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[rabidgerry]

Hello all,

I have come across a company in the US selling pickups at like dirt cheap prices.  I got a humbucker and two singles.

I am about to test them out.  Rumour has it these pickups are made for Caliguitar but by good old Artec.

Anyone got any info on Artec?  Apparently GFS and all their pickups are Artec made also.

When I get texting this out I shaLL post some clips.

So far all I can say is the build quality of the pickups seem really good.  Here is a link to the pups I got.

http://www.caliguitar.com/pickup/h31.htm


http://www.caliguitar.com/pickup/s26.htm

http://www.caliguitar.com/pickup/s26.htm

[Soloist]

Interested in hearing some clips. Those are a really good price.

[rabidgerry]

the prices are insane.  First off overall impression is they are made well.

The humbucker I bought only came in black so I decided to airbrush it white.  I wanted the pups to be white on this guitar and keep with he original look.  Photos and sounds on the way

So I know now if I ever wanna change the colour of pickup, airbrushing is the way to go.  Tried a decal on another guitar before.  The sticker just starts to come off.  Airbrushing a paint of non metal element variety is the way to go 

[Dante]

I like to brush my paint on...letting a lot of it drip down the sides. Totally custom, one-of-a-kind type stuff.

Or, you can just dip the pickup in paint...if you can make it stick out of the guitar far enough. However, you will get paint on your strings. Be warned, I found out the hard way

Airbrush eh? Hmmmm...good thinking

[rabidgerry]

It appears I killed the pick up 

How I have no idea!  It was worth it to crack the air brushing technique.  Ordered another one (they are so cheap why the f*ck not?)

When it arrives, I'll install it and record with it before I try painting it again.  The single coils are installed though and looking good.  No test yet.  I wanna do them all together.

I think I may have killed the pup may be leaving in the sun too long?  I get no reading on multimeter.  I doubt the paint killed it.

[rabidgerry]

waiting on new pickup arriving since I bust the original Cali H32.

One thing I noticed about the guitar I installed the cali singles coils on.  That it sounded like shit through my 3TM.  I since messed about with a few things and now it sounds better.  I changed pick material from my usual to a nylon version (I used to switch all the time but I haven't in a long time).  The strat seems very bright but in an unpleasant way.  When I changed the pick it was more pleasing.  I also tried it in my Rockmaster rather than the 3tm.  Much better again.  Strange.  Currently I have a dp100 installed until I get the Cali Guitar Humbucker through the mail.

Results of the single coils.  Well they're single coilish.  The neck I like better than the middle.  The are loud so you can have them lower in the body which suits me because I hate when my pick bashes off the middle pup.  They are also realtively quiet.  But I guess this is going to vary from place to place.  I did sheild the guitar so I know that has helped but I would go as far as saying I've played much noiser single coils.

I'll get a few clips of the single coils up soon.

Theory behind my strat perhaps seeming harsh through the 3tm.  Well it's an actual stratocaster rather than the stagemaster/showmasters I normally play (which seem a lot darker).  And I think the floyd rose II has actual steel saddles.  I have yet to test this theory though.  But I will.  The zinc cheap ones do not stick to a magnet, the steel ones do

Another off topic theaory (I have actually read this somewhere else as well), perhaps the old cheapo zinc saddles have some tonal use after all??  Providing a less harsh hi end??  Anyone ever considered this?  And to think, I have went a bought a load of steel saddles for my Licensed FR's and it turns out now I actually might prefer the zinc sound!!    Although a comprimise is to use a nylon pick which takes the harshness down a bit.  The material I normally use in a pick is called Fibre Plus  see link  http://www.awe-in-one.com/products_profound.htm

[rnolan]

Hey RG, (Anyone ever considered this?), absolutely, everything sounds and relates a bit differently  , brass saddles and nuts was the go go back in my day, they work ok, a guitar has many variables, trick is to tune them to what "you" want/need. E.g. I couldn't be happier with my Anderson Pro Am (Basswood body, Paul Fero (rosewood) finger board, sugar maple neck (tiger striped), Ultrasonic PUs, Original fully floating Floyd Rose), floats my boat... and then the JPLP, Nickel coated tail piece and bridge ?? whatever, sounds good, maple topped mahogany body, rosewood finger board, mahogany neck, well it's a 59 LP with the neck shaved so it's nice to play and has lotsss of sustain.

Anyway, hope your new PU works for you 

[rabidgerry]

Yeah man you're dead right!  I can't actually believe it though.

I was wondering this guitar sounded like shit!  I was like what the hell???

I want it to work on the MP1 though, so I shall have to test with the nylon pick.

Now things could change drastically once this other new pickup arrives, I could stick it in and it might be totally different from the DP100 that I have in there at the moment.  DP100 was thrown in once I realised the Cali Humbucker was dead.  I believed I killed it myself but I dunno how.

So hopefully the new one arrives soon.  I'm counting on it being similar to the dp100.  Cali Mega drive - H32, is quite a title.  For all I know it;s a rip off of the DiMarzio Mega Drive which would actually be nice to try so fingers crossed it like either of these.

