ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear
Non ADA Gear => Guitars => Topic started by: Dante on August 18, 2022, 04:48:08 PM
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Dang GAS attacks!!
I just bought another guitar, the last dang thing I needed....I have too many already, but I apparently have a weakness for small hollowbody guitars. It's an Ibanez AM77t. The t stands for Tremolo, it has an Ibanez branded Bigsby bridge
When these came out (around 2006-ish) they were just a test. Well, apparently they failed miserably because they only made them for one year. I played one in a local music store and loved the Bigsby feel...it was a red version, some other year, but still an ES339 sized hollow body and the action was super low. Needless to say, I'll be changing the humbuckers as soon as I get her.
They're not expensive, were $550 new, you can find them for $350 when you can find them. I paid $450 with the hardshell case, which seems fair
Pix below, the small pic is the one I bought (comes with a hardshell case), the large pic is the best I could find of the Black Nebula paint job
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Nice :thumb-up: , love the sparkly paint job.
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Nice :thumb-up: , love the sparkly paint job.
+1 :thumb-up:
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Very sweet! Bigsbys are fun. :)
I cannot say anything about buying too many guitars myself. :O
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Niiiiice 8)
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Nice Axe Dante,
IS there such a thing as too many guitars?!? :crazy:
So.....what kind of pups are you planning to drop in this guitar if I may ask?
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IS there such a thing as too many guitars?!? :crazy:
I don't think so 8) same with amps and ADA's and ... ;D
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Nice Axe Dante,
IS there such a thing as too many guitars?!? :crazy:
So.....what kind of pups are you planning to drop in this guitar if I may ask?
I have a Seymour Duncan SH-1 in my parts bin for the bridge, and I ordered a Dream 90 for the neck from GuitarFetish.com. Also ordered some CTS pots, orange drops and a Switchcraft jack
We'll see how that SH-1 sounds. I have a Vintage Extra Hot from GFS in my Schecter, that's where the Sh-1 came from. I like that PU very much...I may get another one. Here is some info about it (https://www.guitarfetish.com/KP--VEH-Vintage-Extra-Hot--The-BROWN-SOUND-Black--Kwikplug%E2%84%A2-Ready_p_21914.html)
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That's a very interesting pickup, especially for the price!
I'm not a huge fan of SD pups, but there are a few that I do like. The only one I own right now is the Screamin' Demon TB-12. I had it in another guitar that I sold a long time ago, but I kept the pup because it does have a killer tone to it in the right guitar. The only other one I tried that I liked the tone of was the JB. I have a Pearly Gates here, but don't care for it. It's too wimpy, and thin sounding.
One pickup I'm curious about is the Saturday Night Special. That seems to have tones that remind me of the late 70's kind of sounds we used to hear.
I may have to try that VEH though, it looks a little weak on the power end, but who knows?
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Yeah, you cannot beat the price. It does sound good in a solid body Schecter Banshee Extreme (HSS strat)...I also have a SH-5 (SD Custom) in my Fender Strat that is good and sounds good when split
I have a SD JB / Jazz setup in my big hollowbody and that thing sounds fantastic. I've found the GFS Classic II Alnico 2 sounds as good as a SD Jazz in the neck position....possibly better
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One SD I really like is the little '59, single coil size humbucker. I put one in my Squire bullet strat and it sounds really nice. I have a SD hot rails in the bridge that I used to have in the neck pos of my tele. I can't remember if it was a neck rated (lower output) one but it's not floating my boat in the bridge of the strat. Then these days I hardly ever use the bridge PU in any of my guitars. Quite a change from days gone by when I used the bridge PU most of the time.
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@Dante,
You have a JB in the Bridge of a hollow body? Doesn't that give you some feedback issues? It's a more powerful pup than the Screamin' Demon.
What kind of woods are we talking about in the Schecter? I'm thinking of trying the TB-12 in one of my Showmaster guitars after I get it routed for a Floyd. It's a Trembucker spaced pup. The Showmaster is a Basswood body/Mahogany set-neck.
@Richard,
You know, everyone and their brother seems to be making a version of a '59 humbucker. I haven't really heard one that that makes the light go on in my head. Maybe I'm missing something.
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I feel the same thing about the '59er...had one in a Squire and never liked it
@Harley, I bought the guitar that way in 2008...gig her like crazy. If anything, I'd like more feedback ;) That guitar really sounds amazing, can't believe it's Chinese
The Schecter: Featuring a contoured mahogany body with a quilted maple top. The bolt-on neck is constructed from maple, while a rosewood fingerboard is equipped with 24 extra-jumbo frets. The Banshee-6 FR Extreme is outfitted with a Schecter's Exclusive Floyd Rose Special 'Hot Rod' Locking Tremolo
Here's a linky (https://www.samash.com/schecter-banshee-6-fr-extreme-electric-guitar-s1996xxxx-p)
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Hey Dante,
I just checked that out. It's somewhat similar to the Showmaster guitars I have with the exception of the bolt on neck.
