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Private member DiscussionCNC

The Nerd pickup winder

Hi guys, here’s something I’ve been working on: a fully automated, programmable pickup winder. The software is still in alpha testing and there’s still a lot to design, but this is what it looks like so far! Images

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And there's the name for your new pickup company: Nerd Pickups.
Private member DiscussionAmps, Pickups, and Pedals

Help needed identifying real PAF

Hello estimable friends, A very long-term friend of mine left us on Christmas Eve after a long illness. His sister tasked me with evaluating, restoring, and selling his stuff. Today I'm preparing to restore a 2008 Longhorn GOM to its original EMGs. Pulling out the humbuckers I see a Pearly Gates and… what looks like an original short-magnet PAF. Correct shape brass screws for the bobbins, UV light confirms sticker and tape, tooling mark…

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Lindy Fralin quickly pointed to me that the pickup looks authentic all right, but the magnet is non-original. Having a second look at it myself, I realized very fast that it has been changed as it is…
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Epiphone archtop neck reset difficulty

I have an old epiphone archtop on my bench that I am struggling to get the neck off of. I think it's a 50's Zephyr (non cutaway, single NY pickup in neck position). Anyone have any experience with these? Is the neck not a dovetail joint? I'm no stranger to neck resets but this is putting up a fight as if it's been epoxied in place.

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I managed to get it off after about 7 total hours of fighting it. Thanks for the link to the other repair, I really just needed confirmation that it was a dovetail. I ended up using a combination of d…
Private member DiscussionElectric Builds

Fender Double-tap humbucker problem

Hello all, A customer dropped a recent American Professional II Strat to have a Double-tap humbucker installed at the bridge. I rewired the guitar following Fender's schematic (see below) and installed a stacked 250 and 500k volume pot, treble bleed PCBs and push-push coil split/tap for this pickup. All went very well, until I tried it at switch position 2. Sure enough, the new unit does not play well with the others and combining delive…

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Understood. Plus the pole spacing is slightly different also. Just tossing out troubleshooting ideas.
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Problem fitting an LRBaggs Anthem to a Martin D-16RGT

So, like an idiot, I got well into the installation of an Anthem pickup system when I realized that the soundhole braces on this guitar are effing Lincoln Logs. They're easily a quarter inch thick (and feel like basswood). Because the Anthem preamp is designed to straddle the soundhole brace, I can't fit it as-is. Anybody got any experience with this? OPTIONS THE CLIENT WOULD NEVER GO FOR (and wouldn't thrill me either): 1. Replace the bra…

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Thanks for that. In this case I don't think modifying the preamp is possible. At least not for me, as I'm certain the circuit board fills the case. I could potentially 3D print a new case for it, but…
Private member DiscussionElectric Repair

Ovation Pickup Repair

Hello! I have an Ovation CP-100 pickup. Its unsoldered and I can't seem to get the pickup to work again. There wasn't a spacer either. Which doesn't make sense because if the hot is soldered to the copper strip and the ground to the housing channel, it would just ground out. Any experience getting these back together? Said pickup: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CP100--ovation-cp-100-thinline-pickup-cream -Mike

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That guy has knowledge and is very responsive to communication. Great resource as a lot of people still play the Ovations.
Private member DiscussionAmps, Pickups, and Pedals

High Resistance for Gibson Mini-humbucker

I have a customer with a 2018 Gibson SG special with mini-humbuckers who is complaining about the pickups being too hot (distorting their amp too easily). I took resistance readings and, to my surprise, the readings are very high. The neck humbucker (see photo) reads over 16kohm and the bridge reads 23kohm. From the specs I've seen, mini-hums more typically come in around 6-7kohms. Has anyone seen this with Gibson mini-hbs that appear t…

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I might also try, before complete rewire, adding a 500k trim pot from pickup hot to ground to try to tame the high output. The trim pot would give you tunability for the output level. I currently don'…
Private member DiscussionElectric Builds

bass VI wiring question

Hello, I am building a bass VI for a customer. As with a Fender Bass VI he wants a control plate with 4 slide switches. 1 on/off switch for each of the 3 pickups, but with the 4the switch he wants to control the phase of the middle pickup. Any suggestions as how I should wire that? thanks!

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if you use a regular jaguar pickup, remember to solder a ground wire in the claw like a tele neck 3 wire pickup
Private member DiscussionAmps, Pickups, and Pedals

New Pickup in Andy Wood's new Billy Strings D28

We install a lot of LR Baggs pickups, but nobody has ever gotten more excited about their new pickup than Andy Wood. If you don't know Andy, watch this fun video.

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Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

wiring a fishman black stack and a k&k mini to a volume pot.

Hey all, I have a client who wants a fishman soundhole pickup and a k&k mini wired to a volume pot on a Martin 000. Both pickups are pre-wired to their dedicated output jack, so I know some splicing has to be done. I wanted to reach out and see if anyone has any tips or tricks on how to make this smooth sailing?

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Private member DiscussionGo Acoustic Audio

Go Acoustic Audio Joins The Looth Group: Acoustic Amplification Redefined

Hi everyone, We’re really excited to be joining The Looth Group as new sponsors, and we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves. I’m Ben, and together with Paul McGill we run Go Acoustic Audio. Paul is in his 50th year of guitar making — a milestone that speaks to both his craftsmanship and his persistence in chasing better sound. He’s spent a lifetime building instruments for players at every level, listening closely to what works…

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Private member DiscussionElectric Repair

Wiring Overhaul - Music Man Reflex Game Changer

Would you have any recommendations on wiring configurations and piezo controllers to replace the electronics in my Music Man Reflex, which used to have the Game Changer system? The guitar has an HSH pickup configuration with a piezo bridge pickup. It has three existing holes for Volume/Tone/Blend, a blade switch slot, and a 3-way switch hole. When I bought this guitar about a decade ago, the Game Changer system offered a mind-numbingly a…

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You might even consider the Free-Way switch such as on StewMac. 5-way/10-position switch, lots of wiring options there.