Wattage
High Voltologist
My Standard Faded just turned 13 this past Thursday. A teenager, how the time flies...
Needed a little tune up and I finally got a WLH for the bridge. Totally digging on it, really brings out the best in this guitar. It's a bit of a woolly sounding guitar and this pickup is like yin to it's yang. The neck pickup is by a friend/local winder Tone Master Pickups, his take on a '59-ish PAF that just fits this guitar so well too. It also got a new output jack since the original one was giving up the ghost a bit as of late.
So with that it's sidekick got a bit of an overhaul as well. While I kind of like the 490 set the '17 Tribute came with, it just didn't work for me in this guitar, more so in the band setting than on it's own. So I put in a set of '59's, pulled the board and re-wired with 500k CTS long shafts and .022 PIO caps. Big full sounding guitar now with much better balance. This guitar is so freaking good, I shouldn't have waited to change the pickups, thought I'd figure the 490's out but more on that below....
So now the 490's needed a home....I was going to sell them but I am always fighting with my Mira to get the sound where I want it so I thought I'd try them in there first anyway. The C5/59 set which has worked in everything I ever put them in didn't sound right, too much pickup for the guitar. The SNS set defintely didn't work in it, just too dense for it. A Stagmag/DS-C pairing was close but a bit too brittle. I was feeling like Goldilocks with this thing. If I didn't love the feel and playability so much it probably would've walked by now. So I figured I'd try the 490's and so far so good! They really fit the character of the guitar way better than I could've imagined. I also re-wired CTS 500k short shafts, .022 OD cap and did away with the coil split since I don't ever really use that and I am sure that helped a bit. The stock MIK guts were probably so-so at best. ***I forgot to mention that one of the 490's was wired incorrectly out of the factory, I had to flip the red & black wires for the neck pickup so the pups were in phase in the middle position. ***
Next week I'll be showing you how to make porridge, what to do with a set of SNS pickups and how to stop others from sleeping in your bed:banana::friday:
Needed a little tune up and I finally got a WLH for the bridge. Totally digging on it, really brings out the best in this guitar. It's a bit of a woolly sounding guitar and this pickup is like yin to it's yang. The neck pickup is by a friend/local winder Tone Master Pickups, his take on a '59-ish PAF that just fits this guitar so well too. It also got a new output jack since the original one was giving up the ghost a bit as of late.
So with that it's sidekick got a bit of an overhaul as well. While I kind of like the 490 set the '17 Tribute came with, it just didn't work for me in this guitar, more so in the band setting than on it's own. So I put in a set of '59's, pulled the board and re-wired with 500k CTS long shafts and .022 PIO caps. Big full sounding guitar now with much better balance. This guitar is so freaking good, I shouldn't have waited to change the pickups, thought I'd figure the 490's out but more on that below....
So now the 490's needed a home....I was going to sell them but I am always fighting with my Mira to get the sound where I want it so I thought I'd try them in there first anyway. The C5/59 set which has worked in everything I ever put them in didn't sound right, too much pickup for the guitar. The SNS set defintely didn't work in it, just too dense for it. A Stagmag/DS-C pairing was close but a bit too brittle. I was feeling like Goldilocks with this thing. If I didn't love the feel and playability so much it probably would've walked by now. So I figured I'd try the 490's and so far so good! They really fit the character of the guitar way better than I could've imagined. I also re-wired CTS 500k short shafts, .022 OD cap and did away with the coil split since I don't ever really use that and I am sure that helped a bit. The stock MIK guts were probably so-so at best. ***I forgot to mention that one of the 490's was wired incorrectly out of the factory, I had to flip the red & black wires for the neck pickup so the pups were in phase in the middle position. ***
Next week I'll be showing you how to make porridge, what to do with a set of SNS pickups and how to stop others from sleeping in your bed:banana::friday:
Last edited:
