WTB: Diablo I, Centaura, Cali

N

nosajwp

New member
I'm in the market for a new-to-me Diablo I, Centaura, or Cali. I've got my eye on the aztec gold Centaura Greg has, but I'm open to others too. My main concerns are that the neck is in good shape (no Hameritis), it has black hardware, and has all the cavity covers.

Show 'em if you've got 'em (and wanna sell 'em)!

 
I have a couple of pieces you might me interested in. Wasn't I supposed to get you a copy of "Operation: Livecrime"? E-mail me.

-Bobby

bobpeltz@hotmail.com

 
I've got a Diablo I'd like to sell. It has Rio Grande Muy Grande (bridge) and Tallboy (neck) humbuckers, splitable with push-pull pots.

My Diablo

It's has a few dings, a non-original trem arm (chrome, while the rest of the hardware is black), and a non-original hard shell case. Plays great, sounds great.

$495 shipped UPS ground in the continental US.

Let me know!

-Jonathan

 
I don't know what kind of case it is...it came with the guitar. It's a generic, plastic hard shell case with a large, fist sized indent on the front that looks like it was left too close to an electric heater at one point. But it functions just fine.

As far as the pickups go...

In single coil mode they sound like beefed up Strat pickups. In humbucker mode they aren't like anything else I've encountered. Rio Grande sells single coil versions of the Muy Grande and the Tallboy and these humbuckers are really just two of each strapped together, one reverse wound to make 'em a true humbucker. They are very full and hot. You can get all kinds of cool combinations with the pickup selector in the middle position and then messing with the push-pulls. They also respond nicely with the volume rolled back. It makes the guitar very versatile.

They are very large, deep pickups. The installer had to do some routing to accomodate them (but you can't see that from the top).

If you like I'll record a demo of it over the weekend so you can get an idea of what it sounds like.

-Jonathan

 
Yes, a demo would be cool. Do the Floyd and nut have much rust on them? Also, you said something about single-coil mode...does it have push-pull pots or something? Does it have much fretwear?

 
There's a little rust on the nut and bridge. You can see it pretty well in the pictures (you can click them for close-ups). And yep, each pickups has a push-pull pot to split it.

I had the frets dressed when I had the pickups installed (3 years ago?). The guy who installed them (Nut Winter) does great work and the frets feel great. I haven't played it much in the last couple of years...other Hamers have been getting more of my attention.

I'll let you know when the demo is ready.

-Jonathan

 
Here is an MP3 demo of my Diablo

Diablo MP3

The demo was recorded with one amp setting. All the tone changes are from switching pickups, manipulating the volume, tone controls and push-pull pots. The guitar does a convincing strat imitation in single coil mode, and has a full, growly voice in humbucker mode. I think in general this guitar's strength is its single coil sounds. If you are a humbucker purist then you'd probably do better finding one with traditional humbuckers rather than these pickups, which are really paired single coils wound like humbuckers. But if you are a single coil player who likes to have a bit of extra "oomph" at his fingertips, this guitar is for you!

Let me know ASAP if you are interested. Otherwise it's off to ebay!

Thanks,

Jonathan

 
jwhitcomb3 - Go ahead and send it off to the 'bay. Beautiful guitar, I'm just really attached to a thick humbucker tone. Thanks for the offer though!

 
Thanks Jorge!

I had so much fun recording that I'm having second thoughts about selling the guitar...

-Jonathan

 
One more thing...can you record a track with more gain dialed in on your amp? What kind of hard rock tones can you get out of the Rio Grandes? Will they do a hair band type of sound?

 
One more thing...can you record a track with more gain dialed in on your amp?  What kind of hard rock tones can you get out of the Rio Grandes?  Will they do a hair band type of sound?
Click to expand...
Okay, I'm up for a challenge! /emoticons/default_biggrin.png

With apologies to any real rockers out there, here's me attempting to coax some hard rock noises from my Diablo:

Chung-cha-cha-chunkAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

My last real exposure to hard rock guitar was late 70's Rick Derringer, so I'm sure this sounds horribly dated.

BTW, I'm starting to bond with this guitar again...

-Jonathan

 
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