Peter Bernstein -- Zeidler Archtop?

[solidman]

Steve Berger, a NYC jazz guitarist who worked with Zeidler and Pete Bernstein told me this:

Pete Bernstein's Zeidler guitar does have a Gibson humbucker pickup ... it is the Howard Roberts pickup that was installed on the 1970's reissue of the Howard Roberts guitar, i.e., a standard Gibson Humbucker, that Gibson made solely for that guitar ....Gibson made the pickup slightly thinner and with a bracket so that it could mount directly to the fretboard extension of the guitar without contact with the top. Ziedler did not custom alter the pickup.... it is just a stock Gibson pickup for the 1970s version of the Howard Robert's model. You can still find Howard Roberts model Gibson guitars from the 1970s on Ebay.

The Howard Robert's pickup used on the 1970s edition of that guitar by Gibson, was made before Gibson started marketing their pickups using fancy names such as "57 classic" and others.... back then, the pickup was just a called a "humbucker"

[jorgemg1984]

Does anyone knows how thick is the top on Bernstein's guitar? This is, is it thicker than other Zeidlers in order to improve the sound trough the amp? Thanks!

[wintermoon]

Does anyone knows how thick is the top on Bernstein's guitar? This is, is it thicker than other Zeidlers in order to improve the sound trough the amp? Thanks!

John always hated putting pickups on his guitars, so he never built them to accomodate a pickup as far as top thickness etc, were concerned. he built all of them as strictly acoustic guitars.

Pete's I think is one of the first archtops he made--not sure about his guitar, but John a problem w/the tops sinking a bit on his first guitars and started to brace them heavier as a result.


the first one he made for me started to sink a bit on the treble side but still sounded great.
wish I still had it...

[jorgemg1984]

Thanks wintermoon!

It's just usually when you add a pickup to an acoustic archtop it doesn't sound as great as Peter's does... so I was thinking it might had a different top thickness. All this because I am having a custom archtop built for me and I am trying to decide on top thickness...

[Low Down 77]

I had a 1949 Epiphone "Delicious", One of the last ones made on 14th St. in New York. I asked Steve Berger To install a pick up, a humbucker, This one made by Atilla Zoller, gone now. Since the guitar had enough room, a half inch is about correct, he was able to put two tiny drill holes into the maple under the fretboard.

While I was super nervous about drilling anything into that guitar, it worked out extremely well. And Steve was even able to connect it up to The strap post near the saddle. That guitar also had a beautiful mahogany bridge that was made by Ken Parker. It had these amazing PCO electric pick ups that were acoustic.

So with that single guitar, I could get more of an L5 sound out of the pick up, And more of a Van Eps chunky chunk out of the pick ups on the bridge, all through the same guitar jack.

It was really something.