Musician By Night: Seymour-Duncan

Showing posts with label Seymour-Duncan. Show all posts

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Customize your Fender Stratocaster . . . . .

I was reading some different blogs this morning and ran across something that I want to share with all of you. This particular post was dated 12/19/06 and it was located in the Stratoblogster’s site.

I thought it was great and full of priceless information if you are a Strat-O-Nut like the rest of us. This is a huge post that is full of lots of resource links. Take your time because they've found some really cool stuff that you’ll want to modify your own Fender Strat with.

Strat Wiring Diagram Schematic?

Stratocaster guitar gear mods and parts upgrades.

(image: guitarnucleus.com)

Anatomical illustration of the reproductive system of one Stratus Castoris Erectus.

Free resources for guitar and/or amp wiring schematics:
Fender.com (support-wiring diagram pdf's including Eric Johnson config.)
Guitarnucleus.com -(includes orientation on how to read schematics & symbols)
Guitar-mod.com (wiring mods & tricks for tone geeks)
GuitarNuts.com (Tons of guitar maintenance and mod tips!)
Quieting the Beast (Strat shielding-grounding tutorial from GuitarNuts.com)
Strat Pickup Replacement - video tutorial by SEYMOUR DUNCAN!!!
STRAT PICKUP Installation & Adjustment by JASON LOLLAR
Strat Build Tutorial (Ron Kirn takes you Step by Step)
Ron Kirn Templates
Singlecoil.com (Premier Guitar contributor Dirk Wacker's site)
DIYguitarist
guitarrepairbench.com - Guitar maintenance & repair resources.
www.youtube.com/user/CuriousInventor - The absolute best soldering tech tutorial videos. Fill any gaps in your soldering savvy!!!
Fret MD (Forum & help on guitar-bass set-up issues)
CustomStratocaster.com (DIY Strat build documentary blog)
The Stagemaster Project (documentary project blog)
John Fisher builds a Strat "The Hard Way"
Wonderhowto.com (DIY, SRV Strat Video Series)
STRAT TREM SET-UP - Video by Italian wizard luthier Galaezzo Frudua showing how to make your standard Strat trem stay in tune like a Floyd Rose without locking nut or tuners. Watch for yourself!!!
CARL VERHEYEN TREM SET-UP - Watch how Carl set's up his Strat trems, plus full painstaking post video analysis by TGP members.

UPGRADE ITEMS & SUPPLIERS

Merchants, suppliers & links for all your Strat makeover, upgrade, hot rod, mods and hardware needs:

Gotoh Vintage SD91HAPM Locking Tuners
Tuning Machines Resource Link

A tuner upgrade that makes sense! Adjustable height staggered posts with locking capability but not the extra locking thumb wheel that ruins the vintage look.

TONE CAP RESOURCES - info. about tone capacitors, treble bleed kits and the easiest ways to find & test the right caps for your tone.

Sprague Orange Drop caps

Bodies, Hardware & Electronics

New genuine Fender pre-wired, loaded Eric Johnson Bodies. Convert your EJ RW to Burst!
(In Stock - The STRATosphere)

The STRATosphere
"Genuine Fender parts & worldwide shipping at The STRATosphere. Our store specializes in USA Fender Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster, & Bass guitar parts: necks, bodies, hardware, pickups, & cases. Buy deluxe, vintage, custom shop, & modern models 24/7. Get the best Fender quality only at The STRATosphere!"
Angela Instruments - "GENUINE FENDER USA PARTS AND ACCESSORIES FOR STRAT, TELE, JAGUAR, JAZZMASTER, PRECISION BASS, JAZZ BASS AND FENDER AMPS! TONS OF PREMIUM N.O.S. AUDIO TUBES, TRANSFORMERS, SOCKETS, CHASSIS, CAPACITORS, RESISTORS AND A WHOLE LOT MORE! SERVING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WORLDWIDE SINCE 1977." Also stocking lots of Lindy Fralin pickups.
Picker's Parts - Denver based supplier for guitar hardware and electronics. Lots of Fender stuff, including necks and bodies. Other top brand components too. Long established with tons of good customer feedback.
DBG GUITAR aka stratconnection.com specializes in Strat & Tele parts. Musikraft necks too!
PRE-WIRED- LOADED Custom PICKGUARD SUPPLIERS
From Guitar Gear Stores - online directory of guitar and guitar parts dealers. Aged-relic guitars, parts & accessories included.

Gypsy Pickguard from Metal Shop Music.

