Guitars

All right, I have a chump Washburn Electric that I got off of my little sisters friend for 50 bones like 5 years ago.

I have an Acoustic/Electric Fender that was a friends. He played mariachi and latin styles on it.

I'm looking at 4 string bass guitars with great intent. I want to expand my horizons and open myself up to more options in creativity. I've been eyeballin a Squier Affinity Series J Bass and a Squire Standard P Bass Special 4 String Bass. Now I become obssessive compulsive very quickly, so I've been doing some research and I've been learning how the different types wood effect sound and quality, but I want to learn more about pick-ups like Jazz coils versus Precusion coils and humbuckers and anything else my brain can hold. Little help?

24footjet

I've got a Taylor k-14 ce, beautiful Koa wood guitar, a baby Taylor and an old beater that just sits around... I think it's an Oscar Schmidt. Lots of fun and enjoyment.

lets see....

i have:
an epiphone AJ 18s -12 string.
a heavily modified Yamaha RGX220
Samick sw 015E
Dean Bass guitar with EMG pickups also modified
A Harmony H803 that is on its way to being heavily modified guitar as well and is in a million pieces in my basement.
i also have a few bits of wood around that will be built into guitars over the years.

nightmaremike31:
All right, I have a chump Washburn Electric that I got off of my little sisters friend for 50 bones like 5 years ago.

I have an Acoustic/Electric Fender that was a friends. He played mariachi and latin styles on it.

I'm looking at 4 string bass guitars with great intent. I want to expand my horizons and open myself up to more options in creativity. I've been eyeballin a Squier Affinity Series J Bass and a Squire Standard P Bass Special 4 String Bass. Now I become obssessive compulsive very quickly, so I've been doing some research and I've been learning how the different types wood effect sound and quality, but I want to learn more about pick-ups like Jazz coils versus Precusion coils and humbuckers and anything else my brain can hold. Little help?

if you like the sound of a single coil but want no extra noise that single coils give you then you have a few options:
1) rewire and shield your guitar. this isnt hard to do but you need to learn how to do it correctly. i dont think i can teach you to do it but i know where you can learn.
2) drop in a "stacked humbucker" only one coil is exposed and the second coil is below the first. it negates the hum and doesnt effect the tone the way a standard humbucker can.

txjayhawk

Just starting to play...my girl friend got me a an Epiphone Dreadknot Acoustic. I love just sitting there and playing with a big cigar in my mouth. I am not too good...so if yall have any pointers on playing or what I can do to improve myself Id love to hear...

PuroFreak

I've got an Epiphone Les Paul II and and Ibanez RG220. Haven't really touched either one in a year or so... Would like a nice acustic to pick around on when I'm bored and don't feel like breaking out my amp and all that. Plus I live in an apt so don't really wanna piss the neighbors off cranking up the guitars...

kuzi16:
nightmaremike31:
All right, I have a chump Washburn Electric that I got off of my little sisters friend for 50 bones like 5 years ago.

I have an Acoustic/Electric Fender that was a friends. He played mariachi and latin styles on it.

I'm looking at 4 string bass guitars with great intent. I want to expand my horizons and open myself up to more options in creativity. I've been eyeballin a Squier Affinity Series J Bass and a Squire Standard P Bass Special 4 String Bass. Now I become obssessive compulsive very quickly, so I've been doing some research and I've been learning how the different types wood effect sound and quality, but I want to learn more about pick-ups like Jazz coils versus Precusion coils and humbuckers and anything else my brain can hold. Little help?
if you like the sound of a single coil but want no extra noise that single coils give you then you have a few options:
1) rewire and shield your guitar. this isnt hard to do but you need to learn how to do it correctly. i dont think i can teach you to do it but i know where you can learn.
2) drop in a "stacked humbucker" only one coil is exposed and the second coil is below the first. it negates the hum and doesnt effect the tone the way a standard humbucker can.

