With so many PAF-style pickups on the market, it can be hard to tell them apart. Nearly every pickup maker offers these simple combinations of wire, bobbins, and magnets claiming to capture that 1959 Gibson Les Paul mojo. We offer a variety of pickups that deliver that Kalamazoo-era mojo, right down to the wire. To clear the waters a bit, we’ll take a look at nine of our PAF pickups & PAF-style pickups and explain what makes each different and which one might be right for you.

But first… 

What is a PAF-style Humbucker?

PAF stands for “Patent Applied For” and is the common designation for the very first Gibson humbucking pickups. The original PAFs, or Gibson humbuckers, featured alnico magnets for low output, warm low end, scooped mids, and clear treble, a tone that set the standard for every humbucker to follow. Some refer to them as more of a “Tele-on-steroids” than the modern humbucker tone we know today. All of this, along with driving countless guitar-defining records, make them the holy grail of tone for guitarists worldwide.  

Seymour Duncan PAF-Style Pickups

• Seth Lover
• Antiquity
• ‘59 Model
• Jazz
• Alnico II Pro
• Slash
• Pearly Gates
• Whole Lotta Humbucker
• Saturday Night Special

Seth Lover

If you want authentic PAF replicas, with vintage specs, as if they came off the line today, the Seth Lovers are the pickups for you. These are spot-on recreations of the original pickups Seth Lover designed in the 1950s. We use the same factory that built the original PAF mold for Gibson for the butyrate bobbin molds. We wind every Seth Lover humbucker on Seymour’s original Leesona winding machine from the early Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, MI, and the unpotted, nickel silver covers create an almost piano-like tone and percussive feel. Finally, the Alnico II bar magnet smooths the highs and brings out rich harmonic content. The Seth Lover humbuckers are all about vintage tone and are a time machine for your guitar. 

Antiquity

If Seth Lovers are like factory-fresh PAFs, the Antiquity Humbuckers are the same pickups after 70 years of tone. They use the same butyrate bobbins, wiring machines and wire, and non-potted design as the Seth Lovers. But the Antiquity Humbuckers make your Les Paul look vintage and sound like a perfectly aged, priceless piece of rock ‘n’ roll history. We age each Antiquity humbucker in our Custom Shop in a process that simulates the tone and look of a perfectly broken-in and mellowed pickup. And they still deliver that open, airy tone of the great PAF humbuckers Seth Lover designed in 1955.  

‘59 Model

The ’59 Model humbucker is one of our most popular and longest-lasting designs. It blends the tone and character of genuine Gibson PAFs with modern construction techniques making it a go-to option for professional players. For example, as with all of our PAF-style pickups, we wind the ’59 Model on Seymour’s classic Leesona 102 pickup winding machine from the old Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, MI. It also utilizes an Alnico 5 magnet and vacuum wax potting. This keeps it stable and squeal-free when hitting gain and volume levels way higher than were ever used in the 1950s. You can even opt for a 4-conductor version for coil-splitting and other wiring options.   

Jazz

The Seymour Duncan Jazz humbucker

is PAF-inspired. It has the lower output and gorgeous top-end detail that make those pickups so popular. But we gave the Jazz a unique coil wind to deliver a tone with a nice tight bottom and a hushed midrange. Along with its Alnico 5 bar magnet, that special coil wind lets the Jazz sing clearly even under extreme high gain. The result is an incredibly versatile humbucker that works for almost any style of music.  

Do you love the Jazz but want the benefits of the Antiquity aging process? You’re in luck! The Jazz is also available in the Antiquity line, hand-aged in our Custom Shop for the perfect broken-in look and feel. 

Alnico II Pro

For decades, when guitarists think of the Alnico II Pro, they’ve thought of Slash. He has been the champion of this pickup since his early days. He even used them exclusively on Appetite for Destruction, the biggest selling debut album of all time! So if you want to know what the Alnico II Pro sounds like, just put on the album. Rock’ n’ Roll perfection!  

The Alnico II Pros get that fat, singing sustain through the soft treble attack and low string pull of their namesake Alnico II bar magnets. These magnets are fantastic for a warm, sweet tone with plenty of sustain. But their real claim to fame is the fat highs that sound thick all the way up the fretboard. Again, just throw on the record for proof.  

Slash

Slash loves his Alnico II Pros so much that he wanted them installed in his Gibson Les Paul Signature models. Surprisingly, he found that his new signature models sounded way different than his original Derrig Les Paul copy. So it was up to us to make Slash a new pickup that would make all of his new signature guitars sound like the original AFD Les Paul. The result is the Slash Signature Model humbucker. It pushes any stock Les Paul with the familiar sustain, crunch, and midrange that make up the Slash tone.

Pearly Gates

Billy Gibbons’ 1959 Les Paul, lovingly named Pearly Gates, is nearly as famous as the Texas guitar slinger himself. Tasked with creating a pickup that captures Gibbons’ iconic tone, Seymour discovered Pearly Gates’s bridge pickup has slightly more output than most PAFs. That’s why it had a bit more sonic muscle. We recreated that magical pickup and its added midrange punch in the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker. Though it cuts through with stronger mids, it still has the Texas sizzle and airy treble attack of the Alnico 2 bar magnet and a warm, full low-end. If you’ve ever wanted a classic humbucker tone with a little more teeth, this is where you’ll find it.

Whole Lotta Humbucker

Before Seymour built his own business, he worked for Fender Soundhouse in London. There, Seymour befriended some of his favorite musicians and rewound pickups for them. Thankfully, Seymour has always kept meticulous notes and details of his winds. So when a particular player from the Yardbirds at the time – we’ll leave you to guess who it is – needed a rewind, Seymour delivered and wrote it all down.  

Today, we call that pickup the Whole Lotta Humbucker. Its roughcast Alnico V magnet, plain enamel wire, and Seymour’s unique winding pattern culminate in vintage-hot 8.78k and 8.20k DC resistances making everything sound bigger. Though not high output, they’ll push your amp with slight compression and sustain.  

Saturday Night Special

Maybe the Saturday Night Specials aren’t traditional PAF-style humbuckers. But they are the perfect bridge between the real thing and modern designs. Voiced to be a little hotter and fatter in the bridge position and clearer and less “wooly” in the neck position, Saturday Night Specials offer more tonal balance than real PAFs. They’re also more aggressive than vintage-correct models but maintain their uncompressed, natural feel. These pickups are perfect for guitar players replicating those late-‘70s, classic arena rock tones. 

Let’s Talk Tone

If you have any other questions about PAF-style humbuckers, don’t hesitate to reach out. And don’t forget to dig into the Seymour Duncan blog. There’s a ton of in-depth information on our different designs, how-tos, tone demonstrations, and a lot more.

Remember to sign up for Seymour Duncan’s free Pickup Installation 101 online course for more in-depth information, tips, and tricks.

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