(see reverse bridge pup angle)

Metal Shop Music (premium replacement necks, loaded Strat, Tele & Jazzmaster pre-wired pickguards) Specializing in a large variety of loaded, pre-wired Fender factory and Custom Shop Strat pickguards. Pickup configurations typically include: Lace Sensor Holy Grail 54's, Samarium Cobalt, Texas Specials, TBX, Duncan 59's, Tex Mex, Lace Sensor Hot Gold SSS, etc. ALSO LINDY FRALIN loaded pickguards.

Slider's Vintage Classic 59's

Slider's Vintage Classic pickups are available through their eBay user account: sliderspickups . Rod "Slider" McQueen builds one set at a time. The pickups are vintage reproductions with NOS wire, rounded edge bakelite covers and vintage magnets which Slider charges and matches to each set. Any sets that aren't pre-sold are listed at eBay. IF NONE LISTED, KEEP CHECKING BACK! McQueen has been featured at ToneQuest Report and is 100% rated at eBay, where his item descriptions are heavily detailed.

Killer Guitar Compents "KGC" machined bell brass hi-resonance trem blocks.

Killer Guitar Components - Specializing in hi-grade machined brass trem blocks for superior Strat tone & sustain. Tell 'em Stratoblogster sent ya!
GUITARFETISH STORE - Stocking a variety of guitar upgrade items. Check their Electronics section for interesting pre-amp and onboard mid-boost products for Strats!
Raw Vintage Trem Springs & Saddles
Guitar Parts And More hardware & guitar kits-- ALLPARTS Dealer.
Suhr BPSSC - BPSSC stands for Back Plate Silent Single Coil. This is a major upgrade for Stratocaster & Strat-type guitars. Removes all 60hz hum without degrading signal. Recommended by Scott Henderson.

No, Mercedes Benz hasn't started making disposable shavers...
Tricked Out Guitar is still selling Tremol-No units for under $50, including free shipping! That's the best deal-- check around yourself!

Dazbootman "Abalone" Pickguards

Dazbootman Pickguards
Dazbootman Pickguards is the one-stop shop for hard to find and unique guitar pickguards.

Hot Vintage Pin Up Guitar Decals

Rockin' Billy's Decal and Re-finish Links!

Rockin' Billy's Guitar Parts - (aka Greasy Groove) Pin-up decals and thousands of graphics pickguards. Click pickguards in their menu, then Strat Pickguards subcategory!
Tricked Out Guitar has parts and hardware for tricking out your Strat. Product lines include: Allparts, Q-Parts, Stellartone, Lindy Fralin, TV Jones, Seymour Duncan, Wilkinson, Mighty-Mite, Fender, Gibson, Custom Shop and more. They're also a dealer for STELLARTONE TONESTYLER Pots. Be sure to check out TOG's custom prewired pickguard assemblies in several yummy flavors.

Birdseye Maple Replacement Necks at Metal Shop Music

Custom Musikraft exotic wood necks by Jamerson-Guitars

Jamerson-Guitars a Top-rated Seller, is Fender licensed Musikraft's Official eBay "Custom Shop". Besides maple, these guys make necks from striped figured ebony, zebrawood, cocobolo and more!

"Schoolgirl" by artist Keith Garvey

2.5" x 6" clear vinyl static decal
Available at Hot Chick Stickers (directory below)
Vintage Pin-up Decals - Directory for classic waterslide decals, including How-To links for applying decals, graphics and refinishing your guitar.

Ouija Board graphic guitar skin by Fourth Floor Graphics

GUITAR SKINS by Fourth Floor Graphics- Just like the Skinit stuff for phones, iPods & laptops.
AXEWRAPS - More skins for guitars.

Protect your tone with good cable!

George L's Deluxe Purple kit w/black caps - In Stock: Al's Music Source

Mogami 2524 Silent 10' w/ Neutrik plugs - In Stock: NY Pro Audio Cables

Here's a couple suppliers for really good guitar cable who stock friggin' tons of the stuff! Or maybe I should say miles of it.
Al's Music Source - California based supplier, claims to have the largest George L's inventory "on the planet". The George L's deluxe kits are currently available in black, blue, purple & red with various combos of caps colors -- and Al's has it all in stock.
NY Pro Audio Cables - Huge East Coast cable outfit with lots of Mogami cable that they terminate in-house with Neutrik plugs. Other top cable brands also available.
Eric Johnson uses George L's, and Scott Henderson is a big fan of Mogami cable. Either way you can't go wrong. East or West Coast.

