Pure P.A.F. ®

5/9/2019…Please see my review in the Mini Humbucker section for more details.
I had a Pure PAF installed in the bridge position of my new Michael Kelly “1955” Series Tele to replace the junk pups that were in this really fine
instrument for the price…this was an experiment…OMG !! The tone is undescribable ! The voices, articulation, depth, versatility…WOW!!!
Made a “lady” out of this cute, well made, but blah sounding instrument…
Thank you, Lindy…

This pickup in the bridge position (8.2K) is the perfect complement to the Hum Canceling P90 (Stock output Neck) I put in the neck on my semi-hollow Dot. The tone is pure bliss! I can’t say enough about what Lindy’s pickups have done to transform my guitar or about the quality of customer service I received. Truly, this is a first class operation in every aspect. Much respect, Mr. Fralin. Much respect.

The tone I was looking for!
Replaced the stock Epi bridge pickup with Fralin Pure PAF 8.2 on my ’01 Korean Epi LP. Articulation and dynamics in spades now. Very satisfied with tonal ranges I’m getting with the Pure PAF. Great classic rock sounds.

Perfect and Powerful. Went for the underwound set (7.5K / 8K). I put them in a Derek Trucks SG, and man, these things sound great. Clear and articulate with great balance. I primarily play single coils, so these, even under wound, still pack plenty of punch for what I do. Great stuff, as usual.

Another perfect Score.
At first I was unsure about the PAF’s. My experience with Fralin pickups was exclusively with Fender guitars and I have been ecstatic with the sound of my Strat and Tele. I was also unsure I installed them correctly. First tine I did an installation. Thought the bridge pickup did not have as much gain as the neck but I tested them with a multimeter and everything was spot on. It took a little while to play and get use to them having spent most of my playing on Fenders. I LOVE THESE PICKUPS NOW! Exactly what I wanted for my Les Paul. Warm, sweet midrange, balanced without being too “hot”. Beautiful for clean playing. What I have discovered with the PAF’s is that if I select both pickups and drop the volume on the neck pickup by one or two, I get an amazing, perfect lead tone, not too midrange, but not as much treble as just the bridge alone. Just enough for solos.
Never worked with my last set of pickups.
My Les Paul has once again become my go to guitar.
Excellent!
PS: Is there a way to install a blender pot like you guys rigged when I bought an entire pre-wired Strat pickguard for the LP? That would put the LP over the top!

Great pick-ups, not too much output.

Very well made. Exactly as they should be.

Exactly what I wanted!

These pickups are everything I wanted and more. I picked up a D’Angelico EX-SS hollow body recently. I loved everything about the guitar except the pickups. They were muddy and not very versatile. After I installed the Pure PAF pickups, it was like wiping off your glasses when they are dirty. Suddenly, the guitar came alive and I could hear and feel what the guitar was capable of. Couldn’t be happier with my purchase.

American Telecaster HH
I always liked playing this American Telecaster, but the stock humbuckers were muddy, compared to custom shop guitars. I was hesitant to spend the money on Fralin humbuckers for this guitar, especially because I didn’t know how much it would really improve it.

I took a long time deciding which humbuckers to go with and finally ordered the Pure P.A.F. set, along with a new control plate with 500K pots.

I’m happy to say it worked out perfectly. This guitar sounds completely different. I can hear every string now, even with lots of gain from the amp. It’s tone is warm and bold. The overall sound is articulate. It’s a basic American Tele that sounds more like a custom shop.

It’s also important to mention that the Fralin people helped me all along the way. They run a first class shop and won’t let you go it alone, if you ask for guidance.

Cleans up mushy low end exactly the sound I was looking for out of the guitar I put them in. Lindy is a good guy, great listener and gracious with his time.

Warm, Sweet and Clear! Not dark or muddy. Warm, sweet and clear humbuckers.

My Herirage 150 came with Duncan Vintage ‘59s, which were good but just not quite hot enough. I installed the standard “hot” set of Pure PAFs ind they did the trick. Great vintage tone and just the right growl when wide-open.

One thing though: the pickup covers were just a little big for the pickup body routes so I had to re-solder the sides of the covers while squeezing them with a pair of pliers so that they’d fit inside the routes. Once I did that they dropped into place no problem.

All in all the Pure PAFs were a fine investment.

