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Stew

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    GOTM August 2005

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  1. You guys don't understand, I don't want to route anymore. I've routed a H/S/S configure. If I were going dual humbuckers than a lot of these choices would be really cool. But whatever I do to the bridge humbucker, I want to somewhat match the single coils. I think I've decided already and now you'll just have to wait and see when I'm done in about, oh 12 weeks. I'll be lucky if I can build 3 guitars this year.
  2. Ok then, what about the Lace Sensor "Chrome Domes"? They have a dual coil humbucker "dually" version also. They look just like the chrome Tele neck pickup but in all pickup positions. The chrome dually measures out a 19.8k (8.9/10.9k) which is insane. The neck and middle would be 6.2k. I'd place a coil splitter for the dually as well. As far as the black exposed pickup look, I really like the large "rivot" looking SD "Invader" humbucker. Only thing is that it would not match the single coil pickups. Great ideas guys. - Stew
  3. Only problem is I'd have to choose between using the Pearly Gates or Dimebucker. I only have one humbucker route in the bridge. Neck would have to be single coil size. I doubt the Dimebucker comes in single coil size.
  4. So, I'm building this guitar that's sort of a tribute to the whole late 60's/early 70's Plymouth Muscle cars. The pickups have got to have balls and yet still look like they belong on the guitar. I'm confined to a H/S/S config but I can substitute the humbucker bridge for a single coil and go S/S/S if needed. But hey, this is a muscle car guitar...it's got to have that humbucker in the bridge, right? Typically, what I really love about the whole H/S/S option is that I can still keep my woody Hendrix'y neck tone, retain my #4 bell/chime/quack tone, and still go balls to the wall lead tone with a humbucker bridge. I've done the whole overwound single coil bridge routine to compansate for a humbucker for either visual cosmetics, pickguard on hand, or to avoid routing a hole to make room for a humbucker. Never ever sounds the same as just dropping in a humbucker. All I ever get from the overwound single is a Tele bridge tone or slight P-90 tone/output. A single coil is a single coil no matter how you slice it, right? Plus if it's overwound too much, you then have to start compansating in other areas which can get overwhelming or cause me to make even more trade offs. For this build, I want something....um......fuel injected? Rather than a 325, I want a 440 Magnum 6 barrel carburetor tone. 426 Hemi might be too much and I'm not planning on using this for metal. How's that for a fun analogy? Actually, I'm looking for simplicity; nice fat bridge tone, still retaining clean-dirty SRV'ish neck tone, still keeping my Stratty quack tone, keep the volume difference between neck and bridge to a minimum.....meaning I'd like something balanced. Tonal balance would be nice too. Problems in the past; nice bright Strat neck, dark muddy humbucker bridge. Solution: get overwound neck & middle single coils to match up with the humbucking bridge. Now neck & middle single coils sound too dark, but humbucking bridge sounds great. I'm kicking around using EMG's (81/SA/SA), tried and true Seymour Duncan's (so many options that nothhing seems to excite me), or possibly something I've never tried before. Money is sort of an issue. I really don't want to go beyond $300 for pickups. EMG issue. Pros: Would fit the look of the guitar since the pickguard will be flat black, like a 1970's Barracuda hood scoop. No hum. Easy to install plus all pots and switches are included in the price, big plus. Grounded in a way that would not spark my lips when I move up to the microphone. Cons: Been years since I've used EMG products, my ear might no longer favor the tone. I loved them in the 80's when I was pushing heavy effects through racks, and recording. But I've grown accustomed to a more raw classic rock tone rather than a more polished modern tone. Might look too modern. SD issue. Pros: Black single coil and exposed coil humbucker look, classic. Closer tone to what I'm used to hearing. Big variety to choose from (Vintage-Progressive, rails option). Cons: Have to buy pots and switches which I would have to do anyway