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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:23 pm
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I have to be happy with what I have at this point unless I win something. A social security check with age discrimination to boot these days is an extremely high wall to go over and way to wide to go around.

windwalker, that sounds like one hell of a nice axe.

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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:05 am
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bluesky636 wrote:
Oh, well. My mistake.


Bluesky; you dont happen to be a skydive are you?? Only reason I ask is because i jumped professionally for a few years, mostly as a camera flyer, and all skydivers tend to end letters or emails with "blue sky's, calm wind, and soft landings", or someting to that affect, i had to stop jumping years ago because my right shoulder (of course the one I use to dump my canopy with) kept falling out of socket in freefall.
Just curious.


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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:22 am
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Location: Lee, MA
Retroverbial wrote:
Wally Dow wrote:
I just have been lucky, I guess.


+1

However I never buy "dog" guitars or cut corners using budget-priced generic parts -- as they say, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Likewise, I don't consider myself a "luthier" in the traditional sense (I use the services of a great one when it's time to get the guitar into playing condition). I merely conceptualize the instrument's electronics, hardware, and cosmetics, purchase the parts that fit the vibe I want, then perform the basic assembly. I let my luthier dial everything else in then I begin the "bonding" process that will ultimately render the guitar ready for comfortable stage use. I apply similar precepts to my amp restorations and "what-if" re-creations. Some folks seem to think I'm pretty adept at it......

Rawk on!

Arjay


When I say "dog" i mostly mean something that may have cheap hardware, a neck in desperate need of a refret (and in the case of Les Paul at one point, a refret and neck reset). I wouldnt buy a Squire and put all kinds of high end parts on it, its like buying a Ford Escort, then dropping in leather seating, moonroof, expensive wheels, etc. The parts are better than the guitar.
But some companies (PRS Imports is the one that I always use as an example). The PRS SE's IMO, come with some so-so pickups, okay tremolo (but TERRIBLE tremolo block, anyone who ownes one, should look into a KCG replacement, I had one when i took it apart, i could see several stress cracks in the block, from normal use. It looks like the top of a pan of brownies), cheap pots and tuners. BUT, the neck/bodies are some of the best built, and more importantly MOST CONSISTENT imports Ive played. MIM's, Epiphones, etc; all seem to be the same; some of them are jewels, and some are the rought. PRS's are consistently well built, and make a fantastic platform to build off of. I have a couple PRS's, I have an old (99) McCarty hollow body, that I bought from Paul Reed Smith's personal collection, when I went to a workshop we needed to go to so we could continue to do warranty work. I told him how much i wanted one (the older ones were about 4"in the middle of the body, and about 3" on the sides. The new ones are much thinner. I also have a Custom 22 (maryland built) on long term loan, and a PRS SE Custom 22 I picked up. I pulled out the SE pickups, and the pots, and replaced them with Fralin Pure PAF's, and some custom tapered pots, along with some custom wiring, and new tuners. I play that guitar now more than the other 2, I love it. And its a sleeper. I pull it out when i jam with various people, and they know i have high end stuff, so they laugh when i pull out an SE..... until they hear it. That seems to shut them up pretty quickly.


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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:24 am
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Wally Dow wrote:
I have to be happy with what I have at this point unless I win something. A social security check with age discrimination to boot these days is an extremely high wall to go over and way to wide to go around.

windwalker, that sounds like one hell of a nice axe.


It is, and its mine. And i mean MINE. Everything is tailored to me like a tuxedo, the neck profile is made specifically to my hands. While everyone who plays all drool over the neck, they dont realize how much better it is in my hands, just as if i did the same for their hands and playing style.


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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:30 am
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Location: Lee, MA
Wally Dow wrote:
windwalker9649 wrote:
Because sometimes, I'll come across something used (i havent bought, and kept a new one in years), and I really like it. It just may be lacking in the electronics area. I build my own too. While, for the most part, i cant build a strat cheaper, and with better hardware, wood, neck, than the American Vintages, or Am. Dlxs, or even some Artists, but its still going to cost over $1000, sometimes a few hundred more. Im going to be waiting a couple months for the right one piece body to use, I use nitrocellulous finish, and that takes a month from first spray, to fully cured and ready to mount. So i'll see a used strat or tele, or anything for the right money, and if i have it i buy it. I deal with the electronics later, then keep or sell it.
Like I said, while some people anguish, I dont, and Im sure Retroverbial doesnt either. I get a lot of enjoyment doing it, especially when i can take a dog, and make it into a guitar people play, then beg me to sell it.
Plus a lot of these cats talking about changing stuff have had the same guitar for years, and now want to tweak it a bit. You learn A LOT when you do this, and the more you do it, the more you end up learning.
That's the reason, at least for me it is.


Makes sense to me. I just have been lucky, I guess. Being a technician, and having done a lot of luthier work in my younger years, I guess I just pretty much know right up front when I shop a guitar. but your explanation makes sense to me, also. Don't let the Hobbyist rank fool you on my posts. I am a veteran Pro of 54 years, and been there, done most of it all. I guess I just have mellowed in my old age .... LOL


Hobbiest just means you made a certain amount of posts, it has nothing to do with what you actually are. I was confused with that before myself, at some point it'll change to guitar tech or somethign like that, and on and on. Its all the amount of posts. Some people have been on here just a year, and have thousands of posts, so they move up quick. I think its kind of a dumb system, because it doesnt tell people what you really are.


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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:45 am
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
windwalker9649 wrote:
bluesky636 wrote:
Oh, well. My mistake.


Bluesky; you dont happen to be a skydive are you?? Only reason I ask is because i jumped professionally for a few years, mostly as a camera flyer, and all skydivers tend to end letters or emails with "blue sky's, calm wind, and soft landings", or someting to that affect, i had to stop jumping years ago because my right shoulder (of course the one I use to dump my canopy with) kept falling out of socket in freefall.
Just curious.


Nope. Former freelance photographer, "Blue Sky Photography".

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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:57 pm
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Btw, I played a Strat with the new pickups, the N3's. I wasn't impressEd at all. They had a real stale tone, no personality, and lacking dynamics. Should have stayed with the SCN's. I want a fan of those, but they had their own tone, just not my tone.


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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:36 pm
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windwalker9649 wrote:
......... I think its kind of a dumb system, because it doesnt tell people what you really are.

Of course you are already well aware that the number of 'pick's one accrues is merely a tongue in cheek ranking system set up by Brad during the inception of this Forum and in no way intended to characterize a contributors involvement with music. We learn about each other through our commentaries and, as you can well imagine, have already come to recognize that you have quite a bit to offer. With regard to your opinion of the N3's, I heartily concur, remembering quite well the nature of the fanfare when the SCN's were introduced.

Doc

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Post subject: Re: SCN vs Vintage Noiseless vs N3...help
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:04 pm
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Location: El Paso, TX
I love my SCNs. But at the same time, it all depends on the sound you're after. I won't knock any of these pickups...they're all noiseless and that's what I was looking for. But at the same time you DO lose some of that sweet classic sound with the SCNs and VNs but I can't speak for the N3s. You should try a stock pickup, definitely from an American guitar first, then the MIM (which actually didn't sound horrible)...but at least for me, the SCNs were a HUGE upgrade to my 2009 Fender Standard Stratocaster. Overall, its a great guitar. I love it and would never sell it. But Fenders are an addiction, so be warned. Looking into buying my 2nd Fender in a couple months. Good luck! :D


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