So I can modify my chump Washburn to sound better? ok, guide me in the direction I should go kuzi. My mind is a blank slate awaiting knowledge of rewiring and shielding my guitar.

jsnake

I used to have an ESP George Lynch Kamikaze and sadly departed with it. Now we have a Fender and Ibanez that belong to my boys. Not sure which models right now. Will check later.

nightmaremike31:
So I can modify my chump Washburn to sound better? ok, guide me in the direction I should go kuzi. My mind is a blank slate awaiting knowledge of rewiring and shielding my guitar.

what kind of set up do you have on it right now right now?

for instance:
on my yamaha i have a HH (humbucker, humbucker) set up with a three way switch that gives me the options of:
1)bridge humbucker
2) inner coil of bridge humbucker + inner coil of neck humbucker in series in phase
3) neck humbucker
each pickup has its own tone and volume plus i have a switch that will cut the bass out when activated (the inverse of a tone knob).

this is not how the guitar is set up originally. i added a tone knob and a volume knob, and the switch to cut the bass.

i also shielded the guitar so that there is very little of the natural hum that you get out of almost any factory wired guitar.

what do you have in mind to do to your washburn and whats your starting point?

I've got a Fender Strat Plus (American made with the lace sensor pickups), an Epiphone Les Paul that plays and sounds great for an overseas made guitar, a Takamine acoustic and a Carvin MTS3200 tube amp. Also have a Digi Tech multi-effects processor, a wahwah plus I might have an old pedal or two lying around that I'm not even sure if they work anymore.

I don't play nearly as much as I used to, but my dream guitar right now is a Carvin DC400 koa. They have active electronics, coil taps, and phase switch. Add a fishman bridge to that with dual outputs and your tonal possibilities are absoluetly endless.

Diamondog

Gibson Les Paul Gothic, Renaissance accoustic and a Marshall AVT100 amp....

kuzi16:
nightmaremike31:
So I can modify my chump Washburn to sound better? ok, guide me in the direction I should go kuzi. My mind is a blank slate awaiting knowledge of rewiring and shielding my guitar.
what kind of set up do you have on it right now right now?

for instance:
on my yamaha i have a HH (humbucker, humbucker) set up with a three way switch that gives me the options of:
1)bridge humbucker
2) inner coil of bridge humbucker + inner coil of neck humbucker in series in phase
3) neck humbucker
each pickup has its own tone and volume plus i have a switch that will cut the bass out when activated (the inverse of a tone knob).

this is not how the guitar is set up originally. i added a tone knob and a volume knob, and the switch to cut the bass.

i also shielded the guitar so that there is very little of the natural hum that you get out of almost any factory wired guitar.

what do you have in mind to do to your washburn and whats your starting point?

My starting point is stock. I've been trying to look up info on it and I can't find anyone that has one like it. I wont know much more until I get home tonight and check it out tonight. If I remember right, it has 2 humbuckers each appearing to have 2 coils side by side one set at the neck and one at the bridge. I'll take some pics tonight and upload them tomorrow.

there are so many options you can take with dual humbuckers.

KCW

I have a Guild, DiMarzio (Strat Kit), Fender Strat. I want a Real Les Paul, Jackson, ESP, Washburn.

kuzi16:
nightmaremike31:
So I can modify my chump Washburn to sound better? ok, guide me in the direction I should go kuzi. My mind is a blank slate awaiting knowledge of rewiring and shielding my guitar.
what kind of set up do you have on it right now right now?

for instance:
on my yamaha i have a HH (humbucker, humbucker) set up with a three way switch that gives me the options of:
1)bridge humbucker
2) inner coil of bridge humbucker + inner coil of neck humbucker in series in phase
3) neck humbucker
each pickup has its own tone and volume plus i have a switch that will cut the bass out when activated (the inverse of a tone knob).

this is not how the guitar is set up originally. i added a tone knob and a volume knob, and the switch to cut the bass.

i also shielded the guitar so that there is very little of the natural hum that you get out of almost any factory wired guitar.

what do you have in mind to do to your washburn and whats your starting point?

Hey Kuzi, did you do all your work yourself? If so, how difficult was it? I have little experience working on a guitar (although I've played for about 25 years - never wanted to mess with one too much). But I have been wanting to replace my stock Ephiphone pickups with Gibson 490s. They have 4-conductor lead cables so it enables the installation of coil taps or parallel/series switch which is what I'd like to do. I'm not in the market to do this any time soon - hopefully within a year or 2 - but was just curious how involved it would be for someone with no experience in this.