The two HH guitars I have are both Basswood bodies with Mahogany necks glued in, Rosewood fretboards with 24 medium jumbo frets. One has a bubinga top, the other has a quilted maple top. They look like they are carved top guitars, but the tops are just a veneer laminate glued on top.
The SSS model I have is a little different. The neck is still mahogany, but the body on this one is African mahogany. It's definitely heavier than the other two. Since the finish on the back and sides is a translucent light red, I can see how they simulated the carved top. It's thin strips of wood sanded to different heights and glued in next to each other, then the laminate is glued on top of that. The top on that one is called flamed alder, but it looks like an extended tic-tac-toe board IMHO. I really wouldn't mind painting that one darker so it would hide that cheesy laminate. It came with SD 5-2 single coils that sound about as thin as you can imagine. (half Alnico 5 and half Alnico 2 magnets). I still haven't found a decent set of pickups that I'd like for that guitar. For a short time, I had a Fender X-1 bridge pickup in it and two Fender singles from the mid 80's but it didn't quite get me there, so I took them out.
I'm thinking about a set of hard core stacked humbuckers for it. It does have a lot of warmth with all that mahogany. I was thinking of modifying it for a set of Burns Tri-Sonics that I've had for years, but there isn't enough room for the electronics in the control cavity. I did see a body that I might get on GF for those pups that was going for about 50 bucks. There would be a lot of work involved with that build, and it would have to be from the ground up, but that's for another topic.
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By the way,
I forgot to mention another humbucker pickup that I just heard about a few days ago. It's not out yet, but it will be available soon.
It's from Voodoo Custom Pickups and it's called the Tessarect. (VCP-TDS)
It uses Alnico 9 magnets and is overwound to the gills, and has a DC resistance of 44.2K. You might want to check that out for your hollow body if you want more feedback
https://voodoocustompickups.com/
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Weeeeelllllll....how the turntables have...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FwmGLzyRDk
....I broke open the guitar today to see what pickups are in there.....dun dun dun
They are both GUITAR FETISH PICKUPS, my guess is they are PAF copies because the bridge is 8.6k and the neck is 7.6k and they sound totally "brown" with a bunch of gain. I am now considering something other than my spare SH-1...like a really hot PU, like a GFS Power Rails for the bridge.
That got me thinking...I have another Ibanez AM model (actually, I have two) that has some HOT pickups in it, made by Dimarzio. They are IBZ pickups and they look like EMGs but they are passive. I found one on Reverb for $40 with shipping, I'm going to put that in. I love those pickups and I've been using them for over 25 years now
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I have a set of passive EMG's
They look like standard humbuckers, but with black covers instead of chrome. They came with the quilted maple top guitar I have.
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Well, I went and done it.
I pulled the existing PUs, put the P90 in the neck. Put the SD Sh-1 in the bridge, replaced the crappy little pots. Here are some pix for posterity - she sounds pretty dang awesome already. I will still put the hot PU when it arrives, just wanted to check out this combo & it rocks :thumb-up:
turns out, the new guitar was built in 2004 at the Samick plant (Korea). The other guitar pictured here is my go-to gigging guitar, I bring her to every gig and rotate others. She sounds amazing and plays like butter. Well, she was built at the Samick plant in 2005. No wonder
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close ups of the new pickups, and look at those inlays!!
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Very nice Dante :thumb-up: , looks good and sounds good no doubt. Nice to see you masking off to work on the pots, I suspect not everybody does that and a few scratches have ensued. So have Samic got a good reputation? I only new them as cheap and chearful acoustics here in Australia, similar to Cort.
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@ Dante,
Sweet! Abalone inlaid into Mother of Pearl.
@ Richard,
Samick had a decent reputation thanks to Blues Saraceno, who showed up with a signature plaid model in the 90's. He had quite a tone with those guitars and his custom made amps built by his father.
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So, there are several other guitar factories in Korea. Turns out, my Epiphone Vee is from somewhere else in Korea - not so surprising, all Epiphones were produced in Korea from 1985 to 2000-something...like 1,000s every month.
