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The only shredder guitar / only Floyded guitar I have ever owned was a Charvel. I much preferred the aesthetic of the Ibanez Jem guitars, but it came down to what @diablo175 said, the neck. 1987 Model 3 (bought in '86) with EMG SA/SA/85 and SPC control I soldered up in my dorm room. I wish I had it back!

I am not a fan of the 57's. I have a set in a CS ES339. Same kinda deal, muddy, no expresivness. Just gets muddled together and lost. Tell Josh what your looking for and he'll deliver. Has several times for me. I don't know how much time he has for winding between running the Bar/dancehall and being on the road gigging. But give him a shout.

It's funny, that same 72-ish SG (that I completely destroyed through "modifications") had for a time an interesting neck position pickup. I had, at the same time ('86 or so) an original '56 Danelectro Silvertone U1 (that I sold here around 2008 to @GusS, but I digress). If you've been into one of the originals, the pickup and mount look like this: The bracket just screws to the bottom of the lipstick tube. If you take the pickup off the mount the pickup is the exact length of the ears of a humbucker route. So I removed the bracket, placed the pickup in the route and screwed the empty humbucker ring into place. This held the pickup snuggly in the route and viola! A single coil in the neck position. It actually sounded very good (IIRC - it has been forty years...). The only reason I took it out was to put the Danelectro back together. Not suggesting you do anything of the sort. I bring this up only to point out, there are lots of options other than another humbucker, especially if you're looking for chime. Don't forget about the DiMarzio EJ Custom that is, according to Mr. "I can tell the difference between an Energizer and a Duracell in my fuzz pedal," is "almost as clear sounding as a Strat pickup."

Words cannot express what Wanye accomplished! Just a straight up good guy! The world just lost a good one RIP Wayne

Wayne’s passing came as something of a kidney punch. Charvel Guitars were peppered throughout my formative years as a guitar player, and what eventually drew me away from my beloved Hamer Californians!! A lot of that came down to the neck. Charvel has always had really comfy necks! From the lower end, Mexi-builds all the way up to the Custom shop, masterbuilt’s- they’ve excel in their comfy and fast neck, profiles, even when the front work didn’t quite measure up.

Try a Duncan Jazz. That one has surprised me. Or have Josh G rewind the original pickup for you. He turned a wooly booly sounding neck T Top into a springy snappy clear pickup for me.

Humbucker sound Chimy? 😂... switch it to a single coil... i.e. low wind P90 P-90 Low Wind Neck Pickup | Lollar Pickups https://share.google/EPA8QzFkxPFR53DCt

For an experiment, in 1986 I pulled the tarback bridge humbucker from my '72 (ish) SG and put it into my (first guitar) plywood Sears guitar (not even a Silvertone). Did it sound like the SG? Same electronics, after all. No! It sounded like a crappy plywood guitar. Anecdotal, to be sure, and as far as science is concerned, controlled only for electronics, but it was enough for me to conclude the wood does matter. I'm no expert (at all!), but the resonant frequency of the pickup and the resonant frequency of that particular slice of 'hog might not be geting along. The resonant frequency of the pickup can be altered to some extent (and cheaply) with different volume pot values, but the most radical change would be through moving to a different pickup. I have a '91 Gibson (a semi-hollow) that came stock with the 490T/R combination and that guitar sounded really bad, especially in the bridge. I held that the 490T/R was a terrible set of pickups (in spite of general interweb opinion to the contrary) and that was that. I replaced them with Lollar Imperials and the guitar is fabulous. Right now I have our Minister of Music's 2005 Les Paul Studio sitting next to me for some much needed TLC. The 490R (and I think 498T) pickups sound really good in that guitar, so I now conclude those pickups are fine. It wasn't the pickup, it was the combination of pickup and guitar. Right pickup/right guitar. [/random musings about things I am only guessing at]

Wow, that Star body is 🔥

Closest I ever got to a real quality Charvel is the two Mighty Mite body Star and Explorer guitars along with my Japanese import M1. I enjoyed the small series of emails with Wayne about my Mighty Mites. Rest well Mr. Guitar Maker. 😎👍❤️🏁

Thanks, yes, I've raised and lowered the pickup, pole pieces. I haven't changed the strings since I bought it but I have a set of D'Addario XL slated for later today. Amps are, Cali Tweed, Tone King Imperial Tri-Tube, and handwired '64 Deluxe Reverb clone. There isn't enough wood in the SG to mount the pickup right against the bottom of the fretboard like in my LP and 335 so I'm wondering if that can contribute to the midrange I'm hearing. There is a lot of conversation out there, some saying tonewoods don't mean anything, but, the guitar is much thinner and no maple on it. It has a distinctive sound but what I'm not hearing is the clarity or "bell" tones I hear in the others with similar pickups. More experimenting to come but the string change is first and rain is in the mix today so is a good day to do that.

Welcome to my life… 😁

I owned this for a wee while. nice finish, neck more like a thin D style (probably the reason I sold it) . Seller is friendly and trustworthy. I bought the opaque blue matching headstock special from him. Sometimes I just feel plain silly with all the back and forth of guitars in my life. 🥲

I come close to that If I sum up fees, taxes, more taxes and shipping 🤣

Saw Lizzy live many times. Scott always delivered! He could hang with anyone on the stage with him. Great player, great tone. A true rock guitarist!

Great stuff, Dana! Not only the playing, but killer vocals too! Rock On!

Have you played with the individual pole pieces, Saul? Raising and lowering the whole pickup can help, but pole piece adjustment can make a big difference. Try lowering the pickup and raising the pole pieces, then tilt the treble side up a bit. BTW, what strings and amp are you playing it through?

Wow, RIP to not only a great guitar builder, but a huge part of my life of loving guitars... I've owed and played more Charvels/Waynes throughout the years than any other manufacturer combined... you were a very kind and helpful man and you will be deeply missed 😢 And I hope your name legacy continues to flourish

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/tolleson-az/wayne-charvel-12968731?fbclid=IwY2xjawTHruRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR5GYO8Un4gZEW8ThkZeIxk2_P5kKmttc6NbXhdaNsCLvmzDINDnuevMuAxbUw_aem_eN_cnlk2Dtin7iOHurB7ng

A friend says Brave browser does this as well. I haven't tried it. https://brave.com

Cool! You’re like Rudy on The $6million Man rebuilding better, faster, stronger.

I found a video of a comparison. I like this guy's stuff because he doesn't use a mic on the cone. Just a room mic. Maybe just his phone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgDrtVY-u8Q

Is the snail mail address at the start of the thread still good? I tried to go that route at the beginning of the year and it came back as undeliverable. Although with my snausage fingers it's possible I boogered the address. I'd go digital but I closed my PayPal account ages ago. Don't have Venmo either, but do have Zelle. Which seems directly opposite to what Ted can take. Par for the course for me.

I got an Historic Gibson '61 SG/LCP before spring. It has the Gibson '57 pickups. Three of them. I don't care for the neck pickup sound. Or maybe I'm just used to what other guitars sound like in the neck position. There is no chime in the SG even with the volume and tone all the way up. I've raised and lowered the pickup. I haven't changed anything in the control cavity (yet) because it's all original. So my question is, is there something about the SG that makes it more mid-rangey? Less chimey? I don't dislike the sound. And it's good that I have at least one double hum guitar that sounds differently from the pack in the unplayed pile. So is this what a SG does? Kind of like the Tele does what it does? This is my first experience with a SG.

I was thinking about it, but alas.