My Parts-O-Caster: Finito! Now with MODS!

[blargfromouterspace]

I've spent the day getting the set-up as nice as I can and it plays pretty well right now. I'm sure there will be some tweaking done to it once everything has settled in.

Tonally it's very much a telecaster. The body is Limba (Korina) with a 1/4" maple top which I'd expected to give a much warmer sound but there's a lot of twang and spank on tap. It's lighter in weight than my SH Bluesboy and has less sustain. I'm not 100% happy with the pickups - they're Don Mare pickups and sound fantastic in a solid body, but here they aren't at their best. The neck pickup is the main culprit, it sounds weak and thin. It didn't sound weak or thin in the solid body I had it in previously. I'll work on a sound clip and post a link here soon.

The neck is VERY fat - it's a boat hull V-shape which, according to the specs on the Musikraft website, is 0.95" deep at the nut and at the 12th fret. It's comfortable to play, though I would prefer it to be a little thinner at the lower frets. The fretboard has a 10" radius, which is a nice mid point that I'd like to see G&L offer one day.

These tuners are neat. Chinese made Sperzel knock-offs. They seem to be high quality and they look very nice too. They're heavier that the Sprezel's I've retrofitted to a couple of ASATs. They feel identical in operation. The thumb wheel supposedly doesn't screw all the way out so as you can't lose it.

[wangbar]

What a beauty! Congrats!!

[yowhatsshakin]

Great looking instrument Jamie! And on the pups, in my experience with semi-hollows you would like pickups that have a little more low-end to them. But other potential causes could be height, which hopefully is easy to correct, and lateral placement, which would force you to use a new pickguard. Leo used a rather simple breadboard with which he could shift and rotate a pickup with respect to the strings to find the sonically optimal position. That why models like the Cavalier look like they look.

- Jos

[blargfromouterspace]

Jos - I've messed around with the pickup height to little avail. Positioning isn't something I'd thought of, but I'd imagine that ol' Leo would have experimented enough with the classic tele layout and assume that it is in the best position. They sound good, just not great - after a couple of hours more I'd say that you are correct about the low end. It's in need of tightening up. The pickups feel like they're struggling, kind of like a small car pulling a heavy load uphill. I'm going to get a couple of these to try in it. There's not a lot of info on the website, but from all reports they are an fantastic pickup at an astonishing price. If they don't work out either then the plan it to put the Don Mares back into my '97 Classic and put the MFD pickups currently in that guitar into 'Big Pink'. I know that they'll work in it!

[Philby]

Hi Jamie, that's a sweet looking DIY'er. I was skeptical about the shell pink to start with, but the black binding and pickguard have added enough masculinity to resue it from being an axe for Brokeback Mountain cowboys .

I've got an ASAT semi-hollow amongst my herd and I can vouch for the MFD pickups sounding deep, rich and full in a semi-hollow. There's also some natural compression going on with the semi-hollow which rounds out that typical tele spikiness that solid bodies have.

It's always a challenge matching pickups to a guitar. I've had 4 sets of pickups in my Fender Strat Plus, but none sound as good as the original Lace sensors in that particular guitar. They're made for each other. I've tried the Lace sensors in other strats and they sound very average, but in the Strat Plus they're golden. I'd say you've got a bit of experimenting to do.

Why not post up a few unlabelled sound clips of the different pickup combos and let us vote on which ones sound best?

[blargfromouterspace]

Why not post up a few unlabelled sound clips of the different pickup combos and let us vote on which ones sound best?

Good idea Phil. Once the Bill Lawrence pickups arrive I'll get onto that. I'll get a clip of the current pickups done tomorrow.

The real test of the shell pink will be at gigs - I expect more than a few 'Brokeback Mountain' jokes, especially seeing as I'll be in boots and a western shirt. Could end up doing a few gigs in Commercial Rd., Prahran

[darwinohm]

Jamie, it is a sweet looking rig. You will be especially critical of this rig because you have done it yourself. Alignments look good to me such as strings to pickup pole and neck alignment. When you get the pickup issue figured out you should be home free! It sure didn't take long to complete. Give it another light buff in a week or two and it will be like glass. Darwin

[sirmyghin]

That looks great, no one will mess with a guy playing a pink guitar. He is just too much man.

[sickbutnottired]

I this looks like a smashing success for a first build...or any build for that matter. I think that the tone may change quite a bit over the next little while. There is a lot going on chemically, stretching, vibrating for the first few (thousand) times. I am totally making this up, but I find guitars mellow and get more character in fits and spurts. While I have never had a BRAND new electric guitar, the close to new guitars I have had change quite a bit over the first year.

Looks great.

[blargfromouterspace]

Darwin - You're right about the alignment - it's spot on, directly over the center of the pole pieces. I followed the G&L setup instructions in the Gallery section where you loosen the screws in the neck to get it to seat correctly, it works. You're also right about being critical of it!


Sickbutnottired - Thanks for the kind words. You're right about the changes. The neck is still settling in, it plays slightly different every time I pick it up. There's still a bit of poly on the frets too, which is gradually getting scraped off as I play, making it feel much smoother, particularly when bending strings. The finish is probably still hardening too and occasionally gives off a 'nail varnish' type aroma!

That looks great, no one will mess with a guy playing a pink guitar. He is just too much man.

I hope you're right! I don't want to be on the receiving end of these after a set!

[blargfromouterspace]

Here's a link to an audio clip with the Don Mare pickups. It sounds pretty good clean, but the overdriven parts are muddy, and that's the problem.

Signal chain:

Guitar - MI Audio Tube Zone OD - Mr. Springgy Reverb - BBE Sonic Stomp - ZT Club.


First couple of riffs are the neck pickup, then both and then the bridge (when 'Suzie Q' starts). Overdriven parts are bridge then neck. You'll be able to pick it.

[yowhatsshakin]

Great sounding clips! I agree on the muddiness when overdriven, but the tone when clean as well as when just breaking up is beautiful and warm. In line with a post last week where the use of instruments for either recording and/or gigging was discussed, maybe this guitar is intended to be used for clean parts only since it does those beautifully.

After all, it's pink. It likes to be pretty and delicate. Not rough and tough

- Jos

[Philby]

There's no mistaking that it's a tele Jamie. You must've built 'er right She sounds plenty spanky to me.

I really like the sound of it. I'm not sure there's anything wrong with those pickups in that guitar.

What kind of pot values and capacitor values did you use in the electronics? I'd suspect those factors to contribute significantly to what you're hearing (or not hearing) in terms of brightness. i.e. 500K pots or different tone caps might brighten it up for you. Adding a treble bleed cap might help too if there's not already one in the circuit.

[blargfromouterspace]

It does have a good clean sound and I really like the spank thats there. I'm using 250k pots and a 0.027uF tone cap, with no treble bleed - there's no 'ice pick', so it doesn't seem necessary. I guess my problem is in the way the pickups feel rather than sound - it feels like they're struggling, like I'm having to work too hard to get it to sound good and strong - and I know that they sound soooooo much better in the solid body Classic they came out of. I've paid for new pickups now and they're in the post, I just hope they sound better....

EDIT: I wired in a treble bleed cap (200pF), giving the guitar essentially the same circuitry as in the ASAT, and there's no difference.

[sirmyghin]

It does have a good clean sound and I really like the spank thats there. I'm using 250k pots and a 0.027uF tone cap, with no treble bleed - there's no 'ice pick', so it doesn't seem necessary. I guess my problem is in the way the pickups feel rather than sound - it feels like they're struggling, like I'm having to work too hard to get it to sound good and strong - and I know that they sound soooooo much better in the solid body Classic they came out of. I've paid for new pickups now and they're in the post, I just hope they sound better....

EDIT: I wired in a treble bleed cap (200pF), giving the guitar essentially the same circuitry as in the ASAT, and there's no difference.

Blarg, sorry if I am misinterpretting you, but it looks like you are saying a 'treble bleed' reduces high end content, or ice pick. This is backwards. A treble bleed retains high end while turning the guitars volume down. A nice treble bleed is a 1nF (100pF) in parallel with a 150k resistor, same tone all the way down the volume knob just about, just less volume (so more like a true master volume). You do not loose your jangle or high end sparkle you have at full volume, that is the prpose of a treble bleed. The standard bleed is a bit rough in it accentuates the jangle much more as you turn down.


