Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: AndyR on February 28, 2009, 06:02:26 PM
-
There's been a bunch folks acquiring Fender Japan 62 Customs (Roo, that's a classy looking version of "a man's guitar" :lol:), both on here and over on TDPRI...
And I keep saying "it's the black one that gets me..."
I nearly bought one a few months ago, but I hesitated, and when I went back the next day it was gone.
I saw this one a couple of weeks ago, next to the Roadworn 50 that I tried. I loved the Roadworn but I've already got two blonde maple boarded teles, and I'm not convinced it's worth its asking price to me. However the black custom next to it was worth the asking price, and after the Roadworn had put me in "buying mode" I didn't dare try it that day. But it's been haunting me.
And then maranz1300 got one in Candy Apple Red for his birthday, and I thought well, it's Alice's (my Baja tele) birthday today, and it's mine tomorrow, so maybe I'll get us a joint pressie?
Me and the missus went up to the shop (me secretly hoping it might be gone like the last one was), and there she be... :roll:
She ain't there no more folks... she's sat on the sofa next to Alice, we're all listening to Dr Feelgood, and all feeling very good about our selves 8)
Extremely tasty guitar, I've already taken the 10s off and stuck on my 11s. Already started modding it - whipped out the treble bleed capacitor, hate the things.
Now, I've heard that the only down-side of these guitars is the pickups, but I've been pleasantly surprised. I gave them a good old height adjustment and they really aren't as bad as I was expecting. I actually wonder whether the treble bleed capacitor is what makes people think they're so pants. Before I took it out, just backing off the volume a tiny bit made them start to get really weedy - now it's gone they act just like I want them. However, I can't really see me not ordering Yardbirds and another 4-way switch in the near future though! :lol:
-
Yardbirds, Andy? You mean you're NOT gonna put a 3rd set of Blackguards in it..?
Mark.
-
Nice one, Andy! :D I knew where this was going as soon as I saw the thread title. :lol:
Why's it a present for Alice, though? Isn't she going to resent the competition?
-
You're right... it's very tasty and very classy to boot! Nice guitar.
-
Congrats. Beautiful Tele you have. I love the black. Brass saddles would look good on that. The stock pickups sound good to me.I just wnt better ones.Yardbirds coming next week.
-
A lovely guitar there Andy ! ( says an 'out of the closet' Butterscotch Baja Tele owner / lover ) :)
( Beware the wrath of Roo ... :roll: ).
Now, after walking the dog , sit back with Roxette ( she does it right :wink: ) - and celebrate with some milk and alcohol ... 8)
-
Looks good... You need some nice psychedelic paint on it :D
-
Already started modding it - whipped out the treble bleed capacitor, hate the things.
I actually wonder whether the treble bleed capacitor is what makes people think they're so pants. Before I took it out, just backing off the volume a tiny bit made them start to get really weedy - now it's gone they act just like I want them.
Interesting point, that. I've never really tried treble bleed capacitors unless they're already in the guitar (like PRS), but I never thought they'd actually make a guitar sound weedy (or weedier). But it makes sense, if the pickups are low-output to begin with.
I've always thought a treble bleed cap would be a good idea with high-output single-coils, like Duncan Quarter Pounders. That way you'd get the equivalent of a vintage-output pickup by turning down the volume. Or maybe not. I was thinking of putting one on my LP Jr with the BKP-91.
-
^ i dunno. there's always the chance that it just has the "wrong" value of cap. personally, i like them on some guitars, and don't really like them on others...
very nice guitar, by the way. black actually looks quite nice on that tele with the rosewood board. :)
-
Great looking guitar Andy.
-
I have a set of yardbirds and got to say they are great. Lovely vintage type tone.
-
Still bonding here :D This could end up being my favourite guitar (still the honeymoon period though - so take this with a pinch of salt...)
OK - then...
Psychedelic paint... nooo way! :lol:
Brass saddles - maybe. I prefer them on my other two, but the idea is that this thing behaves different, and at the moment I'm getting a nice twang out of it. I'm also getting used to the look of these saddles, and they're not shredding my hand like I thought they might.
