scottcald Posted August 3, 2021 Posted August 3, 2021 5 minutes ago, diablo175 said: Technically not on/from my bench but definitely a build for and specs from me. Spitfire 2 is days away from paint!!! Chunky, narrow neck, flat radius. Interesting. 🤣 ETA: Josh's pickups kicks ass!
diablo175 Posted August 3, 2021 Author Posted August 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, scottcald said: Chunky, narrow neck, flat radius. Interesting. 🤣 ETA: Josh's pickups kicks ass! 😆 Yes, Josh's p'ups most certainly do! Spitfire 2 will be getting either the double slug from the Spitty 1 or a standard Mongoose. They seem to work exceptionally well with 'hog bodies based on my experience with the C3.
Stike Posted August 3, 2021 Posted August 3, 2021 13 minutes ago, scottcald said: Chunky, narrow neck, flat radius. Interesting. 🤣 ETA: Josh's pickups kicks ass! I was texting him yesterday and will have a few things inbound before too long.
diablo175 Posted August 18, 2021 Author Posted August 18, 2021 I just gave my C3 a new kill switch volume pot!
Dave Scepter Posted August 18, 2021 Posted August 18, 2021 28 minutes ago, diablo175 said: I just gave my C3 a new kill switch volume pot! Cool... gotsta get get me one of those... Is it the Shadow Kill Pot?
diablo175 Posted August 18, 2021 Author Posted August 18, 2021 29 minutes ago, Dave Scepter said: Cool... gotsta get get me one of those... Is it the Shadow Kill Pot? Dave- per my reply to your query in FB- https://www.ebay.com/itm/312233087819
diablo175 Posted August 21, 2021 Author Posted August 21, 2021 Once again, I have ventured into territory that many consider a violation of the laws of nature, or at least, of the tenets of guitardom. I modded my Charvel CS DK 24. 😆 The spring loaded, push/push pot as a volume control and pick up selector was wholly unacceptable. So, I had a pro repair tech create a new hole for a kill switch volume pot and dedicated the old one to a proper three-way toggle switch with a factory spec correct toggle tip. The finish is unharmed, the mods are well done and highly functional and the guitar’s capabilities have been expanded. Win- win!
diablo175 Posted October 9, 2021 Author Posted October 9, 2021 So, after 2 years or so, we're nearing the finish line for Spitfire 2! This has me positively champing at the bit! Body's in Lee Garver's hands for clearing and should be back to Shane in 8 days. Assembly, and delivery by late October. 👍
RobB Posted October 9, 2021 Posted October 9, 2021 Lee is doing the clear coat? Who did the graphic paint?
diablo175 Posted October 9, 2021 Author Posted October 9, 2021 5 hours ago, RobB said: Lee is doing the clear coat? Who did the graphic paint? Brian Bock, the talented dude who did up my custom shop Charvel.
diablo175 Posted November 13, 2021 Author Posted November 13, 2021 Ever since the Charvel custom shop DK & the HEL Spitfire 2 arrived, a bar was raised and a precedent set in playability & tone. Naturally, not being one to shy away from tinkering, I decided to see if I could get Spitfire one up to that same level. In terms of materials, ergonomics and comfort, features and general playability, it is already on par with the other two. The key factor, in my findings, was the pick up. IMHO, the Gravelin Mongoose hybrid was an improvement over the double slug Mongoose variant, but was still a little too mid range-y. It sounded great by itself or if paired with instruments that covered the other EQ spectrums but seemed lacking in upper mids & treble bite. So I swapped out the Gravelin J2B (Josh maintains that this is truer to the original JB pick up) from the Bengal Cali and put the Mongoose hybrid in its place. I love it when a gamble pays off! The Spitfire one now has comparable mid range bite and honk, albeit more musicality. Don’t know how to quantify that. It just sounds like it has more subtle frequencies, making it feel more full & musical. In exchange, the Bengal Cali has taken on more, subtle dimensions with regards to its frequencies. A little more of the lower mids along with the mythical Gravelin musicality!
