I have spent quite a bit of time revamping my gear page. I added info links for all my guitars and amps. I’m currently in the process of updating all of them with specifications, pictures, and sound clips of all my cool gear! Not that anyone particularly wants to sound like me (I’m not that famous…yet) but my goal for this page is that if someone wants to emulate my tone they can go to this site and find a comprehensive list of the mojo.
If you’re bored, cruise it.
Following my Firebird upgrades are changes to my Telecaster. I wanted to return to my Tele roots by taking out the P-90 I had installed and going with a Lollar Tele special set. Also, I wanted to install a mini-toggle switch to allow me to switch the pickups into series for some added oomph. Overall, I must say my technique on this project falls as the best wiring project I have ever done. All the joints are clean and crisp, and I picked up some technique from looking at how other builders wire their guitars up. I have no buzz or noise in the circuit at all. I’m a little proud of that =D. I had some initial problems with the switch because it’s not the standard switchcraft I’m used to, and you have to wire it slightly different.
Unfortunately, I’m not quite happy with this configuration yet. I used a 500k pot for the volume and a standard 0.47 mF tone capacitor and I think it sounds way too bright. I’m going to swap out the volume pot for 250k and the tone capacitor for 0.22 mF to hopefully warm the guitar up a bit.
I recently discovered that Callaham guitars, the same guys that built the bridge I use on my Telecaster, offers a replacement bridge for Gibson guitars. Since I have had such good results from the Telecaster bridge I decided to give the ABR-1 a try on my Firebird. It was due for a nut replacement as well, so I figured I would knock out all the hardware upgrades at once. The results? Stellar.
The guitar sounds more airy. Highs and mids are well defined, and not fizzy like they used to be. Since I had a bone nut installed, tuning stability on the guitar is nearly perfect. I think the last upgrade I’m going to perform on this guitar is a set of Steinberger gearless tuners. I have heard good things about them, and they apparently weigh less than the retarded banjo tuners already on my bird. I lament at the idea of drilling new stabilizer pin holes, however, so I may just live with the bajos or seek a drop-in replacement.
Musicians are well aware of the dreaded GAS, or Gear Acquisition Syndrom. Well, it seems I have a case of the equally dreaded Gear Modification Syndrom or GMS. I have decided to put my adopted Telecaster back together as a stock guitar. Well, almost stock. The plan is to pull the P-90 from the bridge and replace it with the standard lipstick case tele special from Lollar guitars. The Lollar Tele Special neck pickup is hardly standard–it sounds absolutely beautiful! I realized after a couple of years of playing the current P-90 + Tele Special bridge configuration that I just like the sound of a standard single coil better in the neck position. I will also install a small mini-toggle switch in between the volume and tone potentiometers on the guitar for a series kill switch. Once you flip that little switch the guitar bypasses the switch and defaults to the neck + bridge pickups in series. I’m not sure how good this is going to sound with the Lollar pickups but I’m totally willing to give it a try. Gratitude goes to Deaf Eddie for wiring diagrams and help in that area, and to Jason Lollar for being willing to send me telecaster pickups with dedicated ground leads.
Fortunately for me guitar tinkering is reversible. Who knows. Maybe in a couple of years I’ll go pack to the P-90 configuration. I’m definitely keeping all my old parts and prewired control plates for that exact reason 
.
I suppose I should post those pictures I promised right? These are the first three pedals I have produced. The flat orange one is a prototype, and the other two were hand painted by a friend and I. The fun part was baking on the polyurethane. Coolest use of a toaster oven I have found yet–well other than toast.
