The History of Les Paul Pickups

For an inanimate object, guitars sure do give us lots of things obsess over. Tonewoods, strings, bridges, cables, amps, pedals, string-trees, ferrules… there's always a debate to be had over what is the “best.” There is perhaps nothing, however, that is more hotly debated than pickups, and considering our recent area of focus, now is a great time for us to talk about choice pickups for one of the most iconic guitars out there: Les Paul pickups.

Look up Gibson Les Paul in the dictionary and you’re likely to see “PAF” humbuckers or P-90s. But there are myriad other options that pair wonderfully with Les Pauls, so let’s break down Les Paul pickups, see how they’re made, how they sound, and what their particular strengths and weaknesses are.

Traditional Les Paul Pickups

Early Les Pauls of the 1950s and 1960s featured P-90s and PAF humbuckers, so these are considered to be “traditional” Les Paul pickups. More than 75 years later, these designs are still in use for a reason, and if you’re unsure about where to start when it comes to Les Paul pickups, you can’t go wrong with either. 

P-90s

When the very first Les Paul hit the market, it was loaded with a pair of P-90s, making them the original Les Paul pickup. In fact they were Gibson’s primary pickup for all models for about a decade until they were dethroned by the PAF in 1957. 

If you’d like to read a comprehensive history of P-90s, check out our article on the subject. Here’s a quick recap of how the P-90 came about. 

Gibson’s first electric pickup was the Charlie Christian,  a great pickup that many still use today. However, these pickups featured heavy magnets and low output that didn’t appeal to burgeoning rock players.

Walter Fuller, head of Gibson’s electronics department, eventually came up with the P-90 design in 1946. Despite their humbucker-esque shape, P-90s are essentially large single coil pickups. The original P-90s had a 42 AWG coil, much wider than the coils used for Strats and Teles. They also had wider bobbins. The result was a single coil with much more output. 

Tonally, P-90s are somewhere in between single coils and humbuckers. They have the bright “spank” of single coils, but the higher output gives them some of the thicker sound associated with humbuckers, making them incredibly versatile pickups, capable of playing just about anything from jazz, to country, to rock, to punk.

The Iconic Les Paul Pickups: Early PAFs

P-90s might have been the first Les Paul pickups, but PAFs are the pickups that are most closely associated with the Les Paul. Since their introduction in 1957, PAF-style humbuckers have been the gold standard Les Paul pickup. A thorough article about PAF history can be found here. 

Prior to humbuckers, the only option for pickups were single coil designs that sounded great but presented the persistent issue of low output and 60 cycle hum. Seth Lover of Gibson and Ray Butts of Gretsch worked concurrently on early humbucker designs. It was Seth Lover’s design, however, that ended up as the PAF. Lover wound two single coils in reverse, giving them opposite polarity, and then placed them side by side and wired them in series. Then he topped this double-single coil unit with alnico magnets (for higher output), and a metal cover (to reduce interference). The result was a high output pickup with no hum.

In 1957, Gibson replaced P-90s with PAFs in their Les Paul models, and while Gibson continues to produce Les Pauls with P-90s (such as vintage tribute models), PAFs are now considered the standard pickup for Les Pauls. 

PAFs are the “holy grail” of tone for many players. They are high output, rich, full, and thick sounding. They’re less bright than single coils, but they still have enough highs and mids to crisp, clear, and cutting. Original PAFs were not wax-potted like many PAF clones and pickups today, making them microphonic. Bumps and taps will be amplified by the pickups, which many feel only adds to their charm. While there are plenty of non-microphonic PAF style humbuckers available today, many players prefer the “period correct” sound of a microphonic PAF and feel that vintage spec PAFs hold the throne of the greatest Les Paul pickups.

Mini-Humbuckers

Another “traditional” Les Paul pickup is the mini-humbucker. These resemble Firebird pickups, but they are not the same. Firebird pickups feature a unique design, but mini-humbuckers are just what their name implies—miniature humbuckers. 

