Dean from Hell from Dean Guitars

ok, this is an old video but hey, its Dimebag Darrel's Dean From Hell. Nuff said. RIP Dime.






You can check it out here at these Musicians'Friend , Music123, ZZsounds or Woodwind and Brass . .

Seymour Duncan Blackout Guitar World Review

Hey guys,

Metal heads, try out the new Active pickups from Seymour Duncan. Very clear pickups which will show up even if you pump up the gain and distortion.






Check it out at Music123 ,MusiciansFriend ,ZZsounds or Woodwind and Brass.

More Marshall Amp Reviews

Yup, in my insatiable need to look for guitar reviews on youtube, this is another Marshall amplifier review from by Rob Math from gearwire.com. This is on the JCM 2000, DSL 100 Watt amp head and amplifier. Excellent Marshall tone and versatile too. For you gigging artists, try it out.

Here is part 1


Here is part 2


You can check it out here at these Musicians'Friend , Music123, ZZsounds or Woodwind and Brass . .

Marshall MG100DFX guitar amplifier review

This is one of my favourite reviews of the Marshall amplifier. Here Rob Math is demonstrating Marshall MG100DFX combo amp. Its 100Watts of goodness ready for gigs and be louder than the drummer. I've always been dreaming of a Marshall amplifier. It is THE guitar to rock out. When you're on stage, the gold Marshall console at the back of you is a comforting site. Check it out.

Here's part 1


Here is part 2


You can check it out at Musicians' Friend or Music123 or ZZsounds .

P.S. Take advantage of Musicians' Friends 25th anniversary sale

Gibson Les Paul Classic Custom review from Guitar World

I've always loved the Gibson Les Paul. The shape is so classy and has so much character compared to other shapes. I have an Epiphone Les Paul but the dream is always a Gibson Les Paul. Here is a Guitar World review of the Gibson Les Paul Classic Custom review for you to drool on :)



As always, you can check it out at Music123 or Musicians' Friend or ZZsounds .

PS. take advantage of Musicians' Friend 25th anniversary sale.

Epiphone Slash Les Paul Review by Guitar World

Hey guys, this is a Youtube video which I found on the Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standard Plus Top. I'm a big Les Paul fan and Slash was one of the reasons I played guitar. Paul Riario of Guitar World magazine gives a run through of this amazing instrument.



For more details you can check it out at Musicians' Friend or Music123 or ZZsounds . Cya

PS. Take advantage of Musicians' Friend 25th Anniversary sale.

Billie Joe Armstrong Gibson Les Paul Jr Review by Guitar World Magazine

Hey guys, another cool Guitar World review from Youtube. This is on the Billie Joe Armstrong Gibson Les Paul Jr. The signature guitar is modeled closely after "Floyd," Billie Joe's original 1956 Les Paul Junior. With a Mahogany body and neck and Nickel hardware. Do I hear "When I come around", "Basketcase", "Welcome to Paradise"? :)



Check it out at Musician's Friend or Music123 or ZZsounds . Cya

Epiphone Les Paul Ultra ii review by Guitar World

Hey guys. I found this cool review from Guitar World on the Epiphone Les Paul Ultra ii by Paul Riario. This guitar has the standard two humbuckers but it also has the Nanomag shadow pickup which gives acoustic sounds. Very cool guitar if you want to just bring one guitar on stage and do 'Stairway to Heaven".



If you're interested, you can buy it from Music123.com or ZZsounds.com or MusiciansFriend.com. Cya.

PS. Take advantage of Musicians Frend.com 25th anniversary sale

Body: Mahogany, Strategically Chambered. Top: Quilted Maple. Neck: Mahogany. Neck Profile: SlimTaper, Satin Finish. Neck Joint: Glued-In. Truss Rod: Double-Action, 2-way. Fingerboard: Rosewood. Fingerboard Radius: 12". Frets: 22, Medium Jumbo. Scale Length: 24-3/4". Nut Width: 1.65". Neck Pickup: Alnico Classic. NanoMag Low-Impedance. Bridge Pickup: Alnico Classic Plus. Bridge: LockTone Tune-o-matic. Tailpiece: LockTone Stopbar. Front Controls: Neck Humbucker Master Volume. Bridge Humbucker Master Volume. Master Tone. NanoMAG Master Volume. 3-way Toggle (Humbuckers). Rear Controls:. NanoMAG Treble. NanoMAG Bass. NanoMAG Gain. Tuners: Grover, diecast. Outputs: 1/4" Mono, 1/4" Stereo. Power: 9V battery. Hardware: Gold. Binding: Body, Neck. Warranty: Limited Lifetime.