Now, for some more fun...my AR200 Goldtop and my AR420 Artist are also from somewhere in Korea! I am a Korean guitar collector I guess...had no idea. In fact, I have 4 guitars that were produced within a couple years of each other and two from the same factory:
Ibanez AM77t Sparkles 11/2004 (Samick)
Ibanez AR200 Goldtop 05/2005 (Korea-not specific)
Ibanez AS83 Big ES335 size Semihollow 10/2005 (Samick)
Epiphone 59 Korina V Reissue 05/2006 (Saein)
I guess I like the feel of those guitars...I keep gravitating to them. I gig these 3 guitars regularly - they're not expensive, they play really nice and sound amazing. I bought the AS83 in 2008, the AR200 a few years later, the Vee a couple years after that...and just got the sparkly one. Just figured out I've been hoarding Korean guitars
Pix below for posterity, in order of production
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Nice collection Dante. My Epephone SG is Korean though it's had a bit of work since I bought it from a guy back in early 2000's. I had the neck shaved, new graph tech nut, new frets (one was bent at the end (go figure)), wider bridge (so E and A saddles could be the correct direction), had schaller tulip MHs fitted but the backs come off :facepalm: so I put grovers on it (much better) and futzed around with PUs, tried SD JB bridge and Alnico neck, didn't float my boat so now it's got 2 Gibson 57 reissues, much more interesting PUs. It all started when I was filing down the nut (only half the string should sit in nut slot or you loose sustain) ready to re-string and the nut disintegrated. The wood and finish is fine but the hardware was all cheap crap, then it's built to a price point. I think they were around $900 AUD here.
I've never tried P90s like you have on a couple of yours. May be a good option to try.
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Dante,
I became curious about where these Showmasters were made after reading these posts, and it appears that Fender had been in business with the Samick factory since 1981. These Showmasters were built there, so that explains the quality of the wood craftsmanship. The electronics and hardware is still crap though, and once that's been replaced, you end up with a seriously high quality guitar.
Just sayin'
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Yup, good wood, crap electronics. I live by that
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UPDATE: I received the hot pickup (Ibanez IBZ) that matches the ones in my '86 AM75. Those are hot pickups - the one I bought looked brand new and clocked in at 13k ohms
Here's a pic for posterity - she loves that new pickup and the new pots really cleared up the chords
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Hey Dante, looking good :whoohoo!: , and so shiny
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UPDATE: I got a wild hair up my butt and tried a few pickups in the bridge
Seymour Duncan SH-1: Already had this in there, sounded great live and in headphones. Love the way it cleans up when you roll down the volume knob. If anything, I wouldn't mind a bit more heat on dirty tones, but it's not bad at all. Just a bit cleaner than I'd really like.
GFS VEH Vintage Extra Hot: About as hot as the Duncan, sounds great when you pound the strings. Still...I felt like I wanted more
GFS Dream 90: I put this in the bridge, despite it being a neck PU. The readings are not that far off; 8.4k for the bridge, 8.2k for the neck. It sounds good, beefier than my Vee (also has a Dream 90 in the bridge). It does snarl, which is better, but it isn't quite as good at cleaning up when you roll off and, it's a single coil...so, there is some noise in a Hollowbody. Not bad on feedback (yet).
Readings on the pickups;
Seymour Duncan SH-1 = 8.38k
GFS Vintage Extra Hot = 11.2k
GFS Dream 90 = 8.2
I reeeaaaallly like the IBZ in the neck, that's staying right there. It only reads 8.3, but is sure sounds hotter...not sure how that works. I also have an Ibanez? V7 sitting in my parts bin coming in at 9.42k ohms, I'm tempted to try that too just for fun, but I'm thinking it probably doesn't clean up so great...I don't really know, it's just a presumption on my part
Here's a pic of how she sits right now...which may change, but I'm going to try her like this for a while first...I think ;)
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You know,
I admit I'm a bit surprised these days as to what's being referred to as a "Hot" pickup.
I've got single coils from Fender that have more DC resistance than these humbuckers. For example: the bridge pickup in my 1980 "STRAT" measures out at 8.3K. The bridge pickup of my set of Texas Specials measures 13.6K.
These pickups are wound at 7800, and 9600 windings respectively. Obviously, they are using far fewer windings with the pickups made these days, which is indicated by the DC resistance.
The Screamin' Demon pickup I have isn't a hot pickup at all at 10K, but it does snarl, and with my MP-2 set at the higher gain tube voicings, it does retain a lot of clarity. You can back the volume knob off with this pickup and it does clean up, but it still has some of that snarl to it when you do.
The DiMarzio pickups I use in my Showmaster guitars come in at 17.48K and 12.58K (Air Zone & Air Norton), and both of those are considered medium output pickups, but I do like those compared to their standard counterparts. They have a more vintage tone to them than the Tone Zone and Norton pickups do, and better clarity IMHO. I wonder how these would work in a semi hollow body guitar?