Pickups - Yardbirds, definitely :D. There is a possibility, when I see what they do in this one, that further down the line I might try swapping Blackguards into this one and Yardbirds into the Baja or the 52 - I suspect that would give me three different vibes... but we'll see.
Does Alice resent the competition? No... she knows what she can do, and she has a good self-image :lol:
Treble bleeds - I think they're an acquired taste, and I guess that yes they depend on the guitar/pups/pots that they're working with. I tried installing one years ago on a strat and discovered that for me it kind of takes the beef out of pickups (probably because I like to settle the volume control around 7-9 for "crunch-rhythm"/"clean-lead" and then crank it for "more"). Since then, the only guitars I've come across treble bleeds are EVERY tele I've bought, and my Dano 59 re-issue.
The Dano really needed it taking out for me, and then I investigated what it was doing to my teles... Philly, try temporarilly disconnecting the bleed capacitor in your Baja and see what you think... I never reconnected it. It made less difference than when I tried it on this beast yesterday (but I already had BKPs in the Baja when I tried it, so that might have some bearing on it!)
I am seriously loving this guitar. It does feel like I ought to be getting me a big cowboy hat to wear when I'm playing it though :lol:
-
Philly, try temporarilly disconnecting the bleed capacitor in your Baja and see what you think... I never reconnected it. It made less difference than when I tried it on this beast yesterday (but I already had BKPs in the Baja when I tried it, so that might have some bearing on it!)
Won't be doing that - it's going up for sale today.... :oops:
-
Thought it might be soon Philly.... still the neck?
I've only just appreciated how big the Baja neck is now that I've got the 62 Custom home. The custom's neck is very very similar to my #1, the CIJ 62 reissue strat, but for some reason having this neck on a tele has made the size of the Baja neck more obvious.
Luckily I like both :lol: (I spose it's another reason why Alice the Baja isn't feeling threatened - she encourages a different sort of playing)
-
Thought it might be soon Philly.... still the neck?
Yeah, plus the fact that I have so many Teles something had to go.... the Baja's completely stock, so it's more instantly sellable (hopefully) than the bits-and-pieces ones.
The only other one which is an actual Fender guitar (rather than some Fender parts put together!) is my Thinline, and that's not going anywhere.
-
Nice - I love tele customs: I salivated over a surf green model in the window of Regents Guitar for months, till some lucky SOAB bought it.
brass saddles wouldn't be period correct, though. If I had such a beauty I would get the Glendale 'groovy little 60s' set:
http://www.glendaleguitars.com/coldrolled.jpg
-
^ yeah, my favourite colour in teles with r/wood boards is probably surf green too. Blue is nice too, it's similar. :)
-
Nice - I love tele customs: I salivated over a surf green model in the window of Regents Guitar for months, till some lucky SOAB bought it.
brass saddles wouldn't be period correct, though. If I had such a beauty I would get the Glendale 'groovy little 60s' set:
http://www.glendaleguitars.com/coldrolled.jpg
I think I was looking at that Surf green one as well :lol: Doesn't really do it for me though (and my wife would hate it :lol:)
For me it was a black one, maybe a blue one, and possibly a candy apple red - but I'm a bit unsure about sparkly guitars for me, I'd have to see one in the flesh...
And I'm thinking the same as you on the brass saddles "not period correct". These ones seem to be working fine at the moment - plenty twang and sustain.
My only "hmmm..." so far is that the edges of the bridge-plate are quite sharp and rough in places.
Game plan is as follows - play it to death with these strings and pickups over the next few weeks. Get Yardbirds and a four-way switch in a month or so (you watch, I'll have ordered them by the end of the week now! :lol:). Then while the bridge is off, and minus a big fat magnet of a pickup(!), do a bit of wire-wooling on the bridge-plate edges. Then put it back together and see where we go from there...
-
I recomend the Glendale! Very nice! I've the one with the ears lowed...
(http://www.glendaleguitars.com/blackguard-dc.jpg)
-
My CAR is in this pick. I put a left handed bridge in it just to have somethig different to my real 62 (the one in Dakota Red on the couch). I am thinking of putting a set of BK's into it, either a Boss set or the new Blackguard 52 set (I think that's what they are called).
