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Impressive mod!
Originally Posted by cjm
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02-17-2011 04:09 PM
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FWIW, I just took one of my old Silvertone archtops to my luthier yesterday to have a CC pickup installed. I went with the pickup from CC Pickups in the UK.
And a few days ago, my "new" 1950 ES-125 got its first use in actual combat conditions (at a jam session). So far I'm lovin' it!
When I get the Silvertone back, if there's any interest, I'll do a comparison of it with the 125 (and my '50 ES-175 too).
Bill
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yes ....... i'm interested
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I have a Daniel Slaman guitar which I love.Have a look at his website for 'new' ES150 types that he builds. Lots of vids and mp3s.
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I spent a lot of time on his website, but I'm afraid that until I win the lottery, I won't be able to buy a guitar from him. Originally Posted by bananafist
Bill
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Yes they look fab Originally Posted by bananafist
I fancy one of his ES250 types with a CC pickup in there
just dreaming tho , I'll be sticking to my cheap Ibanez for now
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The pickup in installed, but the guitar needs to be refretted and the bridge needs to be sanded a bit to fit the top better.
Bill
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Well, after finding several problems including a partially detached fingerboard and a bent trussrod, the guitar is finally done. I'll have it back next week. I'm looking forward to hearing how it sounds with that CC pickup.
Bill
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I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. I had a Vintage Vibe CC pickup on my Slaman, but I fancied a more acoustic sound, and now have a custom humbucker I had wound for me to the same spec as the Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gent neck pickup.5k resistance with 42 gauge wire and alnico II magnets. Its not perfect, but, like then CG pickup, it rolls off a lot of the woofy low end response, and allows more volume without feedback. It'll do for now!
I tried out a Le Grand yesterday, the guitar shop I went to had two (!) one used. Nice looking, flamey woods, beautiful finish, right name on the headstock, BUT, the acoustic voice was round and fat (or do I mean dull?) and not very loud. Nice looking guitar, but but I saved myself a lot of money! My Slaman is still the only archtop I've played, with 11 gauge nickel strings, which has a sweet tone, reasonable volume, and an easy 'electric' action. I plan to try going up to 12s, as the main limiting factor is arthriticky fingers.Last edited by bananafist; 02-26-2011 at 07:03 AM.
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Nobody has mentioned the Gibson P-13 pickup.
I have one 'bumper' style that came with the 40's/50's Harmony guitars and have it
installed in a cheapo DeArmond X-135. It sounds killer. I think it sits in between the CC and a P-90
but also has an airy acoustic character in the tone. But still a very thick and warm vintage jazz tone with
the similar CC clearness.
Besides that I play a '51 ES300 with two P-90's or a 70's Aria Pro II PE-180 with humbuckers. So that covers
the jazz tone spectrum pretty much I think. I would die for owning a real CC ES150 one time.
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I actually like recent Gibson P90's, and while they may not sound exactly like the 50's models, for sure I like them as much as HB's, even more in some guitars. I have a P100 equipped 135 and while it's not nearly as strong / loud as my recent P90 guitars, it also has a very good tone.
I've had 50's Es-125's, LP juniors, and even two 54 LP customs and the major flaw they all had was a substantial amount of noise when playing quiet passages through a tube amp. I'm not sure how some players who love them tolerate the noise of the older pups.
For rock (anyone remember Leslie West) the volume overshadows the pup noise so there it's a no brainer.
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I'm addicted to the low strings on my P-90 ES-175. The high strings sound great too. Sometimes I miss the thickness of a humbucker up real high, but the difference is not that great and it's easier to get thicker than trying to get a thick-sounding guitar clearer.
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"I'm addicted to the low strings on my P-90 ES-175. "
Someday I hope to find an ES175 with P90's that I like and then I'd decide on whether or not to keep my HB equipped model.
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Question for Joe Vanilla: What do you mean by "bumper" style p/up? Is it that p/up with no polepieces, chrome cover that has the " speed bump" running up and down its cover, used on Kay, Silvertone, Harmony guitars even in the early 60's?
Just curious cause I have an old Kay, that needs work, with 2 of those p/ups. I liked the sound of it, but figured it was too weak with those. I was gonna change them for P90's since the guitar needs repairs and isn't worth much anyway. And it's a hollow body with a flat top, looks like a knock off of a Les Paul.
Maybe those p/ups should be re-commissioned in that guitar?
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The "bumper" style P-13 bar pickup is the one without the pole pieces. The were used on some 40's Gibson steel guitars Originally Posted by Jimmy Mack
and on the Harmony and Silvertone H-50 series archtop guitars.
The Kay pickups are a little smaller in size and also do have a sort of "bumper" on the cover. It is actually more some sort of a ridge.
Anyway, the Kay pickup are fine sounding pickups but they are no P-13's.
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Funny.. I had an old harmony (I forget the model)
neck was BEEFY but straight. Played ok with a bit of setup work.
Had a P13 in it (If I understand you correctly) and just ..underwhelmed by the whole thing.
It was a wall hanger. When the back started to come undone and the binding started to shrink I sold it for like 275$ (last year)
The guitar below inst mine.. Mine had harmony in gold stencil that had mostly worn off and a faux-flame sunburst back
Is this what you mean by a P13?
(again, not mine.. but exactly like mine Harmony H51 and Orpheum Amp
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I have a 1963 L5 which had a CC pickup fitted at the time of its original purchase. Although it has inevitably lost a fair amount of its original magnetism over the lifetime of the instrument, it still makes 'that sound' some of us love. On most gigs I am playing it through a Hiwatt 20/40 (switchable) valve amp. I find that on the 20 watt setting the CC very nicely induces a bit of valve overdrive, enough to give just the right amount of gruffness to what is already a pretty vintage sound. I have toyed with the idea of replacing the pickup with one of the modern CC replicas, but then I think "It's lived its whole life in the L5, what a shame to part them".
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Yes, that is the P-13 I mean. Originally Posted by SamBooka
Funny.. I had an old harmony (I forget the model)
neck was BEEFY but straight. Played ok with a bit of setup work.
Had a P13 in it (If I understand you correctly) and just ..underwhelmed by the whole thing.
It was a wall hanger. When the back started to come undone and the binding started to shrink I sold it for like 275$ (last year)
The guitar below inst mine.. Mine had harmony in gold stencil that had mostly worn off and a faux-flame sunburst back
Is this what you mean by a P13?
(again, not mine.. but exactly like mine Harmony H51 and Orpheum Amp
Your Harmony sure had a life.
I have also had a same type of Silvertone archtop with that pickup.
As I recall the guitar itself wasn't that impressive (had a sag in the top). The pickup however I thought was very nice. However with emphasized bass in combination with that guitar. Yet still resulting in a very thick creamy single coil tone.
I now have the same bumper type with original pot harnass installed in a D'Armond X-135 archtop. Sounds great but different. Less bassy.
Under the hood with the bumper there is a steel bar with the coil wire directly wired around it. As simple
as it gets. But also refers directly to the Charlie Christian design I think apart from other magnets and pressumably
different wire gauge.
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Why cant you just recharge the magnets? Originally Posted by philbert
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I keep thinking about getting the pickup remagnetised, and then I never quite get round to it! I did chat to the guy at CC Pickups in Gloucestershire about it. He could do it, but really wanted to get me to buy one of his new ones. My excuse ( if sheer idleness ever has an excuse) is that I never think about it till I'm actually out at the next gig. Having driven 600 miles to two gigs over the weekend I feel even lazier than usual! Originally Posted by SamBooka
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