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Silver Series Humbuckers by SD Pickups, Dave Stephens, Stephens Design
         
 

STEPHENS DESIGN HUMBUCKERS

To be honest I was never a fan of humbuckers. But, after seeing Chris Cain play live, with a 335 and some old PAFs Joe Pass gave him, it sent me on an eight year obsession with PAFs. Their clarity and soulful vowel tones, single coil type vibe; all those things are what makes blues players smile endlessly. In the hands of Peter Green, Jimmy Page, Paul Kossoff, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Michael Bloomfield, how could you ever equal those tones with any other pickup? Needless to say I have collected almost every recording and video of all those artists, listening intently to those famous hands and vintage guitars.


Unlike almost every other pickup maker out there, I don't buy a pile of offshore pickup parts that everyone uses, wind 'em all up an call it a "PAF." There is little in those parts that are true to what you find in vintage examples of old Gibson humbuckers. That road has been beat into the ground by others and you find little tonal difference in those products. Many hand wind these pickups, which is a huge mistake. The signature tone of a real PAF relies on a "signature" turns per layer formula that gives a distinctive resonant peak that no hand wound pickup can match, period. You don't need a vintage winding machine to replicate that pattern; I built my own machine that can copy and type of winding pattern perfectly with impeccible results.


I own 2 real PAFs and have repaired many others, and with the help of many wonderful people in the steel industry in the area of magnetic alloys, magnet wire, and vintage parts dealers and historic Gibson experts who consult for other companies, I spent literally thousands of hours of personal research, experimentation, and lengthy dissection of real PAFs, noting every oddity every dimensional measurement, unwound many coils one turn at a time, got many lab results of chemistries and microphotography of the crystal structure of every alloy used in the magnetic circuit. And other things I can't talk about... My results speak for themselves.
I was not trying to "get that sound" by using parts that have no relation to real vintage PAFs, from modern bulk parts sellers, I WANTED TO RECREATE EVERY TINY DETAIL I FOUND, HISTORICALLY ACCURATE, TO NAIL EXACTLY WHAT THOSE VINTAGE TECHNOLOGIES DID IN AN ELECTRIC GUITAR, AND LEARNED TO MAKE THOSE PARTS MYSELF. The only thing I wanted to be known as a copycat for was copying the actual actifacts; I call this "Tonal Archaeology." I put my heart and soul, and many many hours into these products and you can be sure you get what you pay for.

VINTAGE LAB PAF REPRODUCTION STOCK SET

The Vintage Lab II set recently came about with the sudden disappearance of one company making plain enamel wire. Deprived of that source it forced me back into research mode, which produced new discoveries in examining more PAF's sent in for repairs. Everything in this set is the result of metals analysis and close study of every aspect and measurement of genuine Gibson Patent Applied For humbuckers. Nothing was overlooked. No attempt was made to "improve" the pickups over vintage accuracy. Everything is as accurate as is possible in modern times. Some things can't be perfectly copied, the vintage magnet wire and its aging process, and minor differences in the old steel alloys of the 1950's. PAF magnets were inconsistent alloy mixes, yet modern alnico magnets come very close. I have learned to adjust modern materials for desired outcomes.


Here we see a microphotograph of a specific steel alloy; the forms of steel are endless, I have reproduced the correct forms of PAF steels, through endless research with the aid of a magnetic alloys specialist. Also shown are real PAF magnetic circuit parts, compared to modern sloppy commercial parts and the parts I make and plate in my own shop. No detail has been overlooked, these parts are the critical secret of PAF tone.

In my research I also dissected and had analyzed many commercial and boutique pickups claiming to be PAFs. NONE of them were correct, and none of them sounded right. I GUARANTEE YOU WILL NOT FIND THE EQUAL OF THESE VINTAGE LAB SETS. The amount of time it takes to make set is very high, because I am not using commercial kits like most others do, because kit humbucker parts have nothing to do with real PAFs. I make all my own magnetic tone circuit parts myself, using the same authentic methods to duplicate perfectly as possible the technology and parts of those days. Making these parts is time consuming and tedious but the rewards are in the tone. Every set sold so far has only brought joyous praise from every customer, so the time and effort has been worth it in delivering a great sounding authentic product.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO COMPARING A REAL 1960 BURST TO GIBSON HISTORIC WITH STEPENS DESIGN VINTAGE LAB PAF'S, done by Adreas Straub, a professional studio musician at 48 Windows Studio in Los Angeles. This video is now out of date and shows the first incarnation of the original Vintage Lab set, but you can see how close they were then. For now I am only offering the Vintage Lab II set, and the Vintage Lab Peter Green sets. Shortly I will have a lower wound VL set wound to Jimmy Page's preferred specs. Coming very soon.

