GodBlessTexas

Yeah, American Idiot made my stomach turn. However, MTV and Rolling Stone can't say enough good things about it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Sometimes I think we live on different planets. And what the hell is with them wearing eyeliner now? Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

As compared to the same things in heavy metal? I used to like Green Day. I still like they're stuff from Dookie and before when they were on Lookout Records, but not their new stuff so much. The old stuff was apolitical and had a lot of pop sensibility. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Yep, Tone Lizard is an awesome sight. I'm still trying to take it all in. I'm still trying to figure out if I can stand paying for O'Connor's books. It would be one thing if they were actually published books, but they're just plastic bound stuff you can have done at Kinko's. His margin on those things must be 1200%! Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Pics please. I'm interested if I can work the finances. GBT

It looks like I might be travelling for work, and I was interested in a practice tool to take with me. My main rig is a POD XT Pro into a power amp, but I'm looking at something more compact than lugging around a rack. The Pox XT was the first thing to come to mind, but even used they are a significant investment. Unfortunately I have no experience with the others, but I thought I'd throw these out for feedback. If you have opinions on them or suggestions on other gear, let me know. Pod 2.0 - similar to my pod tonally, but not the same and a bit big. Korg Toneworks Pandora PX4G (guitar) or PX4D (guitar and bass). Behringer v-amp Any other suggestions that I haven't thought of? GBT

I've used the wipe-on poly for refinishing a few necks, and I liked it, though I used the satin variety. The feel of the necks I've refinished in it have been really, really smooth and fast, so I'm happy. I sand to 320, then apply the first coat, allow to cure for 2 hours, then rub down with 0000 steel wool or 1000 grit sandpaper and then apply another coat until I've achieved 5 coats. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Not true. O'Reilly and Auto Zone don't carry them in Texas. I have to go to Pep Boys for the 3M stuff. Some Wal-Marts carry Finesse It, but others don't. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

No problem. I'm glad I could help. GBT

Nope, nevermined. It's not a radius like I previously said. None of the Radius bodies had an AANJ that I'm aware of. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Yep, that's a Radius 540. For thsoe that don't know, it is the predecessor of the Saber series and the guitar that the Satriani models were based upon. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

To be honest, you're lucky that they didn't just jack the guitar. Normally thieves would be more willing to take the entire setup than just pick off parts in the open and risk getting caught. Are you sure someone isn't playing a trick on you? How on earth did they get easy access to your pickups? Were they using quick connects? Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

I've owned both the SD Invaders and Duncan Designed Detonators. They work really well if your amp is more classic distortion than high gain, but if your setup is capable of high gain I'd go for something else. To me, and this is purely subjective due to taste, they get muddy too easily. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Gotcha. As for grounding a TOM, that's pretty much how it's done. Just run a ground to one of the bushings. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

There's always someone on eBay selling covers. Check here. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Looks ok, though it is a bit hard to follow. As far as grounding, ground everything to one point, which is generally a pot or maybe two pots for cavity cleanliness sake. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Ok. The Siamese Dream era equipment is as follows: Billy used his Hi Mom strat, which is a 1957 Fender Strat Japanese Reissue with lace sensor pickups. Bridge is Red, Middle is Silver, Neck is Blue. He was also using a 1984 JCM 800 with KT88 tubes instead of EL-84's. He also used the "Pumpkin Trick," which was to plug into the low sensitivity input of the JCM 800, then crank the Master Volume. Then you use the pre-amp gain as your effective master volume. You also need a Big Muff before the amp for that sustained/layered fuzz/distortion sound. He also used a JMP-1 and Mesa Strategy 500 power amp on occasion. At the same time, James Iha was using a couple of Gibsons (Les Paul Black Beauty, another Les Paul, and a couple of SG's) with stock pickups and the same amp setup as Billy (JCM 800 with KT-88's, the Pumpkin Trick, and a JMP-1 with Mesa Strategy 500 power amp). Honestly, I think the majority of the Pumpkins SD sound is in the amplification considering how different the guitars Billy Corgan and James Iha were using between recording and performing are. I saw the Pumpkins a lot back then, and I saw them perform the same songs with different guitars. James played a cherryburst Tele sometimes instead of his Les Pauls and the sound wasn't dissimilar enough to notice. As far as your clean requirements, might a P90 provide the compromise you're looking for? Seymour Duncan makes a P90 Phat Cat that will fit in a humbucker slot. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

