Jeff R

Our good pal Steve Stafford (Austin TX, aka "Bruiser Brody on the HFC) and my good pal Joshua Jones (Tulsa OK) posted on their social media this weekend some absolutely killer demo vids of my Carondelet Dreambuckers I thought you guys might enjoy. Without going into a lot of the techspec that's covered ad nauseum at the Carondelet Pickups website ... Dreambuckers are my hot vintage hybrid magnet humbuckers. Bridge is A2 and A5 and 11.2K, neck is A3 and A5 and 7.8k. First, spins with BrodySteve. Steve's rig is built around Friedman offerings. Next, a spin with Joshua. He uses an Axe FX in his studio.

https://www.allparts.com/products/gs-0005-neckplate-screws https://www.allparts.com/products/gs-3005-short-neck-plate-screws

Thanks to nearly 30 years on this board, it's quicker for me to list the production model Hamers I haven't owned than it is to list the ones I have owned. Guitars, meh ... some of my longest and most dear friendships were initiated via this forum. Forever indebted.

That is too cool, and the song kicks! Attaboy!

If you don't already play harmonica, you should now take it up because I bet that amp sounds like a steam locomotive crossing a south Mississippi pea field when fed by a blues harp.

I have the six-knob Tumnus as well and I absolutely love it. Its best use IMHO is layered atop an already great tone, to simply make it better. And if you treat it not as cake but as icing, it works beautifully over cleans, over gains, over gritty and pushed, the whole spectrum.

The pre-cut wood shims are superb for quelling one's OCD tendencies, but not needed. As detailed in the last reply, the last Ibanez J- clone I shimmed, I used a piece of a old expired health insurance card. It was the perfect thickness for where I wanted the saddle heights and pickup heights to sit. The wood shims are awesome but get the StewMac ones if you want angle consistency. I've read online the cheap knock-offs are very often cut uneven, aka mismatched thickness side to side, leaving you with a cockeyed neck pitch. That's why the S/M shims are so much more expensive. Here's my most common shim, a piece of my business card. Useful ID for the owner in the case of theft recovery too ... "my 'mechanic's' business information is in the neck heel."

Greg a couple years ago shared with me the specific Gregwind HB recipe he gave other winders over the last couple of decades. After reviewing the recipe and winding a few to traditional Gregwind spec, I suggested a slight revision that likely wouldn't change the fundamental tone or feel but would significantly improve durability and ultimately lifespan. Outside of us both having to warranty our work, we ultimately want our work to outlive us, I reminded Greg. He agreed and said go for it, and upon testing my revised recipe, Greg said the prototypes were actually better than any of their predecessors. And because I erroneously wrote "Gregbuckers" on the packaging instead of "Gregwinds," they got a happenstance rebrand too I absolutely ADORE your guitar! No spec revisions to the time-tested "Uncle Greg" blueprint fyi, that pickup is absolutely righteous in the ears and under the hands.

Fender's one-pickup Tele is called an "Esquire." Gibson's one-P90 LP is called a "Junior." Carondelet's TPA-90 pickup is a dogear/soapbar blueprint single coil that drop fits in a Tele bridge with zero mods. First-ever Carondelet custom "Esquire Junior." The three-way blade's positions are - pickup and volume only; - pickup and volume and tone knobs; and - pickup and volume with fixed 4700 pF capacitor for a funky cocked wah "schwa" voicing. If I may say so myself ... this guitar is absolutely badass.

with Dave Navarro's name in transfer decal on the front of the headstock That made me think ... my memory functions akin to old Echoplex tape cartridge, but in decades of hanging out here I can't recall ever seeing an artist's name as part of the transfer decal on any Daytona or T-51, aka the 6IL clear-over-maple F-style bolt-ons of the 90s. Anyone have any examples of one of those specifically with a personalized logo?

Very cool piece, love the wood choice! I actually wrapped up our first Carondelet "Esquire Junior" axe yesterday, I will share it in a different thread next week after folks have fully enjoyed this thread. Great job!

Greg has me winding one of his custom Gregbuckers for his ... he's VERY VERY excited about it!