 


 

 

 

VINTAGE LAB PAF PETER GREEN SET

This set took a year to finalize and involved studying virtually every recording made by that guitar, done by Peter Green and Gary Moore. And videos of Peter and also Gary Moore's "Blues For Greeny" live video, that is now out of print.

The recipe for this set is very complex, but I have not altered or simplified it because it just works. I don't sell alot of these sets because, admittedly not everyone wants a permanently out of phase middle switch position, and the expense of making the set is more than the stock set. But the TONE is well worth the time I spent on this project. The sets I have sold have ALL produced customer emails saying "YOU NAILED IT, these ARE PAFs!"

The neck pickup tone on this set is just amazing to me and was a total epiphany and lucky break during experiments. Even the metallurgist who has sent me lab results from what I did said no one will ever be able to figure out what you did or be able to copy it. Sounds good to me :-)

The bridge is robust and full of sweet vowel tones. The set is wound to Peter's specs of approximately 8.6K bridge and 8.2K neck. Neck pickup must be installed backwards as his was and has reversed magnet polarity that was found examing his guitar. To see and hear this set, WATCH THE VINTAGE LAB PETER GREEN VIDEO ON YOUTUBE.

SILVER SERIES STOCK SET

These are wound as a matched set with alnico 5 bar magnets, plain enamel vintage style wire, and come with nickel silver covers. The A5 magnets give crisp, punchy pick dynamics and crisp output. This set used in the sound clips has a stock wind, but I can tailor the set to your needs, especially if you want a stronger set intended more for rock style playing. This was my earliest designed set and a great all round set, crowd pleaser.

Click to hear Silver Series Stock Humbucker set played through a '73 Princeton Silverface amp with a kind of bright Jensen speaker installed in an Epiphone Dot Deluxe 335 style guitar. The clip plays a short clean sample, then clicks through the 3 switch positions separated by a tone. Also check the reviews page for actual gig samples.


SILVER SERIES ALNICO II SET

Some consider the best sounding PAF buckers to have been made with alnico II magnets. My A2 set is what I would call a "blues" set. Alnico 2 has less magnetic pull but also loads the coil more with eddy currents, thus darkening the tone. This can be useful for a set that is wound to lower DC resistance. The combination of darker affecting magnets and lower winds, plus some tricks used in the orginal patent applied for buckers, makes a sweet, warm sounding tone. They are hard to describe: they are warm yet have plenty of sparkle when you need it.

Silver Series A2's played clean through my '73 Princeton, which now has a Weber speaker in it. Starting on the bridge through to the neck position.

Silver Series A2's played cranked through same amp, starting on bridge proceeding to neck.

Also, so you can hear what these sound like in a live gig, here is V. Dodson playing my Dot through his Magnatone amp with Premier outboard reverb unit. This gives a better idea of how these perform. More clips coming soon.

SILVER SERIES ROCKER SET

Jake E Lee of Ozzy Osbourne helped me design this humbucker set, which he endorses (thanks Jake!). Here he is playing a Procol Harum tune "Bacon" on a '96 SG:

Bacon-Jake E Lee


TONE KING HUMBUCKERS

The Tone King bucker set is based on the use of some rare old NOS wire I acquired before the company went out of business. This is a rare BLACK plain enamel, is a bit oversized and has a slightly fatter insulation, resulting in a more open tone and a distinct character not found in other magnet wire. At lower volume these are smooth, not too dark, not too bright. Cranked up they really shine at higher volumes.

Take a listen to my sound clips using my LP nitro finished test guitar, through my '73 Vibrolux. Take the "King" for a ride and I think you'll know why they're called Tone Kings.

Tone King cleanish '73 Vibrolux
Tone King screaming '73 Vibrolux

Here's a new clp courtesy of Jeremy Blessing doing the Allman Brothers thing, with a Marshall JCM800, jamming with his friends:
Allman jam, Mrshall JCM800, '66 Melody Maker

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All my stock set humbuckers come with nickel silver covers, which don't muddy up the tone and are the most expensive covers; Gibson style braided/push back wire, and are wound with plain enamel wire, the most expensive wire, except for the Vintage Lab TTops which use the correct poly style wire used at the time. Height adjustment screws and springs are included. Coils are taped and not potted unless requested. Covers are treated to stop any microphonics from cover vibration. Pickups can also be made without covers if you prefer, but the price is the same with or without. TV Jones '58 PAF repro, raw nickel silver covers are available for $50 a set. I can also do four conductor wiring on request for no extra fee.

 

 
 
     
 

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