Took the leap! PAF content

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

A couple of weeks ago, I made the bold decision to just close my eyes and take the leap on buying a set of PAFs for my 54/57 les paul conversion. It was just one of those things that I had to try out for myself (in the same way I just had to see if the magic of vintage wood was indeed truth or hype).

Knowing that this was going to be momentous event for me, I thought it would be fun if I documented the whole process for my own personal archives. And after putting everything together, I actually thought this might be an interesting thing to share with my brothers here.

I really am more of a photographer than I am a videographer, so please excuse the quality of this simple video as it is my first LOL.

A few things before I go:

1. Please note that this video was recorded with the on-cam microphone of my DSLR (a canon 5D mkii) only. So the recording quality will not be anywhere close to studio grade recording. That, plus the compression from youtube will definitely affect the integrity of the audio.
2. Kindly excuse my sloppy playing. I’m no where as skilled as many of the guys here, and it doesn’t help that I was having difficulty focusing on playing, being the director, actor, editor, and producer of this simple video all at the same time LOL!

With that out of the way, hope you guys have fun watching this simple video, as much as I had fun making it!

Es

VIDEO HERE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_6p7evMC4I

Gear Used:

1. 1954 Les Paul converted to 57 spec, loaded with a ‘59 PAF neck pickup and ‘63 Pat# bridge pickup

2. Vintage harness was installed in the later part of the video

The codes on the pots read:

Neck Vol: 134 808 (8th week 1958)
Neck Tone: 134 803 (3rd week 1958)
Bridge Vol: 134 6104 (4th week 1961)
Bridge Tone: 134 6023 (23rd week 1960)

3. Bruno Super 100 amplifier (not mine but wouldn’t mind owning one LOL).

Jumping@Shadows · May 24, 2013

BRAVO Es! I think that last segment says it all really- super dry, hollow and honky and the overtones through the Bruno, as well as the clarity and sweetness really come though- I think you're clearly listening and more inspired as you play with the vintage pups too

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

Yuuks!!! Super love em

Thanks man, you're the best!!

Learned a few things from this experience:

1. Based on the few I've heard, the PAT# I have in the bridge sounds a lot like the really nice PAF my friend has on the bridge of his paul! There seems to be very little if not none difference between the PAF and PAT# pup I've heard in the bridge of my paul

2. The harness Yuuks put together for me is amazing! I didn't think it would have this much influence to the over all tone of my guitar but it sure does. They just work together!

Hardrockmapletop · May 24, 2013

Now that's entertainment!
Like to hear more with the original harness!
Sounded beautiful at the end!

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

Thanks Bro!

Yeah really happy with how the guitar sounded after the harness was put in! It just matched so well with the PAFs and the wood of the guitar!

It's funny ... there should be MORE video clips of the guitar after the harness and PAFs were put in ... unfortunately my camera ran out of battery LOL! This videographer needs to get fired LOL

Jumping@Shadows · May 24, 2013

This was a labour of love, and both the pickups and the loom were 'private stash' so I'm glad they fit so well in a guitar seven thousand miles away :salude

Yannick333 · May 24, 2013

Love the "Video diary"! Thanks for sharing!! :dude:

Steve Craw · May 24, 2013

Loved the video! Frankly, night and day difference, for the better.

hoss · May 24, 2013

Man, that was nice. The sound is great and the whole video is a piece of art, don't be so shy

The Bruno sounds amazing, too.

poe · May 24, 2013

what a treat...thanks for doing this and putting it up for us to enjoy..

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

Jumping@Shadows said:
This was a labour of love, and both the pickups and the loom were 'private stash' so I'm glad they fit so well in a guitar seven thousand miles away :salude

I really am glad I was able to bump into you Yuuks. I also find myself incredibly lucky to be a part of the LPF community! All of the info I've learned about my favorite instrument in the whole wide world PLUS the people I've met here over the years is really priceless.

Wanted to say thank you to a few others too like Charlie, EdA, Billy, Julio and a few others who were able to share with me their thoughts on PAFs as well before I took the plunge! Wouldn't have gone through without their guidance

eace2

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

Yannick333 said:
Love the "Video diary"! Thanks for sharing!! :dude:

Thanks for the appreciation

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

Thanks Steve! The experience really was an ear opener for me.

But what I liked the most about this whole experience is how I now feel like there's so much for me to learn about this guitar and how to play it correctly in order to really fully capitalize on this beautiful way it now reacts to playing.

Something tells me I will be spending more time on bent notes and figuring out which frets "come to life" the most

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

hoss said:
Man, that was nice. The sound is great and the whole video is a piece of art, don't be so shy
The Bruno sounds amazing, too.

Thanks Hoss! Much appreciated :salude

Wish the Bruno was mine LOL

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

poe said:
what a treat...thanks for doing this and putting it up for us to enjoy..

Thanks for the appreciation Poe

eace2

slimdave · May 24, 2013

Thanks for putting together such a nicely done video.
The combination of vintage guitars and aesthetic filming makes it very enjoyable!

:3zone

FlamingTop · May 24, 2013

slimdave said:
Thanks for putting together such a nicely done video.
The combination of vintage guitars and aesthetic filming makes it very enjoyable!

:3zone

Thanks for the appreciation Slim! Will try to put some more clips up of the guitar now especially with this harness in place

Minibucker · May 24, 2013

They sound awesome.

MapleFlame · May 24, 2013

Vintage harnesses make everything sound better and definitely here.

jwalker · May 24, 2013

Cool video! Those P.A.F.'s do sound great! I got to say I think the DT-102 sounds great also but they do have a more prominent treble edge than your vintage P.A.F.'s when I listen through good speakers. But this makes sense to me, see below.

This makes sense because your DT-102 set is not the current DT-102 MXV set. The point of doing the ThroBak MXV line was to address dimensional and material differences to iron out this treble edge and get everything line with vintage specs. tonally and cosmetically. It is ultimately why I did hard tooling for baseplates, bobbins and covers, all the ThroBak parts....... So some of any difference is down to this.

I do think the harness is a variable tonally. But the wild cards with any P.A.F. set are the magnet, coil pattern, turns and offset, many things..... And these are somewhat random in vintage P.A.F.'s. I make 8 variations of Alnico and frankly that does not cover all of the possibilities. Getting all of these random variables to align with a random set of P.A.F.'s can be done but you need more info than a sound clip to complete the picture.

So I guess what I'm saying is give those P.A.F.'s so I can take them apart and duplicate them because they sound good!

Congrats on a great sounding guitar!:3zone

Took the leap! PAF content

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