John Henry Guitars PAF Repros – Thoughts?

Hey everyone,
I’m on the hunt for some really good PAF reproduction pickups to replace the Custombuckers in my new Murphy Lab. My favorite ones so far are the ReWind 1959s in my R9, as they’re just killer. I also have a set of Wizz in my R7 that I like a lot. Over the years, I've swapped in way too many pickups from various brands, so I feel like I've been around the block with PAF clones. I even had a set of real PAFs at one point that I ended up selling.
Last weekend I was at the Bologna Guitar Show (Italy) and stumbled across the John Henry Guitars stand. They had some vintage-style pickups that were seriously impressive in terms of both look and (from what I could hear) sound. They even had some PAF reproductions that caught my attention. I’m searching for more info about them, but there’s not much out there besides their website, which is packed with technical details.
Anyone here have any experience with John Henry Guitars pickups? How do they compare to top-tier PAF repros? Would love to hear your thoughts.

If they have a good return policy, give em a whirl? You’ll know pretty quick if they have “it” based on your experience.

Also, how pricey are they?

Brazilnut said:

Also, how pricey are they?

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In the 400 euro range

They have sound samples on the website.

dc007 said:

In the 400 euro range

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You’d expect them to be a known item at that point, but who knows these days.

searswashere said:

You’d expect them to be a known item at that point, but who knows these days.

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There are more pickup winders out there now than you can shake a stick at

dc007 said:

There are more pickup winders out there now than you can shake a stick at

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Got that right.

DrBGood said:

They have sound samples on the website.
View attachment 849611

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Yeah, samples are fine, but I was just wondering if anyone has some first-hand experience.

dc007 said:

There are more pickup winders out there now than you can shake a stick at

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Absolutely. The market is saturated with pickup winders these days, and most of them aren’t all that exciting. But those looked really nice. Given today’s standards, the price seems totally reasonable to me.

Romano said:

Absolutely. The market is saturated with pickup winders these days, and most of them aren’t all that exciting. But those looked really nice. Given today’s standards, the price seems totally reasonable to me.

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There are really good offerings all across the pricing spectrum. Too many good ones to go with an unknown. Of course all of them were unknown at some point I suppose. Best of luck in your search. If you pull the trigger on the John Henrys give us a full report

dc007 said:

There are really good offerings all across the pricing spectrum. Too many good ones to go with an unknown. Of course all of them were unknown at some point I suppose. Best of luck in your search. If you pull the trigger on the John Henrys give us a full report

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I was initially leaning toward another set of ReWind PAFs, but since they’re nearly impossible to find these days, I started considering other options like Throbak. I previously had a set of SLE-101s, so they were my first thought. The only Italian-made PAF repros I was familiar with were Flametone, so the John Henry set was new to me. Still, my first impression was quite positive, so it wouldn’t be a shot in the dark. There’s no rush to decide, but if I go for them, I’ll definitely share my thoughts.

Check out ballestone,
I have a set of their p90’s and I’ve heard great things about their pafs,

Barber said:

Check out ballestone,
I have a set of their p90’s and I’ve heard great things about their pafs,

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Oh, nice. I hadn’t heard of them before.

dc007 said:

There are more pickup winders out there now than you can shake a stick at

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I don't know. I can shake a stick for quite a while...

dc007 said:

There are more pickup winders out there now than you can shake a stick at

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I’m an old man with plenty of time and plenty of sticks. Did I ever tell you about the time I took the ferry to Morgantown to get a new heel for my shoe?

Ordered the John Henry PAFs. First to share, apparently. Updates soon!

And here they are!
The packaging is elegant and thoughtful. Once unboxed, that first impression is only reinforced: the pickups themselves are visually stunning. They capture the look of original late-1950s PAFs so convincingly that I believe they could easily pass as the real thing to all but the most trained eyes. If they sound half as good as they look...

For the price, they better!

searswashere said:

For the price, they better!

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€530 isn’t cheap, but it’s a solid deal compared to Throbaks and similar options. With import fees, I ended up paying almost half their price (I'm in Europe). They’re going on an expensive guitar, so quality was non-negotiable.
Still need to hear how they sound, though!