The History of PU and the Brands that Adorn It
Seth Lover
A Legend Born of the Battle Against Hum Noise
〜The Story of Seth Lover, Pickup Designer
In the 1950s, as electric guitars were taking the lead in the music scene, guitarists were faced with a common problem: hum, a noise that increases as the volume is increased. One common problem was hum, which increased as the volume was increased.
There was one engineer who put an end to this unavoidable fate and defined the subsequent history of guitar sound. His name was Seth Lover.
This is the story of a man who moved the history of guitars forward, working for the two giants, Gibson and Fender.
The Gibson Era and the Birth of "P.A.F.
The Challenge of Noise
Seth Lover joined Gibson in 1945 after accumulating electrical knowledge as a radar and undersea detector technician in the Navy. At first, he was in charge of amp development and repair, but eventually his talents blossomed in pickup development.
At the time, Gibson had an excellent single-coil pickup called the "P-90," but as the demand for louder pickups increased, the inevitable hum of the pickup's construction became a problem.
In fact, customer complaints increased, and the development of new noiseless pickups became an urgent necessity.
Realization of a Revolutionary Idea
After various trials and errors to eliminate hum noise, Seth focused on the principle of "humbucking," which uses two coils to cancel each other's noise.
Two coils are placed side by side, and the winding direction of one coil is reversed (reverse phase connection). This cancels the hum noise coming in from the outside.
However, this had the disadvantage that even the string vibration signals were canceled out, resulting in a thinner sound.
By reversing the magnetic poles of one coil (inverting the N and S poles), the noise is cancelled while the string vibration signals are added together, resulting in a more powerful output.
Development of this revolutionary pickup began around 1955 and was completed in about six months with the cooperation of President Ted McCarty and others.
Since a patent was pending, the back of the pickup was labeled "PATENT APPLIED FOR(patent pending)", i.e., "PATENT APPLIED FORP.A.F.A sticker was placed on the product marked "P.A.F.".
This was the birth of the now legendary P.A.F.
The Gibson Les Paul equipped with the P.A.F. attracted many guitarists with its warm and fat sound, and rocked,
The Gibson Les Paul with the P.A.F. had an immense influence on the development of rock, blues, and jazz music.
Seth Lover's legacy
Seth Lover retired from Fender in 1975 when he reached retirement age at CBS, but his legacy will never fade.
Seth Lover created the "prototype" humbucker at Gibson and its "application" at Fender. He dramatically expanded the possibilities of the guitar sound and continued to inspire countless music and musicians. It is no exaggeration to say that most humbucking pickups in existence today are based on the foundation he laid.
Now that original P.A.F.'s are considered treasures on the vintage market, we should once again remember his accomplishments. Seth Lover was one of the true innovators who advanced the history of the guitar itself.