Gibson Shaw NOS Patent Number Humbucker 1982 - Gold

The Gibson PAF — Patent Applied For — is one of the most storied pickup designs in electric guitar history. Seth Lover's original humbucker, introduced in 1955 and produced through the early 1960s, set the tonal benchmark that every humbucker since has been measured against. Gibson spent much of the 1970s and early '80s trying to recapture that original character, and the Tim Shaw era represents the most serious and successful attempt they made. Shaw, who joined Gibson around 1980, went back to the original PAF blueprints and reverse-engineered the construction with a rigor that the company hadn't applied in years — proper Alnico II magnets, correct coil geometry, and wind counts that put DC resistance back in the range where the originals lived. This 1982 example is exactly that: a factory-original Tim Shaw PAF humbucker finished in gold, a period-correct option that appeared on the high-end Gibsons of the era, including the ES-335 and Les Paul Standard.

This one has never been installed in a guitar.  7" lead wire.  6.98k ohms resistance.  The pickup color looks black in the pic - that is just the reflection from the black ceiling in our photo booth.

What makes the Tim Shaw PAFs stand out sonically is the same thing that made the originals so compelling — a certain openness and three-dimensionality in the midrange that later Gibson pickups lost when cost-cutting led to ceramic magnets and compressed coil winds. The Alnico II magnet structure gives the pickup a softer, more compressed attack compared to Alnico V, which translates to a pickup that responds beautifully to pick dynamics and cleans up readily when you roll the volume back. These are warm without being muddy, articulate without being bright or brittle. The gold cover on this example is clean and free of wear, fitting for a pickup that presents as new old stock — uninstalled and unplayed, this is a factory-fresh piece that has been sitting in storage for over four decades. 

If you're restoring a period-correct early '80s Gibson, building out a guitar that deserves a historically grounded humbucker, or simply want one of the better-sounding Gibson humbuckers ever made at any era — this is the one to have. New old stock Tim Shaw PAFs in gold don't surface often, and when they do in this condition, they go quickly to people who know exactly what they're looking at.

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Specifications:

• Brand: Gibson
• Model: PAF Humbucker
• Output: 6.98k
• Era: Tim Shaw, 1982
• Finish: Gold
• New Old Stock, uninstalled
• Magnet Type: Alnico II
• Configuration: Humbucker
• Leads: Original, unsold
• Includes: Pickup only

Excerpts from real online end-user reviews:

"Super rich, dense and focused...." - Reverb user review
"Hum-free signal, tonal clarity, and touch sensitivity when paired with overdriven amplifiers made the pickups popular with rock players." - Wikipedia, PAF (pickup)

Shipping policy:

Shipments will require signature on delivery, no exceptions. If there is damage, the buyer must retain all packing materials intact and picture them immediately and send them to . Less than 1% of our shipments are damaged in transit, and we are committed to making sure your item arrives safely, but we are taking these additional measures to make sure you are happy with your purchase.