GregP

I'm bigtime guilty of overlooking this, too. I use primarily modeled amps on the Line 6 TonePort (no way to crank up the Garnet 50W I inherited, and it needs servicing besides) so I always semi-forget the importance of a proper amp. Some day I might even own one. I only have the Marshall MG30 for a practice amp, and I loathe it more than words can possibly express. Worst. Amp. Ever.

No real opinion here since I haven't tried it yet... but thought I could at least chime in to say that I did my share of research and asking questions before arriving at the '89 as the choice for both neck and bridge pickup of a recent purchase. I'm not going to "recommend" it since I have not heard it in action (other than recordings in which the guitarist is known to have used them), but if research is all you end up having to go by, let me just add that I've done my own several hours of research and still concluded that they'd be a safe purchase.

The question that always applies, though is: bridge bucker replacement for what kind of style? Do you have preferences for sound? What sort of territory do you want to be in? I assume by your handle that you're into Metal, but that might be an unfair assumption. If so, though, ask yourself if you need the single-coil mode. If you're only going to use humbucker mode, apparently it's not quite a true '85 if that mode. I'm just saying, know your goal, share it with us, and THEN you can probably get some better advice. Metal people tend to be split over the 85/81 anyhow. Most seem to favour the 81 in bridge, but I'm sure there are advocates for the 85 in bridge.

Greg

ihocky: Don't have to compensate the bridge on a slide instrument.

Great looking little steel. There are a few minor cosmetic touches that would bring it to the next level, but it's a heck of a good project. Hook up the electronics and string'er up!

The pickup/pickup ring along with the improperly-spaced fret markers are the only things that really pop out at me. The rest is mainly personal preference stuff.

The levels of spam are getting brutal. I'm not a forum admin pro, but here are some things that might help:

- new captcha for registration

- prune the userlist. Maybe some spambots are using old logins?

- additional mods

Regarding the 3rd one, it doesn't have to be full-on mods or anything, enforcing rules, etc. It could just be trustworthy people who are simply willing to delete spam threads. I'm on here at least every other day, sometimes multiple times a day, so I'll gladly volunteer. Unfortunately, "Delete thread" and "Delete Post" is one of the highest mod privs, so it'll be hard to give someone that sort of control/power without giving the whole mod shebang on paper. But in practice, they could just be deleters. Y'know?

Greg

The obvious question is "why"? Acousticraft's point about taking off the aesthetically displeasing plate and bolts is about the only one I can think of. Gluing on a bolt-on neck won't be more "rigid" unless the holes for the bolts are compromised. Screwing two pieces of wood together is actually going to compress the fibres slightly, which is more "rigid" than glue will ever be.

But if it's for aesthetics or to facilitiate heel sculpting, that's a different thing.

Yup, pretty good! Except did you miswire the replacement pickups? That's hella hum, even for single-coils.

+1 to both those (guage and tree) ... but regardless of guage problems, special +1 to the fact that you NEED the string tree for that guitar. You can tell by the video that it'll never make positive contact with the nut unless there's one.

Haven't a clue about Rondo, but Cort and Yamaha have made some good budget stuff.

Any dual-humbucker guitar with coil split isn't going to get you into tele or strat territory, though. I would agree that an entire houseful of guitars isn't likely going to let you really form a relationship with any particular ones, though.

I know it's not the same category exactly, but micro-plane rasps remove a heck of a lot of material quickly (shavings rather than sawdust). Unlike the quality handmade rasps you guys are talking about, though, there ARE some significant tool marks left over.

I believe the Pagelli was in the neighborhood of $500. For some reason the number $650 keeps popping up in my brain, but the other part of my brain keeps saying, "nah, it wasn't that much... don't be silly...". Pretty sure $500 is more accurate.

Regarding amp tones-- as mentioned, you'd be hard-pressed to go wrong with one of the UX models. I have a UX-2, which is pretty flexible and has some decent mic pre models as well (and supplies Phantom power). Can't really gig with it or bring it to a friend's place, but for recording or noodling at home, it's excellent.

I can't say I go in for knock-offs per se, but I like some of the models offered by alternative companies.