These pickups are amazing!!! Before buying I called to discuss the options on Pure PAFs and was pleasantly surprised to get a call back by Lindy himself! We spoke for about 15 minutes discussing the various options and how they would affect tone. I had recently purchased a used Heritage H575, and it’s tone was very dark. I decided on the Pure PAFs with the neck at 7.5 in hopes of hearing more of the acoustic properties of the archtop. After ordering and putting in these Pure PAFs, the guitar has come alive. It’s tone is now balanced, and it sounds incredible.

Nice work to Lindy and everyone at Fralin Pickups!!

Great replacement for stock pickups!
I replaced the stock pickups on my 18-year-old G&L ASAT Deluxe with Lindy’s Pure PAF set. A perfect choice. Original pups were Duncan ’59 and JB combination. They were decent enough, but the JB bridge pickup was a “one-trick” pony. It did one thing extremely well, but nothing else was satisfying to my ears. With Lindy’s PAF’s I immediately noticed the broader frequency response of neck pickup. Better low-end and no more artificial upper-mid bump. But the really shocking thing is the incredible increase in dynamic range — particularly in the bridge pickup. Now I know what a PAF is supposed to sound like! Especially since my G&L ASAT Deluxe is mahogany body with maple cap. And with a rare ebony fretboard, in many respects it should be voiced a lot like the Les Paul Custom. Now it is, and I could not possibly be happier with the switch. Also, a personal thanks to Lindy Fralin. He answered my original phone call to inquire about pickups, and he courteously guided me thru everything to consider, options, etc. If I could give a “ten star” rating I would! Thanks again, James

I put these pickups into my 1984 and my 1990 Tokai Love Rocks, the difference between the stock pickups and the Pure PAFs is impressive. Much nicer tone, better clarity, beautiful highs, perfect mids and enough lows. I play them through a Soldano, and it just sounds amazing. They are definitely a huge improvement and beat the stock pickups by far.

The tone quest stops here!
Over the years I’ve had the good fortune of playing some real nice vintage guitars, thankfully. It’s hard for me to imagine a P.A.F. style humbucker that could sound any better than this one. You can stop looking now, and start playing. Thank you, Mr. Fralin and crew!

The Pure P.A.F. brings that classic HB tone that rings like a bell, then cuts through with incredible clarity in overdrive. I love to install it with a pot to adjust coil tapping, giving the player a broad range of tone: http://www.charleston.guitars/

Turned my Epi Les Paul into a fire breather! I recently ripped out the wiring, pots, switches, jacks and pick ups on my epiphone. Put a jonesy blues 21 tone rig in there along with pure pafs 8.5k bridge and 7.5k in neck. Both with albino 4 mags…………. my guitar now has everything and more of what was lacking. These pure pafs are so clear and articulate on the cleans and the magic really happens when you hit them with overdrive and gain. Greasy quacky with all the bottom end bang and top end Kerrang.

Gentlemen, I just wanted to write to let you know how happy I am with the new pickup. I’ve had a Fralin Unbucker in the neck of my custom 22 for years, and it’s been great. I love the single cool tone so much that I basically use it exclusively split. The humbucker I had in the bridge didn’t pair well with the split unbucker (too middy), so I decided to try the pure PAF 8.2 in the bridge. Amazing. It has such a subtle mid push compared to the split unbucker that the cleans are beautifully open with no annoying midrange honk/muddiness. Running the paf and split unbucker together sounds like a good tele in the middle position. The prs is bright, so I run 25Ok pots, which pair great with the two fralins. It’s great dirty as well. I like more of a smooth Mesa, two rock type dirty sound which sounds great with the split unbucker. The paf is great here as well, as the midds don’t muddy up the sound, and all the notes come thru beautifully. Thanks for a great product! Jon Staton

I bought a Pair of these Pure PAFs over a year ago from Lindy. I was looking for some AlnicoII magnet pickups that had a warm sounding Neck and special Bridge tone , and after speaking to Lindy decided on an overwound pair of these.
WOW ! These pickups were exactly what I was looking for in tone !
I had them installed in a beautiful All Solid Woods ES 335 type Carvin made Semi Hollow body that was sitting in a closet for 7 years because the stock pickups were so poor to my ears.
With the edition of these PAFs the guitar is now perfect , exactly what I was looking for. The Neck pickup holds it’s tone even with the tone knob turned all the way down , it doesn’t get muddy. That is a hard quality to achieve in a neck pickup. So the Neck pup has a great Jazz and Blues tone and very versatile with the tone knob.
The Bridge pickup is also stellar. Very crisp , clean high end Blues and Rock tone with no shrillness , and again lots of range with the Tone knob.
I compared these pickups with the Duncan Seth Lovers and I have to say my Fralin overwound pair are better sounding to me in the Neck and Bridge. More warm , clean range in the neck and more clarity and personlity in the Bridge.
As always , very happy with my Fralin pickups and the customer service is The Best !!
Thanks Lindy and the Fralin family.
Dean

