Pure P.A.F.
The Ultimate PAF Replacement
$175 – $350
Experience what a humbucker should really sound like and get inspired by the Pure P.A.F’s beautiful tone. Lindy’s favorite humbucker, the Pure P.A.F. is a 50’s P.A.F. clone, using real Butyrate Bobbins and all USA-Made parts. Featuring a clean, clear tone with incredible versatility and dynamics and expertly crafted using 100% USA-Made materials, we guarantee the Pure P.A.F. will inspire you for years to come.
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The Ultimate In Vintage PAF Tone
Want to learn more about our Pure P.A.F.? Here's all the information you'll need:
Features
Are you ready to cut through in the mix? The Lindy Fralin-designed Pure P.A.F. is our best-selling humbucker. Based on the specifications of the original 50’s Gibson® P.A.F. pickups, this model features a clean, articulate tone that’s incredibly versatile.
The Pure P.A.F. is a lower output humbucker, which is more dynamic and expressive than higher output pickups. It’s more articulate and cleaner than our Modern P.A.F., but beefier than our P-92. Lindy’s passion for the sound of vintage 50’s humbuckers led us down the road to design and create the Pure P.A.F., and it’s easy to see why – this pickup sounds incredible.
Features:
- Our Best-Selling Humbucker – low output, vintage tone
- Original Gibson PAF® specifications: low output, with modern clarity
- Clean and clear, smooth grind and a sharp attack
- USA-made Alnico 2 Magnets for vintage tonal balance and output
- Compensated Overwound Bridge for even volume across all pickups
- Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
- Hand-built for unrivaled quality control
- 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects
Sound
How does it sound? Clean and articulate!
The Pure P.A.F. stays clean and features a late break-up and a smooth grind. This pickup is perfect if you’re trying to restore life to your guitar. Don’t let the term “vintage” fool you – you’ll find that it’s loud and versatile enough to play with modern-voiced pickups; it just features more clarity than modern humbuckers.
Built with USA-Made AlNicCo II and 42-gauge Plain Enamel wire, the Pure P.A.F. pickup is a gateway to instant vintage tone. When playing without distortion, you’ll find that this pickup sings what you put into it: it’s dynamic and warm. Highs are accentuated with a medium attack. With distortion, you’ll find that the grind is nice and smooth.
Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. When Lindy designed this pickup, he wanted it to be as close to the originals as possible. Pure P.A.F.’s consist of USA-Made Butyrate bobbins, baseplates, magnets, and wire. We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time, using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique. Doing this gives the pickup a sweet, clear tone, reminiscent of the early Gibson Humbuckers.
Finally, we assemble each pickup one at a time, by hand, which allows us to achieve unbeatable attention to detail. After assembly, we wax-pot the pickup to prevent microphonics and preserve the pickup for years to come.
Sound Samples for Pure P.A.F.:
Compare Outputs
We have 2 outputs of our Pure P.A.F.. Compare them below.
About these Sound Clips:
All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.
Tonal Graph For Pure P.A.F.:
The tonal graph below for our Pure P.A.F. features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Attack: Soft & Round
Videos for Pure P.A.F.:
Humbucker Lead Color Codes
Gibson Braided Lead
Gibson-Style instruments
Phase Reversible
Coil Splitting
3-Conductor Lead
Phase Reversible
Coil Splitting
4-Conductor Lead
Phase Reversible
Series Parallel Wiring
Coil Splitting
Tech Specs:
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Pure P.A.F..
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading (Stock): | 7.5K 1 |
| Bridge Ohm Reading (Stock): | 8K 1 |
| Neck Polarity: | Reversible with 3-Conductor or 4-Conductor Lead |
| Bridge Polarity: | Reversible with 3-Conductor or 4-Conductor Lead |
| Magnet: | USA-Made Alnico 2 |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42-Gauge Plain Enamel |
| Bobbin Material: | USA-Made Butyrate |
| Baseplate Material: | Nickel Silver |
| Cover Material: | Nickel Silver |
| Slug / Pole Piece Material: | Steel |
| Recommended Pot Value: | 500K* |
| Baseplate Leg Depth: | 6mm |
| Recommended Cap Value: | 0.02mfd 2 |
Additional Technical Info:
1 Ohm Readings can vary due to a multitude of factors, including ambient temperature, multimeter calibration, different wire batches, and other factors. Due to this, ohm readings are approximate. Learn more about Ohm Readings here.
2 We recommend a 0.02mfd Cap Value on most guitar and bass pickups. The exception is a Magic Cap, which Lindy prefers on the Bridge Pickup of Fender® guitars only. Learn More about Caps Here.
