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Awesome. Looks like Herr Doktor buffed you out with some schwag, too. 

This build thread is guilting me into putting together my SoCal, which is currently in pieces awaiting soldering/assembly. I am a LAZY fook, haha!

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2 minutes ago, RobB said:

Awesome. Looks like Herr Doktor buffed you out with some schwag, too. 

This build thread is guilting me into putting together my SoCal, which is currently in pieces awaiting soldering/assembly. I am a LAZY fook, haha!

 

Arnold_Schwarzenegger_do_it_now_meme.jpg

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In non-Hamer  guitar workbench news--

I've been wrestling with how/if to replace the actives in my Charvel CS Star. Backstory- I ordered it with AHB1 Blackouts and didn't bond well with those. So, I tried EMG's and now EMG-X's which are supposed to be more organic/passive sounding. No dice. So, I've been debating what passives to put in.

I grabbed a 500 K pot, a red SD  '59 for the neck and an Alt 8 Custom (think: ballsier JB) I had sitting around, still in box. The problem (and the subject of this post):  It's a chrome covered version, which will NOT be going into any guitar of mine. Ever.

Two beads of solder are holding the cover to the base. Welcoming any suggestions on how to do this without frying the p'up.

 

 

 

 

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make a jig to hold the pup in place (I use a vice)

with a thin tip standard screw driver, wedge shallow between bezel and cap, kinda close to the solder point.

Heat up solder and twist screw driver gently at same time. hold it till solder hardens.

Like shucking oysters.

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One last question re: the removing of the cover-

Let's say you more or less followed the above prescribed method and the chrome cover comes off but some of the fabric tape that wraps around the coils also comes off. Hypothetically speaking :P  Is this going to adversely effect the performance of the p'up?  Does it need to be replaced? and if so, with what?

 

 

 

 

 

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I have never experienced what you described. the bezel has a lip on each side. bobbins are within the lip edge.

do not ram the screw driver end down, just enough to pry open, you should be within the lip area.

Go look at another pup, examine, plan your attack.

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My terminology impedes my ability to clearly articulate...

There is some form of cloth tape (?) around the bobbins that has partially stripped away during the process of pulling the cover off of the p'up. Is it integral to the performance of the p'up and does it need to be replaced?

 

 

 

Alternative-8-Black-SH-15.png

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Tape is there to protect the windings / bobbin sides.

No performance issue really. More protection than anything.

you could go around it with vinyl electrical tape if you want.

Mojotone sells the cloth tape if you get retentive about it.

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5 hours ago, murkat said:

Tape is there to protect the windings / bobbin sides.

No performance issue really. More protection than anything.

you could go around it with vinyl electrical tape if you want.

Mojotone sells the cloth tape if you get retentive about it.

My Diablo has lost some of the tape on one of the pickups, often wondered what it was for.

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It's for dolphins.

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And here I thought it was something to aid with the transmogrification of the framistats when infused with positively charged whatchamacallits. Geez, do I feel stoopid.

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Pick up swap complete and despite missing positively charged ionic framistat tape inductor whatchamacallits, the Alt 8 works perfectly fine. Mighty fine job of installing those, if I do say so myself- i.e. I didn't burn down the work area and I didn't melt anything into useless slag. :lol:

Actually, the Alt 8 /'59 combo sounds pretty good- think a souped up JB and, well, a '59. Aside from the minor screw up of reversing the connection leads from the toggle switch- bridge was neck and neck was bridge, everything worked out nicely.

Next up: the Kraken Cali gets it's total overhaul! <cue dramatic music>

 

Star1.jpg

Star2.jpg

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The pickups don't match the body paint signature. Attention to detail please. B)

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My lucky streak with soldering continues! The G-Cali arrived last night and I had it on the bench for a quick inspection and Floyd swap.  I noticed that there was no signal coming thru the tuner after stringing it up. Took cover plate off and replaced the battery. Still no go. Found  a critical wire had some how come loose. But as I was reaching for the trusty soldering iron, I happened to notice that the volume pot was a Hamer pot. Let that sink in.

Battery: Active EMGs.

Hamer 500K pot.

Yup- somehow, years ago I had managed to solder some old school hardwired EMGs to a 500K pot. Yuck. No wonder the tone was horrific and the Cali fed back like a banshee.

So, this afternoon I heated up the iron, pulled out the Hamer pot, and luckily I had an older style EMG 25k pot in good shape in the parts drawer. Hell, I even broke out the multimeter to test it to make certain it was 25k and that it was still conductive. It was interesting because I had nothing in the way of a singular and specific diagram to work off of. So, I extrapolated from two that were close to what I needed and went to town.

SUCCESS! Despite some dodgy angles and tight access, I did what I feel was a solid and clean job and she worked like a charm. I still dislike the EMGs and they will be coming out for some proper passives (now accepting suggestions for p'ups-in another thread) but it all works and works well at that! Most importantly, I did not scorch myself, the guitar or any of the surrounding work space! :lol:

 

G-Cali back with the "herd" where he belongs.

12795353_10208657741751516_5941739956876

 

 

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14 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

I still dislike the EMGs and they will be coming out for some proper passives (now accepting suggestions for p'ups-in another thread) but it all works and works well at that!

