Post your Swiss Army guitars.

[Securb]

I will start this is my Iceman, I could take it to any gig. It has a SD Dimbucker/Jazz combo. Both pickups are split with a phase switch. The Jazz gets a serviceable Strat tone when split. The Dimebucker split has a great hard vock vibe with very singing leads. It has a Kahler trem on it, 1 meg pots and Spezel locking tuners. I can take this guitar from Jazz to Blues to molten metal with ease and great tones across the board.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

For me it would definitely be my old friend, "The Phoenix." She's a 1985 Westone Spectrum LX that I purchased back in 1987. This guitar and I have literally been through hell together… And she has the scars to prove it. I would call her a "Swiss army guitar" for two reasons: our long history has made her pretty much an extension of myself, but she also has the most tonal options of all my guitars.

Originally she was HSH, but now is HHH. JB in the bridge, Jazz in the neck, and a GFS Lil Killer bridge in the center. I had a SD Hot Stack in the center, but it wasn't able to keep up with the JB/Jazz volume-wise.

My control layout reflects the way I think of the pickups, which is more like dual HBs with an added center rather than typical HSH. Three-way toggle on the upper horn for the bridge & neck pups and the middle knob is a blend. The blend balances the center pickup with the JB/Jazz... one side is no center, the other side is no bridge/neck, and the middle is both. This gives me the option of running any combination of 1 to 3 pickups.

The bridge and neck pups each have a series/split/parallel mini and the center is designed to split one side or the other. I did this because I wanted to be able to have hum-canceling when split in any combo.

I had attached a 3-way varitone to the tone control but found that I never used it, so now it's a.005 cap, NO cap, or a Black Ice passive overdrive. I still never use it! [emoji12]

A phase reverse for the bridge pup on the tone push/pull and a master series/parallel on the volume push/pull finish it off.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

I had attached a 3-way varitone to the tone control but found that I never used it, so now it's a.005 cap, NO cap, or a Black Ice passive overdrive. I still never use it! [emoji12]

You could use it as a standard varitone, except with cocked wah mods. it could switch between .0047uF and .0033uF (or if you like the .005 you can put it in their somewhere) and then have the third position be "no load".

OR if you wanted extreme versatility, you could install some glowing fret markers and have the varitone control the brightness of the LEDs. It could be full/dim/off.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

All of my guitars are 'swiss army guitars', since I play a lot of diverse stuff, and I hate switching instruments. Here one of em:



The body is chambered ash with a maple top. The neck is wenge with a bloodwood stripe, ebony board with coral stone dots and SS frets.

I wrote a blog about the wiring.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Oh, I forgot to add my Swiss Army Ax. Here she is;



Sorry it's sideways.

Its a Lake Placid blue over Aztec Gold (I'm hoping it will relic through one day) MIM Stratocaster that I made in highschool for a class, it started out as Pearly Gates Neck and a UOA5 Custom Bridge. When the 59/C came out I replaced the bridge with an A2 59/C. The lighting makes it looked scalloped, but it is not. It's got several minor aesthetic touches as well, such as a 8-hole pickguard and Gibson style knob pointers. It has a master volume and tone and a 5-way switch. The switch goes like this

5- Neck
4- Neck split
3- Neck and Bridge split out of phase through a capacitor
2- Bridge Split
1- Bridge

Its pretty nice, it never goes out of tune through whammy bar abuse, and it can do just about any genre without complicated switching or knobs. Plus its got 9/10 playability and the best tone of any guitar I've ever had, it also checks all the boxes for age. It was my third guitar, well most of it, I've changed out most of it by now.

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Very similar to your Iceman Securb in that mine has a Duncan Set - Jazz Neck/Hybrid Custom Custom-JB A2 Trembucker with both wired to a DiMarzio 500K Pushull Volume to split and get those "single coil" sounds as well as a Fender TBX Tone for added tonal tweaking and a Floyd Original w/Big Brass Block. Mahogany Body and a Maple Neck are a hard combo to beat and I love the USACG Neck on her. For me; it pretty much covers all the bases tonally and it was one of those builds where everything just came together perfectly and the outcome far exceeded my plans and expectations. Out of the handful of guitars I have or will have; this one will probably stay with me until the end.

2013 USA Custom Guitars Iceman: USACG Quarter-Sawn Maple/Maple Fretboard Neck, 12” Radius, 22 Jumbo Frets, R2 1 5/8” Nut, Gotoh SG38 Tuners, “B.C. Rich, L.A., California USA” Neck Plate, Warmoth Mahogany Iceman Body in Pearl White, Seymour Duncan Jazz B/Hybrid JB-Custom Custom A2 Trembucker, DiMarzio 500K Pushull Volume/3 Way LP Style Selector Switch/Fender TBX Tone x 2, Cup Jack, ’89 Ibanez Metal Pickup Mounting Rings and Vol/Tone/Tone Knobs, Recessed ’85 Original Floyd Rose w/Threaded Screw In Arm/37mm Big Brass Block, DiMarzio Clip-Lock Black Strap, Ibanez Iceman HSC

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Very similar to your Iceman Securb in that mine has a Duncan Set - Jazz Neck/Hybrid Custom Custom-JB A2 Trembucker with both wired to a DiMarzio 500K Pushull Volume to split and get those "single coil" sounds as well as a Fender TBX Tone for added tonal tweaking and a Floyd Original w/Big Brass Block. Mahogany Body and a Maple Neck are a hard combo to beat and I love the USACG Neck on her. For me; it pretty much covers all the bases tonally and it was one of those builds where everything just came together perfectly and the outcome far exceeded my plans and expectations. Out of the handful of guitars I have or will have; this one will probably stay with me until the end.

