GodBlessTexas

There's not much difference between a lower end Mexican Fender than a US Fender other than electronics, and almost every production guitar needs some setup work out of the box to make it as close to perfect as possible. I have no problems taking a used Mex Fender and replacing the electronics. When you consider that you can often find good used or NOS (new old stock) pickups for cheap, it's a no brainer. The nicest guitars I have bought are two of my Ibanez: An RG520QS and S470DXQM. Both have had the electronics upgraded. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

I think that's exactly the point. Most people don't go through all the trouble and then stop before finishing only to publicly state "I destroyed it because it wasn't good enough." How many of your threads have we followed only to hear about the guitar being thrown against the WOD because of some flaw. There's closure for you, but none of us! Consider it selfish if you must, but post some post-WOD pics for us poor souls! Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Seriously, I hate to see her go, as I thought she was beautiful, but the rules are the rules.

It does look deliberate. You could try breaking up the uniform sanded look by using some coarser grades of sandpaper and going in a couple of different directions. GBT

I picked up an Ibanez RG570 that way for $80. It had flat black paint all over EVERYTHING; body, neck, trem, knobs, etc. I initially thought he had sanded everything before he painted, but was pleasantly surprised when I was able to strip off all the spray paint to find a completely decent guitar underneath. I ended up using some of the parts for a project and selling everything else. The Super Wizard neck alone netted me almost 3 times what I paid for the whole guitar. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Mine didn't. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

I use my dremel tool with a polishing wheel and Flitz on the pole pieces because it's gentle and has a rust inhibitor. For the plastic covers, a little plastic polish by hand works well. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Heh, I guess I can't blame that on my dyslexia. GBT

Hmm, I'd have put the blue in the neck, since it's more of a PAF sound, but that's me. What didn't you like about them? I liked my lace pickups, and you can find used ones cheap, but I enjoy my EMG's more. I just picked up two more today (a white 81 and a Steve Lukather SLV from his signature model) for $85 for two projects I'm working on. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

On being turned off by the assembly line nature of the building... This is why I have no problems paying $250 for a year or two old Mexican Fender over a USA model any day of the week, and actually prefer the early to mid-90's Mexican Fenders to their US counterparts of the same timeframe. There's little difference in any aspect of how either plant's guitars are made. The base materials are (or at least were previously) the same. The only real difference is electronics, and I tend to replace those anyway. I've heard that the Mexican plant now completely makes the guitars from the ground up instead of assembling US made parts like they used to, and the machines doing it are identical to the ones in the US. I can't imagine the expertise, 'craftmanship,' or quality control are any better. And Matt, thanks for sharing the video. I enjoyed it, even if some of it only confirms my previous beliefs on Fender's US guitars. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Its fender, thats as close as it gets Sadly, you might be right.. lol Well, that's about right for assembly line production. Get it close enough to be useable and within manufacturing specifications. Doing it by hand is for the Custom Shop, your local setup guy/luthier, or yourself if you're a DIYer. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

That body is just gorgeous. It's simply stunning how beautiful it is. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Of the few guitars I'd love to have but don't own yet, a nice Tele is at the top of my list to build/purchase. I saw a Fender once that really knocked my socks off, but it was a custom shop that was about 5 times what I'd be willing to pay. It was a beauty though. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Rewinding pickups isn't that difficult (I'm speaking academically, as I've never done it myself, but there seem to be more than a few people who have DIYd their own), though it's generally cheaper to pick up what you want used or discounted than go through the trouble of winding your own. But if you like to tinker, it looks like it's worth it. I like active pickups, but I'm still interested in rewinding some pickups I have laying around. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

I've got over a year on my Strat with no problems. The draw of active pickups is really quite low, and provided you unplug your instrument (the jack completes the electrical connection when the plug is inserted), they'll last a long time. EMG says you have 3000 hours, which is 125 days of non-stop playing. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Well, according the sound matrix at the Seymour Duncan Site, the Metal Livewire breaks up pretty good on its own. That's bridge position with no amp distortion. Here's it with amp distortion. My guess is that, due to the internal preamp, the signal from the pickup is overdrive no matter how much signal the volume knob is rolling off, much like a master volume switch on an amp. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

You'll notice that on the quick connect cable you have three wires from the black plastic adapter (red, white, and black) and only two wires after the white shrink tape. This is because the black wire is soldered to a metal woven shielding that runs under the jacket on the white wire. When you strip the white jacket off, you should see the mesh wire. This is the ground wire, and it should be soldered to the pots. EMG wiring diagram for the non-splitting humbuckers is here. Take a look at the bottom of page two and you'll see a white wire that terminates the mesh to the volume pot Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Has anyone tried these (Livewire and Livewire Classic) and have any impressions of them? I love my EMGs (* Yes, even the clean sounds!*) but was thinking of putting something different in my RG520QS. These are supposed to be active versions of the venerable JB/Jazz combo, but I'm interested in what people who have actually used them have to say. The only downside I can see is that only the Classic cleans up, as the regular livewire distorts no matter what. Thanks in advance. GBT

I'm going to have to agree that the 9v won't cause the problems you're describing. Nominal amperage of a 9v is what, 600 mA at best? GBT

OK. Just so I have this clear: Your EMG's are noisy and you want to get them to be quiet like they're supposed to be, correct? With that in mind, EMG's are not internally grounded, they're internally shielded. There is a ground wire coming off of the pickups, whether they are the newer quick connect models or the older hardwired ones. The white wires coming off each pickup should have a metal shielding around inside the plastic jacket that is used for ground. Rewiring the pots from scratch is what I'd do as well. The instructions specify alkaline or lithium batteries "for best performance." You can use rechargeables if you like. As long as you can get it 18V you should be OK, but two 9Vs are probably going to be the most economical and easiest way of doing it. I hope that helps, and good luck. GBT

You've got something like 3000 hours with a 9v using EMGs, and I haven't had to change a battery yet in the year or so that I've had them. Another solution: ditch the proton cannon firing at your face and replace it with an LCD monitor. I've got two 20" IBM ThinkVisions LCD's at work, though I still use a 19" CRT at home. I'll replace that one this Christmas. Because even with noiseless pickups, you will still pickup some noise with a CRT monitor. I know I do with mine. Joseph

I got a NOS set of EMG S pickups in the old prewired version and I love them in my Strat. It still sounds like a strat, but it's so quiet. As for "They sound like EMG's," I guess it depends on what and how you play, but I really, really like the clean sound I can get from them, especially w/ 18v. Of course, they're on my Frankenstein guitar that I do my testing on, so the batteries are actually outisde the pickguard cavities. When I move them to a permanent home, I'll do that a little better. GBT

Carbon fiber laminates are epoxy, vinylester, or polyester resins reinforced with layer(s) of carbon fiber cloth. Those resins are in order of strongest to least strongest, btw. An epoxy/carbon fiber laminate will be strong and should be pretty resistant to pick scratches. GBT

How much? I love my Pod XT Pro, and prefer it over the 2.0. Now, if you're getting the 2.0 for ~$125-150 USD, then it's a pretty good deal and worth getting. GBT

If capable of being authenticated, I'd say it'd fetch a pretty penny. The downside is that's a hard market to guess since there's not another example to base it on; how many EVH built/painted/played guitars have sold at auction recently? If it's from the Frankenstrat era and Van Halen I, I'd say someone would likely be willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for it now because EVH is still alive. If he had passed on, it'd be worth considerably more. GBT

I wonder how it compares to the Krank distortion pedal. GBT