Travis Posted November 13, 2021 Posted November 13, 2021 23 minutes ago, diablo175 said: Ever since the Charvel custom shop DK & the HEL Spitfire 2 arrived, a bar was raised and a precedent set in playability & tone. Naturally, not being one to shy away from tinkering, I decided to see if I could get Spitfire one up to that same level. In terms of materials, ergonomics and comfort, features and general playability, it is already on par with the other two. The key factor, in much findings, was the pick up. IMHO, the Gravelin Mongoose hybrid was an improvement over the double slug Mongoose variant, but was still a little too mid range-y. It sounded great by itself or if paired with instruments that covered the other EQ spectrums but seemed lacking in upper mids & treble bite. So I swapped out the Gravelin J2B (Josh maintains that this is truer to the original JB pick up) from the Bengal Cali and put the mongoose hybrid in its place. I love it when a gamble pays off! The Spitfire one now has comparable mid range bite and honk, albeit more musicality. Don’t know how to quantify that. It just sounds like it has more subtle frequencies, making it feel more full & musical. In exchange, the Bengal Cali has taken on slightly more dimensions with regards to its frequencies. A little more of the lower mids along with the mythical Gravelin musicality! Love everything about this post
diablo175 Posted November 13, 2021 Author Posted November 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Travis said: Love everything about this post Thanks, Travis! I am obviously a fan of Gravelins but this swap highlighted both his ability to produce p'ups in a wide range of tonal possibilities and also underscored the necessity and benefits in matching the pickups to the guitar's tone wood. The J2B does VERY well in the alder Spitfire and the Mongoose hybrid works great in a 'hog-bodied Cali. This tracks with my previous experience with Mongeese(?) in 'hog bodied axes.
Travis Posted November 13, 2021 Posted November 13, 2021 17 minutes ago, diablo175 said: Thanks, Travis! I am obviously a fan of Gravelins but this swap highlighted both his ability to produce p'ups in a wide range of tonal possibilities and also underscored the necessity and benefits in matching the pickups to the guitar's tone wood. The J2B does VERY well in the alder Spitfire and the Mongoose hybrid works great in a 'hog-bodied Cali. This tracks with my previous experience with Mongeese(?) in 'hog bodied axes. Yeah, I’ve got a Mongoose variant in my maple neck thru/poplar bodied Charvel and a straight up Mongoose in my alder bodied maple/maple partscaster. Both sound fantastic. Josh rewound the JB in my Mirage 2 but I don’t remember what the exact specs were. I’ll have to go back thru my correspondence to see. But I don’t think we settled J2B. I could be wrong, but it sounds fantastic whatever it is.
diablo175 Posted February 1, 2022 Author Posted February 1, 2022 Lots going on in the world of guitar mods/violations- dovetailing off of a recent thread re: Committing to Strats, I finally moved forward on the mods and replacement neck for my already heavily modded '76 CBS. Contracted Shane Huss at HEL to build me a super cool maple/maple neck with all the Diablo bells and whistles specs! in addition to the much-desired maple board, this will feature 22 (vs the current 21) stainless steel jumbo frets, a compound 12-14" radius, asymmetrical carve, oil finish, a Floyd locking nut shelf and of course, the reversed 70's (fat) head stock. In addition to the neck, I'm overhauling the guts as well- new pick guard loaded with Gravelins- ALL single coil. 😲 Yup. I've got HB covered quite nicely but don't have a SC axe in the mix. I figure, to properly channel some Blackmore, I need a hot shit SC shredder. Yeah, so when it's all done, the only remaining genuine Strat parts will be the body and a handful of hardware bits. But that's okay. I've owned this since I was about 16 or 17. It's been thru several transformations over the last 40 years. What's one more? Just so long as I wanna pick it up.
