crafty

To this day, probably my favorite guitar ever posted on this board. That kid's got talent, hasn't been around in a while...

They're a $300-$400 guitar in the U.S.--look up Les Paul BFG if you want embarrassing...

Taylor uses bolt-on mahogany necks with no problems. Just gotta use the right screw!

Also keep in mind that Fender is one of the "good guys" when it comes to quality. Ever since the buyback in the mid-'80s, the company has been in a constant state of improving the quality of the product and responding to what the customers want. I think the buyout of Jackson/Charvel was a good thing for both companies because it gave Fender a route to compete with Ibanez and Jackson/Charvel the capital and support to continually improve their existing products and develop new ones.

Duncan will probably repair it for you at a reasonable price.

The templates that cost $60 are laser-cut out of masonite. Those drawings are $10 layouts that you can download for free from this forum for a small donation or over at MIMF!

A BFG is only about $800. For $2500, you can get a Reissue model that has the long tenon neck joint. On my '04 Classic, it has a weight-relieved body with the holes drilled in the mahogany, but Gibson just started the major hogging this year. I'm usually one of Gibson's biggest apologists on this board, but I really don't like it. I think they're getting lower grade mahogany that's heavy and tone-dead. They better get their act together. The only thing keeping the PRS Singlecut from completely eating their lunch are the prices PRS is charging for 'em. They compete more with the Reissues rather than the Standards.

High-power pickups with more powerful magnets that are too close to the strings may have this problem. Is it really a big issue for you?

I don't know about a locking nut, but Schaller and Sperzel tuners are available in white on a custom order basis, I think.

Those are the standard bobbin bases for single coil pickups. Every standard pickup is going to be like that. If you do any filing, you'll break the thin coil wires where they are soldered to the wiring eyelets. Route the cavities properly. If you screw up, it won't matter because the pickguard will cover it up anyway.

James Burton is like Fender's Les Paul. In-FREAKIN-sane guitarist. He's done mostly studio work, but he's played with EVERYONE at some point. He got real famous back in the '50s playing on Ozzie and Harriet with Ricky Nelson's band and has played with Elvis, almost every Nashville artist worth listening to, and even John Denver for a while. You might do better to put the pickup back on the 'bay and find one that has the right holes. That one was designed to be mounted on a rear-routed guitar with no pickguard or rings.

I think most of the hubris and misinformation about DiMarzio was put out by people like Ed Roman who were simply trying to make a buck off their own custom Seymour Duncan line. I used to use Duncan or EMG exclusively, then when I wanted to put a set of covered pickups in my Les Paul, I decided to give the PAF Classics a shot. Honestly, they're the best vintage PAF replica I've heard yet--and the price is right. Larry DiMarzio actually worked for the real live Bill Lawrence for years honing his craft. His company puts out fresh designs almost every year and rotates old designs to "custom only" status. Duncan makes great pickups, but most of his designs are at least 20 years old. Not to say that's a bad thing, but I think it shows that development and innovation aren't much of a priority there. If we were comparing microphones, I'd say Duncan is like Shure and DiMarzio is like Heil Sound. Shure is the industry standard and the go-to mic for just about everything, whereas Bob Heil is the innovator who actually has Grammys and Oscars sitting on the bookshelf.

Do you want to sound like Yngwie or do you want to sound like a stock, yet quiet Strat?

Change the humbucker back to the way it was and flip the wiring on the neck pickup instead.

Sure. It's just paper.

It's a good pickup. Guitarelectronics.com has a ton of diagrams, instructions, and Ibanez-Dimarzio color codes. Also, the search function here is a great tool for finding notes on the subject.

Fender DOES make great, strong amps, but this is pushing the boutique range on price! I agree that Peavey didn't do without, but the fact of the matter is that he used the Wolfgang on two tours that nobody watched. They got great exposure with the 5150 amp, but they should have pressed him to retain the rights to the "5150" mark. It'll be interesting to see if the Wolfgang II guitar ever sees the light of day.

Everything EVH is trademarked. You can't even build and sell another guitar with the "space-tape" paint job without his permission. If you thought the guitar was overpriced, wait until you see the 5150III amp and cab. $3100 for a Fender-made, mass-produced half stack! Back when he signed on with Peavey to build the Wolfgangs, I distinctly remember an article in Guitar World where he commented that he got sick of EBMM's inability to get the guitars out fast enough and at a price an average kid could afford. I guess he's figured that the last of his fans are now old enough to have enough money to cash in. Someone also asked Hartley Peavey about EVH. He said, "I've never seen someone ask for so much and give so little in return." In the time that Ed was with Peavey, he released two greatest hits albums and one new album that tanked. In ten years, Peavey got nothing out of his endorsement. Then right when Satch signs with Peavey on the JSX, EVH storms off like a little kid who got sand thrown at him. Hope Fender's investment pays off. Sure didn't work well for Kramer, EBMM, or Peavey.

A faint sound on a little bleed through is not going to ruin your "Hello, Cleveland!" moment...like I said, almost every electric guitar will do that to some degree. If you really need uber-silence, install a killswitch or just turn down the neck pickup too.

Use a continuity tester to find the start and finish of each coil...and the lead wires aren't as prone to breaking as the coil wires. That's why humbuckers use lead wires.

depends on the pickup

Stew Mac Humbucker Assembly Instructions Those instructions should tell you everything you need to know. Knock yourself out!

Actually, it's a lot easier than that to convert to four-conductor. Unscrew the bobbins from the baseplate. You should see two more lead wires that are soldered together. Unsolder them and solder a new shielded four-conducted cable to all four lead wires. Really quite simple and it'll give you split/series/parallel options for both pickups.

I wouldn't say "skyrocket" in value. It's a good value, but it's not the most desirable DC available. Especially if it doesn't have a figured top. Those are also 490/498 pickups in there that are now obsolete since the '57 Classics and Burstbuckers came out.

Again, why does it matter? Almost every electric guitar does this and if you have the pickup selector on the bridge pickup with the bridge volume turned all the way down, what are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to invent some new style of playing where you have the guitar completely muted yet going through an amp? You probably have a ground loop somewhere in your setup that's causing this, but I just don't see why this is an issue.