Heavy:
kuzi16:
nightmaremike31:
So I can modify my chump Washburn to sound better? ok, guide me in the direction I should go kuzi. My mind is a blank slate awaiting knowledge of rewiring and shielding my guitar.
what kind of set up do you have on it right now right now?

for instance:
on my yamaha i have a HH (humbucker, humbucker) set up with a three way switch that gives me the options of:
1)bridge humbucker
2) inner coil of bridge humbucker + inner coil of neck humbucker in series in phase
3) neck humbucker
each pickup has its own tone and volume plus i have a switch that will cut the bass out when activated (the inverse of a tone knob).

this is not how the guitar is set up originally. i added a tone knob and a volume knob, and the switch to cut the bass.

i also shielded the guitar so that there is very little of the natural hum that you get out of almost any factory wired guitar.

what do you have in mind to do to your washburn and whats your starting point?

Hey Kuzi, did you do all your work yourself? If so, how difficult was it? I have little experience working on a guitar (although I've played for about 25 years - never wanted to mess with one too much). But I have been wanting to replace my stock Ephiphone pickups with Gibson 490s. They have 4-conductor lead cables so it enables the installation of coil taps or parallel/series switch which is what I'd like to do. I'm not in the market to do this any time soon - hopefully within a year or 2 - but was just curious how involved it would be for someone with no experience in this.

i did all the work myself. all your really need is a good soldering iron, a steady hand, and a wiring diagram.
if you are looking to keep your epiphone stock setup but just change out the pick-ups that is a very easy switch. if you are looking to add push/pull knobs on the pots for in/out of phase or coil splits then it gets a bit more complicated. i may even have the diagram for the very switch you are talking about somewhere around here. id just need to scan it in.

kuzi16:
Heavy:
kuzi16:
nightmaremike31:
So I can modify my chump Washburn to sound better? ok, guide me in the direction I should go kuzi. My mind is a blank slate awaiting knowledge of rewiring and shielding my guitar.
what kind of set up do you have on it right now right now?

for instance:
on my yamaha i have a HH (humbucker, humbucker) set up with a three way switch that gives me the options of:
1)bridge humbucker
2) inner coil of bridge humbucker + inner coil of neck humbucker in series in phase
3) neck humbucker
each pickup has its own tone and volume plus i have a switch that will cut the bass out when activated (the inverse of a tone knob).

this is not how the guitar is set up originally. i added a tone knob and a volume knob, and the switch to cut the bass.

i also shielded the guitar so that there is very little of the natural hum that you get out of almost any factory wired guitar.

what do you have in mind to do to your washburn and whats your starting point?

Hey Kuzi, did you do all your work yourself? If so, how difficult was it? I have little experience working on a guitar (although I've played for about 25 years - never wanted to mess with one too much). But I have been wanting to replace my stock Ephiphone pickups with Gibson 490s. They have 4-conductor lead cables so it enables the installation of coil taps or parallel/series switch which is what I'd like to do. I'm not in the market to do this any time soon - hopefully within a year or 2 - but was just curious how involved it would be for someone with no experience in this.
i did all the work myself. all your really need is a good soldering iron, a steady hand, and a wiring diagram.
if you are looking to keep your epiphone stock setup but just change out the pick-ups that is a very easy switch. if you are looking to add push/pull knobs on the pots for in/out of phase or coil splits then it gets a bit more complicated. i may even have the diagram for the very switch you are talking about somewhere around here. id just need to scan it in.

I was hoping to add the push/pull pots for the coil taps AND possibly add a phase switch as well. I guess I'm somewhat trying to replicate the setup of the Carvin DC400. And please don't go to the trouble of scanning in the wiring diagram - this project is waaaay off in the future, but thanks so much for the offer man! Come to think of it I vaguely remember finding a website with lots of different wiring diagrams and think they had the setup I descirbed. If I can ever find it again I'll post the link - seemed like a pretty good resource.

if you dont mind irreversibly changing the look of your guitar you can do a phase switch for each humbucker, a coil tap for each, and a series/parallel switch. its crazy what you can get a guitar to do.