* You can experiment with pot values for a different tone. This pickup will sound dark and warm on 250K pots
Polarity Information:
Here's how we wind and magnetize our pickups:
This is a Hum Cancelling Pickup.
If you're buying a set from us, all pickups will work together seamlessly. If you're buying a single pickup, all you need to worry about is Coil Direction.
To ensure your pickup will work, make sure you select multiple leads (2-Conductor, 3-Conductor, or 4-Conductor if available), or the 3-Wire modification so you can reverse the coil direction, if need be.
Covered Humbucker
Uncovered Humbucker
Get It Prewired
Get our Pure P.A.F. prewired into a Prewired Pickguard!:
Featured Reviews
Reviews We Worked Hard For, and Are Proud Of
Customer Reviews
245 Genuine Reviews for Pure P.A.F.
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Best pickups ever
I am a luthier and decided to make my own semi hollow 335 style guitar. I put all high end wiring and decided to use Fralin pickups. I was very happy with the performance of these pickups, the tone is incredible and I highly recommend them. -
Absolutely love these pickups! They have tone for days. They are very balanced on the output as you turn the volume up or down. Keep up the good work!
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The pure P.A.F. pickups were easy to wire-up and sound fantastic! My neck pickup has great clarity that was lacking before. JB.
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I absolutely love the PAF in the neck position of my Les Paul but to be honest the bridge position was far too bright for my taste so I ended up putting the originals back. I was reluctant to write this review because I absolutely adore your pickups and have them in multiple guitars of mine and in the past, you have all been incredibly gracious when it came to switching things out. I would imagine an actual PAF probably sounded very similar in the bridge of a 50s Les Paul but I guess my mind was expecting something else. Thank you and I will always be a life long patron of Fralin pickups.
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Hey James,
Let me know if you would like to exchange the bridge for something a little thicker-sounding! We can definitely accommodate you, we want you to be happy with your tone.
Tyler
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1991 PRS CE24 upgrade
Your pickups made this guitar awesome! -
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… -
“**Man Plays Guitar, Immediately Calls Police!!!**”
… to join the class action lawsuit against all those big name brands claiming “clear” sounding pickups.
Feel like you’re missing that last 5 or 10% of cleanliness? Here ya go!!
Put a set in an old Ibby AK95 and I now have every jazz tone I’ve ever wanted–or heard!!
Takes two days for Fralin’s to wake up. When they do, you should be sitting down.
I’m overwhelmed with tone… beautiful, luscious, clean tone. At times I feel like a stick of warm butter.
And, I don’t mind telling you how, after about 10 minutes, I caught myself thinking: “Have I always been this good?”
Prob’ly not…. (lol). -
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.
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Nice warmth! Rich and warm and a great mix with the High Output Tele Bridge and 500k pots.
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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. -
Absolutely stunning! Love them!!!!! Pure Bliss!
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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.
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Words can’t describe tone! I love the tone I’ve got from adding Lindy Fralin Pure P.A.F.s to my McCarty 594.
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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! -
The best!!
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Great pick-ups, not too much output.
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I bought a set of the Pure PAF’s (7.5 neck, 8.0 bridge) and it’s the best guitar-related purchase I’ve ever made. They’re worth every single penny. I put mine in a Gibson Standard ‘61 and it’s now one of my favorite guitars. If you’re on the fence about these pickups, do yourself a favor and just get them. You’ll be glad you did.
The craftsmanship is impeccable and if we’re all going to be honest with ourselves, the pickups are arguably the most important part of an electric guitar, so if you want to change your tone for the better, start with some quality pickups. There’s a reason Fralin has so many awesome reviews—because they kick serious ace!
Don’t be scared, buy some!
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Very well made. Exactly as they should be.
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Everything I Had Hoped For!
I just installed a pair of Pure P.A.F.s in my Ibanez AS73 (335 style, made in China). Its feel was always great, acoustically it sings, but amplified or recorded it sounded like someone had placed a blanket over the speakers.My goodness. After installing the Pure P.A.F.s and a new wiring harness, it became a monster tone machine. The warmth, clarify, string separation are the best I’ve ever heard, and there is some kind of magical, audio pixie dust that floats on the highs that I just can’t get over. I’ve never played a guitar with “real” PAFs so I can’t compare them, but it?s hard to imagine anything sounding better. I can’t wait to start laying down some tracks with this beast. Mahalo (thanks!) Lindy and crew!
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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.
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