My Talman 530 project is finished... with pics.

dot-dot-dot · #1 11-25-2002, 05:49 AM

Here you go, chaps; a photo story of the conversion of a humble TC530 from surftastic indie guitar to full on rawk monster.

1) As bought. Faded scratchplate, nasty Strat-style knobs (fine on a strat, horrible here), 3 lipsticks, no fancy switching.

2) The parts - the Talman without its scratchplate, assorted tools and the new Kent Armstrong PAF, new switch and pickguard.

3) The assembled pickguard, awaiting wiring up...

4) The completed article! New chrome Tele-style knobs, 2 of the original Lipsticks and the KA PAF. The little switch by the volume knob sets the humbucker to single coil, series or parallel config for lots and lots of sounds.

Next up is a phase switch for the middle pickup, possibly combined with a small volume boost to bring the out-of-phase sounds to the same level as the in-phase ones. I also need to silver the pickup selector knob and the truss rod cover.

Predator · #2 11-25-2002, 07:03 AM

That look incredible mate!

It really does! How does it sound?

dot-dot-dot · #3 11-25-2002, 07:23 AM

Lovely!

The lipsticks are much thicker than you'd expect, but also have a nice bit of jangle to them. At the moment the middle/humbucker position is wired out of phase, which is an interesting sound but the volume drop is a bit severe. The humbucker is quite superb... for all of £42 delivered it's incredible. At least as good as the Seymour Duncan '59 Trembucker in my RG, the Kent Armstrong is smooth and rich; lots of lovely harmonics. It even sounds good clean... which in my experience is a first for a humbucker. Being able to split it or run it series or parallel is really rather useful. I can use it in parallel for normal use, and go to series for a little volume/gain boost and a slightly thicker sound. Very handy indeed.

The three pickups are also very nicely balanced in terms of output. They're a very nice combo.

Predator · #4 11-25-2002, 07:50 AM

THAT I gots to hear man, make some MP3 clips!

dot-dot-dot · #5 11-25-2002, 07:55 AM

Hmm... sounds a bit technical... I'll see what I can do.

gkelm · #6 11-25-2002, 07:55 AM

Great job...looks fine!
Greg

nuno · #7 11-25-2002, 08:59 AM

i dont go nuts for the Talman, but that's a...

F****** GREAT JOB, DOT!
SHE LOOKS A-W-E-S-O-M-E, NOW!!!
Ibanez better see these pics and steal your idea!
congrats man!!!

Predator · #8 11-25-2002, 09:02 AM

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!![/b]

dot-dot-dot · #9 11-25-2002, 09:04 AM

Thanks! I am rather pleased with it...

And I've been wanting Ibanez to reissue the Talman for years now. Move it up the range to a similar space to the S and RG 4xx and 5xx models and I'd think it'd sell very well. Plus I'd like a few more of them...

Bogus · #10 11-25-2002, 02:25 PM

Thats super sweet dude!

BeastofLove · #11 11-25-2002, 02:31 PM

Nice job! Looks killer... now I need to get me a Talman and mod it- thanks for the pics and info.

-Ben

dot-dot-dot · #12 11-26-2002, 05:40 AM

In case anyone is interested (and I hope this isn't against any rules here), the new pickguard was made by the very helpful Tony Dudzik at www.pickguardian.com, and I would recomend his work.

Mods - if this sort of linking is not allowed please delete...

Scott 74 · #13 11-26-2002, 11:19 PM

Great job. Looks alot better. Always wanted a Talman, but my heart is set on bluesparkle Bigsby! How is the neck on those... Thin, Thick, Straty, baseball bat???

dot-dot-dot · #14 11-27-2002, 07:28 AM

I'd say the neck is thicker by a fair bit than my RG570 (a 92), but slightly thinner than the Strats I've played (a few Squiers, a couple of Mexis and a couple of US, but I couldn't tell you the models). The fretboard seems flatter than a Strat's but just a tad more rounded than the RG.

The neck really lends itself to comfortable chord playing due to the extra thickness, but certainly doesn't get in the way for lead. It's also a lovely piece of birdseye maple - I've never been a big fan of figured wood, but this is really quite tasteful. Very light lacquer on it, no stickiness at all.

I have to admit that if I could afford (and justify) it, I'd buy a LOT more Talmans. The playability, sound and looks make them an absolute bargain for the $3-400 they go for on EBay. Even considering that they're typically more like £300 over here in the UK, they're still a bargain. This one is far superior to the Parker P-38 that was my previous "second" guitar, and my RG is in serious danger of losing the limelight to the newcomer.

Lawks. What did I just say?