Upgrading a cheap-o d6 question..

John Burton · From: Manassas, Va

I recently bought this from EvilBAY. I expect it to be a piece of garbage upon arrival, but I bought it with the intention of "hot rodding" it a bit...
I have plans for new bridges and nuts in mind, and possible leg sockets and legs..and tuners...

My dilema...what pickups to use?
What would be a really nice Strat style pickup to replace the stockers with? I'm leaning toward blade type humbuckers..maybe..
Anyway, I want a decent vintage country/western type tone. High lonesome kind of thing.
Any suggestions?

Peter Jacobs · From: Northern Virginia

John -
My limited experience with Strat-size blade humbuckers is that they don't have that vintage, high lonesome sound. I think they are too punchy for old time country.

I'd give Pete Biltoft an e-mail (www.vintagevibeguitars.com). He wound a single coil blade pup for me that has a great, open, full range sound. ALl of his pickups can be cusotmized to your liking, and his prices are reasonable. Worth an e-mail describing what you want, IMO.

For noiseless pups, I've read good things about the Dimarzio Area 61 and the Bill Lawrence L200. Both are supposed to have a vintage Strat tone (but, of course, keep you grain of salt handy).
_________________
Peter
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Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Cool! I love hot rodding (cars, bikes, Hammond organs, amps, women & guitars) but rarely do I own something that I can carve up for the sake good ol' fun without ruining its value. I try to do only reversable mods. I thought of doing the same thing but I couldn't find a red double neck on the sellers list of items. I want a red lap a'la David Gilmore. Very Happy

I would use a pair of Duncan 'lil '59s for the pickups (I wanted to put one in a Fender Champ but it would not fit without enlarging the body route and the opening in the control plate). I would also use a 500K ohm push-pull pot for the volume control and wire the DPDT switch to the coil taps to switch it to single coil when needed. I would also install vintage push-back wire, change the output jack to a switchcraft, use a vintage .047-.050 cap for tone & install a Gibson pickup selector switch. I would also experiment with installing a blend pot (across the coil tap) instead of the push-pull switch-pot.

After that investment it might be worthwhile to change the tuners to Klusons. Remember you just spent about three times (or more!) what you paid for the guitar in the first place and it is only worth that to you. It will more than likely not gain any resale value.

Have fun! I would!

Rich

PS; I've also thought of trying various colors of Lace Sensors to get away from the single coil noise. Maybe going to EMG active PUs might work out as well.

John Burton · From: Manassas, Va

Thanks for the input Peter. I'll check Mr. Biltoft out.

Thanks also, Rich.
hmmm...I've heard good things about the Duncan 'lil 59.. and a switchcraft jack is cheap and a must.
I like Klusons as well.

I don't know about active EMG's, but I put a passive EMG "Select" from Stewmac.com in my Rogue and it worked pretty well.

I only paid 100 bucks including shipping for it. My goal is to get a decent player for under 300 bucks total..so I got 200 bucks left to play.

The nuts are going to either be made from some aluminum angle, or I'll simply use Nut Risers.
The bridge, I'm planning on doing like the "Big Ass Bridge" over at LapDancer Guitars. I have a machinist friend that can tap the Stainless steel bar for me, or else I'll just buy 'em from LapDancer.

I'll post updates when I got some progress done.

John Burton · From: Manassas, Va

Well, It's done:
First, I stripped the electronics..pretty small cavities.

Then I remade the nuts out of aluminum angle. (The wooden ones were cut wrong and a real soft wood.)

Then I took off all the saddles on the bridge and replaced them with an Aluminum angle.
Then came: Mini-Tele style knobs, new CLS Mini-pots (250k), a .022uF Tone Cap, Guitar Fetish Lipstick pick-ups, a new 3 way switch (no room for a Gibson one!) and a SwitchCraft Jack..oh, and Scottys Strings.
Then...

I put it on a keyboard stand.

The Good: It sounds awesome. Really nice clear, round tone with ringing sustain. Very Bright sounding

The BAD: Both necks in plane, meaning outer neck a lil hard to play..
..Doesn't sit well on my lap, which I prefer, so I must use a stand. The Keyboard stand isn't bad, and I also have a lap-top (computor) stand that works.
..The super short 21" scale. Yep, just like the Artisans/Rogues.

But: All in all the sound makes up for the playing issues.

I was gonna' replace the Tuners, but so far they work, and I like the look.

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