Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: hunter on April 02, 2009, 01:11:10 PM
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As announced, now it's arrived.
It was really tarnished, think hadn't been played for a while, so I got out my "Gundel Putz" polish and the 000 steel wool and made it all nice, new strings and all.
Wow, plays and sounds great. Resonates and sings. Lighter than I thought. The pickups are not bad actually, quite vintagey, nice mids and open sounding. A bit harsh on the treble but can be tamed with the presence.
I am really happy about this new member in my family!!
(http://www.thegutbusters.com/temp/newPRS/outside.jpg)
(http://www.thegutbusters.com/temp/newPRS/back.jpg)
(http://www.thegutbusters.com/temp/newPRS/perspective.jpg)
(http://www.thegutbusters.com/temp/newPRS/inside.jpg)
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Good stuff Hunter. That neck looks awesome!
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That one nice looking axe enjoy!
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These RW neck McCartys do look rather sweet. Pickup selector and not the silly rotary control, rosewood neck & all sorts of nice features. Not had the chance to try one, but I am fairly sure the neck would make a postitive contribution to the sound.
Martin
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Yeah, they are nice. The RW adds a certain dryness, clarity that is lacking on my other guitars. I like it. Plus it gives plenty of brightness on chords, but is not thin when you play leads on the dusty end of the neck.
I am very greatful to Dave who ignighted my GAS for this model!
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They're great :)
What do you think of it compared to your other guitars?
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:o
Ohhh I want!
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They're great :)
What do you think of it compared to your other guitars?
I have to answer that trying to exclude the pickups from the equation, as I am not sure what their impact is, but as far as I can tell.
1. Stays in tune much better than any of my Gibsons.
2. Has an amazingly long, very even sustain. It goes forever and keeps "meat" in the tone as it decays. No other of my guitars has that kind of quality. I would say this comes directly from the rosewood neck.
3. Is incredibly "in tune" up the neck, who needs Buzz Feiten?
4. Has a very even frequency response, gives a lot of crunch.
The only "downside" is that it has a bit less balls than my Les Paul types, but well, it's also 1/3 less mahogany and weight than those.
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I thought so. As a man of great taste in amps ( except for the AxeFX :roll: :lol: ) you've always seem to have had cheaper guitars - in the "mid-range" mainly. I never understood why you didn't have a more expensive guitar.
Has this changed your mind?
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I thought so. As a man of great taste in amps ( except for the AxeFX :roll: :lol: ) you've always seem to have had cheaper guitars - in the "mid-range" mainly. I never understood why you didn't have a more expensive guitar.
Has this changed your mind?
Hmmm, not sure about this. I am a fan of having less guitars, just due to maintenance and the "burden of choice". But I gotta say that my Edwards LP is also very sweet, as is my Epi LP, I like them all. This is just very different in many perspectves, but the other ones aren't bad because of it. I do consider to cut back some on my collection (e.g. the PRS SE is no longer needed really, also I don't need the Epiphone AND the Edwards, the Baja Tele, well ...)
Other question TF, how did you like those McCarty pickups, or better: what disliked you about them?
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They're great :)
What do you think of it compared to your other guitars?
I have to answer that trying to exclude the pickups from the equation, as I am not sure what their impact is, but as far as I can tell.
1. Stays in tune much better than any of my Gibsons.
2. Has an amazingly long, very even sustain. It goes forever and keeps "meat" in the tone as it decays. No other of my guitars has that kind of quality. I would say this comes directly from the rosewood neck.
3. Is incredibly "in tune" up the neck, who needs Buzz Feiten?
4. Has a very even frequency response, gives a lot of crunch.
The only "downside" is that it has a bit less balls than my Les Paul types, but well, it's also 1/3 less mahogany and weight than those.
I think all those four points are just inherent to the PRS design, i'd say exactly the same thing about my Custom 24 and the CE 24 i had.
They sure are great guitars... which SE did you/do you have, by the way?