Listening to the clips, clean sounds very nice. You are quite the player. The driven sounds like it is both lacking bass, and has slow bass response. Not sure on your budget but I have heard great things about Bare Knuckle tele pickups. Englands own (not sure what trade agreements look like between you and England).

[blargfromouterspace]

That would explain why the treble is still there! Thanks for clearing that up. I think maybe I'm confused with the resistor that you sometimes see between the switch and the volume pot - is that there to cut treble?

BKP's are out of my budget, I've ordered some from Bill Lawrence. They're much cheaper than any other high quality manufacturer and by all accounts sound great. I listened to a blind test of guitars a few months ago and out of the 20 or so guitars the guy played, the one with BL pickups appealed to me most. I just hope they sound as good in this guitar.

[sirmyghin]

That would explain why the treble is still there! Thanks for clearing that up. I think maybe I'm confused with the resistor that you sometimes see between the switch and the volume pot - is that there to cut treble?

I am not sure about the resistor, that is something I have not yet dabbled in myself. Here is a cool site comparing different treble bleed action, and their results. That is where I got the idea for the mod. (see: stole their conclusion).

http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index. ... hread=5317

[Dave_P]

Excellent work Jamie! looks really good, and sounds good for that matter. I'm sure you'll get it tweaked to your liking, I've heard great things about Bill Lawrence pickups I've been planning on ordering a set of his Keystones for my partsocaster when I get around to building it.

-Dave

[blargfromouterspace]

Thanks Dave! It's getting better to play every day, it's settling down. I should have the BL pickups soon - I'll post a clip and a review when they get here and let you know how they perform.

[blargfromouterspace]

I received the Bill Lawrence pickups in the post today, and got them installed.











There's a lot of messing around when changing pickups, especially on a t-type guitar where you have to remove the entire bridge. The neck pickup is larger than a traditional tele (I bought a strat model p/u) so the pick guard required some reshaping to get the p/u to fit.

These p/u's are made better than any others I've seen. They are incredibly solid, well potted and are completely silent - there's no hum or background noise whatsoever. Hum isn't something that has ever bothered me, but it's nice to NOT hear it for once.

The problem I had with the Don Mare p/u's in this guitar was a flabby, loose bottom end. These BL ones are the opposite. They are tight, focused and super articulate - they seem even more articulate than the MFD pickups in my ASAT Classics. They handle overdrive very well. The high end, which these are well known for, is a little too much for me - I found it a tad ice-picky. It may be being accentuated by the maple top on this guitar. Bill Lawrence suggests a 200k resistor between the bridge p/u and ground, which I have installed, and it has taken the edge off. I intend to replace the resistor with a 500k trim pot, which will allow me to tailor it to suit.

I'll get a sound clip up tomorrow, there's still a little tweaking to do with p/u height and dialing in a good sound with my pedals.

[blargfromouterspace]

Here's a link to a sound clip of the guitar with the BL pickups.

I've recorded the same riffs (roughly) as before to make it easier to compare them. The guitar itself is providing a lot of the tone - there are more similarities than I had expected, which can only be attributed to the woods etc. as the pickups are worlds apart.

I'm very happy with the bridge pickup, it provides all the tones I could want. The neck pickup is also very nice, but I don't think it's as good at getting a jazzy sound as the MFD on my Classic's - it's not as warm, even when adjusting the tone knob. That pickup, IMO, is the best t-type neck pickup in the world.

This guitar is now finished!



Next build: A twin humbucker, all mahogany Jazzmaster with a hardtail bridge. I've bought all the tools so why not put another one together

[Philby]

Thanks for posting up the sound clips Jamie. They've been quite educational. I agree that there are more similarities in the 2 sets of pickups than glaring differences.

FWIW, I like the glassiness of the Lawrence neck pickup but prefer the outright tele spank of the Mare bridge pickup. Having a noiseless bridge pickup is very handy for overdriven tones though.

Keep up the good work

[darwinohm]

Blarg, this is an interesting post with a lot of information. You have figured out what you want. A guys gotta do what a guys gotta do. I love shell pink and I am going to paint a Stingray 5 baby blue this spring just like the 78 baby blue Caddie that I drove for many years! I wear pink shirts sometimes just to hear the comments. The ladies always like them. Real men wear pink!!!!! That is a fine looking guitar!-- Darwin