-
Ooo, Ooo! I have questions now Phil...
I thought I read the other day that you had Yardbirds in... er... which one then? I thought it was your MIJ, which I assumed was the CAR? (Mebbe I've got you confused with someone else... I wasn't expecting to buy this custom right now, so wasn't paying complete attention :lol:)
"the new Blackguard 52 set"... what's that?!! I know about the Flat 50s and the 55 Staggered, is this something new? :lol:
EDIT: And Elliot and Fernando, you're not tempting me with these expensive looking bits of metal-work. I'm working on the "if it ain't broke" approach to the hardware at the moment :lol:
-
Isn't the CAR a freaking vehicle of 4 whells?? (http://216.211.140.132/Smileys/Lots_O_Smileys/huh.gif) (http://216.211.140.132/Smileys/Lots_O_Smileys/icon_scratch.gif)
Nah, not trying to tempt you, just saying it's very nice and I like the lowered ears, all I wished on Tele (to be fair I've never played in other with the vintage bridge, but I've got the feeling that it's not as nice)
-
"Candy Apple Red", Fernando (took me some time to figure it out a while back :D)
-
(http://216.211.140.132/Smileys/Lots_O_Smileys/doh3.gif)
I would not find it out even with a shotgun on my head :lol:
-
Ooo, Ooo! I have questions now Phil...
I thought I read the other day that you had Yardbirds in... er... which one then? I thought it was your MIJ, which I assumed was the CAR? (Mebbe I've got you confused with someone else... I wasn't expecting to buy this custom right now, so wasn't paying complete attention :lol:)
"the new Blackguard 52 set"... what's that?!! I know about the Flat 50s and the 55 Staggered, is this something new? :lol:
No Yardbirds because my 62 pickups sound almost exactly the same (I have played Yardbirds on BK stand at LGS - remember I get there before the crowds and so can actually hear what they sound like!).
There is a new BG set - I think - Tim was talking to me about it a couple of months ago, but I haven't seen anything since (but I also haven't asked him about them either as the last pickups I was getting were Emeralds and a Champion Lap Steel [10k Piledriver]).
-
Ah - that makes sense, and does kind of fit in with what I was remembering you saying on the Yardbirds front.
I'm guessing that a 52 Blackguard set would have a bridge pickup somewhere between the 50 and 55 - so seeing as I rather like the meat of the 50's bridge, I'm OK, and I don't have to start getting sleepness nights over my existing pups :lol:
-
i've just bought Phill Q's Baja, looking foarward to getting hold of it!
my previous tele was a lite ash model with the SD pickups, i'm going to keep the Baja standard for a while.. but if it needs fattening up slightly, what do you guys reccomend? I still want it Tele-like
-
Well, my Baja has got Blackguard Flat 50s in it - that's what I'd go for personally, but I might be tempted to enquire (Tim/BKP) about these Blackguard 52s that Philking mentions - I wouldn't mind knowing what they're all about.
I kept my Baja stock for 2-3 months, and was struggling to "get into it". The minute I put the Blackguard 50s in it was the business for me - everything just a little bit fatter/warmer than the stock pickups but still with all the clarity/top-end.
I've not played a real Broadcaster/Nocaster, but this thing sounds fairly "authentic early tele" to me.
I use it for blues/rock/country type noodlings, and depending on the amp models I use I can get it to do biting tele or fat tele, sounds great clean, dirty.... everything I want :D
-
Isn't the CAR a freaking vehicle of 4 whells?? (http://216.211.140.132/Smileys/Lots_O_Smileys/huh.gif) (http://216.211.140.132/Smileys/Lots_O_Smileys/icon_scratch.gif)
Nah, not trying to tempt you, just saying it's very nice and I like the lowered ears, all I wished on Tele (to be fair I've never played in other with the vintage bridge, but I've got the feeling that it's not as nice)
I was looking out the window for his car too. Think I found a motorbike though.
Phil - how many guitars do you have exactly. I want to be like you when I grow up :D
-
nice one mate...very Gilby Clarke
-
Phil - how many guitars do you have exactly. I want to be like you when I grow up :D
I haven't grown up yet 8) That's why I've sixty some guitars and sixteen amps!