Classic Saturday

Was at Beez's earlier today to get the 3-way toggle switch replaced. That's right, for no apparent reason(s), it stopped working. When it was removed from the guitar, we couldn't see any signs of corrosion / oxidation that affected its good life. Still perplexed as to what really happened. The rest of the electronics were working just fine.

Should have avoided travel to town today as many roads were closed & traffic routes diverted due to the F1 race. The authorities said this annual event helps boost the economy the benefits of which should be re-distributed to the people, yes? But heck no. So who did this benefit, really?

Special '25

So this is how a Gibson LP Special looks like now. Nothing too different from the predecessors not too long ago & there's a return to the wrap over bridge which might be a hit / miss with some of us, especially the intonation purists. Not aware if there's a strong call for the Special to feature non-standard size humbuckers but that's the spec this 2025. There's a bridge P90 version if you are keen. My experience with these mini humbuckers - be prepared to embrace the brightness. Rather excessive.

Pics: Gibson

 

Thank you & goodbye: Epi SG Special

Preparing this one to leave my estate; re-string, re-condition fretboard & a good wipe down. It's one of my go-to guitars for doom, fuzzy stuff, especially so after the pickup swap; those Wilkinson P90s are definitely recommended for drive-inclined indulgences. It's also a testament of how Epiphone instruments have seen revised standards in craftsmanship. 

I won't be employed next month & going back for treatment (2 sessions). If you are the bread-winner with bills to pay, mouths to feed, it's very difficult with no money coming in. It makes you re-think priorities. To all sick Dads out there with your own passion to drive you through your illness - things happen for a reason. Heads up & move on. 

Special arrangements

It's doom Tuesday & time well spent with the Epiphone SG Special. Yes, I'm not averse to the Epiphone brand name, just that not many appeal to me. 

As you can see there, this guitar came default with B500K pots (as indicated); all four of them. This is perhaps why they sound a little restrained when it comes to clarity. To me, single coil pickups go well with 250K pots & the P90 is a single coil pickup. 

Brought this down to Beez's today to have A250K pots in there. As the default pots were CTS ones, I made it a point to get CTS replacement pots as well. Also, the capacitors are a pair of HOSCO .047uf ones, unlike the .22uf that came with the B500K pots. CTS pots are available at TYMC, Hosco capacitors are available at Davis GMC.

While I'm at it, a pair of Wilkinson P90s are the new pickups here. These are easily available through Amazon & they are very affordable.

A fresh set of Darcos 10s for today's doom adventure - available at City Music. 

No Noventa

I'm looking forward to try the Fender Noventa Series. The Strat version, seen above, was available at Swee Lee some days ago but was sold out a day after its listing. Darn! Some of us might not be agreeable with its list price: $1,499 since it's a non-American but there's something about a fixed bridge, P90 Strat that needs to be checked out.

Pic: Fender International

Re-string Jr

I'm still enjoying my P90 moments, maybe it's the coming of age. Maybe I've been listening to doom metal  bands for quite a bit & embrace this choice of pickup for that heavy, fuzz tone. This LP Jr is one of my best P90 tones. Then again, all the P90 equipped guitars I own hold their own in terms of tone.

Fresh set of strings - D'Addario EXP 10s. I have no idea if these are still available off the shelf. This pack is one of those forgotten ones hibernating in one of my guitar bags. It might have been there for a year but knowing D'Addario & their stand for quality, the strings remain usable. Outstanding. Note the slight cosmetic make-over, the Jr's truss rod cover was replaced with a blacked-out version to match the pick guard. I'm also not in favour of truss rod covers that display the model name.

JaGHS

Spent some time with the Modern Player Jaguar, before & after treatment time. It was a smooth affair at the Cancer Center today so my chemo session ended before 4pm; that's a very rare feat for the nursing team as they usually get overwhelmed by 1pm. That's when everyone's back from lunch & resumes treatment. Anyway, had a GHS set of 10.5s in there. The standard practice for a 24" scale guitar is a set of 11s but this doesn't suit everyone, depending on their handling nature of course. I'm in the light touch camp & the Jaguar here is in standard tuning so the tension is about right for me. I don't like strings that fight back, it induces lethargy & mistakes.

Also, swapped out the default string retainers for the ones you see here. The round surface means strings will not get snagged by sharp edges & snap after repeated travel (during tuning that is). FYI, Fender's Modern Player Series (discontinued) are the only Fender-labelled headstock that are made in China. You might think that it's all about cutting as much corners when it comes to Chinese made instruments & selling them for as much as possible but the MP range of instruments proved otherwise. I've had positive experiences with them - at least the ones I tried in person - & ended up buying them. 😅

The Tesla pickups here are such a blast. They can give full humbucking pickups a run for the money in terms of heavy chugging. I'm just glad I snapped them up while they were still available. These are the VR-P90  to be precise, nothing high output but they have their sweet moments under high gain settings. With that said, I had to lower the bridge P90 quite a bit to prevent wolf tones from chiming in during overdriven moments.

