Author Topic: How I saved my guitar (Read 7622 times)

Twinfan · « **Reply #15 on:** July 04, 2007, 01:38:40 PM »

Nice looking SG :D

When you changed the pickups, you say you changed the wiring as well? Pots and caps? They can have a dramatic effect on tone too...

richardmca · « **Reply #16 on:** July 04, 2007, 02:31:55 PM »

Quote from: Twinfan

Nice looking SG :D

When you changed the pickups, you say you changed the wiring as well? Pots and caps? They can have a dramatic effect on tone too...

It was rewired so I could put the MQ on a separate volume pot, and have neck, neck and bridge, and bridge on the selector, rather than the original selections. The pots I think are still the same. They had to put in another cap to balance the loads between the pickups...can't remember the details of why they said that was necessary. Not sure the wiring is right because the bridge pickup on its own doesn't put out a lot of top end. But the interesting tones all come from combining two or three pickups in varying degrees of out-of-phaseness.

Judging by your avatar picture, you've got some experience with lyre tailpieces. Do they generally sit absolutely flush with the surface of the body, or is there sometimes a gap? Mine is lopsided: the lower edge has a gap but the upper edge is closer to the body. I wondered if it needed to be flush to help sustain?

Twinfan · « **Reply #17 on:** July 04, 2007, 02:57:17 PM »

If you mean the bent metal part, it's usually clear of the body. It's lower on my Gibson SG than it is on my Epiphone. I'm not sure if there's more clearance on the treble or bass side on either guitar though. I can check the Epi later, but the Gibson is away having a setup.

Tellboy · « **Reply #18 on:** July 05, 2007, 10:03:22 AM »

Quote from: richardmca

Quote
Now you only need to age that pickguard or put on a black one.

...and practise saying "yeah, I've had this old thing since I was eight years old" with a straight face.

Er...oh dear! I have had this one since 1968 (1964 model) .. honest. Must get round to putting the original bridge and bridge pickup back. (needs a rewire from Tim). .. Yes I did fall for the 'brass bridge' fad in the 70's and it originally looked like my avatar :roll:
The red insulation tape on the top three strings is to stop string breakage at this point (had problems with this).

richardmca · « **Reply #19 on:** July 05, 2007, 10:13:42 AM »

That's a damnably lickable pair of lollies you've got there. I'm getting this SG thing now!

indysmith · « **Reply #20 on:** July 05, 2007, 11:11:41 AM »

is the black SG's neck really that BENT!? or is that just an illusion from the camera

Tellboy · « **Reply #21 on:** July 05, 2007, 02:50:48 PM »

Quote from: indysmith

is the black SG's neck really that BENT!? or is that just an illusion from the camera

No perfectly straight - unfortunately it suffered a bad break at the joint - you may be able to see the small 'plastic' plate between the end of the fretboard and the neck pickup is in fact a 'metal' one with two bolts through it plus lots of 'araldite' :roll: . Picture of the back of it here http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=111422#111422

The other SG is a '62 reissue but there are a few 'inaccuracies'. e.g. the 'horns' on the original were more pointed, whereas the reissue ones are 'chisel' shaped. Also the headstock on the original is smaller than on the reissue. Thankfully the neck joint seems stronger - apparently when Gibson discovered how weak the joints were on early SGs they fitted 335 necks to some as a temporary measure before they modified it. Because the 'heel' on the 335 is a couple of frets further down the fretboard than the SG it looked absolute s**te.

I find the SG necks a dream to play - complete access to all the frets, short scale - suits me because I've got small hands. (Have you ever noticed how long Paul Gilbert's fingers are ? Mine seem to end at his second joint :( but then again he could play with a set of fag-ends on his hands)

ericsabbath · « **Reply #22 on:** July 06, 2007, 08:56:47 AM »

damn i need a sg again :o
i had a epi g400 custom and a 1976 brazilian giannini sg

i was planning to buy a gibson iommi (i prefer the factory version than the custom shop model) or a supreme this month, but i couldn't find an used one in a reasonable price, so i'm buying a framus half stack, cause i'm headless at the moment

Twinfan · « **Reply #23 on:** July 06, 2007, 09:50:19 AM »

Quote from: richardmca

Judging by your avatar picture, you've got some experience with lyre tailpieces. Do they generally sit absolutely flush with the surface of the body, or is there sometimes a gap? Mine is lopsided: the lower edge has a gap but the upper edge is closer to the body. I wondered if it needed to be flush to help sustain?

