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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:02 pm
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I am of the opinion that pickups do make a difference in tone but not as much as some people try to lead others to believe. I think your hands make more of difference. At least insomuch as were not comparing apples and oranges that is ... as in pickup types like singles vs. buckers & active vs. passive, etc. The way I touch the guitar sounds like me. Trying different pickups (of the same general type) gives me different flavours of me but it's still me and how I sound.

Amps are a different story. They make a difference but that's a whole nuther discussion.

One man's opinion.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:58 pm
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GilgaFrank wrote:
I went through a phase of trying lots of replacement pickups, that just turns into an endless black hole to throw money into. Now I'm not really a fan of endless customisations, I'd rather take a stock guitar and adapt my playing to find out where the good sounds are in that guitar.


+1 Frank

I find pedals to be another black hole.


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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:17 am
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My MIA Strat = Stock
My MIM Strat = new pickups (hated ice pick of the ceramics), and Callaham tremolo block and bridge assembly
Me = totally happy with both


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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:49 am
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I've rarely modded guitars, unless you count stuff like different knobs, etc.
And I don't always do that.

I've only done mods beyond that on my Les Paul (bought used & the previous owner had modded it) and my LP copy (new pickups, and parts that broke)
I'm picky about guitars i buy, so I tend to buy ones I already like.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:55 am
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If it doesn't sound/play how I want it to, I don't buy it in the first place. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Honestly I just don't have the time to be modding guitars, I do have 3 or 4 guitar with some cool mods, but generally speaking those were guitars bought used, with the mods already done. I did manage to somehow break the lead pickup on my Les Paul Classic, and did not replace it with another Gibson ceramic, instead had a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 put in. But I would put that more in the category of a repair rather than a modification.

The exception to my general rule against modifying guitars is that on occasion I will tweak a guitar with some purely cosmetic modifications. For example, that LP Classic had 2 open coil black topped humbuckers on it, both before and after the bridge pickup was replaced.

I thought looked a little plain, and heard about Bobbin Toppers, which are just vinyl-cling strips, that can change the look of a pickup, and are completely reversible, and really like how that turned out. Here's a before/after:

Image

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Similarly, but involving a little more work, one of my favorite guitars is my Hamer Special, which is Hamer USA's version of a doublecut Gibson Les Paul Special. The Gibby version has a funky pickguard, but the Hamer has no pickguard, and I thought it looked a little nekkid without one. I couldn't use a regular Gibson LP Special doublecut guard, because the Gibby version has a bit of pickguard in between the neck pickup and the end of the fretboard, but the Hamer Special has the neck pickup butted up right against the bottom of the fretboard. Rather than try to modify a doublecut pickguard, I got a singlecut LP Special, which doesn't have any pickguard up above the neck pickup. I still had to modify it a bit, by cutting down the "tab" between the pickups, but that was two simple straight cuts with my miter saw.

Here's what a regular Hamer Special looks like:

Image

Here's mine, the pickguard is affixed with double-sided tape, so no holes in the guitar:

Image

Finally, I recently bought a Gibson SGJ. It had two black plastic pickup covers that reportedly were so constructed that the covers were not removable, and to my eye they looked too much like EMGs. So I got some white Bobbin Toppers (no, I don't work for them!) and stuck them right on top of the plastic covers, to make them look like open coils. Also, like the Hamer, the Gibson SGJ didn't come with a pickguard, and looked too plain. So I bought a new one, and again had to cut down the "tab" between the pickups with my miter saw (because the SGJ has a 24-fret neck). As with the Hamer, affixed the guard with doublesided tape, so no holes in the guitar. I think it looks a lot better.

Stock model shot:

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Mine with mods:

Image Image

I don't particularly like the "rubbed" finish, but it looks fine under stage lights:

Image


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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:58 am
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You remind me of Milo Aukerman.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:20 am
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Buxom wrote:
You remind me of Milo Aukerman.


We both went to college.

We've probably also both played The Fest.

I have anyhow! Albeit in my case an unofficial show (at a Fest venue during the Fest, with Radon on the bill!):

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:35 am
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Something tells me you like punk.

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Friend photoshopped me.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 9:08 am
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Buxom wrote:
Something tells me you like punk.

Image

Friend photoshopped me.


Haha, well played!

Yeah, I likes me the punk rock. I've lived here in Gainesville, Florida since the mid-'70's, first started getting in local bands in the early '80's. Gainesville is a great scene for punk rock and original rock bands in general. I started my current main band, Crash Pad, in 1996 and have had the chance to play with lots of cool local and not-so-local bands over the last 30 years, including Against Me!, Roach Motel (multiple times, both back in the day and on both their reunion tours), Rumbleseat, No More (multiple times), Unsung Zeroes, Billy Reese Peters, The Independents, Barb Wire Dolls (twice), Grabass Charlestons (a couple times, their guitarist Peej used to play bass in Crash Pad), Swaggerin' Growlers (twice), Rehasher, Pinkerton Thugs...

