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Post subject: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 9:58 am
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Hey guys,

I'm redoing my fender blacktop. I absolutely love the neck on this thing, I don't know why, its a MIM, but the neck is just the right fit for my hand. Unfortunately I don't play it enough, this is because

1) The pickups are a little too full on the mids, pushes the amp hard which is great, they do a good job at that, but even backing off on the volume doesn't take away the MIDS cranked tone of the pickup

2) My american special is pretty much my go-to guitar. Texas special pickups into a mesa mark v.... its my tone... but everyone needs a change and when the pickups aren't to your likings but the neck feels like butter, you need to do something...

Further to this I've recently changed the hardware on my american special, it was good fun playing around with stuff :D now I'm bored, so its time to tinker with something else, heres where this build comes in:

This is a pick of my current blacktop:

Image

Image

and heres a pic of my recently "goldified" american special

Image

So what I'm thinking is a sort of a "sister" guitar. Back and gold rather than white and gold. Humbuckers rather than single coil. I want to put coil splitting in there to make it super versatile. But I also know that splitting the coil will drop the output, so I've arranged (should I need to) to have a battery pack route put in to power some kind of preamp.

If I need a pre-amp wired in, maybe to fit chromeface's dream of the clapton mid-boost kit on a tele, I don't know if I can fit that in WITH the humbucker/single coil push pull. I might need more routing. Has anyone done this before?

N e way, I'm open to suggestions, my luthier friend doesn't get home for another 3-4 weeks, so plenty of time to talk pickup choices, hardware choices, pre-amp and switching choices. The strat forum guys always go over the top on this, I think the tele guys might need to pipe up.. ;)

I have an american special, texas specials, single coil. I can do the tele thing. Lets think outside the box on this one...

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:37 am
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In your place I'll drop a pair of EMGs (89 in the neck and 81TW in the bridge) with switchable SPC mid boost in the master tone pot. Unlike the 85 and 81 these active humbuckers allow coil tap/split operation.

Though the 89 and 81TW are offered with solid black and ivory pickup covers, you can put some gold pickup bezels for a proper black and gold appearance.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 6:23 pm
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Chrome!! Straight up active pickups?.. I dunno... I guess I've listed to enough metallica and zakk era Ozzy to have an idea as to how'd they sound.... What's the split sound like? Gilmour-esque?

I've always been a passive bloke. Is there a preamp that gives passive coils that active emg sound?

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:20 am
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EMGs are active and had their own circuits.

These pickups are capable to handle a 27V power supply.

EMG states that you can go as high as 27V but here is the catch ... from 18 to 27 volts you will more than likely not notice a change in sound at all. The additional downside is you have to find room in already tight spot to include the 3rd battery.

The mod is supposed to make the pickups a little more "organic".

Impulse7 wrote:
I guess I've listed to enough Metallica and Zakk-era Ozzy to have an idea as to how'd they sound.... What's the split sound like? Gilmour-esque?


Check out these videos and tell me what do you think.





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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:06 am
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I recently built a strat with 2 humbucker brought from 'iron gear pickups' in the UK. Properly made pickups at a very decent price. I went solely off reviews I read and ordered a set of 'rolling Mill' pups in gold, very pleased with them.

The ones I picked are a vintage type output, not overly heavy or full on, but very articulate and defined, and when cranked through my orange amp they sound like they're alive and busting to get out of my guitar, really fizzing it's hard to describe.

At half the cost of a pair of SD's though, I will be going back for more. They produce a few different types, in normal and over wound spec. All can be coil tapped aswell, and come with great diagrams.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:08 pm
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Ok, so chrome I had a listen to both of those. Great sounding pickups. Was good to get an idea of a list "full on metal" tone that is standard.

You got me thinking man, I've used passive for so long, maybe it is time to stick a set of actives in there and see what happens? and if I go down the emg dual-tone route that will still be able to get that single coil tone.

I'm gonna see if I can find some clips online of the Iron Gear that moochy has suggested and see how we go.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:00 am
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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:38 pm
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Man those are some good sounding pickups.

So a friend of mine is getting LTD with EMG 81/60s in it next week. I know its mahogany body + ebony fretboard aint the same as rosewood + alder BUT I'm gonna sit down with that thing, dial up my amp and see if I can get a decent rock tone out of those things.

