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Topic: Joined the CG club... |
Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2020 1:03 pm |
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Oh crap... another guitar I couldn't pass up... another 24 strings to take care of. This sucker is *heavy*, too. I'll post some more pics of the insides here soon.
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New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329 |
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Brad Davis
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2020 1:40 pm
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| Wow nice one! I kind feel like I need a triple because I still don't have one. Although I'm thinking of a Custom, the GCG would be nice too. That one looks fantastic! |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2020 7:50 pm
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I've gone in and cleaned up the guitar... the bridge ground wires were not making good contact, and the pots needed cleaning... I took the opportunity to open up the pickups and have a look.
The P90-type pickups are a cross between a dog-ear and a soap-bar mounting. Easy to see the evolution from the first generation of alnico pickup like I have on my '41 EH150.
You can see the bowing of the bobbin... this causes problems when removing or installing the cover... best to screw the pole pieces inward before removing the cover (if you can...). The pole screws were tight and dirty... I lubed them from the back, then worked them in and out to free them up. I had to screw the end pole pieces all the way in to get the covers back on, when the bobbin bows like this the screws don't keep the same spacing, especially when extended.
If you look closely you can see there's a wire coming out of the pickup... I was very careful and put the pickup back in still functioning... I'm sure if I'd broken the wire the pickup would have quit working. Not sure how the wire got like this, but I'm guessing just quality control problems. All pickups were around 9Kohms.
Here's the controls... the pots don't have a normal date code, the logo looks like International Rectifier, a kind of IR logo. The caps are Grey Tiger, and still work as far as I can tell. There seems to be a treble cut and a bass cut circuit, I'll draw the circuit out before I close it up. The controls are quiet now that I sprayed some Pro-Gold in there and worked them.
Here's the whole thing, torn down at the bridge end... I've got the back neck back together and playing, the tone is nice, hums just a little, of course... but strong. The tuners are very nice... this is a great guitar, some more work still to do!
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New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329 |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2020 3:34 am
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| That's a beauty, Excellent score. |
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Larry Lenhart
From:
Ponca City, Oklahoma
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Posted 17 Jan 2020 6:21 am
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Wow Stephen, that is really nice ! I admire your skills to tear it down like that and your knowledge in making it better ! Have fun and see you in Dallas...looking forward to that, as always,
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Zum Encore, Remington D8 non pedal, Hallmark Mosrite clone, Gretsch 6120 DSW, Gretsch G5210T-P90 Electromatic Jet Two 90,1976 Ibanez L5, Eastman archtop, Taylor Dreadnaught, Telonics pedal, Squire Tele, Squire Strat, Fender Tonemaster, Gold Tone 5 string banjo, Little Wonder tenor banjo, 3 Roland cubes 30s and 80, Carvin combo bass amp |
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Brad Davis
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2020 9:32 am
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| I wonder if the condition of the bobbins is due to storage issues. I haven't had mine apart, but I don't have any issues with the pole pieces on my 54, they turn easily and smoothly. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2020 2:36 pm
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| Brad Davis wrote: |
| I wonder if the condition of the bobbins is due to storage issues. I haven't had mine apart, but I don't have any issues with the pole pieces on my 54, they turn easily and smoothly. |
Brad, you may have something there... it might have sat in a hot storage place, the body is certainly checked-out enough for that... but not too much! Storage in Texas can get brutally hot... 130degrees is probably not out of the question. Don't keep guitars you care about in non-climate-controlled storage.
Next string change pull a cover off and see how they look... I'd be interested in pics for comparison. The wax paper caps certainly look like they've seen some heat.
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New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329 |
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