Guitar Builder & Luthier Tools & Supplies Complete eBay category results

Wilkinson WVC SB Chrome USA Strat Retrofit at AZ Guitar Parts

AZ GUITAR PARTS - Bridges, Pickguards, Pickups, Tuners, Plates, and Necks.
Pro Rock Gear - Parts source for Wilkinson & Floyd Rose bridge/trem systems.
GuitarGearStores.com
Guitar Gear Stores consolidates all the best eBay music instrument gear stores into an easy to navigate directory site helping you find the hottest guitar products on eBay.
ebay MIM Strat search
Cheaper, used "made in Mexico" or "MIM" Strats make great DIY upgrade projects!
VACUUM TUBES & AMP PARTS DIRECTORY - Includes NOS tubes suppliers.
PRE-WIRED- LOADED PICKGUARD SUPPLIERS
Fret MD: Electric Guitar and Bass Setup and Maintenance (DVD)

I found this post very informative and exciting being a such a Fender Strat-O-Nut myself, and I hope all you Strat-O-Nuts enjoyed it too. I want to give all the credit to my fellow guitar enthusiast at www.stratoblaster.com for all of his hard work investigating the many custom options available for us Fender Stratocaster owners. Thank You Again !!

Well, I want to wish everyone an enjoyable pre-Thanksgiving weekend and I hope you don’t work too hard preparing for the upcoming holiday festivities. We will be traveling to Buffalo, New York to see our son Chris and his family. We really miss them since they’ve picked up and moved there from the Maryland area a couple years ago now. Then shortly after that, I will be going into the hospital to undergo a surgery so I may drop out of touch for a short period of time until I can get back in touch with all of you.

Until next time, “Same Guitar Place; Same Guitar Channel . !”

Musician By Night . . .

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Modifications to My Fender Strat:

I’m sorry I have been very busy at work these past few days and it hasn’t left me much time to dedicate to my blog. Therefore, I had to take a few days off and regroup for myself, but now I’m back and I hope without any disruptions for a while.

Well, if you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that recently I purchased my first Fender Stratocaster, and basically I love it. However, it has become quite obvious to me already, since I’ve been playing it non-stop from the day I got it in my hands, that it has some irritating features that I didn’t notice because I loved the way the guitar played and felt in my hands. It has a very sweet neck that plays very quick and that sold me on the guitar.

However, with that being said, when I hooked my Strat up and played it through my effects boards (POD xt LIVE and my Pedaltrain with several individual effects pedals) it created an inordinate amount of hum in the 1st, 3rd and 5th position of the 5 position pick-up switch. When the switch was on position 2 or 4, the hum was nearly imperceptible. I then hooked up my Gibson Les Paul and as I remembered, there was no hum whatsoever. So, that’s what started me on my hunt for new pick-ups for my Strat.

The following are the various models that Fender offers but after conversations with guitarists that I know and sales reps at Sweetwater, Musicians Friend and the Guitar Center, I’ve decided to go with the “Fender Hot Noiseless Strat Pickups”. I’ve talked with my contact at Musicians Friend and they’ve given me the best deal on that set of pickups, so I’ll be purchasing them shortly.

Fender Hot Noiseless Strat Pickups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Designed Exclusively for Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck wanted a bigger sound and better tonal dynamics than a standard single-coil pickup could deliver, and he got exactly what he was after in the new hotter Noiseless design. Warm and punchy neck pickup tone with a bluesy feel, and a bridge pickup that screams at high gain. The clean tone is clear and very full. These pickups deliver the best definition and sensitivity that has ever graced the Strat.

Features:

Designed for Jeff Beck
No 60-cycle hum
Hot, edgy single-coil sound

Fender Vintage "Noiseless" Stratocaster Pickups . . . . . . . . . . .

Fender Custom '54 Stratocaster Pickups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fender Texas Special Stratocaster Pickups . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fender Custom Shop '69 Strat Pickups . . . . . . . . . . .

Fender Fat 50’s Strat Pickups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fender Stratocaster Lace Sensor Pickups . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next modification that I plan to move forward with is the addition of the Vintage 62’ Reissue Fender Tremolo Bridge Set per the photo below. I’m not an experienced whammy bar user but the only way to get there is to go there and going there with the proper equipment is the way to go.

I also plan to add the Fender Schaller Locking Tuners because I’ve noticed that this guitar does require tuning more often than my Gibson Les Paul or my Gibson B.B. King “Lucille”. Therefore, it must be in the tuners so making this change should eliminate that problem for me.

Brushed-finish Fender Schaller Locking Tuners provide solid tuning stability by clamping the cut end of the string with a hand-tightened lock screw. There's no play in the string and you tune normally. A great way around locking nut systems that don't allow tuning on the fly. Highest quality manufacture, Schaller Locking Tuners are the same tuners used on Fender American Deluxe Series guitars.