If I can dial it in with that guitar, then I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go the EMG route. If not, then I'll revert back to the routing option with the push pull and a toggle for a preamp on board.

OTHER THINGS TO REPORT, Purchased stuff to paint the guitar with, will post pics of what I got later. I'm not going to start painting until I know what pickups I'm gonna use, because if I don't go with the EMGs then I'll need to route the body, and theres no point in painting if I'm gonna cut into the body.

So pics of the paint gear tonight, then this build thread will go silent for a week....

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:21 pm
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I'm an idjit, I'm routing out a battery box regardless of what I choose. And after reading this review:

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=16226.0

I think I'm getting closer to having picked my option....

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:23 pm
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Okie dokie so its been a while, heres an update:

Battery box purchased! body of guitar professionally attacked to make space for the battery box:

Image

Image

Then went in with a chisel to take out the remainder and we're good to go (I'll take a snap shot of the box in there tonight). That middle drill hole is ever so slightly protruding over the cavity. By half a mm. This is what happens when you "eyeball" it. You know what they say- measure twice cut once OR Meh close enough is good enough. Thats the full saying. Any way the smallest bit of putty will be used to fill in that gap, applied after first lot of sanding so I don't take it out.

Sanding and painting will begin this easter long weekend: In the mean time I will be ordering hardware today:

EMG81TWX for the bridge and an EMG89XR for the neck + gold hardware and a new nut :)

Back in a couple of days with more pics.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 2:20 pm
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I would of put the battery access under the Pickguard....

Actually, I wouldn't use active pickups regardless...

Better idea would of been to get lower output humbuckers like Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers.

My guess is the guitar may also have the wrong pots and caps too....

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:48 pm
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Don't worry detroitblues, everything is going to be just fine :)

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 12:42 am
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The FSR Custom Telecaster HH is fitted with EMGs.

Image

This huge-sounding metal beast with its sinister vibe and stealthy black finish over a solid mahogany body has tonal versatility and looks that make it welcome in any venue at a price that makes it a real Tele value. Mahogany body and set mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard and 6-saddle string-thru-body hardtail bridge provide great resonance and longer sustain. Cast sealed tuning machines keep tuning spot-on while stunning transparent finishes let the brilliance of the maple figuring shine through; it's even capable to handle the Slipknot/Fear Factory/Limp Bizkit/Marilyn Manson repertoire with no problem.

High-output tones are produced by a pair of EMG 81 and 85 humbucking pickups.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:37 pm
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Nice chromeface: Yeah thats the kinda vibe I'm going for, but with a bit more bling and a little less "meettaaaaaalll". We'll see how it turns out :)

So hardware has been ordered and I'm going to have the thing painted today, heres the sanded body:

Image

I has indeed lost its shine, heres the back where you can see some dodgeyness with the battery box hole:

Image

and heres how the box fits in there:

Image

So I've got the wood filler out and I'm patching and sanding that before cleaning down the body, whacking on the gloves and giving the body 3 coats of black (I'm painting this, so it doesn't matter the colour of the filler.

Image

Thats all for now, should have painting finished tonight so we'll then wait a week for the paint to harden and sand it down again to a proper finish :) Hardware will turn up in 2 days, and the pickups were ordered from musiciansfriend.com about 4 days again now.... they haven't even shipped yet :( N e way, thats what happens when you want pickups that people don't stock :)

Cya soon with some cleaning and painting pics

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blacktop Mod: Paint, Hardware, Finish, Pickups
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:07 pm
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Ok so guitar is puttied and painted:

heres a degreasing happening

Image

heres the first coat of paint, very light, you can still see the grey through it

Image

Image

The thing that became clear here was I hadn't sanded the putty down NEARLY enough. So I went to town on that (don't have a pick) and then did another coat.

dry, coat, dry, coat, dry, coat 1 and 1/2 cans of paint later and we're here:

Image

Didn't take a photo of the back, but the sanding of the putty came out smooth as silk and any roughness of the edge itself will be covered by the battery box so I'm very happy with the results. Now waiting a week for the paint to really cake in before I start the wet and dry sanding to a shinny shinny finish. Hardware should arrive tomorrow so I'll post some pics when I get that stuff.

Dan

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