M-3 California : Getting Back On Track

[raygun85]

He picked it up in a T-Bird too. He was putting the top down when I saw him pulling out of the parking lot!

[raygun85]

Mmmm. Me like tri-power pups!

I thought we had done something great with the Dual Tone pickups. But I have to give some credit to Mel on the idea of using three of them on one guitar. I have never had the opportunity to test three Dual Tones in one guitar and I was blown away. I told Mel that when I tested it the night before he picked it up that I was playing with the Bridge+Neck "quack" setting and was enjoying it so much that when I looked down and realized what kind of guitar it was, I started laughing out loud saying "This guitar shouldn't sound this way!" It matches Strat and Tele tones better on the low power settings. I like the phase switch too.

You can get, literally, 20 (yes, 20) different pickup combos on that guitar! I'm convinced that it is probably the cream of the crop for tone fanatics. I think you can play any style of music on this guitar and find the perfect tone. I admit, I thought it was a little overkill until I tried it myself. I can see why Mel likes so many options on one guitar - take one guitar to the gig or the studio and that's all you'll need.

[Veenture]

This could be Nokie Edwards' next guitar...

[Strat-o-rama]

Nice shots of Mel and his new guitar! Love the look of it in sunlight.
Mel, will this one be going to Europe with you?

[JimPage]

Hey, Matt--

Is it an effect of the photo or are the pole pieces on the bridge pickup off to one side a bit?



--Jim

[raygun85]

Hey, Matt--

Is it an effect of the photo or are the pole pieces on the bridge pickup off to one side a bit?

--Jim

Yes and no. On the middle and neck pickups, it's an optical illusions due to camera angle. The bridge pickup is off just a tad. We don't usually route the pickup cavities until after we mount the bridge. But there were a lot of things that were rushed and done out of sequence on this guitar since we were trying to get it finished in time for Mel's tour. Personally, I didn't want to let it go out until we fixed it but we had two options - let Mel take it or miss the tour. Mel really wanted this guitar for the tour, so he opted to let us fix it when he get's back. The treble strings do sound a little weaker than the bass strings when using only the bridge pickup. We're planning to refit the bridge pickup at the same time we install one of our vibratos after Mel returns from the tour. The camera angle is making it look worse than it is though. (Compare the first picture of Mel holding the guitar with the second, for instance.) But the "falling domino's" look was intentional.

[JimPage]

Hey--

That guy Mel is at the root of many of today's problems. I think we all can agree on THAT!!!

--Jim

[MWaldorf]

Guitar and I are safe in Livorno. The bridge pickup is offset but I'm not sure I want it fixed - I was able to raise the pickup stupidly close to the strings, and it snarls and barks like a cornered dog.

As Matt mentioned, some short cuts were taken to get the guitar ready in time, but he didn't mention the gallons of midnight oil he and his dad burned getting it done. Maybe he doesn't want me to feel guilty for enjoying the guitar so much?

[JimPage]

Heck; as long as a guitar is in proper intonation, sounds nice and is comfortable to play, then the rest is gravy. I wouldn't bother fixing that, either, Mel. I can't imagine it would affect the sound in any critical way.

I did something to a guitar last week that I was astonished to find worked very well.

A friend had given me an Oscar Schmidt OE40N archtop guitar (looks like a Gibson L-5 CES), which he had modified a lot. He put what look like Gretsch FilterTron pickups on it, and a Gibson Tune-O-Matic bridge. Problem was that it sounded horrible to my ear; the bridge rattled/buzzed and the pickups were way harsh. I was going to buy a new bridge and pickup set, but decided to try something else first.

So I took a home-made rosewood bridge with a bone saddle a friend had made for another guitar I used to have and stuck it on the guitar. Fixed the rattle and buzz of the bridge, but the pickups still sounded bad.

Then I stuck a piece of adhesive-backed Velcro under the bridge base where it sits on the guitar top; just the loop side of the Velcro, adhesive side down. Not only did it keep the bridge from shifting around, which those kind of bridges can do, but it mellowed out the sound of those pickups a lot! Now they sound crunchy and more mellow, which is what I wanted in the first place.

It's a goofy fix, but it looks great, does what I want it to, and sounds fantastic. So what the heck!!!

--Jim

[brutus]

Wow that guitar is so cool and so Mel! I love the F hole.