with any guitar build. Would also need to sheild the guitar unless I would buy stacked single coils or just plain ol' drop in some single coiled sized "Lil' 59's" and keep everything hum free using hum cancelling pickups. I'd need to choose wisely in order to balance the volume/tone differences between the bridge humbucker choice and single coil choice. Lollar pickups issue. Pros:Absolutely love his pickups. Would also match my visual. Jason listens carefully regarding what you're looking for. Cons: Limited options. Shielding must be done. Pricey but in many cases well worth it. I guess I could do something really nuts and just load the whole guitar with humbucker pickups and a Super Switch? Use a SD Pearly Gates bridge/Lil' 59 middle/Lil' 59 neck. Then wire the Super switch to do the following: #5 full neck; humbucker tone, #4 split coil; Strat neck tone, #3 split neck & middle pickup coils; Strat quack tone, #2 full neck & full bridge humbucker; Les Paul type middle pickup selection tone, #1 full humbucker; PAF tone. Crazy huh? Other factors: maple neck with ebony fingerboard, nickel frets (6105), Sperzel tuners, bone nut, and alder body. For some reason, I'm going with a Fender American Standard two pivot bridge. Dunno, just something told me to use that rather than a 6 screw vintage deal. It kills me to have to use a Fender replacement part on this. Still, I'm going in gut instinct. You know, just thinking about it, I should have routed for a Floyd but maybe that would have made it too modern. Ahhhhhh! Any suggestions?
  5. Hey, let's get Eric Johnson's opinion. He'd be able to tell the difference. Just kidding. That's useful information thanks.
  6. So it's not necessarily a 0.022 mfd? I have a choice of .015 and .022 only. I guess once I swap out to vintage spec'd pickups I'll be ok. I'm just wondering if the .022 would make the guitar too bright? Are vintage '57 Les Pauls bright anyway? I mean I notice a nice screaming lead tone when in the neck position. I saw a YouTube clip of Steve Lukather playing an old '58 Les Paul and eventhough he's got the neck postion on, the tone sounds more like MY Les Paul in the bridge position. My Goldtop's neck position is very dark, jazz like in tone. Correct me if I'm wrong about my capacitor switch concern. .02 vs .022 seems like a big difference. -Stew
  7. I'm thinking about swapping out my ceramic caps for Luxe bumble bee caps in effort to make a more accurate reproduction Les Paul. So I snapped this pic of the inside of my current cap (there are two but you probably already knew that). What value cap is this? All I want to do is try to get the same cap value but in a bumble bee version. I may even swap out my stock 500T/490R pickups for some Lollar Imperials. In case you're interested, my Les Paul Goldtop is a '96 Standard. No Historic or anything.
  8. jmrentis: That's ring/pinking fingernail wear. When you're finger pickin' at the bridge, some players fingers rested right next to the plate. This guitar is actually reliced by viewing about 12 images of real '52 Telecasters. So I got that idea from those. I hate today's Relics with the over the top forearm wear. I believe that a little goes a long way. Some people don't know when to stop the distressing process. Nobody drops their car keys on a guitar body 25 times. You have to use everyday items like jeans rivots, belt buckles, chain bracelets, etc. I've never dropped a guitar on a belt sander. The only reason my Hendrix/Zappa Tribute is so banged up is because that's how the original guitar looks. Mike Eldred, former Fender Custom Shop manager, once warned me about making my own SRV #1 Tribute copies. I get occasional emails asking me to build them a John Mayer '62 black relic Strat. Can't do that anymore. I know too many people at Fender to use a counterfeit logo. I kept the Fender logo on the Hendrix/Zappa Tribute only because I'm not selling that guitar. If I ever sold it, off comes the Fender decal. You all probably noticed my '52 guitar has my own decal and not "Fender". Although I build my own guitars now, I still love an occasional beater project. They just feel like home. '62 Shell Pink Reproduction guitar. I have to decide on what to build for 2008! - Stew
  9. Thanks. I was going for the exact replica thing so it does look weird with a newer looking neck and hardware. When I build something "reliced" I think of realistic wear, not a sander. Like my '52 replica. - Stew
