Tuesday 10/08/13 Lunch Report

[RampageFan]

Hello everyone thanks for the response yesterday. It's been a long night. I ended up having to work over for two hours, so I am really tired. I wanted to get the Lunch Report posted before I go to bed, so hopefully this makes sense!

Lunch:
As you will see this week, my lunches are pretty boring. Tonight is a ham sandwich, pretzels, and two oranges. I usually eat around 4am, so I keep it simple because I normally go to bed around 8am. Sometimes it’s hard to resist going to breakfast with my coworkers, but I would hate to see how big I would be if I did that!

G&L:
One of my favorite things about this site is seeing the collections of other members. You guys have some amazing guitars. My question is, which particular guitar is your favorite, and why? Even if it’s not a G&L. Feel free to include a photo of your prized guitar!

My prized guitar is pinky. It’s the 84/85 Rampage that I got back last year. I used to wonder if it was really as good as I remembered, or if the legend grew as the years went by, and I had it in my mind as being better than it really was. All I know is, every guitar I ever played was compared to it, and I never found a guitar that was quite as good. Now that I’ve had it back for over a year, it is as good as I remembered. It’s an ugly salmon pink guitar, nothing much to look at with just one pickup and 1 volume knob, but it is a GREAT playing guitar. The neck is perfect for me; I love the oiled maple neck with the ebony board and the 1 ¾ neck width, I love how it plays. It has its limitations with the Schaller pickup and no tone control. So I have to tweak the amp and pedals to get my sound. It’s also a little flat sounding when playing clean tones, but I prefer to keep the original pickup in it. I play all the guitars in my collection, but this is the one I always go back to. It’s a simple guitar. Just plug it in and go. When I start playing it, there’s no telling what’s going to come out. It’s a really fun guitar, and it’s perfect for classic hard rock. I learned my lesson, I will never part with this guitar again!

Here is Pinky in all its glory.

So how about it, what’s your go to guitar?

Non G&L:
This may seem like a stupid topic, but I just recently tried this for the first time. I've always known what the adjustable pole pieces were for, but I just dismissed it thinking it wouldn’t make much of a difference. I noticed when playing one of my Rampages with a clean tone; the sound was kind of harsh. I always rolled the volume back to smooth it out. I recently adjusted the pole pieces for the first time, and was very surprised that it took care of it. It had a buzzing or slightly distorted sound with the guitar volume up. At times it even sounded out of tune. Since I made the adjustment, the distorted sound is gone, and it has a more even, chimey tone to it. Seems like it made a big difference. Am I imagining this, or have others experienced anything similar after making adjustments to the pickups?

One more thing: Scott, Your J.E.T.S. looked damn good last night. The rookie QB came through in the clutch!

Thanks for taking the time to read, and I look forward to reading your responses and opinions.

Thanks,
Dave

[darwinohm]

Dave, sounds like you had a long night. I will have a ham sandwich for lunch today but that is a ways off.

Favorite guitars is always an interesting subject. I have recently been playing my EQ Mah. Bluesboy a lot in fact I just played it this morning. I would have a difficult time picking an overall favorite. I am going to show my favorite bass as I am primarily a bass player. I have owned many and the Pink Lady that I just restored is a stellar bass. It has become my go to with the Koa Carvin as backup. I wish the Musicman (Pink Lady) were about 2 pounds lighter. Here are a couple of photos.



This guitar has "the " feel and tone so it has been fun rediscovering this one as it started as a rat.


Interesting information on the pole pieces as I have never adjusted them. Did you raise or lower them. I suspect you raised them. -- Darwin

[astutzmann]

my favourite guitar is my bluesboy, it was my first new and nice guitar, its a 2008.

Its on the left in my avatar. I ordered it, not knowing anything about ordering a guitar.

Spanish Copper, (I changed the pickguard from a black one) and the oiled neck option. Locking tuners.

