Gibson Pete Signature and of course, LPC

Things weren't easy with a badly ruptured left wrist and of course the titanium screw in the right scafoid..

The Paul.The Workhorse.

1978 Gibson the Paul,

not the firebrand, the paul. The pups are original Gibson dirty fingers and in a walnut body with fixed mahogany neck with ebony fretboard sound awesome. The crunch has to be believed.

This guitar is one of my favorites to play. Its one of those guitars that isn't the bling bling but produces the goods and just fits so well into you.

From the sublime to...

The Univox hi-flyer was the first object that I modified due to the costs difference between Mosrite and Univox. I didnt modify anything to fit the reissue dimarzio and she sounded like a ramone guitar.However, the neck to body was so thin you could use the neck as a tremelo.
I understand why people enjoy these guitars, however I was starting to look into some better quality.She now resides in Brazil.

The first initial purchase, the Gibson Les paul Jimmy page first issue signature.

beautiful example, awesome flame, just didn't have the sound I was looking for.

The t490 and t500 pups were disappointing...the burstbuckers that were released for the Custom authentic JP signature with 4 conducter wiring would have been nice to have...However the cost difference is double.

The fact that this wasn't even a long tenon and not very light weight either made me sell it and move towards older wood and relics, and of course the search for different tones and sustains.

just outta interest..

the most famous artist to have really enjoyed and used DMs SDS dp111,s , Jerry Garcia.

An unbalance in the force...

So, as soon as the fs 1 turned up I quickly removed the strings and scratchplate off the 77 hardtail and started soldering..
Removed the wonderful alnico 3 and 5 Eric Johnson pups and stuck the dimarzio sds from 78 in the neck and middle positions and the fs in the bridge. The fs an alnico 5 magnet with the sds using huge ceramic magnets.

First off and the bridge wouldn't juice up.Upon investigation I noticed a very strange wiring set up.As far as Im aware the fs is a 2 conductor wire.This has a bare wire, green wire, white wire and black wire...no red, so not even 4 conductor..perhaps somebody has fixed the original..I didn't buy it as a rewound however...Desperate to get the juice up I simply grounded the black, green and bare and soldered the white to the 5 switch.

She kicked in but was completely out of depth compared to the sd's. These sound fantastic, even in the neck and middle. Playing thru a clean channel they give a truly awesome tone, running wide open tone controls (otherwise they do get very dark) but still have an incredible sound, p90 meets humbucker but still retaining single coilness sound..

The two I bought were a bridge and a neck.I have one more original 78 which is being donated and unless I can sort out the fs (removing tomorrow for another scan) and the fact that the fs doesn't have f-spacing so the E isn't over the pole, I think I'll drop in the cream covered 78 and run the whole shooting match with these pups.

Pictures to follow once the surgery is over.

The surgery is over and the difference is tremendous.
First job was to solder all the grounds together into one and lengthen the cables to ensure the pup would fit in the middle pocket.
Once soldered and dropped in and with the sd 1 in the bridge, the set up really balances out the tone and there is no significant drop when switching between bridge and neck.
The bridge is not f-spaced which is a shame, but I'll keep it that way.
The wiring set up is standard so there is no tone pot on the bridge pot either.

Although Malsteen never used his middle pup, preffering bridge and neck , I do and I'm really happy with the mix between alnico and ceramic, fs dp110 and sd dp111.

Picks to follow, dimarzio cream on black for the moment..

so, questions questions

There are so many good companys out there nowadays making relic, revibe plastics.

The best and most expensive revibe/relic parts come from Asia and you pay for the quality and detail. Some would ask of course, why bother, let the guitar go through normal wear and tear through playing it.

The 77 which is on its way is of course no way near a top level under the bed collectors item.
However, she is nearly complete , with original black pickguard, 5 way switch, neckplate, knobs and pots . Not sure if the bridge is original though. Looking at the pics I'm still surprised this was a sunburst that was stripped. I'm not too bothered though, I may even consider a refinish in nitro..
Now that the cream covered "elasterplaster" dimarzios have arrived I've gotta make some decisions on how I want the guitar to look. I could of course get some tall Dimarzio pup covers and drop them in. But I'm not convinced I actually want all black on natural..

A 77 should reek of the times...faux tortoise shell pickguard with DM creams and cream knobs..?
Or maybe gross out with a 64 mint green pickguard re-issue with cream plastics...
tough call...
The good news is by all accounts the Dimarzio fs is an original and not a more recent .

Dimarzio Dimarzio Dimarzio

So now, having looked around the Internet long enough, I managed to find a second hand Dimarzio fs-1 with believe it or not, a cream cover.

With a set of Eric Johnson customs in one corner and a set of Dimarzio sd 1s for middle and neck with the fs in the bridge, the only thing I'm waiting for is the body, neck and plate with pots and switch.

effects- No REIssues allowed

All origanal issues, from 79 upwards.
Some are apparently as rare as rocking horse shit to find. I was lucky.

1981 Ibanez ST-9 tube screamer with the two chips, european release only
1984 Ibanez SM-9 metal distortion pedal...simply amazing
1979? Ibanez ad80 delay pedal, 18V analog.
1979(?)Ibanez flanger FL-901 18V analog
1991 Boss Distortion ds-1
1991 Morley wah-wah with volume sweep

The dates are approx.
Basically analog pedals just give a more organic sound, the SM-9 is an amazing pedal as is the ST-9.
I don't rely on pedals but they do assist when playing an 81 marshall 35 watt solid state.

The Heritage CMV 140

As most of the pics come from a phone camera, the end result can be poor.

However, this project, which started out as a Body neck of a 1988 heritage CM140V which had predrilled microswitch holes (3) and an uncut nut which other undrilled holes, has ended up a fantastic guitar with some twists.

The quality of the build is outstanding, as you would expect from the same luthiers that Gibson left behind at kalamazoo when moving to nashville.

Pups started out to be zebra gibson dirty fingers, but as I had some GDFs already in the Paul I decided to get some Zakk Wylde EMGs and add the Boost trim pot (as used by Kerry King of Slayer, an adjustable +/- 20dbs trimpot) and a phase microswitch which of course puts the pups outta phase.

The carve is amazing and Gibson cream pup rings hold the EMG 85/81 in place.

The tailpeice and saddle bridge are Tone Pros.

Rosewood fretboard , mahogany body neck..just an awesome guitar which is very very loud when required.

The third microswitch is a dummy as I just don't have a need for anything else.

All electrics are of course EMG , slight twist is that I added another 9v battery as I read the boost switch can be used as a distortion on the max +20db, but sucks juice. So the active pups now have 18V's available and all tucked up in the back without any other rerouting required.