I checked my Epi last night. The curved part of the tailpiece (underneath the string ball ends) sits on the body of the guitar, with a felt pad protecting the finish. The bridge is balanced and one end is not higher than the other.

Hope that helps?

richardmca · « **Reply #24 on:** July 07, 2007, 02:40:57 PM »

Quote

I checked my Epi last night. The curved part of the tailpiece (underneath the string ball ends) sits on the body of the guitar, with a felt pad protecting the finish. The bridge is balanced and one end is not higher than the other.

This is what I mean about mine. The edge of the tailpiece is not flush with the body. Don't know if that affects sustain - possibly not.

[/quote]

PhilKing · « **Reply #25 on:** July 09, 2007, 12:33:03 PM »

Just a quick question about the installation. I have a PG blues set, and have also played Tim's, and I thought that the neck pickup was designed to be reversed (like Peter Green's). That's how I did mine and that's how Tim's is. Did he wire it differently for you because of the middle pickup?

richardmca · « **Reply #26 on:** July 09, 2007, 12:52:25 PM »

Quote from: PhilKing

Just a quick question about the installation. I have a PG blues set, and have also played Tim's, and I thought that the neck pickup was designed to be reversed (like Peter Green's). That's how I did mine and that's how Tim's is. Did he wire it differently for you because of the middle pickup?

Tim supplied them as usual - wound out of phase. I had to persuade the guy wiring them in not to swap the wires over so they would be IN phase ('yes I REALLY want them like that...!'). I had the selector switch rewired to standard Les Paul type selections so I could get bridge and neck in the centre position. Then I had the MQ in the middle wired to a separate pot for volume, using one of the tone pots. The other tone pot became the master tone.

The way it's been done is not right because I can't get the full amount of top end out of the bridge pickup, but even so, there are great sounds to be had by mixing the three, and now I'm a bit reluctant to have the wiring 'corrected' in case I lose these sounds. Also I think there may be a bit of perverse fun to be had out of playing a guitar that's a bit buggered about electrically...and come to think of it, that's how Peter Green's mod happened - by accident.

In fact if you have any audio clips of yours, I'd be very interested to hear them so I can compare with mine and see what's missing.

richardmca · « **Reply #27 on:** July 09, 2007, 02:45:49 PM »

Quote from: PhilKing

Just a quick question about the installation. I have a PG blues set, and have also played Tim's, and I thought that the neck pickup was designed to be reversed (like Peter Green's). That's how I did mine and that's how Tim's is. Did he wire it differently for you because of the middle pickup?

Just as an afterthought to that...

Because the neck and bridge are out of phase, and I can dial in the middle p/u independently of the selector switch, this gives me:

Bridge alone
Neck alone
N & B out of phase
Bridge blended with Middle in phase
Neck blended with middle out of phase
N & B together out of phase, blended with Middle in phase with bridge, but out of phase with neck.

Or Middle alone, of course.

Lots of tones to play with, without even a push-pull. In practice because the wiring is not correct, the in-phase sounds are lacking in top, but that aside, this is MUCH more versatile than the original wiring.

Tellboy · « **Reply #28 on:** July 09, 2007, 07:35:24 PM »

Anyone up for buying this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-1960-GIBSON-SG-LES-PAUL-STANDARD-GUITAR_W0QQitemZ110147573424QQihZ001QQcategoryZ38086QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

It's got the dreaded side to side trem and if you look at the pic showing the 'extra glue residue' that looks more than a crack in the nitro finish - exactly where my SG broke - I suppose I could always shove in a couple of bolts and a squirt of araldite although for $35,000 I would probably get it fixed properly this time :roll:

apmaman · « **Reply #29 on:** July 22, 2007, 11:16:11 PM »

Jeezoo. Best part of 400 quid to get that shipped to the UK!!!! let alone the what, £17 thousand or so price tag.

I would laugh, so much, if that was fake. It would make my year