Rio Grande Vintage Tallboys....

[Brad1]

Driving home yesterday, and stopped by a yard sale. Saw a basket full of stuff, including a Shubb capo, an assortment of unopened acoustic and electric guitar strings (10 sets), a nice very lightly-used suede leather Levy's guitar strap, and a wired Strat pickguard assy with all pots, knobs, switch and PU's.

Figured "Naw...probably something off a cheezo Korean or Chinese Strat knockoff." Then, noticed it was a nice 3-ply quality W/B/W pickguard (with the protective plastic still on the front), shielding on back, CTS pots and a good Fender 5-way switch.

"Hmmm...."

Then, I saw them. A set of Rio Grande Vintage Tallboy PUs installed. "HMMMM..."

Asked the guy what he wanted for the assembly.

"$10...but take the whole basket."

"HMMMM...let me go to my truck and get my meter to see if the pickups measure OK." All measured ~ 7.2K-7.3K.

"OK. Here's a 10".

Anyway, anyone have any experience with these? Likes, dislikes? I have a stock Mexican Strat lying around, and figured these have to be at LEAST as good as what's in it, right? If nothing else...the entire basket was worth a ten-spot. I'll swap it out, and see what happens. Just wondering if anyone likes, or hates, them...and why?

(I like yard sales!)

Thanks,

Brad1

[big_teee]

Congrats, great find.
Don't know anything about tall boys, but am curious.
I make SCs all the time, and sell loaded pickguards.
Was wondering if you don't mind taking a few measurements.
Was curious what the winding height is between the forbon flat work.
A standard fender SC is .43" between the flats or 11mm.
Also was wondering what type wire is on them.
If it is dark brown, probably PE, Orangy brown, would be HFV, Red would probably be SPN.
Thanks,
T

[Brad1]

Was curious what the winding height is between the forbon flat work. A standard fender SC is .43" between the flats or 11mm.

Just 'slightly' over 1/2" (or about .53" on my cheap calipers). or, about 13mm.

Also was wondering what type wire is on them.
If it is dark brown, probably PE, Orangy brown, would be HFV, Red would probably be SPN.

What I can see without peeling the winding wrap, it APPEARS to be fairly reddish.

One thing I am going to do is to cut some tube spacers for the covers. It seems they used the standard covers so they don't mate up height-wise with that ~1/8" difference, so when these are screwed down, it's bending the ends of the pickups a bit. I don't like that. THAT makes me suspect this isn't a Rio Grande 'factory' Strat pickguard assembly...but probably someone taking parts from another Strat, and buying PUs and a new pickguard. Maybe not, but you'd think Rio Grande would have included deeper covers to avoid that, if they did sell it.

Not sure why someone got rid of all that for $10...and not gonna question it.

Brad1

[big_teee]

Just 'slightly' over 1/2" (or about .53" on my cheap calipers). or, about 13mm.



What I can see without peeling the winding wrap, it APPEARS to be fairly reddish.

One thing I am going to do is to cut some tube spacers for the covers. It seems they used the standard covers so they don't mate up height-wise with that ~1/8" difference, so when these are screwed down, it's bending the ends of the pickups a bit. I don't like that. THAT makes me suspect this isn't a Rio Grande 'factory' Strat pickguard assembly...but probably someone taking parts from another Strat, and buying PUs and a new pickguard. Maybe not, but you'd think Rio Grande would have included deeper covers to avoid that, if they did sell it.

Not sure why someone got rid of all that for $10...and not gonna question it.

Brad1

Thanks for sharing your info.
.53" is a tall pickup.
The standard cover should be ok, as long as you have a long enough screw, and cut the rubber tubing the right length.
Thanks again,
Terry

[Brad1]

Here's an odd question that just popped into my head while considering what material to use to space the covers:

The magnets radiate lines of magnetism outward, right? The coils interact with those to create the signal in response to the string activity, right? I assume there is some amount of magnetism radiated outside the coils?

I was thinking of using some small thin-walled metal tubing (if I can find it) to make the spacers, for extra sturdiness. That will obviously place more metal closer to the coils on both ends, instead of just the screws themselves.

This is something I never thought of until now. Do the screws "warp" any lines of force to have any effect on the sound of a pickup, or are they usually far enough away to have absolutely no effect...IF they would even affect them at all? If so, would some materials have a different effect than others? If so, would placing about an 1/8" length of thin metal tubing covering the screws...placing more metal closer to the ends of the coils...make some kind of difference?

See...odd thought.

Thanks,

Brad1

[cbarrow7625]

Holy cow. Did you just stump everybody with that question? (crickets)

I never thought about that. Would nylon screws change the sound of a strat pu at all? Seems unlikely but i would love to hear what any of tje pu gurus have to offer.

[Brad1]

Holy cow. Did you just stump everybody with that question? (crickets)

Yeah...it was just a curiosity. Just something I never considered. I doubt nylon screws would be a good choice, just from a strength factor. But, maybe a metal with as low a permeability as possible? Like aluminum vs. steel? Also, would steel springs (coils) also affect anything, as opposed to rubber, for the height adjustment?

I asked just because I was considering putting a lot more metal into closer proximity to the ends of the coils. I ended up just getting some hard plastic (like white plastic standoffs) and cutting them down, and sanding them to length/flatness. Worked perfectly to fill that gap between the formbar and cover tabs, and I no longer have to worry about the ends of the pickup stressing and breaking.

NOW...on to the review of these PUs. Definitely a LOT different than the standard stock Mexican Strat ones. I didn't use the Strat much before because it just didn't seem to have the "bloom"...or the single note articulation-to-chord smoothness...if that makes sense. I liked the playability...just not the sound. It was relegated to a back-up back-up.

I've always wondered on recordings how guitarists went from relatively clean, articulate leads with just a bit of hair around them...to an over-driven, smooth rhythm. I assumed a lot of it may have been a couple amps and some mixing magic, or by working the volume control and/or attack.

These things seem to have a something like a built-in dynamic over-drive. The lead notes....high to low...are articulate on the attack and round and smooth, and two-or-more notes at once bloom into each other. But, that's just on a couple small amps I have here (a Blues Jr, and VibroChamp and Univox U45B).

I'm going to take it later to run through a Hot Rod Deluxe, a Marshall 2203 JCM800 and the Deluxe Reverb (RI) to see what happens. Also, I'm going to have my buddy plug his US Strat into an AB box (and also mine), and do some rough comparisons in real time of tone and output, etc., by switching us through the same amp while both of us playing basically the same thing. I know there will be a lot of other variables (he uses one gauge heavier strings, a heavier pick, he's ham-handed, etc.) but it may reveal some glaring similarities/differences if I adjust closer to his aggressive style for comparison.

Anyway, they seem interesting, and I'll see what they can do.

Brad1