What’s on *YOUR* workbench?

I spent some time changing out the pickups in this guitar... again

It now has a Gretsch HS Filtertron in the bridge and a Sunday humbucker sized Firebird pickup in the neck.

I had an Epiphone Firebird for a bit, which was nice but not as nice as my SG, but I loved the neck pickup sound and wanted it in my SG. If my SG was a batwing style and I could install different pickguards routed for different pickups, like on a strat, basically all my problems in life would be solved, but I needed something that would fit in a humbucker pickup ring and I liked the specs Sunday offers. Firebird pickups are somewhat like strat pickups, where the coil windings are wound around the magnets themselves, rather than pole pieces with a magnet underneath, but Firebird pickups use bar magnets rather than individual cylinders. As such their magnetic field is more consistent and more powerful. They have the top end definition of strat pickups, but with more midrange and output. They're great. This one has more 60 cycle hum than I'd like - the Epiphone pickups didn't have any. Either way, the extra treble is nice in the SG, which is always lacking compared to a Les Paul.

In the back I put in a Gretsch HS Filtertron. If you want the AC/DC sound you need a Gretsch pickup. You can really hear the difference between Angus and Malcolm's guitar tones on the Live album, particularly the song Hell's Bells. Angus' tone takes up too much of the upper midrange, while Malcolm's is more diverse, clear, and is really the heart of the AC/DC tone. Anyway, the Filtertron has a nice balance across the EQ spread, with a good amount of output that drives pedals nicely. It's clean in the high end but breaks up the low end in a pleasing manner.

I can't bring myself to install a batwing pickguard on this guitar. I've always liked the 61 style, and while I do like batwings as well, they fit a bit differently and I'd prefer to leave the guitar the way it is. So I deal with the annoying pickup rings.

IMG_6921.jpg
 
falco_femoralis said:
I spent some time changing out the pickups in this guitar... again

It now has a Gretsch HS Filtertron in the bridge and a Sunday humbucker sized Firebird pickup in the neck.

I had an Epiphone Firebird for a bit, which was nice but not as nice as my SG, but I loved the neck pickup sound and wanted it in my SG. If my SG was a batwing style and I could install different pickguards routed for different pickups, like on a strat, basically all my problems in life would be solved, but I needed something that would fit in a humbucker pickup ring and I liked the specs Sunday offers. Firebird pickups are somewhat like strat pickups, where the coil windings are wound around the magnets themselves, rather than pole pieces with a magnet underneath, but Firebird pickups use bar magnets rather than individual cylinders. As such their magnetic field is more consistent and more powerful. They have the top end definition of strat pickups, but with more midrange and output. They're great. This one has more 60 cycle hum than I'd like - the Epiphone pickups didn't have any. Either way, the extra treble is nice in the SG, which is always lacking compared to a Les Paul.

In the back I put in a Gretsch HS Filtertron. If you want the AC/DC sound you need a Gretsch pickup. You can really hear the difference between Angus and Malcolm's guitar tones on the Live album, particularly the song Hell's Bells. Angus' tone takes up too much of the upper midrange, while Malcolm's is more diverse, clear, and is really the heart of the AC/DC tone. Anyway, the Filtertron has a nice balance across the EQ spread, with a good amount of output that drives pedals nicely. It's clean in the high end but breaks up the low end in a pleasing manner.

I can't bring myself to install a batwing pickguard on this guitar. I've always liked the 61 style, and while I do like batwings as well, they fit a bit differently and I'd prefer to leave the guitar the way it is. So I deal with the annoying pickup rings.

View attachment 116002
Click to expand...
That picture is reversed for some reason......
 
falco_femoralis said:
I spent some time changing out the pickups in this guitar... again

It now has a Gretsch HS Filtertron in the bridge and a Sunday humbucker sized Firebird pickup in the neck.

I had an Epiphone Firebird for a bit, which was nice but not as nice as my SG, but I loved the neck pickup sound and wanted it in my SG. If my SG was a batwing style and I could install different pickguards routed for different pickups, like on a strat, basically all my problems in life would be solved, but I needed something that would fit in a humbucker pickup ring and I liked the specs Sunday offers. Firebird pickups are somewhat like strat pickups, where the coil windings are wound around the magnets themselves, rather than pole pieces with a magnet underneath, but Firebird pickups use bar magnets rather than individual cylinders. As such their magnetic field is more consistent and more powerful. They have the top end definition of strat pickups, but with more midrange and output. They're great. This one has more 60 cycle hum than I'd like - the Epiphone pickups didn't have any. Either way, the extra treble is nice in the SG, which is always lacking compared to a Les Paul.

In the back I put in a Gretsch HS Filtertron. If you want the AC/DC sound you need a Gretsch pickup. You can really hear the difference between Angus and Malcolm's guitar tones on the Live album, particularly the song Hell's Bells. Angus' tone takes up too much of the upper midrange, while Malcolm's is more diverse, clear, and is really the heart of the AC/DC tone. Anyway, the Filtertron has a nice balance across the EQ spread, with a good amount of output that drives pedals nicely. It's clean in the high end but breaks up the low end in a pleasing manner.

I can't bring myself to install a batwing pickguard on this guitar. I've always liked the 61 style, and while I do like batwings as well, they fit a bit differently and I'd prefer to leave the guitar the way it is. So I deal with the annoying pickup rings.

View attachment 116002
Click to expand...
@falco_femoralis
Incidentally, if you don't like those gaps in the bridge pickup ring, I've used these before and they're a perfect fit for a traditional filtertron.
 
analog_bham said:
Working on a new way to label the enclosures. This is just a test run on a junk enclosure. Mask off the sides, paint top base color (white for this one). Print removable vinyl stickers/labels on the Cricut. Paint top layer and then remove labels to reveal undercoat text.
Click to expand...
That’s pretty clean looking.
 
The bar holding the sympathetic strings was made from copper. Silly builders. It was all bend and cracked due to the tension. Grinded it out, manually filed a new one from a brass bar this morning.

I could get it silver soldered, I suppose. Otherwise I tap some thread instead. The strings will keep it in place anyway.

26078.jpg
26080.jpg
 
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