Musical Illuminism is a guitar and music related blog site. The scope of content at Musical Illuminism will be relatively wide, yet always within the realm of guitars, gear tech and various music-related topics. Feel free to comment or even recommend edits and additions. I possess very high standards of informational accuracy and draw from a wide array of research sources and experience. I hope many find the information contained here to be both interesting and useful.
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Mike,
Extremely interesting article. I was searching on how tubes amplify (specifically Preamp tubes).
Question please: I understand that the guitar’s signal swings from positive to negative and that voltage is applied to the grid of the preamp tube. My question is when is the signal negative? When the guitar strings are not being plucked (amp and guitar on but not being played)? Likewise is the signal at max “positive” when I pluck a note?
Thanks Wally NJ
Thanks for the reply! Since then , I was researching some other sites for PAF idendification. They mention “die” marks on the screw wings of the tabs on the pickups. The PAF looks as thought it has these “die” marks. One thing that I have seen with all of the origional PAF’s I looked at was the bobbin screws were phillips head. These are standard head. Is there anyone out there that may know how to identify this as an origional? I would be interested in putting it back to origional if possible, to install in my Les Paul. Also, on the other pickup, it does appear to have all the bobbin markings of a “T” bucker from the late 60’s to early 70’s. I would also like to put this back to origional and put it in the bridge position. Ohming out the PAF , it comes in at 7.53K and the “T” bucker comes in at 7.48K. If there is anyone out there that could assist with info, that would be great. I could send some digital pics. Thanks again for all the great information.
Hello Mike, I just came across your site when trying to get some information on two pickups that I have. They are both humbucking pickups , and one has a PAF sticker on the bottom with no patent number, and the other one has a patent number sticker with a number of 2737842. What is interesting about these pickups, one has the “T” on it and the other has the round with square holes. BUT, the confusion lies in that both of these pickups appear to be modified and have 4 conductor wiring, or are fakes. I know that where they came from the individual liked to tinker around, and one has a removed nickle cover and the other has an aftermarket cover with the center cut out exposing the bobbins. Any thoughts appreciated . Great informative site
Hello and thanks for your appreciation of my information site. My thoughts? Well the quick answer is those pickups have most likely been modified to four conductor wiring. If someone was wanting to fake those pickups, they wouldn’t be using four conductor wiring. Mods like this happened a lot during the ’70s especially, a time before it become absolutely unthinkable to mod ’50s thru ’70s Gibson pickups.
Also, keep in mind that the “PAF” pickup may be a re-issue – on the newer re-issue Gibson “PAF” pickups, Gibson put “Patent Applied For” stickers on those re-issue pickups too.
And, your other pickup with a patent no. 2,737,842 sticker on it is a modified ’67 thru ’74 “T-Top” pickup.