Vintage Gibson Tim Shaw PAF humbucker - Zebra Bobbins - dated August 12, 1980

Vintage Gibson Tim Shaw PAF humbucker - Zebra Bobbins - dated August 12, 1980

This is an original early-80s Gibson Tim Shaw-era PAF, fully functional and naturally aged, with visible road wear, marks, and honest cosmetic wear from decades of use. Not a modern reissue. Not a boutique clone. Not new plastic pretending to be old.

The Tim Shaw PAFs are one of the most respected Gibson pickups from this period. Designed during Gibson’s attempt to reconnect with the sound and feel of the original late-50s PAF humbuckers, these pickups are known for a lower-output, open, articulate voice: clear top end, woody mids, strong note separation, and enough bite to push an amp without turning into mud.

This is not a high-output metal pickup. It is a vintage-voiced Gibson humbucker with character, dynamics, and that dry old-school response that modern pickups often try very hard to imitate.

If you are chasing classic Les Paul language — the kind of open PAF-style tone associated with players such as Peter Green, Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Joe Walsh, and the broader golden-era Gibson vocabulary — this sits in the right family. Not because those players used this exact pickup, but because this is Gibson’s early-80s factory attempt to bring that kind of voice back.

This example is especially interesting because of the zebra bobbin appearance, if verified: original zebra Tim Shaw PAFs are harder to find than the more common covered or double-black examples, and they carry the right visual attitude for a late-70s / early-80s Gibson restoration, player-grade Les Paul, SG, ES, Explorer, Flying V, or custom build.

The pickup is completely functional, but cosmetically used. It has marks, aging, and road wear. That is part of the point. This is a real vintage Gibson pickup that has actually lived inside a guitar, not something that came out of a box last week. Vintage tone, real age, no cosplay.

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Serial Number: not applicable
Includes: What you see is what you get! :)
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*** Bunker409 specializes in extreme, rare and historically significant instruments. Explore my other listings, or contact me if you are looking for a specific hard-to-find guitar. ***

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