Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

[edbub]

Hi all! Picked up a Godin xTSA used, and am less than happy with the stock pickups. I have a set of Seth's in my LP Standard which I love, and would be inclined to put another set in the Godin. However, there are significant differences in the material and hardware between the two guitars.

Godin:
Mahogany neck (same as LP), but an ebony board.
3 piece body - maple center with poplar wings
2 point floating trem (which will be blocked)

The stock pickups sound pretty good clean, but the midrangey grind and string definition when distorted is not at all good. I understand that the stock pickups use ceramic mags - and even thought of replacing them wiht A5's, but the wind is still going to be a little more than I'm used to. (read somewhere that the stock bridge is in the 10K range.)

Wondering if anyone has experimented with replacing these stock Godin pickups with Seths, or even 59's. Or, if anyone did a magnet swap on the stock pickups.

If I replace the stockies, I'm thinking a set of creme zebras would look awesome against the transparent red finish of the guitar - although if I go with Seths it looks like that might be a custom shop order from SD.

Any thoughts relevant to the above is appreciated!

Rock on...

 

[edbub]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

For any interested parties - I received magnets from the good folks at Addiction-FX, and installed a UOA5 in the bridge stock Godin (G&B) pickup. The A5 magnet was much thinner than the ceramic stock magnet, and short of fabricating new spacers, I used some of the dense packing foam which the new magnet was wrapped for shipping in, to build up the space between the baseplate and the magnet. Heating with a hair dryer was required to remove the old magnet. The result - much closer to what I like. I have a gig to play tonight, so not pushing my luck installing the A2 in the bridge until tomorrow.

I also ordered a set of uncovered zebra 4 wire Seths from Mike's Music in PA. These will have to be made by SD, so looking at a number of weeks until I get them. For now, this guitar is much more playable with the A5 in the stock bridge, vs the ceramic. With the Seth's, I'll install a Lace Holy Grail for the middle single coil, which I have from a previous project, or look for a Kinman AvN (which I have in my Strats) on eBay. I'm thinking after these changes, this guitar will be exactly what I'm looking for - clean synth implementation and excellent mag pickups in a very comfortable and playable husk.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

The Seths should be killer in your guitar. But I'd try A2 in the stock pup first just for the heck of it. It sounds like that will get you where you want (thicker sounding), esp if the UOA5 got you close.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

Keep in mind that your new guitar will probably sound brighter than your LP even with the same pups.

Also, I personally find that unless you're playing metal, it is almost always better to replace ceramics with alnicos.

 

[edbub]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

Yeah, I am going to swap the A2 in the neck tonight or tomorrow. It is going to be about a month until I receive the Seths I ordered. I agree, this guitar will sound a little brighter than my Les Paul with Seths - which is ok! I wanted a slightly different voice from this guitar, but the same overall feel and tone. It's a lot of guitar for the money, especially used, if you have need for the 13 pin implementation like I do. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[AXEL]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

I have the same guitar. I put a Scream'in Demon in the bridge, Duncan single coil in the middle and a '59 at the neck. I wired the humbuckers for coil splits. Nice improvement.

 

[edbub]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

I have the same guitar. I put a Scream'in Demon in the bridge, Duncan single coil in the middle and a '59 at the neck. I wired the humbuckers for coil splits. Nice improvement.

Cool Axel - good to hear. Not sure what kind of switch you are using - I opted to replace the tone control with a 500K Pot with a DPDT push/pull piggybacked to it. Someone else on the net had some decent pictures of how he did it. The stock pot has to be desoldered and removed from the PC board inside the control cavity... shouldn't be a huge deal. I also ordered a steel trem block to try and get a little more sustain. It isn't terrible, but it falls way short of my Strats with steel blocks. I'm looking for a Kinman Inpersonator for the middle, have the Traditionals in my Strats and think they are about the best noiseless out there.

BTW - I did the A2 swap in the neck stock pickup - ok results but not as significant as the A5 made in the bridge. The Seths will blow these away either way.

 

[metale]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

Sorry to dig this up, but how is it to rewire one of these, with all the synth boards and stuff?

Cheers

 

[Mincer]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

I've never seen one inside, but I have a Brian Moore with synth and piezo, too. The magnetics are discrete from everything else, so it is just like working on every other guitar, except for a lot of wires to clip out of the way.

 

[metale]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

Thanks for the feedback.

What I would like to do was remove the synth stuff but leave the piezo. With that synth board I've seen on some pics I can't even put a push-pull pot if I want to.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

Thanks for the feedback.

What I would like to do was remove the synth stuff but leave the piezo. With that synth board I've seen on some pics I can't even put a push-pull pot if I want to.

I am not sure if this is possible, as the piezo and synth probably share a preamp. Besides, you can get a cheaper synth like a GR-20 and rock.

 

[metale]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

I found out that one of the piezo saddles is not working (or a would-be-buyer found it out for me ) so I'll probably end up removing all the piezo + synth stuff and using all the pots and toggles for the magnetic pickups...

 

[Mincer]

Re: Godin xTSA - Seths? 59's? Magnets?

It would be worth fixing the one piezo rather than ripping all of that out. With it working, the guitar triples in the sounds available. There has to be a replacement available somewhere. It could be that the individual saddle's cable got disconnected somewhere, too.