trials and triblations.
I learn best from my mistakes. *i just hate making mistakes on expensive guitars.
Last night, I stuck my
EVO bridge from my RG into the BFP to see if i liked it before I ordered the light blue one. *Went in without a hitch and worked right off the bat. *
Then, i tried to put the TX special into the middle. *That's when i fell flat on my face.
It seems that the Jem single coil is a bit taller than your standard Strat P'up. *The p'up cover is about 1/4" deeper than the strat's too. *So what did i do? *I should've just put the black strat p'up cover in there and lived without the lt blue middle, but NOOOOOOO....
I attempted to push the pole pieces inthe TX up so they'd get thru the JEM p'up cover. *What ended up happening was the whole bottom fell off the TX and some of the winding came loose. *It also disconnected from the solder points. *I put it in anyway, not realizing how badly i'd f'd it up and sure enough, it didn't work at all. *(poor kevan was getting phone calls every 20 minutes last night).
So I hung my head in shame and put the guitar back together without and single coil in it. *
I wrote Steve Blucher from DiMarzio an e-mail telling him what i have, what I play, what's already in the guitar and what i want it to sound like when I'm done and could he give me a recommendation as to how to get that sound out of this guitar (I'm looking for a good funky clean sound with more gain than the JEM single has to offer, by the way)
He recommended the VirtuAL 2 Bridge p'up (yes, for the middle). *I saw on the specs that it has the higest output of the VirtuAL 2 set - I'm guessing that's why he chose that on. *He recommended that I wire it as a single, rather than as a hum.
I went to GC today and picked one up - fortunately, the Virtual 2 is as tall as the JEM single, so there was no issue there. *My buddy there rang it up for $50 and I stuck it in and it's real nice. *(I felt much better about myself when i put it all back together and it worked
I was playing around with it and i now have something I never had before - a cool sound between the middle and the bridge - it could almost pass for an acoustic. *I haven't played it 'turned up' yet since the kiddies are in bed, i'm just using headphones...the true test is on the gig tomorrow night.
I tried to do an A/B sound comparison to post here on the forum, but I just couldn't get it all together and I'd already wasted so much time with these electronics the last few days so I gave up. *Sorry guys
I ordered a Tom Anderson 7 string Single Coil from Warmouth last week - it should be here in the next day or two. *I'll be giving the UV report soon enough. *
I know they have 6 more in stock if there's anyone out there who hates Ibanez Single Coils as much as i do...they're only $56
I wrote to Tom Anderson to get the specs and all he told me was that they're wound to be like a
vintage Strat p'up with a little more gain....just what i wanted to hear. :biggrin:
Just thought I'd share that with y'all.
What's the verdict on the Blue PAF-pro bridge p'up i have now? *should i sell it or keep it? *I have someone who wants to buy it...how much should i ask?
~Kenny