My first electric was a MIM Fender Strat, which got stolen. This I replaced with a tele-style Yamaha Pacifica. I much preferred the Pacifica to the Fender style teles. It had a faster neck, more 'upgraded' options (ie. 'binding' and a burst) than Fenders/Squiers of the same price. It was a no-brainer.

At some point in time I was shopping for a Les Paul knock-off. What I ended up with instead was a Cort "Pagelli" signature model. sure, it has veneer for its flame finish, but the wood isn't plywood. The original Mighty Mite pickups were actually great, and though I replaced them with a JB/Jazz combo, I really wish I hadn't. The Mighty Mite neck pickup isn't "better" than the Jazz (which is a legend), but it had a sound that I actually preferred. But I'm not going to swap them back; part of the upgrade was replacing standard nickel covers with no-polepiece nickel covers. The Jazz is, after all, still a legend.

The Cort is excellent in all respects. Playability, setup, electronics... everything was top-notch. At the end of the day, I was actually happier that it didn't look exactly like a Les Paul. If you Google it, it's actually a sort of weird looking thing but I love it.

Similar story, so I'll cut it short: wanted another LP-ish guitar with P-90s. Got a Godin LG-90, which (at the time at least) came with genuine Duncan (not Designed by Duncan) P-90s. What an awesome guitar. Hated the way it looked at first, but as with the Cort, now I just love it. It has a great substantial neck and overall feel to it. I couldn't have asked for a better P-90 machine. No carved top; just a solid hunk of mahogany with a mahogany neck. Truly a workhorse.

So, the sum it up: I don't necessarily go in for the cheapest of knock-offs, but I think spending less than the "major names" and deciding to go for something that's not visually identical is the way to fly. I'm totally sold on mid-priced guitars for my needs. If I was rich, I'd still be going for the real things in a lot of cases, but not all. I'd get a real 335 if I could, but again there are tonnes of great semi-hollow guitars out there, like those by Ibanez and Godin.

Greg

I was reading the replies going, "there's no way my research was that wrong." But then I remembered... the EMG-89s for my case aren't actually split; they're 2 separate pickups in a single housing. D'oh!

If I'm not mistaken, you'd need more poles than a standard mini-switch allows. You want to control what are essentially two independent circuits with one switch. There are such switches, but it might be tricky to find one in mini form.

I definitely relate to wanting to minimize the number of switches, but ultimately it might be just as easy to use two mini-switches instead, or if you have 2 pots (tone/vol) to use 2 push-pull knobs.

Just a thought. If you want to do it all with 1 switch, I HAVE seen such a thing during my own travels; I don't recall the source, though, and it wasn't easy to track down. Someone else who has done more electronics shopping than me might be able to point the way.

+1 to Geo, with my personal preference leaning more towards a series switch than a phase switch.

Alternatively, you could get some strat saddles and devise your own "mini-bridge" for each. That's exactly how Novax did/does their production guitars.

thy are indeed 3 humbuckers that are voiced to sound like P90 pickups

So the polepieces are cosmetic?

I hesitate to call him a luthier if he made such a basic mistake. ;-)

But anyhow...no new advice to give. Just commiserating. Sux, dude.

006 is one of my favourite body styles of all time. It recalls other guitars without being exactly like them. Cool project!

A Ricken-PRS-o'Caster?

totally. ;-)

I was thinking PRS-o-Caster, but now that you mention it... Rick is spot-on!

Looks great, Fraser! Congrats!

Nice!

I have to admit, although $350 is perfectly fair (generous, even) for a custom piece, I don't see being able to buy one in the immediate future. Too many other bills coming up to justify it to my fiancee.

If I were to get one, though, I'd be more into black also.

I've never heard of a high-output lipstick tube. I'm sure someone makes one somewhere (probably GFS), but they're legendary for their sparkly low-output clean. I wouldn't wanna mess with that formula just to say that it's lipstick.

You're spoiled for choice in higher-output strat-style pickups, though. Classic Rock Rhythm... mmm.... p90.....

I'm actually not AS gung-ho on p90s as I used to be. I'm starting to wear thin on them I think. But if you're talking single-coil, and you're talking driven blues and classic rock, there can be only one answer.

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUH0101

click the diagram to see a larger version.

JS models aren't exactly beefy either.

Chambering is quite popular around here. Swimming pool routs are probably reviled more for the fact that they're ugly and sloppy than they take away much material.