I didn't like the guitar for a long time, I kicked myself for getting the spanish copper instead of a colour where I could see the grain. I m also not fond of the "F" hole so I should have ordered the semi without the hole.

However, the neck is awesome and I grow to love this guitar more and more everyday. For the first 2 years, I had to take it on several times for a setup, the neck kept moving, but after 2 years it settled down and I have not had to setup for 3 years now.

Its an awesome guitar and easy to play.



As far as work on the guitars, I do the basics, am not good at setups and I'll lower or raise the pups, but havent played with the poles.

Being a lefty, I find G&L to use right handed pots that are wired backwards and they are not good. Also, they use cheap capacitors, so I usually have new lefty pots put in and very good caps and this makes a huge difference on all the guitars I've done that to. The caps especially, I didnt believe it, but it does.

[Ldavaz]

Pole adjustment--You're right, this is a very useful tone dialer on a pickup that is often neglected. It is a very important feature of MFD's. I try different things, including matching the neck radius with the poles. You should try that if you haven't. Take a large paperclip and bend it to the radius; raise the poles to conform and adjust them from there. Mine are all over the place, but the guitars sound great. Some pickup manufacturers stagger poles, especially D and G to achieve different harmonics and tones.

[Fumble fingers]

the poles on my Classic became loose and backed out closer to the strings , I base lined them and haven't adjusted any farther , not that it wouldn't help , just haven't adjusted them individually yet


I'm not sure if I have a favorite ??, I really like them all , but maybe my go-to guitar would be my Cavalier , it has the quietest pu's in my fleet , I'm a rookie at gigging so I figured noise would be one less thing I would have to worry about until I get better with my equipment ...... at home I like the SC 2 a lot for its light weight and ease of play ability with the smaller body but I still rotate guitars so they all pretty much get equal play time ... sound wise I think the legacy alnico , asat classic and SC 2 are probably my favorite clean sound from my tube amp

[Elwood]

I bet you lowered the offending pole...it will pull on the string and you were probably hearing
a new frequency with the original (also the sum and differences of the freqs). Like a bit of a ring modulator in the mix.
Often we like to pull the frequencies down that correspond to the resonant freq. of our ear canal ;
3-4 khz . Those G strings can sting .

If you have a chance to play with a 31 band EQ, you might find many more tones in Pinky that you didn't think possible.
Even a 10 band EQ can be a pretty powerful tool.

I'll have to think about the favorite thing a bit. I have fallen completely in love with the guitar in my Avatar,
An '89 or so Skyhawk ; figured ash and maple.
I have changed a few things under the hood .

I'll shoot some new pics a bit later.

elwood

[Salmon]

Hey everyone,

I used to work the night shift and have not let go of the need to keep it simple and free of rich heavy foods. I eat boring lunches most of the time. It is convenient but I am growing very tired of this staple and all I seem to be able to taste is salt but again I had sliced cheese and wheat crackers with a minneola for lunch. But I had a bacon & egg taco followed with coffee and a danish for breakfast.


I am happy to hear you talk about pole pieces. I have an ASAT Special that has the symptoms your guitar was exhibiting and I did not know if anything could correct it. I was fearing that it was a bad pickup or at least just a pickup that wasn't as good as my other guitar's MFD's are. It also gets an out of tune messy tone sometimes while the other guitars sing if I do the same thing.

This makes sense when I think about what it has been doing:

"...you were probably hearing a new frequency with the original (also the sum and differences of the freqs). Like a bit of a ring modulator in the mix."~ Elwood


My favorite guitar is my ASAT Classic. I prefer ASAT Classics in general but this one feels as good or better than any I have tried. It is the whole package not just how it feels to play. I like its sound. I would like to have the equivalent to a wardrobe of ASAT Classics in different finishes and select them according to the one that I like at the moment similar to choosing what shirt to wear.

[blargfromouterspace]

That is a sweeeeet pink Rampage. I love that salmon pink colour, nothing ugly about it in my eyes!