Features:

Brushed Finish
Super High Quality
Great Tuning Stability
Tune on the Fly
Same as on Fender’s American Deluxe Series

The last modification will be adding the Fender Strap Locks and Buttons Set:

I’ve used many of the other brands in the past and they all seem to do the job well as long as you install them properly. I know I hate to use a larger screw with the new strap lock set, no matter which brand is used. However, if you’re able to match the screw size with your new strap lock set, it’ll make it much easier to install and cause you less stress by not enlarging those screw holes.

Well for the most part, these are the most popular modifications that are done to the Fender Stratocaster guitars. Of course companies such as DiMarzio, Seymour-Duncan and others manufacture pickups that are made specifically for the Fender Strat and those that are designed to eliminate the hum that I talked about earlier. They also have humbucker style pickups that fit in the cutout of the standard single coil pickup design where they stack the coils in lieu of lying them side-by-side which creates a standard humbucker style pickup design.

I can’t wait to order the pickups so I can begin the modification process to my Strat. She’ll be one hell of a axe when I’m through with her. Time to end this post and start practicing for the night. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do because of the past few days of work overload. Have a great evening and don’t forget to give your kids a hug. Until next time.

Bob

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Finding Long Lost Friends:

Just recently, I reconnected with one of my old friends and member of our band Jordan. Kevin Bort was our 2nd guitarist who also sang back-up vocals. Now if you remember me mentioning our band in previous posts, we were quite successful back in the late 70’s which if I remember correctly, would have made Kevin just about 17 years old and finishing high school.

This photo was taken at Erie National Airport as part of a promo shoot arranged by our business manager / agent, Frank Sonzala. This is a close-up shot of the ‘Three Amigos’ that made up the entire rhythm through thick and thin (string) section of the band. Kevin and I on guitar and Bobo jammin’ on the bass.

Kevin Bort, Bob Janicki & Bob Anderson

Our band stayed together as long as it could considering everyone had other priorities that kept them from staying with it and giving it their all. We played some of the hottest night-clubs and concert venues from Cleveland to Pittsburgh to Buffalo and back to our home town in Erie, PA.

Kevin always looked sharply dressed, even when we were wearing matching outfits. He played a beautiful 1974 or 75 Gibson Les Paul Custom with a Cherry Sunburst finish. WOW what a beautiful axe; I’ve always loved that guitar of his.

I really enjoyed playing on stage with Kevin right by my side. We put on a great show for our audience, always seeming to get them involved with what we were doing or planning to do. No to forget our two lead vocalists, Bob Wheeler and John Sonoga who always seemed to get everyone up and on their feet.

JORDAN rocks the house . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It is quite exciting to hear all about Kevin since the 70’s. He’s stuck with his guitar and has played in a few ROCK bands which has allowed him to keep up on his chops and even better them. He’s now playing in an 80’s ‘Journey’ tribute band called ‘ReTro’. They’re based out of Roanoke, VA. I hear good things about their band; I only hope to get the opportunity to catch their act someday.

Kevin sent me a few photos of his arsenal of guitars and WOW, what a collection. He’s really become a true ‘Fender Guy’ as they say. Now owning 11 Stratocasters of various styles and two Fender Telecasters. The last Strat and Telecaster that he purchased are Fender Squiers; unbelievable quality, Seymour-Duncan pickups, great finish on the bodies and wonderful necks.

As I stroll along getting my self back into the business, it makes me proud to see Kevin where he is in his music career. After all, we spent days, hours, weeks and months upstairs in my house back in 1974, 75 and so on. Just practicing and learning songs so we can get our band out on the road where we wanted to be.

Bob (Squirrel) Janicki on keyboards John (Pinhead) Sonoga on Percussion

Kevin Bort and Bob (Squirrel) Janicki both playing Gibson Les Paul guitars

JORDAN

Bob (Squirrel) Janicki lead guitar/vocals

Kevin Bort 2nd guitarist/vocals

Bob (Bobo) Anderson bass guitar

Dave Babo keyboards

Tom (Nappy Head) Verdecchia drums/percussion

John (Pinhead) Sonoga lead vocals/percussion

Bob Wheeler lead vocals.

I hope you enjoyed this post, I certainly did. it brought back many memories for me. I know that Tom Verdecchia is still playing his drums in a classic rock band in Erie and yet is the Vice President of HAMOT Hospital in Erie, PA. I’ve talked with John Sonoga and he is no longer in the business, but still wanting to bring Jordan back to life even if just for one last performance. You know us musicians, we never die, just keep lingering on.

As far as Dave Babo and Bob Wheeler is concerned, we do not know where they live but maybe they find out one way of another. Well, I’ve got to hit the hay now; I have to get up early tomorrow. Have a great day tomorrow and don’t forget to hug your kids.