Tonight's the Night

[Rich_S]

No, not that sappy Rod Stewart song. Tonight's the night I'm finally going to do the pickup swap on my Slammer Series Sunburst. I have a Duncan set that I want to put in it: Custom/59 Hybrid bridge and 59 neck. I'll switch to Hamer-approved cream mounting rings while I'm at it, along with a few wiring tricks.

It's only taken me five months to get off my butt and "just do it", and now that I've posted this, there's no more procrastinating.

[Rich_S]

Here's the "before". The "black on black" pickups just ain't cuttin' it.

[sirskelt]

Mark this as the day that I agree, creme will look much better! I don't say that very often! I can't wait to see the finished product.

[Rich_S]

Doh! I forgot to get chrome screws for my cream pickup rings. The black ones will have to do for now.

A Google search found several pictures of USA Sunbursts' control cavities, all here on HFC. Fire up the soldering iron...

[Rich_S]

GAH!!! The Switchcraft pickup selector switch I bought isn't long enough to reach through the top! THe top's aa 1/4" thick, and the bushing 1/4" long. Looks like the original switch is going to have to last a little while longer...

[Rich_S]

Here's the "after". I think it's more Hamer-ish. Sure, a double-creme bridge and zebra neck would have been the mostest, but I was limited to the pickups I could find used.

The neck pickup is a Duncan 59N. The bridge is a 59/Custom Hybrid with unbalanced coils. The tone pot is wired for spin-a-split, which splits the pickup to the hotter (7.2K) coil. The tone pot also has a push/pull switch that puts the pickups out of phase. Overall, this setup gives a lot of the features of the Page wiring system, but does it with only three pots and no extra toggles.

While I was in there, I replaced the jack with a new Switchcraft. I'll upgrade the switch as soon as I find a good one with enough bushing length.

In keeping with the budget theme, both pickups were purchased used from member of the Duncan forum. The neck pickup was at one time direct-mounted, so its screw holes had been drilled out. I had to solder on a couple of brass nuts and used stainless 4-40 screws to mount it. I left the cover on because I think looks better than the double-black coils underneath.

It sounds good so far, but I've only been able to play it through my Vox Amp Plug Classic Rock (Marshall). I banged out "California Man" through the headphones and it sounded great.

[specialk]

Woo-Hoo! Nice job, and it looks a lot better.

[Brooks]

my 1st hamer was slammer series sunburst that i put dimarzios in (tonezone & humbucker from hell) and sperzel tuners, it was supposed to be a backup but actually usurped my LP studio (which i sold), gigged that thing a bunch in the 90's. great guitars.

[Rich_S]

Second thoughts; I'm wondering if the double-black might be better at the neck. Or maybe look for a trade on the SDUGF for a zebra 59N.

[svl]

Nice job, I like it.

But don't slam the "Tonight's The Night' tune, that little ditty spread more "wings" than Colonel Sanders, Popeyes, Browns and Buffalo Wild combined....

[Rich_S]

I finally got the right nut for the pickup selector, so now it has a real-deal Switchcraft SG-style switch, like a U.S. Sunburst would. Also, while I had the soldering iron heated up, I pulled the cover from the neck pickup. I like it better this way. Yeah, double creme/zebra would be more authentic, but this is the best I could do with the used Duncans I could get.

This is a bitchin' little guitar. Maybe over the holidays I can get my 18 Watter fixed and post some clips.