Virgil Arlo New Old Stock Clapton Cream era PAF Set Handwound Humbucking pickups, humbuckers, Amazing tone! Offers/Trades welcome, black label, new in box, never installed, luthier parts for project restoration 1964

These are new old stock -- new in box, never installed in a guitar. List price is $895, so you've got a bargain here on a new set. Many players consider Virgil Arlo pickups to be the best PAF clones on the market. They are finessed to the point where even the minor variations between certain years of early PAF pickups are taken into account -- thus this particular model, which is meant to duplicate the Humbucker tone on Clapton's Cream era recordings, sometimes called 'Woman Tone'. These would be cloning the final original version of PAFs, which although they ceased production circa 1962, often appeared on guitars into 1963 and 1964, including Eric Clapton's. Since Virgil Arlo retired from winding pickups in 2019, he made a licensing agreement with Tone Specific pickups to make Virgil Arlo black label pickups using Virgil Arlo's specific winding techniques, materials and equipment. This model is currently sold out on their site and it's unknown when more will be available. Here's what the Tone Specific site says about these pickups:

The 1964 PAF tone most often associated with Eric Clapton during his Cream era is one of the most recognizable humbucker tones ever recorded. It delivers a thick, singing sustain with a rich midrange focus that turns every note into something vocal and expressive.

It has the depth and warmth players expect from a great PAF, but with a more pronounced midrange and a smoother, more controlled top end. Roll back the tone on the neck pickup, and the sound transforms into that unmistakable violin-like sustain…full, fluid, and endlessly musical.

It is no surprise that players chasing tones from albums like Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire gravitate toward this type of response. That combination of warmth, bloom, and harmonic richness is what defines “Woman Tone” at its highest level.

This is not about brightness or attack. It is about sustain and voice. The way a note swells, holds, and sings without losing clarity or control.

These black label Arlo pickups are made with the same techniques and parts as the original white label Arlos, and are generally regarded as sonically indistinguishable from the white labels. No white label original Virgil Arlos have been made since 2019 and those generally go for several times the price of the black labels, or more due to their scarcity. These black label Virgil Arlos are still considerably less expensive -- as long as they're still available, that is. So get 'em while you can! Trades from Reverbs with excellent feedback are welcome, and I'll also entertain reasonable offers, but no lowballs please. You know what I mean!

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