I put a set of these into a Dot beater and all of the sudden I was doing a teenage girl imitation – OMG! OMG! – they turned the cheap beater into a seriously good-sounding guitar. I’m ashamed to say the high-end stuff hasn’t been getting much playing time any more. I liked it so much I went ahead and replaced all the other junk on the guitar with decent stuff. Now I have the most expensive cheap Dot in the world.

And I’ve never really been a humbucker guy. But I sure do like these.

I built a Les-Paul inspired Telecaster with 24.75″ scale and two of these pure PAF pickups with 50 and 52mm spacing for neck and bridge, respectively. They sound really great and they look beautiful.
I ordered zebras with chrome covers to have an option for cover-no-cover. The covers were soldered in place as received so I left them alone.
This detail should be shown on the options, to be clear. I am happy with the covered look in any case.
It was not clear to me which end of the pickup is up but I guessed that screws are up based on views on the site and views of guitars.
This should also be detailed without ambiguity. Minor complaints overall. The items themselves look great and sound great.

I had 57 Classics in my Gibson SG 61 Reissue. The bridge pickup was okay but it just seemed lacking of any definition or pick attack. After talking with Lindy, I decided to go for a Pure PAF with an ALNICO 5 magnet (as I like brighter pickups). It has much more character and definition now. The clarity and pick attack are superb. I paired it with a Fralin Bluesbucker in the neck. They make a great pair by the way.

Thanks to Lindy and his crew for the great craftsmanship and customer service. Highly recommended.

Lindy has installed his Pure PAF pickup sets in several of my Epiphone Les Pauls (Standard Pro, Juniors, Specials). In every case dramatic sonic improvements were heard. To my ears my Epiphones now sound better than equivalent Gibson Les Pauls, at least the ones I have played. Lindy has done other work on my guitars such as special wiring, new pots, setups, etc. His work is always done right the first time. He has performed work on over a dozen of my instruments and I have yet to encounter any problems with any of his work. In addition he is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He has freely given me very helpful advice that has greatly expanded my understanding of how guitars work and what can be done to improve their sound. I now consider him a friend.

Hands down my favorite PAF style pickup. I have tried these in may different guitars from vintage Gibson’s to inexpensive imports and the Pure PAF’s have dramatically improved tone in all. Absolutely no mud here… just clear and pure vintage PAF chime. Cannot recommend them more. Bravo Lindy!

I received my Pure PAF pickups a few weeks ago and had them installed by Harry Eibert. When i picked up my Les Paul, Harry said he thought my set of pickups were some of the best he’s heard in a long time. Well…, the Les Paul in which they were installed was my backup…..Not any more! They sound fantastic. They are full, round and with just enough bite for commanding leads. I want Lindy to know how happy I am with the purchase and congratulate him on his good work.
I bought a set of hum cancelling P90s in 2010 and am very happy with them. So, I thought maybe a new set of pickups could help my old horse guitar. It certainly did, and now the old horse is in the main stable. Thanks again

Cheers,
Matt

I upgraded an old Mexican Strat I had with a Pure PAF in the bridge, and a couple of Vintage Hots in the middle and neck positions. This thing totally sings now. Nice and glassy, but still with a nice bottom end. Before the upgrade, I felt like I could only really use the bridge or bridge mid setting on the guitar. The mid and neck pickups by themselves were too muddy. But now, every pickup position offers tone as clear as a bell. So much more versatile than it was before. Thanks guys!

I just put a set of these in a 2011 Les Paul Traditional–I replaced a set of Gibson’s ’57 Classics–My favorite pickups. But I put the Pure PAFs in–8.2K in the bridge, 7.8K in the neck–Sounds like Classic ’57s with a 4-barrel! The guitar used to scream–But the Pure PAFs allow it to sing–I like singing much more than screaming.

Are the Fralins expensive? Sorta, yeah. But how do you put a dollar sign on tone? If you can’t get your tone, you don’t play as well. I’ll spend a few more bucks, to get a little closer to the tone I hear.