Screw the $800 PAF pickups. Literally.

[Saul Goodman]

My big takeaway from this video is to ditch the brass screws and use steel screws. Screw'em.

 

[tbonesullivan]

The amount of money they get for those pickups is pretty insane. People at the Heritage forum were in love with them years ago, before their prices ballooned. But with people willing to pay out the nose for things like "artisan aged" guitars, they have a market of people ready to pay through the nose for pickups that are "more original" than anyone else makes. They also make a pretty huge number of minute variations on the original PAF designs, with lots of magnet choices, and even make "pre T-top" and "T-Top" replicas that probably cost more than the actual thing.

Sorry but I'll stick with something more simple like Lollar Imperials or DImarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs. My ears can't tell the subtle differences between a long and a short Alnico 2 magnet.

[velorush]

1 hour ago, tbonesullivan said:

My ears can't tell the subtle differences.

Exactly! I think I recall giving $250 a piece for the Imperials I put in the Howard Roberts Fusion. They definitely sound better than the 490 set that came out of it and probably the incremental-difference-in-price better (if that makes sense), but could I ever hear enough difference to warrant that kind of outlay? Okay, what about after the drums and bass kick in? The rest of the band? 

OTOH, I applaud the ThroBak guy for finding a fantastic market segment scratching the itch of those with the funds and discernment to appreciate his wares.

[Saul Goodman]

29 minutes ago, velorush said:

OTOH, I applaud the ThroBak guy for finding a fantastic market segment scratching the itch of those with the funds and discernment to appreciate his wares.

You mean like, Rett Shull? 

[Dutchman]

14 minutes ago, Saul Goodman said:

45 minutes ago, velorush said:

 

You mean like, Rett Shull?

FIFY : Do you mean like Rhett Schill.....

[Dave Scepter]

Honestly, I can't tell the difference that I couldn't adjust with my amp... I'd just buy a used pair of Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers or Antiquities for $200 🤭

[bruce919]

[bruce919]

29 minutes ago, Dave Scepter said:

Honestly, I can't tell the difference that I couldn't adjust with my amp... I'd just buy a used pair of Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers or Antiquities for $200 🤭

Seth Lover, Antiquities, or PRS McCarty would be my advice for anyone wanting the "PAF" sound. 

[Jim85IROC]

1 hour ago, bruce919 said:

Seth Lover, Antiquities, or PRS McCarty would be my advice for anyone wanting the "PAF" sound. 

I'll lower the bar even more and recommend that somebody could do a lot worse than a set of Toneriders or even the Fleor or other unnamed PAF pickups from amazon/ebay.  I've used the ebay/amazon PAF sets a number of times and had great results.  You can find them in A2 and A5 sets.  The sets to look for are the ones with the nickel silver baseplates, as they tend to be of higher quality overall, and the covered sets typically have the nickel silver covers too, which are more transparent than brass.

[velorush]

Maybe @JGravelin needs to develop the "Aficionado package." Just spit-balling...

• Bobbins formed from genuine 50's Melamine treated with UV until horribly yellowed, soaked in a bath of hydrogen peroxide to whiten, then coated in a special patented yellowing agent to relic
• Bobbins wound with Western Electric 42 AWG swallowed by a cat, collected on excretion, subsequently wiped gently with one pass with Seth Lover's handkerchief. Scatter winding performed on the machine Tesla used to create his first Tesla coil with the wire being handled by a direct descendent of David Graybeard, the first chimp observed by Jane Goodall using tools in the wild. 
• Maple (of course) spacer quarter sawn from the last remaining bowling pin from the alley installed in the White House by Harry S. Truman, lightly covered in dewaxed shellac to bring out the natural chatoyance.
• German silver pickup covers hammered from pieces of a 17th century Puja Thali set, individually aged over liver of sulfur, polished to a bright lustre then aged again with a special proprietary process developed in Paris by Nicolas Flamel. 
• All fasteners individually machined on Eli Whitney's original mill (c.1819) using materials recycled from recovered Soviet-era space vehicles.

$1,500 each. Ten year waiting list ($500 deposit required)

 

Can you tell today is the Company Christmas party / lunch? 🤣

[tbonesullivan]

5 hours ago, velorush said:

OTOH, I applaud the ThroBak guy for finding a fantastic market segment scratching the itch of those with the funds and discernment to appreciate his wares.

Yes, that is EXACTLY what they have tapped into. They are pretty much making "custom shop reissues" of specific pickups, wound on original machines. I remember when they still had yet to purchase "slug 1" from the old Gibson factory where Heritage guitars was at the time. Now they've got it and everyone can buy the "magic" of it, or whatever. I'll stick with my Seth Lovers thanks. 

