MPR

@lang Did you take a look at my Artist Korina P90 + Filtertron?

(The Butah was actually the first overdrive pedal I ever bought back in the day, after finally conceding that my 4x10 Hot Rod Deville needed help getting a good drive sound at low volume.)

As discussed in another thread, I had a surprise chance to find out, though I didn't really put it through its paces:

Honestly, holding onto the other guitar wasn't even a temptation. I know it's worth more on the open market, but I didn't want maple and victory inlays; I wanted the spruce top and clean fretboard (if I could have custom ordered one, I'd probably have gone with no inlays at all). I did think about asking for some sort of monetary credit for the hassle, but I figured it was already gonna be a rougher day on the guys at the shop than on me, plus they had to pay quite a bit of extra shipping between the return of the wrong guitar and overnight air for the right one. And on my end, two more days of waiting and a stop by the UPS store on my way to work isn't exactly a heavy cross to bear. And now I have a funny story to tell about my new guitar.

I got a pair of those, so I'm good to go if I want to put the 'trons on the new Newport Pro. But my orange Newport with the Bigsby doesn't fit the regular Gibson-style rings. I measured the chrome rings that came on it as 92 mm x 46 mm, and the length between screw holes as ~84.3 mm x 37.5mm.

Got the right one delivered late this morning. It does have a bit of binding separation at the upper waist and lower cutaway, but that was in the description. Bridge pickup cover has a fair bit of pitting. I was planning to swap in some TV Classics on this one anyway, but I plugged it in to test as-is with the Lollars, and it sounds ace. I recorded an A/B of this and my Artist Custom (with the stock Seth Lovers), and I was surprised that the Lollars are quite a bit lower output. I recorded the Newport first, then without changing any settings on the rig, I plugged in the Artist and was immediately clipping the recording interface on the clean channel, had to cut about 12dB to get roughly the same perceived loudness clean. Anyway, the hollowbody and slightly lower output definitely make this sound smoother and more open than the Artist. The Seths have a bit more quack. Two different flavors of good. I'm still thinking one Newport with Firebird pickups, one with Filtertrons, an Artist with Seth Lovers, and Artist Korina(s) with 3 P90s gives me a pretty killer stable. I actually wanted to move the Firebird pickups from my other Newport (vintage orange transparent with Bigsby) to this one and put the 'trons in that one, to complete the nod to Gretsch, but I'll gonna have to get or make custom pickup rings to do so, since that Newport came from the factory with the bigger chrome rings that TV Jones's Gibson-style mounts won't fit.

That sub-octave on the bend at 1:41 caught me off guard. Also, I don't listen to much hard rock like this, but I've gotta give these guys their props; they slayed.

Yeah, I'm guessing someone had a rather uncomfortable conversation with the manager after my phone call.

On Sunday, I ordered a 2005 Newport Pro in Vintage Natural from Empire Music. UPS delivered a guitar box today, I opened it up, and inside was… this Newport Pro with an amber flamed maple top and victory inlays on an Ebony board. They did send me the right case, though—in the guitar I actually ordered, someone had swapped out the Seth Lovers for Lollar Imperials and put different knobs on it, and the original pickups and knobs were in the case pocket. Seeing as the guitar they sent me is listed for a $999 more than the one I bought, I'm surprised they weren't a bit more careful. Anyway, they sent me a return shipping label and promised to overnight me the other Newport (in the maple Newport's case) as soon as they see I've dropped this one off at UPS.

I bought this from another HFCer a few years back; came to me with a pair of Mojotone ’56 Quiet Coil P-90s. Near mint condition; some light dings in the finish on the back of the neck, but nothing I've ever noticed while playing. Grover tuners with Ebony buttons. I bought a pair of TV Jones Classics in the P90 form-factor to experiment with; currently, the guitar has the TV in the bridge and the Mojotone in the neck, but I can include the extra two pickups and/or swap in the combination of your choice. The guitar rocks. The only reason I'm selling now is I've acquired a pair of the exact same guitar in its 3-pickup version (re-wired so I can still get the neck+bridge combo on a 6-way toggle). Hence, this guitar is now redundant for me. I'm thinking $2k seems fair in today's market. An extra pair of either pickup goes for ~$300 new, and the TV neck pickup hasn't even been taken out of the box. I'll deliver it to you personally within a reasonable distance of New Haven, CT (i.e., between here and NYC), or ship it for $100. Here's a demo with the current setup: And here it is in action last year, with both Mojotone ’56 Quiet Coils: And here's a demo with the current setup:

Yeah.

And… I bought it. Do I need two? No. But it could be fun to experiment with different pickups (I have Creamery Firebird pickups in my Newport, and they make a version of those that come in P90 covers; 3xFB could be a thing), or convenient to keep one at church while the other's at the house. Or, maybe @velorush will get his wish.

I just bought a nearly identical guitar at the end of January from Shane Theriot (this one), paid more than this guy's asking. I swapped the rotary for a Free-Way 3X3 switch and wired for two volumes and one tone. It's pretty sweet—Strat-like with the volume rolled down, beefier turned up, and I can use neck+bridge as well as the five stock positions. @topekatj, I also have the 2-pickup version of this guitar and am thinking I'll sell it, now that I've got the 3-pickup version and have concluded the middle pickup isn't getting in my way. LMK if you're interested. I bought it three years ago from a guy on the HFC, and it came to me with Mojotone '56 Quiet Coil P-90s installed. I also got a pair of P90-sized TV Jones Classics to experiment with in it; currently it's got the Mojotone in the neck and the TV in the bridge, but swapping back would be no trouble. I'm in no rush to sell, but it's been sitting idly in the closet while I've been getting to know the new one.

Lex V2 has both a volume knob and a "dry" knob to blend dry signal with the rotary effect, so it should address both your issues. I used to have the Neo Mini Vent II, which sounded great but didn't have any control over the intensity or wet/dry mix, so I sold it and got a Keeley Rotary. I like the Keeley on slow speed with the blend knob set very low for a subtle chorus effect, or on fast with the blend set a bit higher for more of the Hammond organ thing. The knobs are big enough to turn with your toe mid-song. It doesn't have a volume control, though, and depending on how your rig is EQ'd you may perceive a slight change from your bypassed volume; I compensate by engaging a boost as needed. I've never tried the Lex, and while I know I checked out online demos of both before I bought the Keeley, I forget now what made me choose it over the Strymon.

He shows it in the video at the top of this tread, starting at 7m43s, mentions that he hasn't been using it enough because it's mint condition and he already had the Vanguard he plays a lot when he received it.. That's what prompted me to reach out to him and say I was interested if he wanted to sell. I'm planning to replace the rotary with a Free-Way switch (6-way toggle), so I can make changes more quickly live and have the option of middle pickup or neck + bridge.