Finally finished wiring my guitar... pickup reviews : )

[That90'sGuy]

Ok... so thanks to Curly and Boston Joe, my behind finally learned how to solder the right way.

My guitar has been officially setup and it will STAY. I cannot ask for anything more from my guitar now.

My Grosh has a mahogany/maple capped body with a maple/(indian?) rosewood fretboard. I remember a while back I asked what would be the perfect woods for a versatile guitar. This is it. I believe Gearjoneser told me this would do it. He also strayed me away from H-S-H setups and Parker Fly's . Thank you GJ, you saved me My guitar does vintage strat to vintage les paul (not all positions, but definitely the bridge and it emulates the others pretty well with some knob tweaking), no bs. Blend pots, while they don't make a huge difference, do add a bit of tonal variety to the mix and I think they're wonderful (I've only seen them on a few guitars, like my Grosh... I wonder if there is a place that sells them so everyone can enjoy those options??).

Before (Dimarzio Virtual Vintage S neck & midle, Dimarzio PAF Classic):
these pickups were "ok", but they weren't anything special. There was low noise, which was a pleasant surprise, but tonally they were severely lacking. Did the single coils sound strattish? Yes, but not like a great strat should. The humbucker didn't really have enough of anything to really make me happy. It was a bit thin, lacked output, had no depth, didn't really sound that defined with overdrive or distortion. In short, this was a major disappointment. I can see why a lot of people HATE Dimarzio. I like their Virtual PAFs, but to me, these pickups are horrible.

After (Wagner SR neck & middle, Wagner Dark Burst):
these pickups are heaven sent. I NEED to get a mic to record now. My tone is unbelievable and I'm willing to put up a challenge to anyone here to try and beat it (hopefully I'll get a mic within the next week or so). I'm that enthused! Let me put it this way, I have EVERY tone I've ever wanted. The neck does Jimi Hendrix flawlessly. Not "sorta", it NAILS it. It's woody, chimey, balanced and beautiful. It's very articulate under all sorts of gain/overdrive. The neck/middle position quacks more than a fleet of ducks All I could think of was SRV's "Texas Flood" when I was pulling off blues licks. Middle position is the best middle position I've ever heard. It is very balanced (great chime and bass) and sounds wonderful for strumming. The bridge does the Allman Brothers dead on. It's thick, rich and harmonically complex. It can pull off great Van Halen type tones. Pinch harmonics are a breeze and it really sings. Solos have never sounded so good.

Those were my findings. I feel blessed that at the age of 20 I have found "it", my "holy grail"; I can't possibly ask for anything more. Now I just need to hone in on my chops. I'm done searching. Doing research was great because I was able to make the perfect purchasing decisions without wasting money or valuable time. Time to actually spend playing the guitar, feels good to say that

[Curly]

Re: Finally finished wiring my guitar... pickup reviews : )

Chris,
that's pretty cool!

you now have a custom guitar that should retain its value, and is pretty distinctive ... definitely looks wise! with the addition of getting the tone you want, that's a good ax!

yeah, I don't know why Grosh uses DMs, but that's what my friend's tele has too, at Don's recommendation. He did say that the fret work was exceptional, and he's very particular about that. That's often one of the details that should separate a custom guitar from a production guitar.

I'm not familiar with Wagners, but if you're happy, that's what counts! If I were to recommend SDs, I would have said any of the vintage single coils, or maybe stacks for a quiet ax, and a PAF style bridge would get you there.

As for your challenge, well, of course, that means now you have to post clips, and soon!

enjoy!