Glossless

Managed to spend time with these two before heading for treatment. They are similar in so many ways. It wouldn't be too far fetched to say the Tribute (white) is a refinement of the BFG (red), a slight one at that. More importantly, these are some of the Gibson models that come without a gloss finish which I am a fan of. The Tribute has a slight edge over the BFG as it has a satin overcoat so it does not feel like touching the bark of a tree while playing. Tone-wise, due to the lighter nature of both guitars, they manifest this clarity which is not heard in other LPs which are much heavier. With that said, LP devotees don't quite fancy the ones without that deep, low frequency growl. It's simply the signature tone of an LP. I'm not too particular when it comes to such expectations. In fact, my expectations are simple - a Les Paul serving my needs should sound the way I like it to be & inspire me to play despite how restrictive it might feel. 😎

Gold Glory - official specs

The official specs for Jared James Nicols' Gold Glory was released just about a week ago. The good stuff are kept in tact - ebony fretboard + Seymour Duncan P90 pickup. The rest of the specs are basically the same less the revised Epiphone headstock outline. More interestingly, let's see if the price will be retained at $999 or in many such instances, it's a classic case of bringing it up; it's a 'new' offering, they would say.

Pic: GW

Fender 2021: Noventa

Time for some 2021 Fender guitar highlights... the Noventa Series. These are Mexican models featuring P90 pickups in various configurations. The hard tail Strat above has two & the controls are also reduced to just a single volume / tone combo. The fretboard here is pao ferro.

The Jazzmaster has three & features a 5-way pickup selector that is just like a Strat. Maple fretboard as seen above.

And saving the best for last, you have a single pickup Telecaster. In my opinion, that pick guard there is totally unnecessary. Design-wise, if this one features a regular Tele pickuard, it would mean re-configuring the machines to accommodate the longer P90. If it stays like it is, there are cost savings since lesser material is required. However, no costs will be incurred if it's avoided altogether, yes? Hmm...

What's the deal with P90s? They are in-between pickups; less of that true single coil poke, more humbucking warmth, not to mention some fat, in-your-face tones given the right drive / distortion. P90s in a Jazzmaster is quite a futile affair considering the original Jazzmaster single coils offer a unique interpretation of the former's tone. Fender is offering a quirky variety of their established models. They do not wish to tread the Alternate Reality path once more since only the pickup here offers the difference; there's no design fusion involved. Being the single pickup fanatic, I will definitely check the Tele out. 

Pics: Fender USA

Tribute (Part 4)

If you see Beez in action here, it means that my instrument is in good hands.

Nothing much, just a pair of oranges to oversee the tone performance. Also, not the prettiest of sights but when I took over this guitar, the electronics are in good working order. That's nine years of issue-free existence. 

Here it is once more, looking good in picture but actually a little worn & yellow like the pages of an old book. There's actually a deeper reason why I went all out to buy this knowing too well that I don't need another Gibson, let alone another guitar. Still a little dazed as to how well it plays & those P-90s there, they will stay put. 

Related episodes: Tribute (Part 3) / Tribute (Part 2) / Tribute (Part 1)

Tribute (Part 2)

This Gibson selector switch label is conveniently referred to as the poker chip by the Les Paul community. It looks worn & could have seen better days so a replacement was acquired. Whatever surface it covered got cleaned up as well as seen here.

Please be informed that there is an adhesive cover on the underside that needs to be removed. It's an included feature because:

1. Majority of the Les Paul surface is curved so the adhesive ensures a definite adherence to the surface
2. When fixing the selector back into its slot, tightening might displace the chip so the adhesive ensures it stays put.

Before putting it all back together again, I managed to take a look into the cavity & the wood shavings were all there. I wondered why these were not blown away at the factory but it seems the finish was applied with these bits still there - yikes! They were scraped out in no time. This confirms the fable of  manufacturers hiding imperfections & ineptitude in discrete places. I believe this won't be the case for the higher end Gibsons but we won't know for sure.

Alright, everything back in place.

To be continued...

Tribute (Part 1)

I was in the market for a P90 equipped Les Paul & I wasn't willing to invest in a spanking new guitar, it's just not the right time to do so (read - economic downturn). I chanced upon this one in the after-market. It's covered with that custom graphic & it's not exactly enticing. The former owner cited a preventive measure for doing so; he knew the white finish would cream off so this is a way to mask that out. By the way, this is a 2011 Les Paul Studio '60s Tribute.

The custom graphic was easy to remove. It's an industrial strength sticker so it came off in one piece & did not leave any torn bits on the instrument's body. What it left behind were patches of adhesive.

It's no use fighting industrial stains with regular guitar polish, even the fabled WD40 didn't prove to be effective. I have this adhesive remover for an art project not too long ago & it was the answer to fighting stubborn stickiness; imagine stepping on chewing gum & being at your wit's end in trying to get it off. OK... the Millenials & Gen Zs here might not know what chewing gum is. 

I hope this is a better picture of what I'm fighting with. Many scrubs & more than an hour later, those stains were off. It covered about 2/3 of the body surface so it's not an easy feat. A non-abrasive scouring pad (the exact one featured here: CLICK) was used & I won't recommend doing this if you are dealing with the same problem on a gloss finished body. It will definitely scratch the surface. This Studio Tribute sports a satin finish, while being very susceptible to knocks, it proved to be more tolerant to scouring. 

To be continued... 

Edwards: E-SG-90LT2/P

Edward's 2013 maiden offering; the E-SG models, offered in red & white. Darn, they look good! Those are Duncan's SP90s in there, I know how good they sound. Tempting, tempting...