I have an original CE-2 from May 1983 and a Fulltone Choralflange from 20ish years ago. I prefer the CE-2's voice because I'm a child of the 80s and that baby blue pedal's shimmer is seemingly on every guitar track recorded by every guitarist regardless of genre that entire decade and subsequently in my DNA. But the Choralflange is really close ... and it flanges too! More Choralflange coolness ... I got mine from my pal Joe out in Phoenix, who is both the brother-in-law and the guitar tech for the Doobie Brothers' Patrick Simmons. Joe's CF was on Patrick's board for several years before Joe sold it to me. Those tape slivers are their actual settings hashmarks. It goes without saying I can now absolutely nail that swooshy modulation during the halftime break in "Listen To The Music."

Those are superb as well. That's what I use on our fabs when people prefer locking tuners (I'm a Hipshot dealer). The Hipshots are substantially more affordable than turnbutton-lock Gotohs. They also have over a dozen button shapes/materials from which to pick for customization.

Backside footprint ...

Also from Allparts ... TK-7880 Gotoh SD91 Vintage-style Staggered 6-in-line Keys. Shop them and you will find them cheaper. These in their aged nickel are the go-to tuners for our Carondelet guitars. They are stellar.

Good pal John "Sully" Sullivan integrates clear-as-day position markers into his build's binding.

How does the need for a neck reset present itself? High action after the saddle has already taken down as low as it can go. Meaning the best way to lower the action in this scenario is to change the neck angle as it relates to the body and the string plane. The litmus test I use to check neck angle is by setting the truss rod dead straight, laying a straight edge flat on the fingerboard, and sliding the straight edge up the fretboard into the front edge of the bridge itself. If the straightedge tip touches saddle material, you're typically in good shape. If the straightedge touches the wooden bridge material, you're typically a reset candidate. This exaggerated diagram shows proper neck angle; then how it will shift structurally over time; and then the "after" following a neck reset.

My hunch is yes, it will likely fit an Eagle. If not, you can sell it for what you paid to the typical authorized Gator dealer. You break even, and the dealer gets the case for less than what it would have cost if they had purchased from Gator directly under their dealer contract.

These are excellent cases and literally a steal for the asking price. Up until this spring I was a Gator dealer, and $99 is/was below my dealer cost for that case. I have a few assigned to $2K-plus Carondelet basses in my warehouse right now. I am now a very proud SKB dealer. Why did I drop Gator? Outside of SKB simply making better cases, this is yet another occasion MF is selling Gator cases below dealer cost and for less $$ than the MAP (minimum advertised price) agreement and contract my shop had to sign and pledge to honor to become a Gator dealer. MF is likely using a loophole (i.e., no warranty, discontinued item, "return," "open box") to not violate their dealer agreement, but there is no question Gator is choosing to ignore a totally unlevel playing field.

Even if you are the original owner with all paperwork in hand, and even if an authorized Martin warranty/service center avows you have babied the instrument, the hurdle you likely will not clear is that a 37-year old guitar needing a reset is not premature. ALL set-neck acoustics made of traditional tonewoods shift structurally over time, even high end Martins, regardless of your caretaking. As a rule of thumb, acoustic neck resets are not a question of if, but when. Unless you or your agent can document a manufacturing defect that Martin acknowledges is the cause for needing a premature reset, a free reset is not part of Martin's warranty. Martin is going to say a legit manufacturing defect wouldn't have taken 30-plus years to present itself, so they will deem your claim invalid. Best of luck to you.

Speaking of Solo Dallas and Angus Young tone ... or better yet, beyond Angus tone into brown sound zone. Look at the yellow circle I put in this photo that circulates online. I've read this photo is from the VHII recording sessions. Among all that ID'ed gear, that unidentified box sure looks like the vintage Schaffer Vega wireless upon whose preamp circuitry all this Solo Dallas Marshall boosting voodoo is built. EDITED TO ADD: After I posted, I bounced a message off a new pal I recently made who is a bona fide EVH historian, to the degree of actually being a friend who visited 5150 on a few occasions. I showed him this pic with my yellow circle and asked if it was a S/V wireless. His reply ... Yes he did use one and I think he used it for extra gain

And no, I'm not going for an Angus Young sound. Not that there is anything wrong with that - who can fault a legendary cranked Marshall tone? This resides on my board quite frequently, knob at 2 to 3 o'clock makes R2 on my Boogie Mark III sound like a rabid badger on methamphetamines.