Charlie Christian pickup installation

[icr]

Archtop bracing does not always extend the length of the top. For example, there may be a soundhole in the middle.

[stringmaster]

I wonder how the second generation ES150 with the P13 in the bridge position is braced. That might make for a cool 2 pickup guitar with a CC in the neck position. Anyone know?

[nopedals]

I think the P13 is just screwed on the top, not routed. So you could turn one into a conventional ES150 if there was room for a rout. These are not much cheaper than conventional ES150s though.

[Bromando]

I wonder how the second generation ES150 with the P13 in the bridge position is braced. That might make for a cool 2 pickup guitar with a CC in the neck position. Anyone know?

Man, you actually read my mind here! I have been looking at THAT 150 for at least a year every time I went to the fret, but never picked it up to play because of the pickup... The moment I start hankering for a 150 I go back and it's sold! Usually works that way....

I wonder if they are still X braced? If it is just screwed to the top, a la goldfoil, I don't see why it wouldn't be.

I know that a X braced guitar generally can't have a routed bridge pickup, because that is pretty much where the braces will "cross".

The other question is, does a second gen 150 have the thick top/flat back of the first model or did they carve it completely differently? I feel like those attributes are probably a big part of what give the 150 that sound!

Also, I have played a Roy Smeck/Recording King version... The one I played wasn't to my taste and honestly was a bit too funky for me. Lack of adjustable truss rod doesn't inspire confidence, though I do have other guitars like that.

I think the P13 is just screwed on the top, not routed. So you could turn one into a conventional ES150 if there was room for a rout. These are not much cheaper than conventional ES150s though.

I see them going for almost 1/2 to 2/3 the price but yes, once you factor in the cost of a proper cobalt pickup and the work to rout it... I agree, might not be worth it.

Didn't Doug Raney play an L7 with routed P90? I wonder who did the work, and how the braces were dealt with!

[oldane]

The other question is, does a second gen 150 have the thick top/flat back of the first model or did they carve it completely differently? I feel like those attributes are probably a big part of what give the 150 that sound!

If you refer to the 150 made after around 1945, it was laminated (apart from one or two samples which had a carved maple top). It was 17" and had a 25.5" scale. As such it resembles the ES300 more than the 1930s 150 (nothing wrong with that - they sound great).

Didn't Doug Raney play an L7 with routed P90? I wonder who did the work, and how the braces were dealt with!

It was an ES350 (laminated) which was factory equipped with 2 P90's but the bridge PU was removed at some point, leaving a hole. As Doug lived and played a lot in Copenhagen, where I also lived back then, I had the chance to see the guitar close up on several of his gigs. It was VERY roadworn and beat up - not at all a collectors item. I suppose it eventually fell apart. Later he used a Gretsch with cats eyes holes for a while but soon got another ES350, equipped with a CC which was replaced by a P90. In later years he played a number of different guitars.

[Bromando]

If you refer to the 150 made after around 1945, it was laminated (apart from one or two samples which had a carved maple top). It was 17" and had a 25.5" scale. As such it resembles the ES300 more than the 1930s 150 (nothing wrong with that - they sound great).

No I meant the 150 that started production in '40 that had only a the P13 bridge pickup... Misguided attempt to get the guitar to "cut" better.

Interesting about Doug's guitar, always thought that was an L7. Thanks!

[Thumpalumpacus]

Archtop bracing does not always extend the length of the top. For example, there may be a soundhole in the middle.

But if the design is based upon full-length bracing, cutting into that doesn't seem wise to me in the long run.

[pingu]

I wonder how the second generation ES150 with the P13 in the bridge position is braced. That might make for a cool 2 pickup guitar with a CC in the neck position. Anyone know?

Or maybe a cool one neck pu guitar as the P13
isn't routed in ...
One could move the PU to the neck posn ...

Then if it sounds awful , put a VV CC floater
in instead ....

[Jabberwocky]

Bromando, rough crowd!

If you're still here, here's Ed Cherry with his L-7 modified with a 3-point mount CC pickup AND he even put in a Flo cutaway!!!