Are you using a specific mod on the TBX, or are you just using it stock? I'm considering using the below mod on the guitar I posted above. I like how it works on humbuckers, but I don't know how it will react to single coils.

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Stock TBX; I think it definitely provides more tonal range of flexibility than a stock pot and have been putting them into pretty much every guitar I own over the past 10 years. Something about the DiMarzio 500K Pushull pot and the Fender TBX Tone combo results in a very quiet/low noise output that's clear and defined and IMHO a significant improvement over stock pots of any sort. I've tried Switchcraft and Gibson but prefer the DiMarzo/Fender TBX Combo. Never tried anything modded but I can say it worked very well with some SSL-1s that I was using in a 3 Single Coil Set Up as well as a 3 Pickup Set of DiMarzion SDS-1 Single Coils - gave added flexibility to the pickups via the TBX.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

I don't have pics at the moment, but the '62 LP/SG works for anything. The neck PAF is bluesy as hell, and the bridge is like a beefed up Tele. Both pickups sound great for jazz tones, and the bridge is a distortion pedal away from any metal tone.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Cool guitars.

I always mull building a Swiss Army Knife guitar...

Strat style body
9.5" - 12" compound radius with Stainless 6100
Floyd, maybe tremsetter, maybe D-Tuna
Fishman saddles
Full sized HB in the bridge (maybe CC, maybe C/59 hybrid)
Stacked Strat Plus in the middle
Undecided in the neck.... (Stacked single, SC sized HB, StagMag...)
Creative wiring


Half considering a modified SL1 to do this....

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

All of my guitars are 'swiss army guitars', since I play a lot of diverse stuff, and I hate switching instruments. Here one of em:

View attachment 82710

The body is chambered ash with a maple top. The neck is wenge with a bloodwood stripe, ebony board with coral stone dots and SS frets.

I wrote a blog about the wiring.

Cool, how does all that wood sound?

 

[Securb]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Very similar to your Iceman Securb in that mine has a Duncan Set - Jazz Neck/Hybrid Custom Custom-JB A2 Trembucker with both wired to a DiMarzio 500K Pushull Volume to split and get those "single coil" sounds as well as a

How do you like your Jazz split? I find mind to be very serviceable. No twang but for my R&B and Blues vibes it does the trick. Also great for RHCP stuff

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

I've done that with the USACG and with a Neck Thru ICT700 with Black Back Jazz/JB TB. The Jazz in the USACG Iceman is a Bridge Model but the one in the ICT700 was a Neck Position and it worked really well in both guitars.

 

[Securb]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Here is my other Swiss Army axe. The switch is wired standard 5-way Strat. The pickups are a covered P-Rails with a 3 way switch (P90-Hum-Coil), that is a Bill Lawrence 250 in the middle and a covered Pearly Gates at the top. I am thinking about putting in a push pull phase for the bridge and middle pickup. Babicz bridge and Spezel tuners.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Here is my other Swiss Army axe. The switch is wired standard 5-way Strat. The pickups are a covered P-Rails with a 3 way switch (P90-Hum-Coil), that is a Bill Lawrence 250 in the middle and a covered Pearly Gates at the top. I am thinking about putting in a push pull phase for the bridge and middle pickup. Babicz bridge and Spezel tuners.

Now THAT's the Swiss Army...

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Here is my other Swiss Army axe. The switch is wired standard 5-way Strat. The pickups are a covered P-Rails with a 3 way switch (P90-Hum-Coil), that is a Bill Lawrence 250 in the middle and a covered Pearly Gates at the top. I am thinking about putting in a push pull phase for the bridge and middle pickup. Babicz bridge and Spezel tuners.

Just my $.02, but I think that would look amazing with an all black pickguard.

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.



Ha!!! It's the worlds most versatile guitar!!!!

Im just kidding, I've got a USA Fat Strat with a TB-11 C/C bridge & some SSL1's in the neck & middle slots. It will do just about anything pretty okay.....

 

[Diego]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

I don't think I have a Swiss Army Knife guitar at all. My Les Paul with push-pulls for coil splitting, maybe? But it's set for D tuning with 11-54 strings, so it won't do funk or something.

Other than that, my guitars are kinda purpose-oriented.

My Ibanez is a Hard Rock machine, my 339 is mellower and loves low gain while strumming chords on it, my Strat is a Strat and my Jackson is pointy and angry.

I used to have a Ibanez RG1550 that could do a passable anything, really.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

Cool, how does all that wood sound?

I dig it. It quacks like a Strat with a little bit of a warmer tone. It has some body to it. This is a fairly light guitar, just over 6.5 lbs, and it works well for all the things I need it for. I generally don't use guitars with only 1 or 2 sounds, as the music I tend to play live needs lots of different sounds, and I am not carrying a dozen guitars to a gig.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Post your Swiss Army guitars.

View attachment 82731

Ha!!! It's the worlds most versatile guitar!!!!

For me, this would be more versatile than a bunch of switching options. Seriously, throw the right drive pedal in front, and what won't this do?