ones shared a few traits: a soft magnetic field, effortless dynamics from pick attack alone, and that elusive balance between warmth and clarity. Rather than clone a spec sheet, DiMarzio used Larry DiMarzio’s personal 1959 cherry sunburst Les Paul as the reference point and reverse-engineered what actually made it sing.
The key discovery was the weak Alnico 5 magnetic field. A lighter pull lets the strings ring out longer and gives the pickup an almost single-coil-like articulation and focus, despite being a full humbucker. Custom-coated 42-gauge wire is layered with computer-controlled precision to nail the exact frequency response, then the coils are wax-potted to a proprietary formula to keep squeal and microphonics out of the equation entirely.
This gold-covered version wears a nickel-silver cover with updated plating that’s more magnetically transparent than vintage examples, so you’re not losing any of that character to the cover itself. The result is smooth without ever going muddy – equally happy in the neck or, if you want to experiment, the bridge, just like the best 50s-era humbuckers were.
DiMarzio builds the PAF 36th Anniversary to order: pick vintage glossy or modern matte bobbins, long-legged or short-legged base plates, and single-conductor or 4-conductor wiring.
- Recommended for: All positions
- Magnet: Alnico 5
- Wiring: 4-Conductor (1-Conductor optional)
- DC Resistance: 7.31 kOhm
- Quick Connect: No
- Year introduced: 2008
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