That was a good trade. I've never been an SG fan. I'm not a big fan of active pickups either... but... Enjoy the toy.

Kong,
Congrats to you and B.O.K. Given the awful winter last year, I'm guessing a little baby boom is on the horizon.

All the best,
John.E

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


facebook.com/313DBC

Thats how I started. I got a higher $ Strat stolen, couldn't afford a replacement, so I bought a used mim, and piece by piece I changed everything. During that time I was laid off, and had plenty of time on my hands. I took to doing repairs and mods pretty quickly, was learning from a very gifted luthier, and now, people pay me to do it.

Something I've learned about swapping pickups, and/ or selling guitars; before people drop a couple hundred bucks replacing pickups, they should start by spending a few dollars and try different capacitors first. Sometimes thats all it needs to breath new life into it. First time I put in a set of Fralin PAF's into a guitar to replace some cheap stock ceramic high outputs; they sounded much better, but it was missing something. I saw it had a ceramic cap on it. So I replaced it with a Mallory, same value mind you, just different material, and it opened the tone right up. Went from sounding "much better" to sounding amazing.

With relacing pickups to sell a guitar, only say what they are if they're percieved to be a big upgrade. GFS, while they may make a pickup that rivals the best ever made (I don't have any real experience with them beyond setting up a few guitars with them), they're really low cost. Right or wrong, 90% of sales, any sales is perception of value. With those, id have just said in the sale posting that i "I upgraded the pickups, as well as all the wiring", and left it at that. People are flying by dozens of ads for guitars, if you don't have anything really unique to say about it, you got to add to the perception some other way.

Maybe I would have said "Ive replaced the stock ceramic pickups with a better sounding matched alnico magnet set tuned for punchy Texas Blues tones". I don't know if thats what they were, just an example.

Btw, how did those GFS pickups sound? I have a MIM reissue body, andv the original tremolo for it. I was thinking of stripping the polyester finish off it, shoot it with nitro, throwing A stock Warmoth neck on it. I was thinking of getting either a brass or steel block from them. I use Callaham or KGC for my own, or people who want something diffrent than regular Fender parts, but I'm just basically trying to get rid of the body and tremolo that's taking up space. GFS is literally a 15 minute drive down RT495 in Massachusette by my fanily. Maybe ill use their pickups.

I love the GFS pickups. I have the 60s Alinco set in one of my Strats and I think it sounds amazing. Anyone who hears that guitar is always asking me what pickups I have in it.

The Texas wound set sounded great. I've used their bridge as well, and I have never had any problems. Their price for a vintage style trem with a full size brass block is ridiculously low.

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You were right on. I knew the Japan Strat was very high quality, but there was something about the feel of the thing that did not agree with me. I was not comfortable with it and had issues with bends, which don't cause me issues on my other guitars. I tried different gauge strings, but could not get it to feel right. I hate having a guitar I don't play, so I didn't regret trading it, but I should have gone for something different.

I hated the SG after a week. It had a rubber neck, not a very good design at all, I was very happy to get $275 for it and be rid of it. I only had $200 total into the strat, so I didn't feel that bad - at least I came out slightly ahead of my original investment. The guy who got the Strat loves it and that does make a difference to me as well.

Now I got the Explorer for $250 and I am really happy. It feels to be a much higher quality instrument than the SG. The neck joint is rock solid, and the Korina looks dynamite. I have an Epi Les Paul Custom and a Dot that I love as well so they do make some nice guitars, but I'll never go near an SG again.

Here's a sound clip I made of the Explorer today ... thinking of swapping out the actives

http://www.box.net/shared/e3etads1l0k94r9gla05

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The problem i had with the few MIJ strats i played was that they were made with Basswood, never liked it.

Hey Kong, Oct is just around the corner! Congrats! When I wanted to practice in the house I bought a line 6 POD and used headphones. One can be on stage with 3 Marshall stacks and no one know in the house but you! Interesting swapping you had going on there. I too have never been an SG fan. I do not know why, but the few I have been around always had a G string tuning issue. Maybe it was just the few I played, as my other Gibsons do not have that problem. I worked on an Explorer a guy brought to me. Same thing as yours, as it was set up for metal and power chords. Had .13s and high action. I out .10s on it, adjusted the truss rod (Does this sound familiar?) and set the string height and man she played nice. Just a bit of a pain to put on a guitar stand! LOL!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Hey Xhefri - thanks for the congrats. We're getting geared up for full on baby mode here. I've got to get the baby's room ready this weekend.

It was quite an odyssey that got me to the Explorer, but I would have traded the Strat for it straight up. The Explorer does play beautifully after the setup (same as you mentioned). I broke down an ordered some gold humbuckers from GFS. I've had great luck with their products. I'm putting a Fat Pat in the bridge ~14k and a Vintage '59 in the neck ~8K. I have the Duncan Hotrodded set in my Les Paul, which I love, and I think the values are similar. I'm going with an orange drop cap, 2 volume and push/pull tone pot for coil splitting both 'buckers.

On the G string intonation note, I've had to turn around the saddle on my Epi Les Paul Custom and my Explorer to get proper intonation. I've been meaning to experiment, I've read recently that Danny Gatton used to set intonation by fretting the note at the 1st fret (very lightly) and comparing to 13th fret. Going to give that a try on one of my guitars.

I picked up a used Pod XT last year and I will have to dust off my headphones pretty soon. We're right in the middle of the big storm tonight and I'm hoping we don't get an early delivery.

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Kong, congrats on the bun in the oven. Congrats to B.O.K...........

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

A friend had 1958 Les Paul SG double cutaway. The Epiphone in the pics seems to be that. Great guitar. He traded it straight up for a 1979 25th Anniversary Strat in 1979. He often said before he passed away 4 years ago he wished he'd never gotten rid of it.