Review: DiMarzio PAF Master Bridge and Neck Pickups — Video
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the February 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
If you spend any time listening to players who own vintage guitars with original PAF pickups, you’ll inevitably hear them extoll the virtues of Seth Lover’s humbucking creation for its full-range tone and clarity.
In fact, some collectors will shell out five-figure sums for a true vintage set or pay top dollar for clones from any number of boutique pickup manufacturers to capture the spectrum of its mythical sound.
Not too long ago, DiMarzio released its PAF 36th Anniversary pickup, a re-engineered humbucker powerhouse with detailed complexity and sweetness, proving real PAF magic doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag or period-correct components.
Building upon that success are the brand-new DiMarzio PAF Master Bridge and Neck pickups, which pay tribute to Lover’s pioneering design but with a slightly hotter output and richer dynamics.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Paul Riario has been the tech/gear editor and online video presence for Guitar World for over 25 years. Paul is one of the few gear editors who has actually played and owned nearly all the original gear that most guitarists wax poetically about, and has survived this long by knowing every useless musical tidbit of classic rock, new wave, hair metal, grunge, and alternative genres. When Paul is not riding his road bike at any given moment, he remains a working musician, playing in two bands called SuperTrans Am and Radio Nashville.
“Even those who couldn’t afford carved tops, fancy inlays or binding weren’t expected to compromise on their tone”: The tonal mysteries of Gibson’s P-90 dog-ear pickups, which got their due in the Les Paul Junior
“This pickup could have come out of a late-’50s Gibson. If you had a guitar from that era with these pickups, everyone would be like, ‘Wow. That’s a badass-sounding Les Paul’”: How Adam “Nolly” Getgood and Bare Knuckle reinvented the P.A.F. for a new era