who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

2013-04-14 17.22.53.jpg awesome cheap as chips guitar, Phat cat was a huge success2013-04-17 12.52.02.jpg
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

Speaking of cheap, Tim, this may be the world's most affordable Gibson:

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The pickup is a GFS Dream 90 and the mod was done by a prior owner. Just played my first show with her yesterday:

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Took a little getting used to, in order to get a good distinction between a rhythm sound and a lead sound, with no tone pot, but after a couple songs I had it sussed. Fun on a budget! (Picked up for two hundred USD even, w/gigbag and including original Gibson ceramic humbucker.)
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

I'll play..it's a Warmoth body loaded with a Duncan Distortion.

 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

I'll play..it's a Warmoth body loaded with a Duncan Distortion.


Wow, that is really sharp! Drooling in my keyboard here...

Is that a piezo bridge in there? I guess that would make it a 2-bridge-pickup guitar, and a first for this thread!
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

I guess I'll share mine too. I just traded my trusty old Schecter for this 2004 MIM. I picked her up from some kid on craigslist who got it second hand last week, but she's been loved well. One of the 2 previous owners dropped an EMG 81 in the bridge. She'll be getting a Custom 5 by the end of this week. This is my first time with a single pickup guitar, and all I can say is I LOVE it.
 

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Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

^^^ So clean yet so odd... I like that one a lot.
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

Wow, that is really sharp! Drooling in my keyboard here...

Is that a piezo bridge in there? I guess that would make it a 2-bridge-pickup guitar, and a first for this thread!

Nope. It's just a Wilkinson tremolo.
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

Just had a look at the specs and it seems to be 24" scale, all mahogany.

Yup. It's an odd combo.

Yeah, know the pup is OEM. Seems like the guitar would be a good candidate for a tapped pu of some sort, to make it a bit more versatile.

Yeah. Aside from trying to decide which way to take it in terms of pickup choices, I've got an idea or two for squeezing a couple of extra sounds out of it.

I did take a peek under the scratchplate and it turns out that the pup is actually a four-con, so I'll probably drop a push/pull in it and wire it up for series/parallel pretty soon.

To be honest, I'm not too worried about versatility. If I was, I wouldn't have bought a single-pickup guitar. :)

These are MIC; wait till you play an old MIJ Ibanez :). Looks like you got a good one though; non-MIJ has come a long way but consistency is still somewhat variable.

I did get a good one. It's not at all perfect and it took a while to get it set up properly; the nut, in particular, could've been shaped better if they'd made a blank out of sugar and let a swarm of ants chew it into the right shape. It's a killer guitar now, though.

I haven't played a Japanese Ibanez, but I do have an old Westone Thunder, which was made in the Matsumoku plant...where I heard some of those early Ibbys were made. If it's the same level of quality and workmanship, then they must be really great guitars.
 
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Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

^^ Maybe even a spin-a-split. Apart from tapped Tele type pups, one of these might sound pretty good in your axe. You can also get them in a normal single size now.
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Yeah, I remember your Westone. MIJ Ibanez guitars were and are made in the Fujigen plant though, as were others like Greco, Burny, and a couple of others.
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

^^ Maybe even a spin-a-split. Apart from tapped Tele type pups, one of these might sound pretty good in your axe. You can also get them in a normal single size now.
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Yeah, I remember your Westone. MIJ Ibanez guitars were and are made in the Fujigen plant though, as were others like Greco, Burny, and a couple of others.

Spin-a-split would be cool, but I don't really want to add more knobs to the guitar. I dig the simplistic look of it.

Those pickups are a cool idea, though. I hadn't thought of those. Looks like I have some reading to do. Thanks for the tip. :)

The main options I'm considering right now are a tapped single coil like you mentioned, routing it for a regular humbucker, or just sending the stock pup off to Bare Knuckle for a rewind, to see what magic they can work with it.

Guess I was wrong about the old Ibanezes then. I know a little about old Japanese guitars, but I know next to nothing about who made what when, where, why, and for whom.
 
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Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

I do mainly use my bridge pickup, but I would never buy a guitar without a neck pickup, I need to get some deep tone every so often
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

Spin-a-split would be cool, but I don't really want to add more knobs to the guitar. I dig the simplistic look of it.

Those pickups are a cool idea, though. I hadn't thought of those. Looks like I have some reading to do. Thanks for the tip. :)

The main options I'm considering right now are a tapped single coil like you mentioned, routing it for a regular humbucker, or just sending the stock pup off to Bare Knuckle for a rewind, to see what magic they can work with it.

Guess I was wrong about the old Ibanezes then. I know a little about old Japanese guitars, but I know next to nothing about who made what when, where, why, and for whom.

With the Tri-Sonics, Adeson (www.adeson.co.uk) is the way to go for authentic versions, though I'm not sure if he makes a Strat style one anymore (he used to). He makes essentially two versions, a regular set with each pu calibrated for its respective position (the Classic); and the Vintage set, which are Brian May spec., used in the high end Guyton replicas.

The Burns ones were overhauled a few years ago. Originally they were made by Kent Armstrong but Adeson had a hand in tweaking them up, and working on the mini version which fits Strats, and comes standard on the Cobra guitar. Then there's also the BM Signature ones, which come stock in the BM guitars. These are apparently a tad hotter than vintage.

Seymour also made some versions for the second run of the Guild sigs. but I don't know what they're like.

Hm, was just thinking that the StraBro 90 also might be a good match for your axe. But it is CS.

Rewind also a good idea.
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

With the Tri-Sonics, Adeson (www.adeson.co.uk) is the way to go for authentic versions, though I'm not sure if he makes a Strat style one anymore (he used to). He makes essentially two versions, a regular set with each pu calibrated for its respective position (the Classic); and the Vintage set, which are Brian May spec., used in the high end Guyton replicas.

The Burns ones were overhauled a few years ago. Originally they were made by Kent Armstrong but Adeson had a hand in tweaking them up, and working on the mini version which fits Strats, and comes standard on the Cobra guitar. Then there's also the BM Signature ones, which come stock in the BM guitars. These are apparently a tad hotter than vintage.

Seymour also made some versions for the second run of the Guild sigs. but I don't know what they're like.

Hm, was just thinking that the StraBro 90 also might be a good match for your axe. But it is CS.

Rewind also a good idea.

Thanks a lot for the info, dude. :beerchug:
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

Here's my vintage japanese Kawai before the modifications I made lately:
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Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

^ now that Kawai is one nice unique looking guitar.
 
Re: who here just loves their single bridge pickup guitars?

if anything, it's lack of magnetic pull from the neck pickup. i don't buy the idea that ''missing'' wood under the guard impacts the tone of an electric guitar. three reasons - 1] the amount of wood is very small in relation to the whole body. 2] two of my hands-down best sounding guitars have ''swimming pool'' routs, and a third [probably my best sounding and most resonant guitar] is single pickup, but routed for a neck pickup anyhow under the guard. 3] factory esquires and broadcasters/nocasters/teles shared bodies from the time the esquire was re-introduced in early 1951, i.e. they have the same routs. [this streamlined production, and made factory or dealer ''upgrades'' to two pickups a cinch.] yet despite sharing bodies with teles, esquires still sound different...more ''open.''

Great info, and I love your collection, including all the rest. That moss green Esquire build is so badass! We need to hang out sometime.
 
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