My favourite overall guitar is my '97 ASAT Classic with Klein Broadcaster pickups in it. The neck is one of the thinner old ones with a 7.5" radius, which wouldn't be my first choice if I was ordering a new one but its just a great guitar. It also has steel saddles, which I'm not sure are the stock ones or not. Like Alf, I have guitars that I've ordered new that I wish I'd spec'd out differently. I think I know enough now that my next one will be - as far as the decisions I make for it - perfect. But for now, this is my go-to guitar. There are things about the others that I really like - the neck on my Korina Jr is the best shape as the edges of the fingerboard seem rolled, but the gloss finish isn't as nice to the touch (IMO) as the satin finish. The Classic S has a very powerful sound, but again the gloss neck and that middle pickup prevent it being spot on. The Bluesboy sounds great and looks good too, but again it has the gloss neck finish. The SC2 is a crap colour and I wish I'd gone for vintage white with the saddle-lock bridge rather than shoreline gold and DFS. The LB100 is, as far as I can tell, perfect.

[KenC]

I've been wondering about the pole piece heights on my SB-1. The E string can hit the pre-amp tubes pretty hard. The pickup that it came to me with is a recent SB-2 neck pickup, but I plan to go back to the original Schaller when I can get it in to the tech. I need to try moving the pole pieces down a hair to see if that makes a difference.

It's really hard for me to narrow it down to one favorite. If I have to chose just one, it will be an '82 SC-1:



Lately my go-to guitars have been a '98 ASAT Classic and any of my Strat-types - an '82 S-500, an '83 Nighthawk or a mid-'80s Skyhawk. I have no good photos of the S-500 and the 'Hawks, but here's a close-up of the ASAT Classic:



Tomorrow will be a New Guitar Day that will hopefully combine a couple of my favorite Leo-era features. If you post this question again tomorrow, I just might have a clear favorite.

When it comes to basses, there is no way I could pick a favorite. It all depends on the type of music I'm using it for and where it would need to sit in the mix. The best feeling bass would be an '86 Lynx:



Ken

[RampageFan]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Those are some great looking guitars! I like hearing the stories behind the guitars.

Darwin, That neck looks fantastic! Did you repaint the bass? Even though I've only had to do it one time, I really enjoyed the refinishing part of the '85 Invader I restored. A lot of trial and error, but if you take your time they can turn out great.

Alf, I think your Bluesboy looks nice. I plan on ordering a new G&L after the start of the new year, and I also fear I will make the wrong choices. One of the options I'm interested in is the semi hollow.

Ladaz: Thanks for the tip. I will try it. When I adjusted them last week I just did it by ear, and stopped when it sounded right to me.

Fumble, I read your post about the Cavalier. Sounds like a sweet sounding guitar!

Elwood: You are correct, I lowered the pole piece. And funny you bring up a EQ. I have been reading reviews of different EQ's and have been planning on adding one to my pedal board.

Salmon: If you try adjusting the pole pieces, please post a follow up. I hope it works for you!

Blarg: Very nice ASAT! I love the finish. A 7 1/2" radius is an option I am considering.

Ken, I love seeing old Leo era guitars. The SC-1 looks like it is in great condition. I bet that is a fun guitar.

Thanks again guys,
Dave

[gitman001]

Hey Dave,

First off.... I am still on a high from that Monday nighter I know its only week 5, but man that was a great game for me. As a long time Jets fan it was nice to see the team play a complete game....And NO butt fumbles!!! (thanks for the reminder Jos )

My Favourite G&L usually is the most recent - It is no exception right now! I have been gigging pretty heavily with the new Bigsby.



I also have not really messed with the pole pieces on any of my G&L's.... but now i am a little more curious to do so! I have always played around with pickup height however.

Scott

[supereiv]

WOW your special w/bigsby is so.... sexy !

[RampageFan]

WOW your special w/bigsby is so.... sexy !

Couldn't have said it better myself supereiv!

Wow Scott! That thing is a real beauty!

Dave