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a pair of worse, they confuse overwound and distortion prone with old PAF’s was school organic. Wrong answer, try again. Gawd bless ‘em, I no longer sure couldn’t do it, but I don’t claim to have, either. There is an option. quite a difference. For my money, if there is anyone who can Goodbye figure it out and step up, it would have been Lollar. Lindy dead-mint Fralin is a class act, too. Time will tell, and more importantly, blonde tone will tell the truth. Anyone listening?T Q Bassman, – Riverhorse wicked '59 Les Paul Telecaster, sweet ol’ steel guitar – won’t miss you a bit. Hello Mr. 8.24 the PAF Lab Experients of Dave Stephens bridge and 7.2 neck PAF. I hear it loud and clear now, but it ain’t on a piece of crap Walkman anymore, it’s alive and well right here, and things will never again be the same. What Obsessed & Possessed… is the deal here? In a nutshell (more like a shotgun shell) “Sometimes it just seems like this shit never ends…” we have a clarity and boisterous presence from these beater – Dave Stephens pickups that are unrivaled. The strong top end is always rounded beautifully, the low end holds unwaveringly firm, Well, it appears that some- plus in-your-face resonance, bloom that seems like it pulses one was listening… Dave and throbs, and the most inspiring Doppler-esque cascade of Stephens has been keeping chords, like a freight train coming by instead of the impotent us abreast of his tortured notes we have come to know in so many new production coil. path in resurrecting true Warm clean tones have always held a certain sort of magical PAF tones for years. He spot in our hearts. When running these hot, hard, and heavy even sent us an early proto- with a favorite 1951 TV Front Tweed Pro (Junior Watson type set several years ago, was right) it is hard to take the toggle off that neck, if ever. graciously accepting our The true PAF neck sounds like a massive single coil – round, polite rejection with the percussive, and waiting to be either viciously floored or circumspect resignation of gracefully cuddled. My gawd, the girth of every string pain- an undaunted veteran. As a fully rewrites perception itself. When slotted into the Aiken result of our initial contact, Intruder’s Plexi side, they Beano onwards and upwards to however, many e-mail conversations ensued… It’s no wonder much more raw, raucous, and brash places, and reveal an al- most pickup winders don’t venture down the road Dave chose most unforgiving demand to strike each note astutely, lest you in his quest to de-mystify the magic of some (but not all) PAF come off sounding like a fool. There is no mud to hide under and patent number pickups… It’s expensive, incredibly time- here... Very few could pull it off. Case in point: Jimmy Page’s consuming, you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice a few vintage wonderful parts, and you’d better be damn sure you know exactly how sloppiness an exceptional PAF in the neck or bridge (two different ani- forever mals, there) sounds. Anyone willing to walk that walk gets recorded our respect, while those that talk the talk without having done on the the work remain in the majority. What we’re discussing here early Zep has nothing to do with some super-secret winding pattern – albums for the‘secret‘ rests in the organic properties of the steel alloys, poster- magnets and wire used, and anyone sourcing the same com- ity. There monly available parts as the next guy in 2010 is getting the it is, but same generic results. Here’s Dave’s blow-by-blow description there is only one Page. The good news, is you may be able of his personal PAF odyssey… to find some of these for yourself, and let’s keep in mind that PAFPARTS2 Hound Dog Taylor didn’t need a burst to throw down. Serving It went like this… Three years into making from the song, and not just the gear, is still the main call. The bad kit parts it really bothered me that I couldn’t get the tones news, is that there really are only a few really great PAFs out Allman, Page, or Peter Green were getting – that mystical there, and some are attached to 400 thousand dollar appendag- vocal quality that drives me into ecstasy. I suffer from a nasty es. The Ugly, is that most of the winders claiming to be nail- obsessive compulsive streak, chronic insomnia, and my own ing PAF tone are full of shit. Shame on them, as they didn’t artistic cranky temperament, so I struggled trying to find the do their homework by going back to the source. And even right questions to ask, and never really let up on that, or, it -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.12 N.2 December 2010 7 pickup

wouldn’t let PAF set. It sold pretty well and stood up against the real thing up on me. I pretty respectably. That was about three years ago. had to know “why.” The Meanwhile, I only real clue scored two real I had was PAF’s off Ebay ’s at bargain prices comment to needing new Seymour that baseplates, but they used ‘soft iron’ for the pole pieces. Man, what a vague otherwise intact, statement. I talked to some engineers and they told me it both sounding was ‘electrical steel.’ A couple thousand dollars later and a wonderful and product based on that stuff, I realized that it got me closer, but became my object ultimately it was a dead end and the pickups didn’t sell very of dissection well. I bought a lathe and a mill and started trying all kinds and measurements. I scored a few more stripped parts off of different alloys and I got some really interesting results… Ebay and more steel parts from dead P90’s which share the but no cigar. I came out with another set that didn’t sell well. identical steel keepers, pole screws, magnets and wire with I really put in long hours doing the wildest, most crazy things PAFs. The first batch of my VL’s were pretty close, but the I could think of, building prototype after prototype, making real PAF’s had something beyond what I was getting. Then recordings of each attempt and filling scores of clipboards suddenly the magnet wire I was getting changed radically and with notes. I learned a lot of useful things about humbuckers was real bright sounding, and I got a batch of steel at the same in general during that period. time that was shrill, and this threw me for a loop and into a deep depression. I was faced with THE WALL, the recipe At one point didn’t work anymore, and I was stuck. My steel industry it dawned on friend analyzed the steel and showed it to an old timer who me, and the told me it was botched material, and they turned me onto a engineers different source. Out of the blue, I was also gifted with origi- told me that nal control drawings of PAF bobbins, and then a PAF came in I could get a for repair, metals lab to and sud- analyze real denly