11-7-12 the day after

well, the election didn't hold a suspense for very long, and i am glad thomas s. monson was not elected as the next president.

today i want to talk about modding g&l's. it is a lot less done than to fender strats or teles in general, but there are still a few thing that can improve. i wasn't crazy about the sound of the seth lover, and swapped it to a bkp missisiippi queen. i was happy with the sound of the bridge pup, but it became very microphonic and i swapped it to a lindy fralin steelpole 43. one big adventae is that you can remove the asat classic bridge without messing with the saddles. not possible on a tele bridge. i am very happy with this combination, although i love the tone of the large mfd's a lot. also flipping around the control plate, slanted switch and tone only on the bridge pup. also swapped the volume for a bourns low torque linear pot, for better control of volume swells.

here is a pic of the finished product.





here is a few videos with the sound of the current configuration.


[youtube]wMvq68khdUc[/youtube]

[youtube]xzsfv_lMkO4[/youtube]

g&l question, what mods have you considered for your guitars, or what options would you like the factory make available, so modding the guitar can be avoided?

non g&l question. what is you favorite non g&l guitar brand, or even individual model?

g&l question, what mods have you considered for your guitars, or what options would you like the factory make available, so modding the guitar can be avoided?

As I've mentioned in other posts, I don't mod any of my G&Ls. The only ones I have that would take aftermarket pickups are the three 'Hawks. The Superhawk had Carvin pups when I bought it, but the seller was able to track down the original Schallers for me. I had them reinstalled before I took it home. The Carvins didn't sound bad, but I saw no reason to prefer them over the originals. I wouldn't do anything to the Nighthawk or Skyhawk, as they are perfectly fine in stock configuration. The Skyhawk plays so nicely that I won't take the neck off to check production dates and body wood. The only other G&L I feel that way about is the '82 S-500, which I can date from the features and recognize mahogany through a finish ding.

I have a Fender bass that I put together from the remains of several other basses in my teens and early 20s. It started with a late-70s Jazz with a damaged neck (from a previous owner's modding), non-functioning pots, and a finish that had faded from red to pink. I swapped the pots with whatever Radio Shack carried (this was 1983), scraped the finish off, and installed a pair of very early DiMarzio J-Bass pups. The body went through several colors of spray paint over the next three years. Eventually I saved enough to have it professionally refinished in transparent red and found a '69 Precision neck from a destroyed body. I had the frets pulled (this was my mid-80s Jaco period), and ten years later I refretted it myself. The kitchen table fret job was sloppy but playable. I've been thinking lately about pulling those frets back out and inserting ebony spacers for another incarnation as a fretless.

I also have an Epiphone Genesis that I had rewired like a Les Paul with coil splitting and series/parallel, and moved the input jack from the top to the side. This model was prone to having the top split at the jack, so the modding was ultimately intended to prevent a catastrophic failure. It turned into a really decent all-mahogany LP copy, but of course my G&Ls blow it out of the water so it gets no playing time anymore. At some point I may replace the pups (which were intended for hard rock/metal) with something warmer, and start using it for chord melodies again.

non g&l question. what is you favorite non g&l guitar brand, or even individual model?

I don't have a favorite at the moment, as I've been so wrapped up in experiencing Leo-era G&Ls for the past two years. For a couple of decades I was a Fender fan, but that is over now and I don't see any way that brand could re-spark my interest. As I've gone full circle back to focusing on my bass playing, I have gotten interested in Warwicks. I know that they are in a similar class with G&Ls in terms of hand building, number of different models, and amount of factory customization. The only one I've spent more than a couple of minutes with is the fretless German-built Corvette that I'll be picking up around the holidays. I'm also really feeling drawn to a PRS bass at the moment. I'm not sure whether it will be coming home with me due to timing and other recent purchases. If not, I'm sure there will be another one in my future.

Ken

I like bathtub routs so i can play with pup combinations and still have a hog "tele" body with wilkensen piezo bridge for experimenting with. though it's been in storage for a while now. haven't felt the need to mod any of my G&L's but would like to see the return of the micro-tilt. as mentioned in my post the other day some of my favorite non-G&L's are the 80's Ibanez AM's and LP's / Jr's / SG's with P90's. I'm also particularly fond of archtops and especially like the 30's Gibsons, Epiphones, and 1950's Guilds. my favorite all-time archtop is the Byrdland and one of my favorite albums is Jazz Winds From A New Direction by Hank Garland and featuring Gary Burton on vibes who was all of 16 at the time.