Travis Posted February 1, 2022 Posted February 1, 2022 4 hours ago, diablo175 said: Lots going on in the world of guitar mods/violations- dovetailing off of a recent thread re: Committing to Strats, I finally moved forward on the mods and replacement neck for my already heavily modded '76 CBS. Contracted Shane Huss at HEL to build me a super cool maple/maple neck with all the Diablo bells and whistles specs! in addition to the much-desired maple board, this will feature 22 (vs the current 21) stainless steel jumbo frets, a compound 12-14" radius, asymmetrical carve, oil finish, a Floyd locking nut shelf and of course, the reversed 70's (fat) head stock. In addition to the neck, I'm overhauling the guts as well- new pick guard loaded with Gravelins- ALL single coil. 😲 Yup. I've got HB covered quite nicely but don't have a SC axe in the mix. I figure, to properly channel some Blackmore, I need a hot shit SC shredder. Yeah, so when it's all done, the only remaining genuine Strat parts will be the body and a handful of hardware bits. But that's okay. I've owned this since I was about 16 or 17. It's been thru several transformations over the last 40 years. What's one more? Just so long as I wanna pick it up. Very cool! I’ve got a set of Gravelin single coils in my Mirage (8k neck, 6k mid, 10k bridge) and they KILL! Cant wait to see your finished product…
diablo175 Posted February 1, 2022 Author Posted February 1, 2022 45 minutes ago, Travis said: Very cool! I’ve got a set of Gravelin single coils in my Mirage (8k neck, 6k mid, 10k bridge) and they KILL! Cant wait to see your finished product… Hoping to get a fairly hot/long pole piece S/C in the bridge position. I want it close to Strat like but with enough sizzle to be able to pull off a half-decent, quasi- HB sound.
scottcald Posted February 2, 2022 Posted February 2, 2022 On 8/18/2021 at 4:23 PM, diablo175 said: Dave- per my reply to your query in FB- https://www.ebay.com/itm/312233087819 I'm amused that the wiring diagram on the ebay listing shows it in a tele. That pot holding up well?
diablo175 Posted February 2, 2022 Author Posted February 2, 2022 9 hours ago, scottcald said: I'm amused that the wiring diagram on the ebay listing shows it in a tele. That pot holding up well? Yup- every one of 'em. I've got them in 9 of my guitars.
diablo175 Posted February 2, 2022 Author Posted February 2, 2022 So, the next phase of guitar projects is well underway with Shane working his magic on yet another Addict Burrito. For those who might give a shit, my buddy, co-guitarist in the old cover band, and one-time HFC member, Meatbomb started building guitars under the moniker of Addict. As any good friend would, I helped his efforts along by creating his logo and then commissioning a Cali-esque neck thru shredder, deemed the "Burrito". His first effort kind a fell short in a few regards but rather than attempt to fix it, he just built me another: Burrito 2. This one was a bit different as I went with a traditional, squared off fret board end so I could fit in a Fernandes sustainer unit. This was a definitely a better build but it had some finish issue due to his being a bit lavish with the nitro. The frets also seemed to need some dressing. Unfortunately, Meatbomb had a change of direction and was into metalsmithing by this time and punted. Enter Shane Huss. Shane hooked up the Burrito 1 in grand style and Stike painted it! Hoping to bottle lightning again, I sent Burrito 2 to Shane for new frets and paint. Shane realized he could no longer handle in house painting and after re-fretting it and re-carving & oiling the neck, sent it back to me for someone else to paint. Gonna look closer to home this time with a gent in NJ who builds and finishes his own guitars as well refinishing others. When all is done, hope to have B2 back in the fold by Spring and ready to rock!!!
diablo175 Posted February 2, 2022 Author Posted February 2, 2022 Just now, gtrdaddy said: GORGEOUS! It hopefully will be when it get back from the painter. was not thrilled with green to black burst. The black was a necessary choice (?) as it had to be opaque to obscure the maple top seam. Y'all know I'm a bit more flamboyant and colorful than that. So, keep the figuring, ditch the drab color.
scottcald Posted February 3, 2022 Posted February 3, 2022 14 hours ago, diablo175 said: Yup- every one of 'em. I've got them in 9 of my guitars. Thanks, I know if you're happy with 'em, they must hold up.
diablo175 Posted February 3, 2022 Author Posted February 3, 2022 10 hours ago, scottcald said: Thanks, I know if you're happy with 'em, they must hold up. Yup. I do not suffer shitty or ineffectual gear.
diablo175 Posted March 3, 2022 Author Posted March 3, 2022 The quest for a long sought after replacement neck for the '76 Strat has begun....
diablo175 Posted March 16, 2022 Author Posted March 16, 2022 More progress still! Shane texted me this: When you need 17/32 dots for a 70’s repro neck and stew mac wants $1.10 for a single plastic dot and you have a 1/4”-17/32 plug cutter and a blank of reconstituted stone Shane's the man! Resourceful SOB!
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