[RobB]

9 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

I'll stick with my Seth Lovers thanks. 

^^^^^This. Seths and korina are a magic combo.

[mathman]

3 hours ago, bruce919 said:

[bubs_42]

I won’t bash anyone for making a living. I simply don’t partake. 
 

They bought, refurbished the winders, sourced and had all parts made for them, done all the research, and at the end of the day they found a market.

kudos to them. 

[RobB]

58 minutes ago, bubs_42 said:

I won’t bash anyone for making a living. I simply don’t partake. 

They bought, refurbished the winders, sourced and had all parts made for them, done all the research, and at the end of the day they found a market. kudos to them. 

^^^^^^^^^^Church!

[The Shark]

At some point, "Corksniffery" enters into it.  Bare Knuckle Black Dogs and Mules for me.  Josh Gravelin's stuff is really good too.  

[Jeff R]

Since it's relevant to the topic and won't be deemed solely as blatant and shameless self-promotion ...

I spent much of 2025 developing these with close friend and Carondelet artist Owen Barry. Google him and YouTube him if you haven't heard of him.

Carondelet OTB Ultimates should be available beginning in February via our website; globally prestigious vintage dealers in Nashville, Hollywood and the UK who I will list when they have OTBs available to ship; and as OEM for a short list of very high quality, limited quantity builders who I cannot wait to reveal in due time :).

Be sure to check out this video on a desktop, DAW monitors, or a nice television, something with higher fidelity speakers than an iPhone or an Android.

Pricing TBA but I can assure you they will not a grand a set. More like among, if not "the," most affordable in their target market.

 

 

[django49]

I have ThroBaks in a pair of very special Ron Thorn guitars. IMO, they are as good as any pickup I have ever played. Been a long time since I looked at the costs. Over  $800 per pair is a lot more than I recall them being. And us old timers remembering tree fiddy guitars!

FWIW, I have Lollar Imperials in multiple guitars, including my favorite sounding Hamer ever (a custom order SuperPro). And they were a nice upgrade over stock pickups in my (now departed) Talladega Pro. Hard to go wrong with those. And under $400 a set, built to your specs in terms of wiring, high/low/standard, choice of covers. 

FWIW, there is a guy locally who deals in specialty woods (longer story) and also builds guitars. He told me he spent a lot of time studying the many ThroBak video on how they make their "ultimate" pickups and claims to have "cracked the code" to replicate them. IIRC, he was saying he could make them for closer to  $100 each. I may be wrong. And I have not had a need for more pups, so have not gotten back to him. 

Def will look for the Carondelet info when they are out.

[LucSulla]

I think the Banker I ordered has Throbaks in it. Or they don’t use them anymore because they got too expensive. I can’t remember. 

[scottcald]

On 12/18/2025 at 1:03 PM, Saul Goodman said:

You mean like, Rett Shull? 

Jesus, that guy's a tool. 

[scottcald]

On 12/17/2025 at 7:51 PM, Saul Goodman said:

My big takeaway from this video is to ditch the brass screws and use steel screws. Screw'em.

 

The beginning of it he makes a big deal about the actual winders that were used back then, etc.  Who cares?  

If I have Norm Abram's saw or hammer, doesn't mean I can build anything like him.  

Toneriders are like $60 each and sound pretty darned good

 

[Disturber]

I have a set of Sheptone Tributes in my Les Paul '59. They are what the builder installed in the guitar. 
I saw recently that a set is now 858 dollars. That is insane.

I don't like them more than the very old Duncan Hybrid with an A4 mag and an early 80's Duncan '59 neck that I have in my Korina Vector. They easily sound just as good. My old Dimarzio Hamer PAF's sound as good, different, but I like them even more in some guitars.

I also have a pair of newer Duncan Alnico 2 pro humbucker set in my 90s Hamer Special that I dialed in to perfection and they went from being kinda bland to now sounding killer. Took me a long time to dial them in, but when I got them right they rival custom wound pickups. If you know how to dial a humbucker in to your liking then you can make production hb's, like Dimarzio's or Duncan's, sound like an 800 dollar set. 

[Saul Goodman]

11 hours ago, scottcald said:

Jesus, that guy's a tool. 

Someone here a few weeks ago said he was a "Douche Bag." I never could put a name to why he gave me the creeps but now I know. Thanks.

[The Shark]

I just put Carandolet Gregbuckers in my new violin guitar.  It, literally, transformed the guitar.  All about the midrange to my ears.