Testing out the SH-4 pickup

After all the effort putting these new pickups in, its time to give it a go. I must say, it is a lot brighter than the stock pickups. The series and parallel do have some difference where one is louder, more crystal clear (like a Fender Hendrix Little Wing) while the other is still clear but more subtle, jazzier (George Bensonesque). The tone knob really plays a part on the sound you want. I've got here with a bit of distortion so you can tell the difference. Definitely, worth the effort. Now, to plan for the neck pickup, cya.

Changing guitar pickups

Finally the time came. I've finally decided to install my new Seymour Duncan Pickups on to my Epiphone Les Paul with Floyd Rose. The main aim for now is to install SH-4 pickup on the bridge and to change to a push-pull pot on the volume knob.
You can get them from Music123.com



or Musiciansfriend.com



and here is the special edition Nickel Version




Why am I doing this? The default pickups are alright but I miss the single coil strat sound and I have seen some good reviews on the SD Hot Rod set. I wanted to get the DiMarzio push-pull pot but the store didn't have stock so they got me another 500k push-pull pot. Me being a newbie, bought the pot, but little did I know that it is a long pole kind and doesn't directly replace the default pot, but we'll get to that later. Some of the things I got from Seymour Duncan's video here but some is just learning as you go along.




The first thing we need to do is to read the instructions!

First thing is to remove the strings. Since I had a Floyd Rose, it is a bit tricky, plus, this is the first time I'm removing since I just bought the guitar many moons ago. We'll need to loosen the locking nuts near the headstoc and loosen the strings. Then, you'll need to wedge something strong, long and flat (in my case, a fork) under the bridge and unscrew the saddles. You should not have much problems taking out the lower three strings but the high strings may be bent inwards so you'll need to take care while removing them

Then I took out my trusty note book and just drew the wiring up (very roughly). I also took a couple of photos of the current wiring. So far,so good. Then it's time to remove the current connections. I took my solder and tried to remove the ground connectors on the pot but the tin isn't melting. I checked if the solder is hot and ,ow, yes its hot. After about an hour struggling, I decided to cut the ground connections from the base of the pot and then remove the solders from the pot ears. Then its just a matter of wrapping my shirt around the plastic knob, pull it out and just unscrew the nut.



It's time to remove the pickup. Just unscrew the screws holding the pickup plate and the springs connected to the pickup and just pull the humbucker out along with the cable. Make sure all of the connections to the pots has ben severed.

That was the easy bit. Now its time to put the new pickup in and that starts with threading the pickup wire through the wire cavity to the control cavity. Threading is a close enough word as you will need to guide the wire through a hole barely the wire's width for a length of about 3 inches or more. After about 10 tries, the cable just get stuck in the middle of the hole and need to try again. I tried wrapping tape around it but no go. Tried to cut the sleeve off but no help too. At the end, i guided my high E string from the pickup controls to the pickup cavity, hook the cable through the wire and pulled it back through the hole into the control knob. Success!! After 2 hours!!

Now its time to assemble my new push-pull pot. Just put the pot in and... oh oh. The push-pull pot was a long pole pot which is about halve an inch longer than the normal pot. Also, width of the screw is bigger than the normal pot's pole. So its time to take out my pocket knife and scrape abit of the hole off. It didn't feel too bad to put a knife through this guitar but if it were a $2,000 Gibson Les Paul guitar, I would not dream of doing this. Anyway, now the hole is wide enough to fit the pot through but the pole sticks out way to long. I need to put a 1 cm length spacer in there but I was in a rush. So I went through the toolbox and found an old, used glue cover and fortunately it fits.



Now, its time to solder the conections together. Make sure you print out the wiring configuration you desire from the Seymour Duncan website, in my case, it's the push-pull series-parallel setup. I followed as best as I can and soldered the pot. However, the default Epiphone wiring doesn't follow the SD diagram as the cable from the pickup selector switch is made up of 2 wires instead of one. So, i just grounded the bare wire and connected the main cable to the pot. When, I plugged my guitar to my amp, just buzz/static came out. This is when I learnt the importance of grounding the pickup as when I touched my amp cable, the static cleared a bit. So, I connected the ground from the cable jack to the ground of my pot and the noise disappeared. Now, the neck pickup sounds doesn't work at all. I'll probably leave it there for a while and replace it after I've played around with my SD bridge pickup. :)