Wikipedia article:
Modern variants
Nowadays, the PAF is considered a vintage humbucker with relatively low output and soft, mellow tone. However, original Gibson PAFs are scarce and very expensive, so most major pickup manufacturers produce copies of original PAF design.
Notable pickups include:
Seymour Duncan SH-55 Seth Lover Model. A modern pickup that reproduces Seth Lover's '55 prototype design in great detail: a nickel silver cover (not brass one), long bottom plate, plain #42 enamel wire, Alnico 2 magnets, wooden spacer, and black paper tape. Seth and Seymour were great friends, and Seth gave Seymour all of the original specs. In addition, Seymour owns Gibson's pickup winding machine from the '50s, and all SH-55's are wound on it.
Seymour Duncan SH-1 '59 Model. A replica of late '50s PAFs, gives a slightly fatter sound, more known as a signature tone of famous blues/rock guitarists of the 1960s.
Seymour Duncan Antiquity Humbucker (11014-01 and 11014-05). An as-close-as-possible replica of a late '50s PAF, complete with a patented aging technique.
Kent Amstrong (son of Dan Armstrong) makes a variety of PAF models.
Gibson "'57 Classic" Gibson's most regular take on the PAF. Not scatter wound, wax potted. Since the mid-'80s this is the standard pickup on most higher level guitars.
Gibson Burstbucker. Gibson's newest take on the P.A.F. Scatter wound, not wax potted, these are the closest replicas Gibson makes. These pickups come stock on the Historic line of Reissue Les Pauls.
DiMarzio PAF (DP103). One of the earliest PAF replicas, wax potted with Alnico 5 magnets, 4-conductor cable for split and series/parallel wiring.
DiMarzio PAF Classic Bridge (DP195) and Neck (DP194). PAF pickups with pre-installed covers, wax-dipped twice (before cover installation and after).
DiMarzio Virtual Hot PAF (DP214), Virtual PAF Bridge (DP197), Virtual PAF Neck (DP196). Pickups built with patented Virtual Vintage technology that gives a more balanced pickup characteristic.
Bare Knuckle Pickups The Mule. An accurate scatter wound PAF replica: The Mule uses a solid nickel baseplate and cover, #42 AWG plain enamel wire, unpolished Alnico 4 magnets, maple spacer and butyrate bobbins.
SKATTERBRANE Earthbrane. An accurate PAF clone which features German silver baseplate and cover, individually rough sand cast AlNiCo magnet, 42awg PE coil wire, butyrate bobbins and maple spacer. Hand winding techniques offer complex overtones, attack and decay reminiscent of PAFs from the 1950's.