  10. Yeah, I think the db boost thing is the way to go. That way I won't have to sacrifice that classic Jag tone. It's just that a Tele middle pickup position sounds so close to a Jag that I was hoping of creating some sort of hybrid Jag pickup; one that can get both worlds in one. But it sounds like apples vs oranges here and there's no cross pollination. I appreciate your advice. - Stew
  11. Thanks for your input guys. Swedishluthier: I guess I'm looking for something that sounds a little better when overdriven. I sense that you're thinking I'm looking for a PAF tone out of a Jaguar pickup. Not really. I'm looking for something that may sound more like a '52 Tele bridge pickup which also sounds bright when clean yet scream a bit when overdriven. I like your active boost idea. I may replace the 3rd hole (normally the output jack) with that boost control and have the output jack located on the side of the guitar (Tele output location). I want to get my electronics nailed down before the build so that I don't need to go back later and modify (replacing pickups, adding switches). Or for simplicity I might go for a push pull control for the volume pot and have the third pot as my gain control? All this means a 9 volt rattling around somewhere in the guitar though, right? - Stew
  12. So I'm looking into Jaguar pickups. I've played the stock American Vintage Reissue Jaguars and they do have that classic surf clean tone. But what I'm after is something more...um.....Smash Mouth sounding? You know, something that supports a little more dirty tones, overdriven if you will. I'm having a Masterbuilder friend make me a Fender Custom Shop Jaguar this year. He says if I want it to sound like a Fender then go with Fender pickups. They are using the AV factory Jaguar pickups. Abigail does not custom wind Jaguar pickups, only Tele's and Strats. Another friend of mine had this very Masterbuilder build him a Jaguar and insisted on using Curtis Novak Jaguar pickups. Dennis was not impressed. There's a local surf band named " with Fender final assembly employee Dave Wronski playing a smokin' Jaguar. But ex-Fender Masterbuilder Fred Stuart wound those Jaguar pickups for him. Fred does not make or wind Jaguar pickups anymore. He's doing his own thing. Bottom line; I want the Jaguar to still sound like a classic Jaguar when clean but I want something that beefs up nicely when overdriven. I don't want it to sound like a dirty rubber band through a cigar box tone when cranked. Seymour Duncan offers different Jaguar pickups but I'm afraid those might alter the classic tone too much. It's too bad there's not something out there like a Jag Vintage (neck), and Jag Vintage Plus (bridge). The Jag Hot and Quarter Pounder seems too much. I guess I could contact some of the boutique pickup builders that offer rewind services (ie, Fralin, Lollar). Maybe now would be the time to pickups some stock Jaguar pickups and then send to those guys for a rewind to whatever spec I'd like. Any thoughts?
  13. Oh, I'm not saying it's not structurely sound, it's just very soft and dings up easily. Plus the fact that metal strings making contact with near bare wood is starting to make those nice 50's fingerboard wear. I wiped about 4 coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly for that framing guitar. I wanted it to look bare but still be somewhat protected. It's not meant for high use. I'll play it a few times but it's home will be mounted on the wall of my new addition. Check out my neck plate. It's a picture of my house during renovation with the stucco removed prior to busting through the walls. In the house image, you can see the studs used in the guitar. Pretty cool.
  14. Well, thanks David. Hopefully those stairs aren't D. Fir. It's a very soft wood and it might have become wall art only. It's already showing fret wear, but like a Ruffles potatoe chip kind of way. You know, the growth rings are harder than the softer in between sections. And yes, even the entire neck is made from the same wood. All I did was take a 2x4, cut into 1/3rds, reverse the center section to be opposite wood grain, and then glue up. I used a separate piece of fir for the fingerboard. I picked a very uniform piece. Grain almost looks like tight grained sitka spruce.
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