[youtube]RM1wOVP0oac[/youtube]

And from his earlier country period. gotta love that 345

[youtube]dPj3yjXJzYw[/youtube]

Last edited by jonc on Wed Nov 07, 2012 8:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Howdy louis,

Like Ken above, I don't mode my G&L's either. My ears are just not advanced enough to clearly hear any differences between pups, saddles, bridge plates, string brands, etc. with all other things being equal. May miss out on some great stuff though, but alas .... Only mod I wish the factory would allow is a Saddle-Lock bridge on an ASAT with vintage T-style MFD pups (as on the ASAT Classic). Francis Rossi of Status Quo fame is know to play a Fender Tele but with a Saddle-Lock swapped in (see the picture at the top of this article.

My favorite non G&L electric brand is PRS and especially my Sunburst 245 with 57/08 pups and nitro finish. What surprised me the most when I started playing it was how articulate the pups were by NOT being high-powered for a change.

- Jos

well, the election didn't hold a suspense for very long, and i am glad thomas s. monson was not elected as the next president.

I didn't know who that was, but google told me.

I've changed the pickups on my G&Ls with the exception of the Korina Jr. Nothing against the MFDs, but I tend to go for more vintage style stuff. I love the Seth Lover pickup in my Bluesboy. I have it paired with a Seymour Duncan JD and the combination of these two gives a lovely Gretschy doink when they're both on. I love the sound of each position, but changing positions in the same song can be a bit severe - going from a biting, twangy, bridge single coil to smooth, fat neck humbucker is always going to be tricky to balance out. Still, the individual sounds are so nice that I don't worry about it.

Non G&L guitars? Why would I want one of them The only guitar I've considered buying is a Reverend Pete Anderson, but each time I've played one it just hasn't felt right. Same goes for Gretsches and Les Pauls - I'd like to have one, but I don't like the way they feel. I have a Jerry Jones Danelectro style thing, which gets virtually no play time - I'll be selling it to fund my next G&L!

Jon: "All the Things You Are" has to be one of the greatest songs of all time. It's definitely one of my favorites. The lyrics are god-awful ("You are the wonderful breath of springtime", or some such), but the harmony and melody are about a close to perfection as possible. I haven't heard Hank Garland before, but I love his comping on the bridge the first time through!

My favorite non G&L electric brand is PRS and especially my Sunburst 245 with 57/08 pups and nitro finish. What surprised me the most when I started playing it was how articulate the pups were by NOT being high-powered for a change.

One of the guys behind me in the line to vote last night was talking about his job as a builder at PRS (the factory is about ten miles from my house as the crow flies). I really wanted to skip back a couple of places in line to get in on that conversation, but there was no way my wife was going to give up her place in line to go back there with me.

Ken

Ken: Hank Garland was an amazing musician whose career was cut short when he suffered brain damaged after a car accident in 1961. You've probably heard his playing without realizing it as he played on sessions for Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, Marty Robbins, the Everly Brothers, Boots Randolph, and Elvis. The Gibson Byrdland guitar was built out a collaboration between Gibson, Billy Byrd and Hank, and featured an extra short 23.5" scale to better facilitate the "stretched" chord voicing's that the two guitarists were experimenting with. Jazz Winds is a simply amazing album and I highly recommend it. Not only is Hank's guitar work stellar, but the interplay between Hank and Gary Burton is a joy to listen to, and it still sounds fresh and inspirational. Here's an interesting article by George Gruhn about the guitar: http://www.gruhn.com/articles/byrdland.html

My G&L WR Asat has a mod I made to the pup mountings; a third bolt alongside the treble one, and level with the bass one, to give a 3-point mount so I can fine-tune the height (particularly for the D and G). Previously, the pups followed a straight slant from one bolt to the other (pretty obviously) but this left the G high and the D low, when adjusted so the pup angled up at the treble side. Just 3 new holes in the guard, 17mm from the existing treble-side bolts. Otherwise completely benign and reversible.
I mod guitars until I like them best! I just plan carefully and conservatively first, and make sure never to do harm.

The one non-G&L I would really miss is my Danelectro U2. Love it, a little piece of genius, and especially great for bottleneck.

Mr. Cyfer,

Very nice playing, the Albert Collins stuff was enjoyable.

y2kc

the mods I do on the G&Ls are all minor, new pickguards, new string trees (graphtec), knobs, nuts, etc.

My current favorite along with G&L is Heritage, I have a 150 and a 535. Loving the 535 right now (like a gibson 335).

I don't mod any of my G&L's but have built and modded a few teles and partscasters, my favorite is a USA tele with 4way switch and
TS pups, the custom shop ones!, oh and I like the vintage style tuners, I put them on all my builds.