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Probably need to be careful just comparing DC resistance. If the PUs are the same in all respects except for the number of coil winds, then it probably holds, but as soon as you start comparing different makes and models etc. a whole bunch of variables come into play. I went to the edge of this rabbit hole a while ago when I was wondering what difference magnet pole (Nth/Sth) orientation makes. I quickly found there are shit loads of variables to consider, and walked back from the rabbit hole (for now). So magnet properties (strength, orientation, type (Alnico, Ferris, Neodymium)), pole pieces (strat style (individual magnets per string) vs humbucker, (metal screws magnet(s) at the bottom), wire gauge/thickness, number of turns, wire insulation/coating material; all these things make a difference. E.g. the same amount of wire (same DC resistance) but with different strength magnets will have different output and sound.
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You forgot to mention magnet geometry, that also has a lot to do with how the inductance will vary in a pickup
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Probably need to be careful just comparing DC resistance. If the PUs are the same in all respects except for the number of coil winds, then it probably holds, but as soon as you start comparing different makes and models etc. a whole bunch of variables come into play. I went to the edge of this rabbit hole a while ago when I was wondering what difference magnet pole (Nth/Sth) orientation makes. I quickly found there are shit loads of variables to consider, and walked back from the rabbit hole (for now). So magnet properties (strength, orientation, type (Alnico, Ferris, Neodymium)), pole pieces (strat style (individual magnets per string) vs humbucker, (metal screws magnet(s) at the bottom), wire gauge/thickness, number of turns, wire insulation/coating material; all these things make a difference. E.g. the same amount of wire (same DC resistance) but with different strength magnets will have different output and sound.
So....just try them out and see what you like, eh?
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You forgot to mention magnet geometry, that also has a lot to do with how the inductance will vary in a pickup
See what I mean, huge rabbit hole, I hadn't even thought about that one LoL. Now what is magnet geometry?
Unfortunately, rolling PUs is both expensive and a hassle, not as easy as rolling input tubes. On the up side, the descriptions you guys are posting are quite helpful :thumb-up: .
I've started to really like the PUs in my JPLP (allegedly Jimmy Page custom burstbuckers), They are the first PUs I've liked more than the Ultrasonics in my Anderson.
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LOL, I didn't mean to send you down that rabbit hole again Richard. :dunno:
Magnet geometry refers to the cut of the magnet itself prior to winding it. This is more of an issue in humbucking pickups than it is with single coils, because of the fact that you are dealing with the height, width, depth of the magnets and their opposing magnets on the other coil, as well as the dimensions of the base plate they attach to.
In very general terms, if my reading is correct, the magnets that are shorter and wider will produce more of a warm tone than the ones that are taller and thinner. Then, there is also the spacing to consider, then we get into the wire that we'll use to wind around these magnets, which at this point, I'm sure you know where it goes from here...
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Hey Harley, that's ok, it's not that I'm not interested, I am but that day I was looking for a quick answer only to discover it's way more complicated (of course it is :facepalm: ). Of note, neodymium (which are some of the most powerful magnets) I've discovered are quite crisp sounding (not warm). My messa P112 cabs have ceramic magnets for the 12s, where as my bass player bought the newer messa subway equivalent cabs which are much lighter, partly due to use of poplar plywood, mine are birch (heavier) and the 12s use neodymium magnets (much lighter for the same field as ceramics). My cabs sound a bit warmer than hers. She also has neodymium pole pieces in her music man sterling bass PU, and they are almost as high output as active basses. I'm not sure I'd want that sound for guitar :dunno: . Though it would probably suit super distorted high gain stuff, add a bit of clarity :dunno: .
Then of course the guitar also makes a difference. In the end do the PUs float your boat and work with everything else.
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In the end do the PUs float your boat and work with everything else.
That's it in a nutshell.
I can't really say in my case, what definitely makes the light go on for me in a pickup other than what it sounds like when I play it. I either like it, or I don't. Here's an example: I have both the Dimarzio Tone Zone and the Air Zone. I like the Air Zone, but I'm not fond of the Tone Zone because it sounds too nasally to me. The Air Zone sounds more open and balanced to me. Tone Zone is definitely a more powerful pickup, just not my cup of tea.
Another example would be the SD Screamin' Demon compared to the SD Pearly Gates. I'll choose the Screamin' Demon hands down even though it's a combination of AlNiCo 5 and Ceramic magnets, it just has the tone that makes the light go on in my head. The Pearly Gates is the thinnest excuse for a humbucker I've ever heard. I think I tossed it in a junk box somewhere years ago.