Frank Vignola's Guitar Night, an ongoing concert and livestream series

[David B]

Heads-up for anyone in the Boston area - Frank Vignola and the Guitar Night Band (Pasquale Grasso, Gary Mazzaroppi and Alex Raderman) are at The Regatta Bar this Thursday.

Link: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/fran...973?pl=regatta

[David B]

20 May 2026
James Chirillo guests. Tierney Sutton sits in for a couple of songs.

[sgosnell]

I really enjoy the guitarists Frank has on. The singers... not so much.

[sgosnell]

Dunno, he just stopped appearing. He's apparently still active, shows as appearing with UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) in late February, and is on the faculty at Columbia University Jazz school. This is just from a cursory internet search. His website is waaayy out of date.

[David B]

27 May 2026
Josh Dunn guests.

[sgosnell]

Watching left-handed guitarists play hurts my brain.

[AllanAllen]

Lovely tribute to Sonny Rollins

[AllanAllen]

How do you think Dunn has those pickup controls mounted

[sgosnell]

I don't know, but I would guess either putty or mounting tape. It's also possible that they're mounted like standard controls, using larger washers under the nuts, through the f hole. I can't tell at all from the video.

[David B]

How do you think Dunn has those pickup controls mounted

[David B]

10 June 2026
Bill Wurtzel guests.

[AllanAllen]

You caught me, I went to the source.

[Cunamara]

That is a very clever way to mount them. You might have to use pots designed for a Les Paul with a longer threaded barrel, to compensate for the thickness of the top of the guitar, but what a brilliantly simple way to do it.

[sgosnell]

I prefer Schatten thumbwheel controls mounted in the f holes with mounting tape, but if you already have some standard pots wired up, that method would be easy enough to use. You might not need a longer barrel, if you can warp the washers a little bit. Depends on the length of the barrels and the thickness of the top. With sufficient flexibility and imagination, almost anything can be made to work.

[AllanAllen]

I prefer Schatten thumbwheel controls mounted in the f holes with mounting tape, but if you already have some standard pots wired up, that method would be easy enough to use. You might not need a longer barrel, if you can warp the washers a little bit. Depends on the length of the barrels and the thickness of the top. With sufficient flexibility and imagination, almost anything can be made to work.

I’ve got thumb wheels already. But I’m too chicken to give my Eastman the snakebite.

I’ll probably eat the pickup, thumb wheels and jack as sunk cost and buy a used Epiphone Emperor with the floater.

[GuyBoden]

I’ve got thumb wheels already.

Maybe, double sided extra strong tape. (I've used this double sided tape on guitars, it's removable.)



Silicon would probably hold Thumb Wheels in place, but how risk adverse are you?

[AllanAllen]

Silicon would probably hold Thumb Wheels in place, but how risk adverse are you?

With this guitar? Extremely. I bought the RhythmChief pickup in January and I still haven’t installed it because I’m concerned I’ll drill get neck and not like the pickup.

[rrbasic]

With this guitar? Extremely. I bought the RhythmChief pickup in January and I still haven’t installed it because I’m concerned I’ll drill get neck and not like the pickup.

That’s what happened with me. I was sure the DeArmond 1100 was the right pickup, but I didn’t like it at all.

[sgosnell]

You can mount the pickup using Blu-Tack or similar putty. There is no need to drill any holes. Whit Smith uses putty by the pound on his vintage Gibsons. I've used it for years on multiple guitars. I've seen zero issues with the finish, all with nitro lacquer. Attach the pickup with putty, connect the thumbwheels to the pickup and output jack, and to either the inside of the f hole or underside of the pickguard, and you can remove it all without any permanent change to the guitar at all. You can use an endpin jack, or there are ways to connect the jack to the tailpiece or pickguard. It can sometimes take a little work to completely remove the putty, but it's just a matter of wiping it all off, It does come off cleanly with no evidence it was ever used with a little elbow grease. I use putty even with the mounting rod, because it allows positioning the pickup to the correct height and orientation, and I like to think that it sounds better when coupled to the top.

[AllanAllen]

You can mount the pickup using Blu-Tack or similar putty. There is no need to drill any holes. Whit Smith uses putty by the pound on his vintage Gibsons. I've used it for years on multiple guitars. I've seen zero issues with the finish, all with nitro lacquer. Attach the pickup with putty, connect the thumbwheels to the pickup and output jack, and to either the inside of the f hole or underside of the pickguard, and you can remove it all without any permanent change to the guitar at all. You can use an endpin jack, or there are ways to connect the jack to the tailpiece or pickguard. It can sometimes take a little work to completely remove the putty, but it's just a matter of wiping it all off, It does come off cleanly with no evidence it was ever used with a little elbow grease. I use putty even with the mounting rod, because it allows positioning the pickup to the correct height and orientation, and I like to think that it sounds better when coupled to the top.

I did a test run with putty and the pickup fell off in 5 minutes. I didn't do any wiring, it fell off so quick. Are you pushing it back on all the time?

It just kind of went from being a fun project to just another problem I didn't want to deal with. The tele is fine for small group gigs and I haven't had a big band gig or rehearsal since fall. Now we've got one in July and if they want me to solo I'll need to get this sorted.

[sgosnell]

Once the putty is in place and the pickup has been pushed firmly in place, I've seen no need to do anything, it just stays where I put it. I do use a sufficient amount of putty, covering the entire bottom of the pickup maybe 1/8" deep, maybe less, but certainly make it squeeze out the edges. If you have a lot of polish there, that might be an issue.

[GuyBoden]

I did a test run with putty and the pickup fell off in 5 minutes. I didn't do any wiring, it fell off so quick. Are you pushing it back on all the time?

It just kind of went from being a fun project to just another problem I didn't want to deal with. The tele is fine for small group gigs and I haven't had a big band gig or rehearsal since fall. Now we've got one in July and if they want me to solo I'll need to get this sorted.

I've been using Black Tack. (Available here in the UK)

It's much stronger than Blu-Tac and can be carefully removed with a Citrus Based cleaner and a non abrasive plastic card.

[AllanAllen]

To get back on topic, I saw PonPon Chen is coming to guitar night in August. One of my favorite parts of guitar night is rising talent mixed in amongst the veterans.

[David B]

Upcoming guests:

June 17 - Vinny Raniolo
June 24 - Sara Caswell (violin)

July 1 - Janis Siegel (vocals)
July 8 - Sheryl Bailey
July 15 - Chris Flory
July 22 - Jimmy Bruno Birthday Celebration
July 29 - Ed Cherry

August 5 - Ed Cherry and Jimmy Bruno
August 12 - Ponpon Chen (vocals/guitar) Dennis Lichtman (clarinet)
August 26 - Jan Knutson

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

What’s the pickup in PG’s sunburst 165/175 this week?