New Mojotone USA humbucker baseplates

[SonnyW]

Dave, I'm with you on this, in 1967 I modded my Japanese clone archtop to add a fuzz module I built from Popular Electronics. Not many pedals back then. But you were on stage and I was only buying LP's. I like to do the P.A.F clones, as one thing, mainly because I just like them. But I also like a lot of the newer stuff too. It would be kind of boring to only do one thing. I have even done some custom pickups for electric banjos in the last year. I think you are right about the evolution of the guitar. If it wasn't for Charlie Christian, T-Bone, and John Mayall and the blues revival, then the Beatles and the shred players, we would probably be listening to sax player heroes today or maybe piano guys or trumpeters. To paraphrase the Byrds, to every thing there is a season, there is a time for everything. Jon has a point too, there are some that want all the old details, and there seem to be a lot of them out there now.

[Steve A.]

Speaking strictly for myself I got the Alembic hot rod kit to boost the output of my pickups to get more "hair" when plugged into my Fender amp. There weren't a lot of choices for overdrive pedals back in the mid-70's although there were a lot of fuzz boxes. There was the EHX LPB-1 clean boost pedal which could overdrive the input of a tube amp but not much else. I got a TS-808 in 1979 which IMO introduced a very tube-like distortion unlike a lot of the early pedals.

Speaking of vintage guitars I think that it was the Tokai Love Rocks copies of a '59 LP in the early 80's that started the market for vintage reissues. Gibson and Fender might have reissued some of their older models from time to time but the Love Rocks smoked the LP Gibson had been building. I think that the idea with Gibson and Fender was that they wanted to look towards the future rather than back to the past.

As for the faded or rustic finishes it can save money for the mfg by not having to produce a mirror-like finish on their guitars but I think that they should be priced accordingly (and often are with Gibson.) The idea of paying extra to have a road worn finish is pretty crazy, but then again people pay big money to buy faded jeans. Another thing I think is crazy is all of the strange colors that they are using on guitars these days- kinda like Gibson is walking away from their heritage. In the past Gibson might have introduced a new color every few years but nothing radically different from what they had been using. Nowadays I wonder if the designers coming up with new colors are on acid...

Steve Ahola

EDIT- Yikes I forgot about the Alembic Strat-o-Blaster- a very clean boost built in to a special Strat jack plate.

[David Schwab]

Dave, I'm with you on this, in 1967 I modded my Japanese clone archtop to add a fuzz module I built from Popular Electronics.

Back in the 80s I built that fuzz for the guitarist in my band! It was pretty cool sounding. I keep meaning to make myself one. I have a scan of that page around somewhere.

[David Schwab]

As for the faded or rustic finishes it can save money for the mfg by not having to produce a mirror-like finish on their guitars but I think that they should be priced accordingly (and often are with Gibson.) The idea of paying extra to have a road worn finish is pretty crazy, but then again people pay big money to buy faded jeans.

Yeah, all those Gibson "faded" finishes, and the "studio" LP with no binding is just a way of cutting labor costs, while not knocking the price down much.

I'd bet that the distressed instruments started when someone figured out they could take the scratch and dent seconds and beat them up more and sell them for regular prices.

There's a sucker born every minute right?

I've yet to meet a serious player that uses those guitars. Seems it's mostly for the bedroom players. All the guys I know that have been playing a while prefer new shiny guitars, unless it's a real vintage axe. And those are pretty shiny too.

Another thing I think is crazy is all of the strange colors that they are using on guitars these days- kinda like Gibson is walking away from their heritage. In the past Gibson might have introduced a new color every few years but nothing radically different from what they had been using. Nowadays I wonder if the designers coming up with new colors are on acid...

I like some of the new colors, and at the same time, most of the new models Gibson comes up with are butt ugly. But they have to compete with guitars like PRS, ESP and Schecter which often have flashier finishes. For the money I'd rather buy an ESP Les Paul style guitar than a Gibson. I don't care what the name is on the headstock because I'm not playing it in front of a mirror!

EDIT- Yikes I forgot about the Alembic Strat-o-Blaster- a very clean boost built in to a special Strat jack plate.

Those things are great! Lindsey Buckingham used one in a Strat on all those early Fleetwood Mac songs. People think it was his Les Paul. I build those Stratoblasters to use as a clean buffer in basses.

[captcoolaid]

There is a company selling short leg just like the Mojo ones. As far as the plates needing to be threaded they do not. The pole screw will thread them just like the old PAF plates. As far as the soft angle goes some of the older PAFs had the softer bend, unfortunately not the ones vintage guys hold dear. Just like the L tooling they varied from year to year.

[captcoolaid]

As far as the wobles go I use a piece of padding under the pickup. I like the long legs personally but do deal in a lot of direct mounts these days. Specially in the last month or so.

[David Schwab]

As far as the wobles go I use a piece of padding under the pickup. I like the long legs personally but do deal in a lot of direct mounts these days. Specially in the last month or so.

But, the foam is pushing the pickup up, while the springs are pressing the pickup down. Clearly this is not an ideal solution.

Most bass pickups use direct mount, which works much better. The Gibson method was designed for hollow bodies.

[Jim Shine]

I'd bet that the distressed instruments started when someone figured out they could take the scratch and dent seconds and beat them up more and sell them for regular prices.

I was doing distressed instruments years before fender, or any other manufacturer was. I started learning that stuff to do better refinishing on vintage guitars. I practiced on new stuff. It was already coming to the "mainstream" before Fender took the concept and ran with it. Dan Erlewine made a video around 1991 that showed how to replicate the aged look of a black guard Tele. It was so popular it was covered in several magazines.

But yes, I am sure the fact they could use second quality guitars was appealing. Leo did almost the same thing. Custom Color Fenders are often used on second quality bodies or sprayed over second quality finishes. People payed a premium for a guitar that often was rejected and had to be redone.