Time to upgrade the pickups in my Steinberger Spirit

[ohomps]

the pickups are the big change really, everything else helps but are the icing on the cake.

the first time I ever swapped a pickup was on my Spirit. When I changed those EMG Select for DiMarzio Super Distortions my mind was blown and I've never looked back in guitar customisations. I couldn't believe they were SO MUCH better.

Feline has done a bit of work on this Spirit - he did the zero fret.

Would make sense to start with the pups. I can do the soldering and it w uld limit the amount of time I don't have the axe for. It's only being used a day or 2 a week at the moment but that's the only geet I have on those days.
Also it's the only days I've got unlimited practice time.

[ohomps]

gwEm: Have you made any changes to the electronics apart from the pups on your Spirit? Pots upgrade? Any black magic you'd care to share?

Yeah, I've done a load of stuff.

The zero fret has been swapped with a stainless steel item.
The neck pickup is permanently parallel wired
All the pots have been upgraded. The original ones were pretty naff anyway and eventually broke.
Orange drop tone capacitor
Switchcraft switch and jack
Bridge upgraded from R-Trem to hardtail.
Dunlop straplocks

Forgot to ask did you get a custom job for the hardtail bridge or does an aftermarket fits?

[gwEm]

I've used a couple.

The first was something called a Bondy Bridge, which had great tone machined from solid metal, but was a bit inconvenient/agricultural in some ways.

The second was by Headless Research on eBay. Its alot more professionally made, but its made of cast metal so not quite such a good tone. You also need to get a special base plate from a guy in Germany separately.

Either way, you can quite easily fit these yourself to replace the existing R-Trem.

[ohomps]

I've used a couple.

The first was something called a Bondy Bridge, which had great tone machined from solid metal, but was a bit inconvenient/agricultural in some ways.

The second was by Headless Research on eBay. Its alot more professionally made, but its made of cast metal so not quite such a good tone. You also need to get a special base plate from a guy in Germany separately.

Either way, you can quite easily fit these yourself to replace the existing R-Trem.

Brilliant, thanks mate.

[Yellowjacket]

Maple neckthrough guitar with maple wings!!!  I bet it's bright!

Crawler? 

[pac90]

Although I had a burst of enthusiasm when I first got mine, but I just leave the trem locked now, the bar is in its bag, and the tuning stability is good

For me this guitar is just played 99% of the time (leave at work) through a wee blackstar fly 3 stereo, so made sense to have different pickups for different sounds

[ohomps]

Although I had a burst of enthusiasm when I first got mine, but I just leave the trem locked now, the bar is in its bag, and the tuning stability is good

For me this guitar is just played 99% of the time (leave at work) through a wee blackstar fly 3 stereo, so made sense to have different pickups for different sounds

Likewise, I haven't used the trem bar in ages.
And from what i can tell, no one is still making the fixed bridge, or stocks are non-existent.
Not a hurry anyway, first I need to sort out the electronics and the pups.
Opened the cavity yesterday, wow, that's one cramped space...

[gwEm]

Maple neckthrough guitar with maple wings!!!  I bet it's bright!

Not as much as you might think

[pac90]

Its tight, but if you unscrew the jack, then theres enough room to unscrew the switch and pots and solder just outside cavity. First time i cramed it all back in had a short on my tone cap leg to ground, like trying to solder a daddylong legs on a small pot, had to snip legs back. I got replacement electronics but the pots were alphas and looked identical, so not sure if necessary...cost next to nothing though, think it was from axesrus

Great guitars ;)

[ohomps]

Its tight, but if you unscrew the jack, then theres enough room to unscrew the switch and pots and solder just outside cavity. First time i cramed it all back in had a short on my tone cap leg to ground, like trying to solder a daddylong legs on a small pot, had to snip legs back. I got replacement electronics but the pots were alphas and looked identical, so not sure if necessary...cost next to nothing though, think it was from axesrus

Great guitars ;)

I've always liked operating in tight spaces 

[ohomps]

Right, now that the madness of xmas has passed, it's now turn to start on this.
I'll keep you guys posted!

[gwEm]

good luck!

[ohomps]

It took some time, but the beast is born!

I was going to say re-born, but it wasn't a beast until these babies were installed.

I went from having a guitar I was using once a week, for practice away from home, to having a fully fledged axe, that does things no other in my stable can come close to.

Overall, a very satisfying experience, and having done the work myself is a huge satisfaction.

Thanks all for your input, it was very enlightening, and I'm really happy with the result!

[pac90]

Great it all went well. Great pickup selection.


Athough its growing on me, find the stockholm neck too dark, so i got a MQ and will put it in soon, to have veneer 63 middle and MQ neck and bridge

[gwEm]

what pickups did you fit in the end?