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which SE did you/do you have, by the way?
I own a Singlecut (from the first batch of SC SEs). It's very cool, I got a pair of Rebel Yells in it with split option and it makes for a very versatile, crushing package. Here's a clip I posted a few days ago: http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=16746.0
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My McCartys have the following pickups:
* Rosewood #1 - VHIIs. I had spare VHIIs from a sold guitar lying around, and thought I'd try them in this guitar. The stock pickups were a bit dark here, and as the wiring had been changed anyway I thought I'd try a pickup swap. I liked them so they stay!
* Rosewood #2 - Holydivers. I bought the pickups used to compare to VHIIs, as I chose between the two originally and the HDs lost. To be honest, a small part of the reason for buying the guitar was to fit the HDs in it :oops: I'm glad I did, as it sounds great! This guitar had also had some wiring changes so I didn't mind swapping pickups here either.
* Korina - stock McCarty pickups. Sounds lovely as standard so I'm leaving it alone.
* 'Regular' McCarty - non-BKP boutique pickups to be fitted in the near future. I ordered some 'special' pickups a while back with the intention of turning this into my "Les Paul". As standard, it sounds very thick and a bit muddy.
As you can see, three of my four McCartys have had pickup changes for various reasons. The stock ones sound pretty good for blues stuff, but a bit unclear for the heavier rock stuff I play with Doppelganger.
Something you may want to do to brighten the guitar up a little and remove some muddiness is to switch it to 50s wiring, rather than modern. You can see the change here - the pre-2007 guitars have modern wiring, the current ones have 50s......
http://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/schem08/mccarty.pdf
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Looks great! :D
But can I ask what you did with the steel wool? :?
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Looks great! :D
But can I ask what you did with the steel wool? :?
Made the clearcoat finish shine again, what else?
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Nah, I polished the frets with it, works great, and if you're careful not to scratch into the wood, you don't even have to tape the fretboard. The frets were really corroded and scratchy, and now they're shiny and smooth again.
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awesome :)
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Is that a young version of you as your new avatar, Hunter?
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That looks beautiful Hunter- great buy!
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Is that a young version of you as your new avatar, Hunter?
Yeah. Me when I was 21. Much prettier than now!!
:O)
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Lovely guitar... I was watching that one too. Congrats ... I really like that one.
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My McCartys have the following pickups:
* Rosewood #1 - VHIIs. I had spare VHIIs from a sold guitar lying around, and thought I'd try them in this guitar. The stock pickups were a bit dark here, and as the wiring had been changed anyway I thought I'd try a pickup swap. I liked them so they stay!
* Rosewood #2 - Holydivers. I bought the pickups used to compare to VHIIs, as I chose between the two originally and the HDs lost. To be honest, a small part of the reason for buying the guitar was to fit the HDs in it :oops: I'm glad I did, as it sounds great! This guitar had also had some wiring changes so I didn't mind swapping pickups here either.
* Korina - stock McCarty pickups. Sounds lovely as standard so I'm leaving it alone.
* 'Regular' McCarty - non-BKP boutique pickups to be fitted in the near future. I ordered some 'special' pickups a while back with the intention of turning this into my "Les Paul". As standard, it sounds very thick and a bit muddy.
As you can see, three of my four McCartys have had pickup changes for various reasons. The stock ones sound pretty good for blues stuff, but a bit unclear for the heavier rock stuff I play with Doppelganger.
Something you may want to do to brighten the guitar up a little and remove some muddiness is to switch it to 50s wiring, rather than modern. You can see the change here - the pre-2007 guitars have modern wiring, the current ones have 50s......
http://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/schem08/mccarty.pdf
Hmmmmmm, considering that I joined a Metal project, you thing I should get some 'divers Dave?
I was considering to try out the RebelYells I have in the PRS SE (which will go back to stock for selling). What do you reckon?
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The Holy Divers are quite thick and full in my #2 IRW McCarty. I don't know if that's the tone you're after?
