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The History of the Skatterbrane P.A.F. Pickups
I had a good friend in school since 8th grade. We made funny tapes together, talked about music and listened to newly discovered music together. I vaguely remember a day when my friend, Dean, was telling me about an article he read in a music magazine about how Eric Clapton's Les Paul had been stolen. LES PAUL? Hmm, that name sounded very familiar, not sure why, but Les Paul sounded like such a cool name for a guitar. I decided immediately to learn whatever I could about Les Pauls! I knew that I liked the guitar tones on SOME records and not so much on others. I soon discovered the difference between Fender and Gibson. Twangy surf music was the characteristic of one, and heavy rock tones more the other. And soon much to my friend's irritation, I was telling him which recordings had Fender guitars and which had Gibson. Well, I am sure I got a LOT of those guesses wrong, but it was fun!
Soon my pursuit of a Les Paul was underway. I already had a Sears acoustic I had learned some playing of simple melodies from a Mel Bay instruction book. Soon after got my first electric, a 1972 Gretsch Blackhawk. I thought by getting a hollow bodied guitar I could eliminate the need for an acoustic AND an electric..silly me. Plus I LOVED F-holes. But I learned of a high school dropout who played mean rock and wanted to sell his Les Paul!! I do not remember his name at the moment. I had no idea, how much they should cost, so I agreed to pay him MORE than he paid for his 1969 Deluxe new! My mother helped me raise the $350 in 1973. I was ecstatic! I eventually bought a 61 SG Les Paul Standard from him, and was fascinated by his Firebird. This kid was a damned good guitarist and idolized Eric Clapton, even to the point of heroin addiction, just like his hero.
Well I learned a LOT about Les Pauls from him, how vintage Les Pauls had full sized humbuckers with curly maple and tobacco burst finishes; how they had "thin binding in the cutaway". How the TV model was a yellow Junior but for some reason the yellow Special was NOT a TV model. Yes, he knew more about the history of Les Pauls than Gibson does to this day. Well I soon had to find a tobacco Les Paul with full sized humbuckers. No, I never got a vintage burst, but I DID buy a new 1974 Les Paul Standard. It had the volute, sandwich body (a no-no I soon learned from my friend) three piece neck, three piece top, but man, it had full sized humbuckers and it was tobacco. It was cool.
In the meantime my friend Dean and I were discovering new music, buying LPs and singles every weekend, taking trips to the Twin Cities to our favorite record shops. I soon discovered I was not happy with my Aunt's old "Voice of Music" record player, which by the way, I had modified to also use as my amp for my Les Paul. I could not afford an amp AND a new Stereo too! So I bought a new stereo! It was a Dual turntable, JBL Century speakers and a Sherwood 60w receiver! Man my audiophile days were born. Now I have three music related obsessions; Les Pauls, record collecting and stereo equipment. (not to mention Ford Thunderbirds and cars in general).
Well I soon found I could play a stereo better than I could EVER play a guitar, so I sold off my Les Pauls and concentrated on other hobbies, being a audiophile soon took over. Well, I tried guitars one more time in the late 70s, I bought a 70 Gibson J45 and a 59 Les Paul Junior. You see, you really cannot get by with a hollow body electric, you really need an acoustic and an electric. Well, I was reminded what a terrible guitar player I really was, and soon sold those guitars too and would not buy another until 2001. But I did continue my record collecting, stereo upgrading and car restorations.
Soon I had a new group of friends who were audiophiles and we would compare preamps, cables and different record pressings of the same recordings. We would critique this amp or that speaker etc. It was expensive, but it also was an education on tone, recordings and how different brands of copper wire DOES make a difference! It certainly opened my ears to all kinds of sounds, tones and dynamics. And all this time I was collecting more and more records, well up to 2000 before CDs came out!
Ah CDs, they sucked! But damn you did not have to clean the damned things each time you played them like you did with LPs. And you did not always have to tweak your tone arm or cartridge alignment. Soon I was converting my LP collection for CDs. And always on the lookout for a CD player that could even begin to approach the more natural tonal qualities, dynamics and resolution of analog! Well that never happened, but now at least I am enjoying listening to music more, now that I am no longer listening that critically. But no, I will not surrender to MP3, that is just not tolerable, even when just listening casually. And after all, I now have about 5000 CDs.
One day at work a musician co-worker brought in a Gibson Historic catalog. It must have been in the late 90s. I was stunned! It appeared Gibson was making Les Pauls much like the ones of 1959! Ones that I saw Jimmy Page, Martin Barre, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, and all my other guitar heroes play. They were Cherry burst or Tobacco burst, curly maple and had full sized humbuckers. Something has happened at Gibson for the better since the 70s while I was not paying attention. I knew I could never own a 50s Les Paul Standard, but these "reissues" sure looked interesting! Well enter my joining Ebay in 2001. I bought three Les Pauls in a matter of weeks. A 1983 Spotlight Special from Mike Slubowski, a 1993 Les Paul Standard Natural and a 1992 Les Paul Amber Classic Plus. I joined Les Paul forums, bought all the books I could about Les Pauls and learned all I could about Les Pauls and Gibson, especially of the 80s and 90s when the reissues were born and later improved.
I submersed myself in the culture of Les Pauls, I went on to buy and sell over 150 Les Pauls on Ebay and usually making a few hundred bucks with each one. (Rather than losing $5,000-$20,000 per car that I bought, restored and sold). This was a MUCH cooler hobby! Well soon I bought my first Historic R9 and have owned many Historics since. Still knowing I would never be able to own a 1959 Burst, I soon acquired the next best thing, a MAX replica. Now I understand the difference in build quality and old growth wood. These differences played well into my audiophile past.
Well there was another consideration. I learned all about pickups in this process, it was a natural curiosity. I had many Les Pauls, some with T-Tops, 490R/498T, 496R/500T, Velvet Bricks, Tim Shaw reissue Pat Appl For pickups, 57 Classics, Burstbuckers, Bill Lawrence circuit board "the original humbucker" and so on. On the various forums I learned about tone seekers and their various mods and aftermarket boutique pickups. All along I was fascinated how the same pickups sounded so much different in various Les Pauls or how the same Les Paul's tone would change with different pickups. I studied P.A.F construction, just as a byproduct of reading about Les Pauls in general.
Well I wanted vintage tone in MY Historic reissue Les Pauls too, so I started buying many highly regarded boutique P.A.F. clone vintage style pickups. I was so often disappointed, usually preferring the various stock Gibson pickups I had been collecting. Finally I asked myself why not think about making my own vintage style pickups? I knew what I liked and disliked about the numerous pickups I have heard in my various 150 or so Les Pauls and all the other Gibson or boutique pickups I have tried. Plus I already had a pretty good idea how a pickup was constructed and the various specs and materials used. And I was certain that my audiophile, and record collecting background could play a major part in my tone quest. All of this, plus trial and error, brought me to the development of my first SKATTERBRANE pickups. Soon ALL of my Les Pauls were loaded with them. And I decided maybe others shared my tastes in tone and decided to try and sell them.