sick of my '56 goldtop

Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

metallicaxlxl per my post #7 on this topic: I am looking to buy, rather than asking for a "gimme" as my post might have implied. PM me, if you are interested in selling, and live in the SoCal area, as I prefer to play any guitar before I buy it.

Thanks, and good luck no matter what you decide.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

<-----It can be done, and the 'bucker ring will cover just fine. I did this one with a home made jig and a crappy Black and Decker router. However, as others have said, it isn't easily reversible.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

Captain Tightpants said:
<-----It can be done, and the 'bucker ring will cover just fine. I did this one with a home made jig and a crappy Black and Decker router. However, as others have said, it isn't easily reversible.
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Selling and buying sounds like ALOT better idea in this dudes case though.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

Yeah, you're probably right, but I just wanted to let him know it CAN be done if that's what he decides. Truth be told, I don't think I would do it again, if I had it to do over. On the other hand, mine does sound incredible with the stock mini neck and the 59 bridge both on.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

stock mini neck??? you mean you did this on an actual gibson deluxe??? could you show me pictures of what the cavity looks like now??
 
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Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

Sorry, don't have any pics of the cavity, and my camera's kaput, but here's the guitar..
Picture27169.jpg

Done in my younger dumber days. Had to strip the finish as well, the laquer went soft. You could literally scrape it off with your fingernails in spots. Oh well, it was and still is a player anyways. Still one of my favorites.
 
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Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

did you do the job youreself?

you guys, i just really want to get a good deal if im going to sell it, like lets say i wouldve spent 70 bucks on routing, so i can spend 70 to 100 bucks on the guitar after i sell mine. so if i get lucky i can sell it for 475 and sell whatever pickups i have left in it for 75 more bucks, so 550 + 70 bucks i wouldve spent on the routing = 620. if i can find a good guitar, (better or equal to my epi, and doesnt have this kind of sunburst http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/8/2/0/274820.jpg, can be a darker kind though) than ill do it.

tokai loverocks are usually around that price range, but most of them are that exact kind of sunburst. ill keep on looking for one on ebay, maybe something good will come up.

but i still need to be able to get someone to buy it for that much..
 
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Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

Yeah, it wasn't that hard, although I was scared to death I was going to screw it up. All I did was rout just enough of the cavity towards the neck side until the 59 fit. Then I glued some wood into the corners of the p-90 rout for the screws for the ring to bite into, and I cut a full size 'bucker notch in the pickguard.

Have you tried any other P-90's other than the epiphones? Gibson and Seymour Duncans are much warmer and smoother than the Epi p-90's, they might be your ticket. The Special in that picture is a '77 with stock P-90's, I can get some really nice neck pickup Slash tones with it.
 
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Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

its not the neck pickup that im having problems with, its more of them bridge pickup. and if i get humbucker routed it would give me SOOO much more possiblilities. way more pickups to choose from, i can coil split, and do a lot of other stuff. my neck pickup works just about fine for now, and if i get my guitar routed it will only be the bridge for now, like what youve done.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

You know, it's your guitar. If you like the way it plays, but don't want to deal with p-90 size pickups, I say go for it. You gotta do what's gonna make it play good for you. Like I said, I love the way mine plays for me now, so I don't regret it since I never plan to sell it.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

thanks man, i needed to hear that. thats the way ive been feeling for a while, and its nice to have someone on my side.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

I kicked the idea around for a long time. In the end it boiled down to the fact that I loved the way my Deluxe played, but sonically it wasn't cutting it. If I hadn't needed to refinish, I may not have routed it out for the SH-1, but I'm glad I did. I used to set it down alot because it was just lacking something with the SM-3 it had in it, now it's one of my best sounding guitars.

So yeah, just go for it! Let me know how the alnico 2 pro and the mini sound together if you do. I LOVE the sweet tone I get from the 59/mini combo in mine!!
 
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Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

im actually putting an alnico 2 pro/custom custom in it, but that might be in a bit, im first going to start off with my friends old epiphone '57 pickup that came with his guitar, than ill go on to the hybrid.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

My bad, you did say you were going to use the hybrid. That Epi humbucker is probably going to give you the same results as that p-90 though. All the same, let me know how it turns out!!
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

metallicaxlxl said:
but i still need to be able to get someone to buy it for that much..
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The most ROI you're going to get is leaving it stock and selling it in that state rather than routing or carving or changing anything. Even if you put new pickups on it you will only recover a fraction of the cost of what you paid for the pickups in the sale.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

metallicaxlxl said:
im actually putting an alnico 2 pro/custom custom in it, but that might be in a bit, im first going to start off with my friends old epiphone '57 pickup that came with his guitar, than ill go on to the hybrid.
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I don't understand this one. If you put a a2 pro and cc in it, you will have to route for full humbuckers. You can't really do a hybrid too easily after you route for full buckers.

Maybe you should try the hybrid first and then go for the full job if you don't like it. Or you could just do what you want, that's an easy way out too.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

the only way i can use the hybrid, or any humbucker is by routing it, which i am going to do...

i do know that doing this mod will kill the resale value of this guitar, but im not planning on reselling it. i love this guitar. i need to find a good women name for it:laugh2: leslie always comes to mind when i think about it, dunno why, but i guess thats what it gets. so i wouldnt want to sell leslie once i get that job done. (ooo that sounds cool.)
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

metallicaxlxl said:
the only way i can use the hybrid, or any humbucker is by routing it, which i am going to do...

i do know that doing this mod will kill the resale value of this guitar, but im not planning on reselling it. i love this guitar. i need to find a good women name for it:laugh2: leslie always comes to mind when i think about it, dunno why, but i guess thats what it gets. so i wouldnt want to sell leslie once i get that job done. (ooo that sounds cool.)
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By "hybrid", I thought that you meant that you were going to keep a mini or p-90 in the neck and put a full sized bucker in the bridge. I'm not sure what you're talking about, but you seem pretty set in what you want to do.
 
Re: sick of my '56 goldtop

a hybrid humbucker is:

humbuckers have 2 coils. so you have 2 different types of humbuckers, say in my case alnico 2 pro and custom custom, and you take 1 coil from each, and put it on the other one, so you have a mix between 2 different humbuckers.
 
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