Here are some additional BS claims heard in YouTube videos and seen in ads and product descriptions, there are so many bogus claims that I do not even come close to listing them all:
Winding pickups on machines used back then in the original PAF days, even the same as used by Gibson will influence the sound (I use sound instead of “tone”) of the final product.
Correction: Maybe another one of these “secrets” that so called “expert” pickup makers love so much, so they can claim that their pickups are unique and better than others. Same thing with the secret to how they wind their bobbins. A meaningless term like “scatter wound” has been uttered by some, for no other reason than to cloud their little “secrets” in mystery. How it is wound, as we will discuss later, has largely no influence on the sound of the final product. More marketing BS.
Using enamel wire will create a vintage sound, poly wire will not. And tolerance or unevenness in thickness of the old enamel wire will have some influence on the “tone”.
Correction: Not sure if it was the wire or the coating that that was uneven, I have heard both. Most likely the coating, but how it gives the pickup a “more raw sound” is beyond me. Some evidence would be highly appreciated and not the usual where some schmuck plays a few chords and marvels how great an improvement this was.
“Magnetic material, or magnets such as AlNiCo 5, is different if manufactured overseas”.
Correction: All magnet material such as all the grades of AlNiCo have very specific composition guidelines so the place of manufacture is not affecting the ingredients or method of manufacturing.
“Pole pieces and screws used affect the sound, so if these material compositions are different it will not sound “vintage, different carbon content will affect high end”.
Correction: This is false, the flux change that is responsible for the induced voltage, coil output, is not affected at the relatively low frequencies guitar strings produce. The underlying notion that the magnitude of eddy currents created based on carbon content differences is way over stated.
Base plate and cover are both made out of non-magnetic material. Even so, new materials will change the sound and they will not be “vintage tone” because there is a slight difference in how it is plated. In order to facilitate plating a very thin layer of copper is applied to new style covers, not to the vintage PAF pickups.
Claim:” This thin layer of copper is a very good conductor and the flux changes will create eddy currents that also will cut high frequencies (high end)”.
Correction: It is correctly stated that these covers, back then as well as now, are made of german silver. In order to make plating easier a layer of copper is added, maybe a few atom layers thick, not unique to this product. The statement that this layer has any influence on final output of the pickup is ridiculous, essentially because german silver, which is not silver at all, but 60% copper already. So in conclusion, german silver is already a damn good conductor.
This one has been brought forward as well: The bobbin material affects the sound of the pickup. It has to be the stinky stuff or it will not sound vintage. Even the color of the bobbin has been attributed by these people to affect the “tone”. It was claimed that there would be a difference in resonance between new and “vintage”.
Correction: Another one directly pulled out of the rectal cavity! For objects of this size, the frequency of a mechanical resonance would be many, many time of the pickup’s frequency range. And when did resonance affect a pickup output, this is not an acoustic guitar. We are strictly talking about electric guitars here. Finally, common bobbin materials are transparent when it comes to magnetics, in other words, no influence at all!
Here is a scary one, it is from a “vintage” pickup maker that maybe responsible for some of the above stated misinformation. He was discussing lead wire influence on pickup “tone”, we are again talking PAF pickups and he claimed:
“I think that I have found the secret to the influence of the lead wire placement on the “tone” of the pickup”. So he wound a pickup the “normal” way and another with this secret routing of the lead wire.
Correction: Normally, in science we run verification tests to document the change or improvement. What this guy did was worse than mounting in a guitar and strum a few (which is bad enough and proves nothing), he actually hooked up the pickups directly to an amp and tapped it with a finger, first one then the “improved” one. He even had the audacity to claim that there was an improvement! My jaw dropped hearing that, it dropped even further when I read the comments, some guy claimed that he could hear the difference as well! I have a little secret for you, I could NOT. Even so, it was the shittiest verification test I can imagine. No limit to what this guy will say in his videos to promote his way overpriced PAF replica pickups. He goes out of his way to chase and find the materials used in the original PAFs, thinking they will sound like them if they are made the same way. They will not. It is somewhat commendable that he does that but why and for whom, it just makes the pickups cost a lot more without benefit?
To round this part off, I have actually read the original patent from Gibson submitted by Seth Lover and I can say that none of these were included in the claims for the patent. Had they been of even the slightest importance they would most definitely be mentioned in the claims of a patent. I know, I hold a few patents myself!
In case you didn’t notice, it bothers me greatly that all these claims are made without references, supporting elaboration, physics background or any type of explanation at all, let alone experimental test results. Well, after all, as I have explained elsewhere, I am a scientist and in science there are very strict rules how to handle this process. There are more on the “Q and A” Tab!