vintage steel our plain parts and enamel tell me what wire they were source made of. So, I did. It was expensive, and I was shocked by vanished the data that came back – way off from what I’d ever thought. and Ele- But there was something wrong – there wasn’t a direct 100% ktrisola match to any modern equivalents, and some of the material took over were alloys that are impossible to buy in this country unless making way better, more consistent wire. The PAF that came you went to China and had it made into parts – too expensive in revealed a bunch of details I had missed and the whole for a one-man, tiny shoe-string business. So I was experiment- thing just came together over the course of about six months ing with steel alloys all the time and frustrated by not being into a final detailed picture, and now everything just seemed able to find exact matches for vintage alloys, and suddenly to work. I was able to identify variations in the brief time out of the blue a guy from the steel industry contacted me and period PAF’s were made, and I made four sets covering most offered to help me for free, using all his company’s high tech of those variations. There weren’t any more big questions to gear. Man, did I ever take advantage of that! What a gift from ask. More freebie repair PAF’s came in and there were no big the gods, and he became a good friend. So, the short story is surprises inside them anymore. I also contacted Elektrisola that I gained a complete knowledge of vintage steel alloys about the new wire and they graciously offered to analyze all used in early P13’s to late T-Tops and everything that hap- my vintage plain enamel examples I’d collected forever and pened inbetween. What I learned was of inestimable value, taught me what it all meant. but can’t be shared. Armed with that information, the pickups made steady progress forward and eventually I offered my This is a short version of an eight year journey, with no first “Vintage Lab” (the room where the crazy person works) secrets revealed. (Editor’s note: What Dave means here is -continued- 8 TONEQUEST REPORT V.12 N.2 December 2010 pickups

that he is not sharing sorta nailed the tone of a PAF, but the unmistakable bloom, the fruits of his labor for clarity and harmonic depth were absent. Our e-mail conversa- consumption by competi- tions took on the form of a consultation in which Dave shared tive pickup winders. There the general results of his ongoing experiments, and in August is no ‘fraternity’ of custom 2010 he sent prototypes of what he deemed to be his best winders, nor a Research effort to date, having analyzed original PAF and P90 parts and Committee of the Custom replicating them to the best of his ability. We’ll give him a Pickup Winders’ Guild). solid A+ for his neck , which reprises the excep- The current generation VL tionally smooth, bright and reedy qualities of a great PAF or sets were made in the last early ‘60s patent number neck pickup. You know what the nine months, and at last problem is with most neck humbuckers that sound muffled, I am getting everything muted and neutered, treated as an afterthought by most that can possibly be gotten winders because they have no idea how to fix the problem… with modern materials. Stephens’ VL neck is a stunning accomplishment that captures There is probably about a 10% difference between what I can the clarity and character of a great P90, which originally pro- make and actual real vintage parts – there’s just no overcom- vided the basis for Seth Lover’s PAF design. Get one now. ing that fact. Those old technologies and materials are gone forever, but I did accomplish my goal and I’m very happy The bridge position with what I’m getting. These VL sets are all hand machined is equally challeng- in my shop, using the same techniques did, correctly ing, and as Dave machine wound; my materials are very precisely chosen, and observed, there is the techniques I’ve developed are unique and give me the a certain degree of exact results I want. Each one is built like a fine watch, with magical complex- attention to every tiny detail I found in real PAF’s that were ity that we still find involved in creating those tones. I’ve had some magnets made missing in his VL and use existing commercial magnets and try them all in each bridge. Tonally, design to get the most vintage character, pretty much disre- he nails it with a garding what “number” Alnico they are as every company’s bright, musical and recipes are different from the others. The bottom line is what vocal tone that is I make is what I learned from the horse’s mouth, it all came neither thin, sharp direct from real PAF examples and deep back-engineering ef- or too ‘hot’, masking clarity with too much output. Still, forts using the generous, gracious help of industry people who extraordinary PAFs in the bridge position possess remark- donated their time freely to help me decode ancient artifacts ably complex and lush harmonic layers and a dynamic, tactile and technologies. I’ll omit the part about battling 14 dragons, sense of percussive bloom that we don’t quite hear in the VL being abducted by aliens, and serving in the Foreign Legion bridge. On the other hand, we’ve experienced varying levels until my Muse came back. That’s another story… of these same elusive qualities among Tom Holmes’ and Jim Rolph’s bridge pickups – in the right hands (in this case, ours) Review those pickups can almost sound as if you’re petting a 12-string, which inspires an imaginary scenario in which Stephens, Consider this Rolph and Holmes pool their resources and deep experience a prelude to to definitively crack the code on developing a consistently what’s headed true PAF once and for all. They’d have to charge $900 or your way in more for a set, but that beats paying $2,000 for a single PAF the upcom- with 80/20 odds that it will not be one of those exceptionally ing January/ inspiring happy accidents. In the meantime, stay tuned for a February 2011 continuation of this topic in the January/February issue with issue, and more P90, Stratocaster and humbucking pickup reviews, a new also a subtle assortment of guitars and accessories, including tone caps and reminder that bridges. (P.S. – We just received another e-mail from Dave – you’ll be receiving that blockbuster issue featuring expansive he’s still tweaking that bridge…) And so it seems appropriate pickup reviews on or about February 1st. that we close with the opening line that launched this tale of tone – “Sometimes it just seems like this shit never ends…” You might say we’ve been on the ground floor of Dave Ste- TQ phens’ pickup adventures. The first set he initially sent kinda www.sdpickups.com, E-MAIL: [email protected] -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.12 N.2 December 2010 9