Post by oaklanda on May 4, 2008 13:31:59 GMT -6
I've had this guitar finished for about three weeks now and thought I'd report back on my experience on the Vintage Vibe/Pete Biltoft Charlie Christian Neck/Vintage 5% overwound bridge pickup set.
First some background - the platform here is a Fender Highway 1 Texas model Tele that was beat to crap when I got it. I have two others (HWY 1 TEX) but bought this one because it was only $350 (no case, pickguard or neck pickup, wires literally hanging out). I had this funky brass bridge and was originally going to do a version of Keith Richard's "Sonny" with a bucker in the neck.
Then I started hearing about the Christian neck pickups and saw the Rice CTS' with them and thought I'd go that direction. The end result is pretty cool. It plays real nice now after a good servicing and fret dressing. It has a somewhat mongrel Pawnshop-chic quality that I like.
Now to the pickups. This version of the CC neck is a little different from what I perceive the Lollar to be. It's very fat and thick sounding but not as warm as the Lollar. It's very articulate, even a little glassy at times. The cleans are nice, the lead tones are really awesome. It reminds me much more of a very articulate PAF than say, a P-90. But it really has a tone of its own.
The bridge pickup is very bright and twangy despite being 5% overwound and being attached to a heavy brass bridge. In fact it's a bit icepicky in the way Roy Buchanan's tone gets. I'm not saying that it's bad, it has a nice ringing chime, but it's an adjustment...this from a guy with 5 Teles of one form or another. I think for me i'd like it to be a tad darker/warmer/thicker. Others may find it to be perfect as is.
I set it up with a 500k Volume pot, a Fender No-Load 250k tone pot with a .047 cap. I may go to a 250k volume pot and see how that sounds.
Sorry, I have no clips....still working on that technology .
First some background - the platform here is a Fender Highway 1 Texas model Tele that was beat to crap when I got it. I have two others (HWY 1 TEX) but bought this one because it was only $350 (no case, pickguard or neck pickup, wires literally hanging out). I had this funky brass bridge and was originally going to do a version of Keith Richard's "Sonny" with a bucker in the neck.
Then I started hearing about the Christian neck pickups and saw the Rice CTS' with them and thought I'd go that direction. The end result is pretty cool. It plays real nice now after a good servicing and fret dressing. It has a somewhat mongrel Pawnshop-chic quality that I like.
Now to the pickups. This version of the CC neck is a little different from what I perceive the Lollar to be. It's very fat and thick sounding but not as warm as the Lollar. It's very articulate, even a little glassy at times. The cleans are nice, the lead tones are really awesome. It reminds me much more of a very articulate PAF than say, a P-90. But it really has a tone of its own.
The bridge pickup is very bright and twangy despite being 5% overwound and being attached to a heavy brass bridge. In fact it's a bit icepicky in the way Roy Buchanan's tone gets. I'm not saying that it's bad, it has a nice ringing chime, but it's an adjustment...this from a guy with 5 Teles of one form or another. I think for me i'd like it to be a tad darker/warmer/thicker. Others may find it to be perfect as is.
I set it up with a 500k Volume pot, a Fender No-Load 250k tone pot with a .047 cap. I may go to a 250k volume pot and see how that sounds.
Sorry, I have no clips....still working on that technology .