[rnolan]

Hey RG, well with all that hype it should at least sound "ok". Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised (and even better inspired  )

[Dante]

I can't tell you how many of my guitars I've sold because they didn't sound 'right' and I just couldn't FEEL them. My guess is some of that may have had to do with nut and saddle materials.

I never even considered the idea

[rabidgerry]

I can't tell you how many of my guitars I've sold because they didn't sound 'right' and I just couldn't FEEL them. My guess is some of that may have had to do with nut and saddle materials.

I never even considered the idea

Hey man, I hear ya.  Now I'm not saying that was the case with you, but it may well have been.

How I assessed my situation was simple.  The guitar sounded good unplugged,  it also sounded decent with the stock humbucker that was in there.  So since the main thing was a change of pickup, I  knew I had to look at the other elements at play.

Well I stuck in a dp100 in place of the stock pickup, and suddenly it was bright, or brittle and had too much "bite" I guess.  So this left me scratching my head, "dimarzio super distortion sound bad?  what the hell???  This cannot be"  So I changed pick material for that guitar.  Instantly less bite.  It just so happened that pick material I normally use is designed to give a bite and I suppose generate some trebel.  But in a sweet way.  Kinda like human nail.  Anyways, using that type of pick on the bright/too much bitey sounding guitar is gonna sound.......................well too harsh!!  So the answer?  Use a softer sounding pick........................or change saddles to something less bright.  In my case I changed pick

But in a bizare table of balance I can show you the results:

Guitar A - non steel saddles - Bright/Bite/Trebel Sounding Pick - dp100 =  GOOD!

Guitar B - Steel Saddles - Bright/Bite/Trebel Sounding Pick - dp100 = BAD!

ok so......................

Guitar B - Steel Saddles - Nylon Softer Sounding/ Softer Attack Pick - dp100 = GOOD!


I realise I have gone full on guitar geek here and I also realise that my explanation is very basic but it gets my point across about material.

There are other factors at play, I mean I'm comparing two strat esque guitars here, but one is a full on strat and the other is a more "super strat".  I'm pretty sure one is also basswood (superstrat)and one is alder (stratocaster).  But this also supports the reason why one guitar is brighter than the other, basswood is darker sounding than alder as far as I know.  Both have bolt on necks.

What I might do to the stratocaster is further darken it by adding a big sustain block.  Can anyone tell me if a big block will have this effect?  Making the tone bolder is darkening in my opinion.  I have only ever added a big block to one guitar and it definitley darkened it, nearly too much.

[rnolan]

Hey RG, mm, you raise some salient points. It's always going to be a "lots of variables" balancing act, guitars (and lots of other bits) are like that. Obviously in the end its what works for you and what makes "your" sound. I'd never considered using different picks to accommodate for other bits before. I get your point though (to take it to the extreme) using a soggy bit of nylon to tame the attack coz (in this instance) the PU is too bright with your normal (for me very hard/stiff pick), gets the sound you want. But then then soggy nylon slows you down.... (my take on it). My preference is to get the PUs that work for you with the pick you want to play with. To me picks are much less variable than other bits I can change e.g. PUs

[Dante]

I had a basswood guitar with an Evolution in it that sounded too thin for me, ended up selling it. No worries, I like the guitar I have instead, but it gets me thinking that I could've probably kept it with different saddles / nut / picks.

I have put a brass block in several trems and I don't remember any of them getting darker, just better sustain 

[rabidgerry]

Hey RG, mm, you raise some salient points. It's always going to be a "lots of variables" balancing act, guitars (and lots of other bits) are like that. Obviously in the end its what works for you and what makes "your" sound. I'd never considered using different picks to accommodate for other bits before. I get your point though (to take it to the extreme) using a soggy bit of nylon to tame the attack coz (in this instance) the PU is too bright with your normal (for me very hard/stiff pick), gets the sound you want. But then then soggy nylon slows you down.... (my take on it). My preference is to get the PUs that work for you with the pick you want to play with. To me picks are much less variable than other bits I can change e.g. PUs

the soggy nylon pick as you say, is exactly the same pick size thickness and all that as the other pick that gives attack.  The picks I use are all replicated in various materials for various tones.  Come in like 5 variations.  I wouldn't say 1.4mm nylon was soggy.  Although it feels more like I  have compression on say in comparison to the fibre material pick (the one that bites).

check link for details on the material

http://www.awe-in-one.com/products_profound.htm

I don't agree with the websites descriptions but I do know that each pick has it's own sound and the work.

[Soloist]

I remember back long ago in 1989...god I'm old, I read an interview with Phil Collen from Def Leppard and he was using metal picks for glossy cleans and sustain. So I thought I would try it, ended up not liking it because picks scrapes didn't sound as good and I could find a metal pick thick enough not to bend after playing 2 songs. He must be having some custom made or he is very light handed.

I mostly use fender mediums because they don't bend I could never get used to a thinner, floppy pick. I should experiment with some other picks thickness, might find something I like now and improves some dynamics.