By Ed Malaker
Posted 07/14/2020
In this article, we’ll cover installing a DiMarzio PAF 59 and include a wiring diagram. We’ll also go over any other components you may need. Changing the pickups is a great way to improve the tone of your guitar, and few other modifications will have as significant an impact.
DiMarzio PAF 59
The DiMarzio PAF 59 is a modern pickup designed to replicate the sound of vintage Gibson PAF pickups. The PAFs are single-coil pickups, but their tone is warmer than a Fender single-coil. The DiMarzio PAF 59 pickups use the same materials as the original 59s, and they are undipped and scatter wound to help capture the authentic voice of the guitar. These pickups roll off the bass some and provide plenty of clarity with abundant harmonics. They produce a smooth overdrive that’s perfect for classic rock.
Wiring Code
The DiMarzio PAF 59 is a single-coil pickup, so it only has two wires, one red and one green. The red wire is the Hot, and the Green is the Ground.
The DiMarzio PAF 59 Wiring Diagram
Just follow our DiMarzio PAF 59 wiring diagram, below, to install the pickup into your guitar.
Gibson
When installing the pickups into a Gibson-style guitar, the Hot wire will go to one of the tabs on the volume control, and the ground will go to the back of the volume control, as we see in Example 1.
Example 1
Super-Strat
Many guitars made by Ibanez, Charvel, and even Fender, use single coils along with humbuckers. The PAF will fit into the humbucker position, and on these guitars, the Hot wire goes to the switch first, but the Ground still goes to the back of the volume pot, as we see in Example 2.
Example 2
Component List
It’s difficult to know all of the components you will need, since you can install these pickups in many different guitars. There are two things we want to mention, though, so you can fine-tune your tone: the potentiometers, and the capacitors.
Potentiometers
DiMarzio calls for 500k pots for use with the PAF 59s. This value is a great starting point because if you feel the pickups are too bright, you can warm them up by changing one or more of the pots to 250k. If you think the PAF 59s are too dark, you can brighten them up by switching to 1-Meg pots, or No Load pots.
Capacitors
DiMarzio calls for .022uf capacitors for the tone controls. This value is the modern standard, and will likely be suitable for most players. Some players like to decrease the value as low as .01uf to get a subtler roll off the high frequencies.
Summary
We hope you have enjoyed reading over this guide and that it has helped answer any questions you might have had. If you’re replacing pickups, you will only need to solder two wires to complete the installation.
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