I'm surprised you don't care for EMGs. You play metal with a multi FX/Marshall, I would think the lower noise floor would be ideal? 

They do need to be EQed differently, to be sure, and seem to respond better with midi preamps/rack stuff. I've never warmed up to active pickups, either, but know many people who get great sounds from EMGs and swear by them. Vive le differance, non?

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9 hours ago, RobB said:

I'm surprised you don't care for EMGs. You play metal with a multi FX/Marshall, I would think the lower noise floor would be ideal? 

They do need to be EQed differently, to be sure, and seem to respond better with midi preamps/rack stuff. I've never warmed up to active pickups, either, but know many people who get great sounds from EMGs and swear by them. Vive le differance, non?

Oui.  I guess that's the issue- I'm a KISS/set-it-and-leave-it kind of player. I have the one multi-FX unit and have dialed in a tone that works well for the passive axes in the herd and little patience for setting up multiple EQs and switching during shows, between the passive and active equipped axes. Moreso, because I have mostly passive p'up-ed guits.

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Gearing up for a huge confluence of guitar projects.

The custom ordered neck for my HA Cali is just about finished and due to arrive within a week or so. This necessitates getting the body painted and all the hardware installed. This will be a first re: the painting. Not really painting, actually- a precision vinyl decal with clear over it. I have a fairly specific and detailed image planned that would require LOTS of prep-hours and thus, $$$ to create traditionally with frisket masking and airbrush or spray gun. The newer method requires I send a hi-rez image to a specialized printer who will print it and the guitar "painter" will adhere it and clear coat it. Zip, zam zoom! Done quickly and affordably, too.

The next item is my G-Cali and the p'up change it needs- still on the fence as to which combo to go with but the neck will definitely be a Hot Rails. Bridge is still under consideration but I want something meaty with plenty of low definition for the heavier selections in our set list. Despite some sound advice on here on how to properly utilize EMG's I really don't care to spend the time to find the appropriate amp setting, especially when the majority of my axes are passive equipped. Current thoughts run from the SD Pegasus to possibly a BK Nailbomb or one that our own Klaus suggested- a custom hand-wound FAT Tozz -XL

Lastly, the Melon Cali comes home soon- the stainless frets are going in and it will be getting a proper direct mounting (instead of the absolute ghetto job done by yers trooly) of the p'up  to go with a new LockMeister trem!

Yee HA!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ha Cali.jpg

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On March 3, 2016 at 8:15 AM, diablo175 said:

And here I thought it was something to aid with the transmogrification of the framistats when infused with positively charged whatchamacallits. Geez, do I feel stoopid.

"to aid with the transmogrification of the framistats when infused with positively charged whatchamacallits" That's the jibberish the geeks at Radio Shack use to try to impress you so they can get into your knickers.  Go to Sam Ash for some accurate technical advise.  Find the kid behind the counter with the tape on his glasses.  Yep that's him.  The one who is still wearing his Wendy's shirt and name tag. He'll tell ya that the Radio Shack duds never took Physics 211.  What they don't know is that the jibberish noted above does not apply in a right to left positron flow. Their jibberish only applies south of the equator and you need to apply Thevenin's Theorem*  Don't forget to factor in El Ninó!

*The theorem was independently derived in 1853 by the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz and in 1883 by Léon Charles Thévenin.  Why isn't it named Helmholtz Theorem, he derived it 30 years before Thevinen?  Thevinen was quite a diva!  Plus Heimholtz forgot to put his name at the top of the page on his 3rd Grade Arithmetic Exam and it was noted in his Permanent File. The mistake hounded him for his entire career.  Your Permanent File is indeed Permanent.  Kinda like that porno you made with your girlfriend.  After she dumped you it went up on facebook. (ooops, how did THAT get thereI).  Lesson?  Don't record, photograph, txt, email, post anything that you wouldn't want to show to your mom. 

If you have read this far you really need to get back to HULU.  Carry on.

Cheers!

caddie

btw-sorry guys about this TMI post.  I got on a roll and was compelled to go on.  The red flag was the second use of "jibberish".

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3 minutes ago, DBraz said:

Jim your Cali's have to be among the most modded out there! 

It sounds like you are chasing that holy grail of guitar perfection and every mod takes you that little bit closer.  I watch with interest!

It's a fools errand, David. Nothing in terms of improved performance is truly gained as a result. It's one more frivolous distraction for someone who's too stupid to accept he missed the brass ring a long time ago.

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1 hour ago, diablo175 said:

It's a fools errand, David. Nothing in terms of improved performance is truly gained as a result. It's one more frivolous distraction for someone who's too stupid to accept he missed the brass ring a long time ago.

Mucking around with guitars, and in turn bringing a smile to your face, is never a fools errand. Its not like you are looking to cash in on your investment. 

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I think it's just a man's nature to tinker with things and be creative. It's like modding your car or improving something around the house. If we didn't satisfy this urge to "improve" things, I suppose we'd still be riding in a horse and buggy.

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Yesterday was kind of a bad day for me. While I stand by my assertion that my modding efforts accomplish nothing in re: enhancing my playing or ability, the modding continues unabated. :P

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