Gibson’s mini-humbuckers are essentially a shrunken PAF. They feature a bar magnet under each of the two coils, adjustable pole pieces, and a ferrous metal bar on one coil. Though their construction is similar to PAFs, the differences produce vast changes in tone.

Gibson acquired the mini-humbucker patent along with the purchase of Epiphone in the 1950s. They initially used them exclusively on Epiphone models, but before long they found their way onto Gibson’s flagship Les Pauls, too.

Because of their smaller size, mini-humbuckers fit into the same routing as P-90s, which allowed Gibson to swap many of their budget P-90 model guitars to mini-humbuckers with minimal changes. 

In terms of sound, mini-humbuckers more clear and bright than PAFs, but they still have some of the thickness and richness associated with PAFS - leaving them somewhere in the middle. They’re most commonly used in jazz, but many rock artists have used them as well. The Les Paul Deluxe models of the 1970s are well known for their mini-humbuckers, and reissues of that model continue to feature them.

Modern Les Paul Pickups

The classics are all great options, but for the most pure of purists, vintage Gibson pickups can be prohibitively expensive. Luckily, there are plenty of modern options for Les Paul pickups. Let’s see how they stack up against the classics.

Modern Options

Gibson continues to make proprietary Les Paul pickups ranging from accurate reproductions of vintage classics to notably modern offerings.  

Modern Classic pickups are similar to classic PAFs but with two key changes; push/pull support for coil splitting and wax potting. The coil splits provide more tonal options, while wax potting reduces how microphonic the pickups are. 

‘57 Classic pickups are identical to the original ‘57 Classics, but can also feature the added push/pull support and wax potting. They also have balanced coils, resulting in a smoother tone. 

Burstbuckers aim to capture some of the variance of old PAFs and intentionally feature slightly different windings across the two coils of each pickup. This provides a unique complexity and clarity which is boosted by Alnico 5 magnets.

P-90s are pretty much still P-90s… however, Gibson offers their P-90s in both standard and underwound versions. They also produce a mini-humbucker based on the original design, again with a few modern changes like wax potting. 

PAF Clones and Third-Party Offerings 

If none of the official Gibson offerings suit you and your Les Paul, don’t worry. Gibson and its iconic gear have spawned hundreds and hundreds of third party offerings that range from basic to boutique.

Lollar is winding up some of the best Les Paul pickups out there. Whatever you’re looking for, they probably have you covered. 

Want a classic PAF? Try the Imperial, which comes in both standard, low-wind, and high wind iterations. Want more bite? Their Raw Power pickups are a good option. Want a Firebird pickup that fits in a Les Paul? The Bird is the word.

Lollar also carries plenty of P-90 options too like the classic Soapbar P-90, ‘50s Wind P-90s, Gold Foil Soapbars, and more. And those are just the beginning of options when it comes to Lollar. 

Like Lollar, Bare Knuckle  out of the UK carries a huge range of pickups that covers everything from accurate reproductions of classics to unique modern offerings. 

The Stormy Monday covers classic PAF tones; the Riff Raff is based on 60s PAFs but also works for high gain applications; and the Black Hawk is a unique humbucker that provides the power and clarity of active pickups with the dynamics of a passive pickup. 

As for P-90s, Bare Knuckle produces options ranging from the low output Half Note P-90 aimed at vintage jazz tones to more classic options like the Nantucket P-90 and Mississippi Queen P-90 to higher output modern choices like the Supermassive P-90 and ‘Pig 90. 

Of course there’s always Seymour Duncan pickups which are incredibly popular, Fralin pickups which, like Lollar, are hand wound, and there are also plenty of budget options including GFS and Tonerider. 

Pick Your Pickups

Pickups play a pivotal role in how you interact with your guitar and the sounds it produces. Choosing the right pair is an essential part of each player’s tone journey. While Les Pauls typically come stock with Burstbuckers or other PAF clones, it’s clear that these are just two of countless options. Les Paul pickups, like the Les Paul itself, are more than just a tool - they help to define a certain, legendary niche that is inhabited by countless amazing musicians. Pair your choice of pickups with your preferred set of Stringjoys, and you’ll never want to put your Les Paul down.