The Invader is a four wire pickup. Black is hot, white and red are North and South coil finish and will need to be soldered together and taped off, and green is ground. With that in mind, you'll follow this diagram: http://static.zoovy.com/img/guitarelectronics/-/wd_u010_01 It's very simple, and from the setup, I'm assuming you're a Delogne/Blink182 fan. Good luck. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

You've screwed up the wiring on the stereo jack - take a closer look at that wiring diagram and try it again. ← And it's not hard to do either if you have the older EMG paper diagrams. If you look at the stereo output jack with the inside facing you (the side with the prongs) there should be three lugs, the middle lug is ground. The lug immediately to the left (clockwise) of the ground lug is negative from the battery clip, and lug immediately to the right (counter clockwise) of the ground lug is signal hot. I picked up a couple of older sets of EMG pickups before the quick connect, and almost always wired the output jacks correctly because of how poorly they are represented in the paper diagrams. The newer diagrams online are well done though. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Wow, I had no idea they had distributors and actual retailers outside of the US. That's pretty cool. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

That's the only real problem with Carvin. They're direct sale only, so there are no stores or demo places outside of their CA locations. But their stuff is top notch. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Mattia, EMG's description of the 85's "beefy bottom end and fat top end" probably doesn't equate to a "nice and crisp" clean sound, but again that's subjective depending upon taste. I personally like more treble and high-mids in my clean sound. Hughes, you don't describe the guitar you're putting them in, but most people use the 81 in the bridge and an 85 or 89 in the neck. Some people do 81's in both. The only real difference in the 85 and the 89 is that the 89 is a dual-mode pickup that will sound like an SA single coil in that mode, and very similar to an 85 in dual mode. I personally prefer the S single coil sound, which is what I have in my Strat, but the SA isn't bad. It has more midrange than the S. If you just want a single coil sound that is more crisp, the EMG H (not to be confused with the H4 and HZ passive pickups) is an EMG S single coil in a humbucker body, and would work well in the neck. So, in summary, I'd go with an 81 in the bridge and either an 89 in the neck with a push/pull pot (included) for the switching modes, or an 81 in the bridge with an H in the neck. Either should get you what you want. Or, if you change your pickup routing and go H/S/S, you can do an 81 in the bridge with an S and SA in the mid and neck positions for some awesome tonal flexibility. I would honestly stick with a full EMG setup unless you want to deal with headaches involved in trying to put both in. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

I've seen exactly what you're describing due to a busted pot. No matter where it was turned, the pot always passed along the signal and it was full of static. Try to determine which volume pot it is and either clean it or replace it. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

And soldering, even without practice, is not really hard. Radio Shack will sell you a nice dual-mode 20/40 watt iron with stand for around $20. That, some solder, and a desoldering bulb are all you need to re-wire a guitar. You might want to buy some flux to help solder the grounds to the outside of the pots, but I usually just scuff them with sandpaper or a file. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Just a bit of advice, but it's never advisable to splice in pickups, especially when going from shield grounded wire to non-shield grounded wire. Always wire directly to the switch or pots they will terminate to. It decreases the chances of wiring incorrectly, introducing noise into the signal chain, or other gremlins that will bug you until you fix it. You also end up diminishing or destroying the ability to go back to stock, putting the replaced pickups in a new project, or sell the other pickups should you so choose, and I personally like having those options open. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

From what I've read, Beech has many of the same tonal characteristics of Maple and is used in mandolins. Throw "Nothofagus cunninghamii" into google and you'll get more details. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...