Being a punk rock fan, you may've heard of some of those bands. ;) When I picked up guitar as a kid I had no aspiration to write music or play/sing in public, so although I haven't made any money (to speak of) at it, it's really well exceeded my wildest dreams.

Some shots from my first show ever, Fall '80. At the mic:

Image

Playing guitar, George Tabb (Roach Motel, punk rock author) in background:

Image

Roach Motel playing on our gear (our bassist Frank played drums for Roach Motel), George Tabb is playing my Ovation Breadwinner, which I still own:

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 9:41 am
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Brian Krashpad wrote:
Buxom wrote:
Something tells me you like punk.

Image

Friend photoshopped me.


Haha, well played!

Yeah, I likes me the punk rock. I've lived here in Gainesville, Florida since the mid-'70's, first started getting in local bands in the early '80's. Gainesville is a great scene for punk rock and original rock bands in general. I started my current main band, Crash Pad, in 1996 and have had the chance to play with lots of cool local and not-so-local bands over the last 30 years, including Against Me!, Roach Motel (multiple times, both back in the day and on both their reunion tours), Rumbleseat, No More (multiple times), Unsung Zeroes, Billy Reese Peters, The Independents, Barb Wire Dolls (twice), Grabass Charlestons (a couple times, their guitarist Peej used to play bass in Crash Pad), Swaggerin' Growlers (twice), Rehasher, Pinkerton Thugs...

Being a punk rock fan, you may've heard of some of those bands. ;) When I picked up guitar as a kid I had no aspiration to write music or play/sing in public, so although I haven't made any money (to speak of) at it, it's really well exceeded my wildest dreams.

Some shots from my first show ever, Fall '80. At the mic:

Image

Playing guitar, George Tabb (Roach Motel, punk rock author) in background:

Image

Roach Motel playing on our gear (our bassist Frank played drums for Roach Motel), George Tabb is playing my Ovation Breadwinner, which I still own:

Image


WOW!! That's some excellent history. Glad to read up on it. Also, what kind of guitar is that from your first gig pic??

I'm from NOVA/DC. Yea, there's punk, but it's becoming very diluted and washed up because of post hardcore starting to move in. (which is absolutely horrible) The closest thing to a good scene is Baltimore. I still have hope, though. PAIN! is probably the figurehead for the DMV punk scene now. They're a great group of people, and more importantly friends, who would undoubtedly help any musician. (including myself, I go to them for advice all the time)

Nice to see another punk rocker or on the forums. We're few and far between.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:09 pm
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I have return many guitars back to stock for people. Most had amateur mods done to them.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:25 pm
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Brian Krashpad wrote:
If it doesn't sound/play how I want it to, I don't buy it in the first place. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Honestly I just don't have the time to be modding guitars,


This reminds me of a friend who also plays guitar.
He likes to mod his guitars, and I don't think he's owned a guitar that wasn't at least lightly modded. He usually was in the process of modding and/or re-modding some of them at any one point in time.
So he would brag about how many guitars he owned and how he had more guitars than I did.
But I could shut him up with a simple question-"And how many of them can you play right now?"
Since all of mine could be played, I won.

Guitars you can play>guitars you can't--even if the total amount of guitars you can't is higher than the total of the ones you can play.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:37 pm
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My one electric is like many guitars in one, therefore I do not need more than one electric.

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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 2:36 pm
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Guitars I intend to keep, I don't mind personalizing and prettifying a bit.
Pick guards, truss rod covers, knobs, stickers, straps - that sort of thing.
And strings, sure. That Fender uses .009s, and Gibson .010s doesn't stop me from using .007s and .012s. That includes replacing the nut if needed.

Pick-ups? Rarely. Done it, but only for very good reasons. If I bought a guitar, it was at least partly because of the pick-ups it had.


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Post subject: Re: I am a huge fan of stock production guitars
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:05 pm
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Buxom wrote:
WOW!! That's some excellent history. Glad to read up on it. Also, what kind of guitar is that from your first gig pic??

I'm from NOVA/DC. Yea, there's punk, but it's becoming very diluted and washed up because of post hardcore starting to move in. (which is absolutely horrible) The closest thing to a good scene is Baltimore. I still have hope, though. PAIN! is probably the figurehead for the DMV punk scene now. They're a great group of people, and more importantly friends, who would undoubtedly help any musician. (including myself, I go to them for advice all the time)

Nice to see another punk rocker or on the forums. We're few and far between.


Good to read you James, I lived up in Maryland when I was a kid, so I was up on the other side of DC. Of course punk rock didn't exist back then, haha! It's good that you have found friends in PAIN!, scenes are really all about family and relationships between the kids in the bands and that go to shows, write zines, etc.

And sometimes even some peeps who haven't been kids in a long while. :wink:

Btw. feel free to download our album (for free), it's real oldschool in a Ramones/Pistols/Damned/999 kinda way. It's here:

http://www.crashpadband.com/music.html


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