I'd try the Rebel Yells first as you will have them lying around :) And if they're not right for you, let us know what you'd like to be different and we can all suggest something!
I'll be swapping the VHIIs out of my #1 IRW McCarty in the near future as they're a bit thin sounding in this guitar. I think the IRW neck has stolen too many mids.
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I'd try the Rebel Yells first as you will have them lying around :) And if they're not right for you, let us know what you'd like to be different and we can all suggest something!
Yeah, guess that's what I'll do.
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I'll be swapping the VHIIs out of my #1 IRW McCarty in the near future as they're a bit thin sounding in this guitar. I think the IRW neck has stolen too many mids.
So maybe the extra mids of the RYs will complement the RW neck! :)
And then if the RYs' upper-middy thing doesn't work, you could go lower-middy with some HDs.
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I'll be swapping the VHIIs out of my #1 IRW McCarty in the near future as they're a bit thin sounding in this guitar. I think the IRW neck has stolen too many mids.
So maybe the extra mids of the RYs will complement the RW neck! :)
And then if the RYs' upper-middy thing doesn't work, you could go lower-middy with some HDs.
Sounds like a good plan!
Cold sweats wouldn't do so well in there I suppose?
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It might be worth trying the CS set as well, since you've got 'em!
But going by what Dave said about the rosewood neck taking out some of the mids, since the CS bridge isn't very middy either I wonder if it'll sound a bit bright/thin?
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My thoughts too Phil. HDs definitely have more lower mids going on, but the CS might work as it's quite powerful?
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Yeah, could be. I think the CS neck would be fine, that's for sure. And people use CS sets in maple neck-throughs, so they can definitely work in bright guitars.
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Somehow I feel that a Ceramic pickup wouldn't do the guitar justice, maybe an emotional thing. I think RYs with modern wiring could work well. They are in my PRS SE right now with vintage style wiring and a tad fizzy, but great punch anyways. Only thing that bugs me is that they are in Zebra ...
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Only thing that bugs me is that they are in Zebra ...
You could get 'em covered, like when I bought Dave's Cold Sweats. :)
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Only thing that bugs me is that they are in Zebra ...
You could get 'em covered, like when I bought Dave's Cold Sweats. :)
Good one, so you send them to Tim, he covers them, he sends them back? That might actually round off the fizz a bit as well.
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Only thing that bugs me is that they are in Zebra ...
You could get 'em covered, like when I bought Dave's Cold Sweats. :)
Good one, so you send them to Tim, he covers them, he sends them back? That might actually round off the fizz a bit as well.
Yes, when I got mine done it was "£20 per pickup for supply, fit, pot and return carriage", but I think fitting is free for the original owner, so it might be even cheaper for you. :D
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Only thing that bugs me is that they are in Zebra ...
You could get 'em covered, like when I bought Dave's Cold Sweats. :)
Good one, so you send them to Tim, he covers them, he sends them back? That might actually round off the fizz a bit as well.
Thanks for that info Phil. Might be postage to BE is a bit more.
Regarding the potting: is it necessary to re-pot once the covers are fitted? Will it change the resulting sound/response a lot?
Feeling like a nooewb :roll:
Yes, when I got mine done it was "£20 per pickup for supply, fit, pot and return carriage", but I think fitting is free for the original owner, so it might be even cheaper for you. :D
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Regarding the potting: is it necessary to re-pot once the covers are fitted? Will it change the resulting sound/response a lot?
Do you mean is it necessary to re-pot because the existing pickups are already potted? Yeah, because there'll be air-space between the cover and the pickup - ideally you want it to be one "solid block".
Of course you could leave it unpotted, but it'll be more prone to squealing, whistling and feedback - OK if you're playing some mild blues, but probably not ideal for your br00talz project! :lol:
I don't think it'll change the sound much at all, except to round it off a little, no bad thing with RYs (IMO).
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They'll be repotted if you ask for covers to be fitted if the existing pickups are potted.