Smit's Classic Coil PAF's

[bigjimsguitars]

Several months ago I bought a 1996 Les Paul R8 that really liked. It was completely stock and sounded wonderful with the stock Classic 57's. This told me she had good lively wood.

With that, I decided to do some tweaks and upgrading. I was looking for some PAF clones and went outside the box and ordered a set of Smit's Handwound CC's (Classic Coils) and had him wind them with Alnico II's. I got them in about 2.5 weeks from placing the order and installed them. Note: I got them without covers and unpotted.

The tone from the bridge pickup was like no other Humbucker I've played, this is very good! It was would slighty hot at 8.9k. The neck pickup read in at 7.8k was a bit warm, this later proved to be my fault as I wired in a 50's cap that read in at 28mf and was rolling off too much of the highs.

I now have the cap values @ 28mf for the bridge and 15mf for the neck and the result is a wonderful sounding guitar....sorry I don't have any clips of her.

The bridge has wonderful overtones, note bloom and decay. What I really like is the shimmering highs and deep bass. It sounds wonderful both clean and dimed.

The neck puts out that woman tone and is now clear as a bell, no muddy here folks.

I would have to say the tone is very Duane Allman which is great!

The alnicoII magnets are very open, airy and sweet sounding.

My only gripe is the color of the wire which is bright orange, but once you play them you don't care anymore. I asked Kevin if he would wind a pair with PE wire, he said they wouldn't sound the same, no complaints from me on how his pickups sound!

It's a wonderful time for guitar players as there are many good winders out there who will custom wind pickups to their customers tone needs and many of them are under $100 per Humbucker.

 

[gtr-tek]

Very cool! I like your report. That's very interesting about the interaction of the controls.

Very true that the pup would sound different with the different insulation as the resistance per foot and the overall diameter are different and over the course of winding the requisite number of turns or to the requisite DC resistance, the dynamics of the coil will be completely different. That's why Fender pups changed sound when they went from Formvar insulated wire to enamel. You can wind a coil with the same pattern to the same DC resistance with each wire and they won't sound the same. In fact, the two coils won't be the same thickness from the center. I think you get the picture by now... So many variables!

 

[bigjimsguitars]

Very cool! I like your report. That's very interesting about the interaction of the controls.

Very true that the pup would sound different with the different insulation as the resistance per foot and the overall diameter are different and over the course of winding the requisite number of turns or to the requisite DC resistance, the dynamics of the coil will be completely different. That's why Fender pups changed sound when they went from Formvar insulated wire to enamel. You can wind a coil with the same pattern to the same DC resistance with each wire and they won't sound the same. In fact, the two coils won't be the same thickness from the center. I think you get the picture by now... So many variables!

I didn't mention interaction of the controls, I do have her wired up 50's style though and it truly makes a difference in Historics pre 2009.

True, different wire even of the same gauge will change the character and tone. Tim Shaw had to figure out how to get the PAF tone out of inferior wire, but was able to do a admirable job and his pickups are now sought after.

 

[gtr-tek]

I guess I was referring to the cap on the neck pup. I got a used LP Deluxe that had a bumble bee in it but it had drifted way out of spec. Now useless for my purposes...

What difference would a 2009 or newer Historic make in using '50s style wiring? Are they already wired that way? I'm not that familiar with the Historics...

 

[bigjimsguitars]

I guess I was referring to the cap on the neck pup. I got a used LP Deluxe that had a bumble bee in it but it had drifted way out of spec. Now useless for my purposes...

What difference would a 2009 or newer Historic make in using '50s style wiring? Are they already wired that way? I'm not that familiar with the Historics...

I said "pre-2009" meaning that in 2009 Gibson started to wire the Historic Les Paul's 50's style wiring and if you have one 2008 or older....

 

[gtr-tek]

I said "pre-2009" meaning that in 2009 Gibson started to wire the Historic Les Paul's 50's style wiring and if you have one 2008 or older....

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Very true about the Shaw's. It's a challenge for any winder to replicate the PAF type device of any specific set as they were all snowflakes. Just getting the raw materials close is one of the biggest challenges.