It really is. Since this is just an Epiphone we're talking about, I don't mind altering it a little. I'm not worried about resale or 'collectability' (for lack of a better term). I just love how it plays and want to improve and add some dynamics to its tone. Now if it were a real Gibson, no e'ffing way would I be messin around with it!

Right now I have a mex. Strat and a beater acoustic. I keep looking at Epiphone dots, and I really want to pick up an old tele as a rehab project (never really torn down a guitar before). I would also love to find a vintage mustang if the price is right. Any body know where you can get a short scale neck like that without breaking the bank?

ljl:
Any body know where you can get a short scale neck like that without breaking the bank?

try here yet : http://www.stewmac.com/

kuzi16:
ljl:
Any body know where you can get a short scale neck like that without breaking the bank?
try here yet : http://www.stewmac.com/

Thanks for the tip, I dug around a bit and didn't really see what I was looking for. Every time I talk to guys who have done "work" on their guitars, I mention this. Usually they just look at me like I'm nuts then change subjects. Now that I think about it this isn't really the only time that happens...

ever thought of building your own short scale neck? i dont know what kind of tools you have or need but you can do it on your own if you have those skills.

I saw those blanks at the link you sent me. I started thinking the same thing, I will do more research. Probably more a question of patients than skill.

So. I've been away for a while now and I've brought photos of what I've been tied up with.
My new investment:

My new Squier Standard P Bass Special. Both "J" style pickups and "P" style pickups
A new Acoustic B200H Bass Head
And a vintage Sunn 610L Cabinet. That's 6 10" speakers. And this specific cabinet is an early '70s model before they were bought out my Fender.

This little rig is stupid loud!! It's so loud it'll pound your sack in to silly putty!!

My fingers are getting all blistered and callused from the bass strings, but it's so worth it.

I'll try to make some more appearances on here when my fingers aren't tied up. Light up fellas and gal(s)!!

Vulchor

I dont wanna get off topic too much, but I want advice. I bought an decent little acoustic ($250 or so) a few years back. Tried to learn chords from a poster, tried to learn notes from a learner book, basicaly played a few stanzas of "horse with no name" and gave up...........What is the best and easiest (I know nothing is really easy) way to start to learn to play----nothing fancy, just basics, Jimmy Buffett level guitar stuff. Any suggestions, ideas, etc. PLEASE PM me. I appreciate it all.

Vulchor:
I dont wanna get off topic too much, but I want advice. I bought an decent little acoustic ($250 or so) a few years back. Tried to learn chords from a poster, tried to learn notes from a learner book, basicaly played a few stanzas of "horse with no name" and gave up...........What is the best and easiest (I know nothing is really easy) way to start to learn to play----nothing fancy, just basics, Jimmy Buffett level guitar stuff. Any suggestions, ideas, etc. PLEASE PM me. I appreciate it all.

Here you go, Learn to play Jimmy Buffet on guitar.

Youtube is my ho when I need to know how to play stuff. I mostly count on her to get me what I need. Mostly.

Vulchor:
I dont wanna get off topic too much, but I want advice. I bought an decent little acoustic ($250 or so) a few years back. Tried to learn chords from a poster, tried to learn notes from a learner book, basicaly played a few stanzas of "horse with no name" and gave up...........What is the best and easiest (I know nothing is really easy) way to start to learn to play----nothing fancy, just basics, Jimmy Buffett level guitar stuff. Any suggestions, ideas, etc. PLEASE PM me. I appreciate it all.

look up the tabs to songs you like. if you enjoy what you are playing then you will be more apt to play.

Mike...killer set up man! I keep looking for a great amp or head I can play without tearing the house down. I used to have a Kustom set up but got rid of it because it sounded bad (or worse depending on your opinion of Kustom) when I didn't have it cranked. Now I just use a single 10" solid state. I don't care for the tone much. I like to play real late at night, hard to get the kids used to that. Anybody know any great amps to play low?