Louis, I do not really mod any of my guitars but if I have, it has been serious stuff. Most of the modded ones have been sold as people wanted them. There is a happy guy out there playing my Bluesboy/Bigsby. If I were only to have a couple of guitars, I may feel differently but I have enough choices so I don't even consider modding other than different pickguards. I do like locking tuners on everything.

As for favorite brands, I have a dozen different brands and everyone of them is special. My PRS is very well built, the Parker is really nice, but one that deserves special mention is the Taylor SB-2. It is really a fine specimen from a build standpoint. My Gretsches are both very sweet with outstanding build quality. There are a lot of good ones out there. For the money, the G&Ls are unbeatable. I will view the video clips when I have more time.-- Darwin

My mods have been minor as well.
Graphtech products suck. Just expensive plastic, that is all. I like to know what part is actual graphite?

I replaced the tuners to locking. No tonal difference there.

Replaced the PG. From plastic to metal adds some weight. Ouch! I do like the metal.

Tried the copper faraday cage. Didn't work for me. It is not a faraday cage. Call it something else. Having antennas poking out of the cage is not a faraday cage.

All my G&Ls are out and ready to play at any moment. I really need no more guitars. Maybe a 88 midi key would be better.

g&l question, what mods have you considered for your guitars, or what options would you like the factory make available, so modding the guitar can be avoided?

I usually won't do a mod unless I can reverse it and put the guitar back to stock. All of my current G&L's are stock, but I'm going to swap the Duncan JB in my Asat Deluxe for a Duncan Custom 5 next time it needs strings. My Interceptor has already been routed for a center hum-bucking pickup. I think when I restore it, I will leave the route and set it up like a Buddy Blaze guitar. It'll have bridge and center position hum-bucking pickups.

non g&l question. what is you favorite non g&l guitar brand, or even individual model?

My favorite non G&L guitar is a PRS, McCarty. I didn't care for PRS guitars until I discovered the McCarty model. The Heritage, H535 is another favorite.

ken, i wish i could stay put and leave my guitars alone. life would be much simpler.

jon, i have never played a byrdland, i am gonna have to try one.

jos, is it sir francins rossi now? i love his teles. i think the secret for articular pups is not being high powered. i have come a long way since my x2n days

blarg, i have actually played one of pete's own pa1's and they are nice, but definitely not for me.

nick, that extra mounting screw is a GREAT IDEA.

y2kc, thank you sir, i love me some AC.

alf, those heritages are ver nice guitars. i'll take one over a gibby any day.

huck, i like the vintage style tuners, but i like the gotoh locking version hapm ones the best.

darrwin, i would love to try the bluesboy with the bigsby. a great combination i think.

meow, i don't like graphtech much either, i much prefer delron 500cl for nut and string trees. the shielding is not an actual faraday cage, but if you didn't notice a difference, i can't help but to think something was not done right.

sprinter, i like the idea of center, bridge hum pups.

jos, is it sir francins rossi now?

Don't think so. British nobility is complicated so bear with me. Francis Rossi is a Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) and in that order of chivalry he is ranked higher than Paul McCartney who is a mere Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). Both of these ranks, together with Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) would not entitle the bearer to prefix his name with Sir; only the highest 2 ranks of the 5 tier Most Excellent Order of The British Empire (Knight and Knight Cross for men, Dame and Dame Cross for women). But the Queen has the discretion to bestow Knight Bachelor upon men, which is a separate rank, and can be had concurrently with any of the 3 lowest ranks of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. And it is through that channel that many musicians and actors have been knighted. Including Sir Paul, but not Francis.

- Jos

P.S. louis, whatever happened to your participation in this Blues Player thing you posted some vids for (including some above)? Did you make it to any further rounds?

A quick note about the extra mounting bolt for Z-coils:

Do be careful when handling Z-coils. It is wise to tape the covers on to the backplates before removing the pups from the guard, or handling them with the bolts slacked-off (just one short length of PVC tape around the middle of the backplate, to gently secure the cover to it, is plenty).
The covers are a very close fit on the coils, and the windings can sometimes end up waxed to the covers, so that moving the covers can rip the wire, and it doesn't take much movement. I have done this once (I believe Will Ray once destroyed all 3 of his when he wanted to try different-coloured covers!)... so go carefully, and only remove the tape once the pups are held together by their mounting bolts / springs once again.
The detailed info for the (simple) inner workings of the "third bolt" system is in my previous reply to Louis's earlier lunch report re mods.