Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
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. :)
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. :)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Slash's signature guitar
Gibson has just released the Slash signature Les Pauls. Honestly, I would not have played the guitar if I had not bought Use Your Illusion cassette ( that was a long time ago). I went to college and I finally listened to Appettite for Destruction. When you hear Sweet Child of Mine, its like .......... I've heard my calling. The only electric guitar for me is a Les Paul. Check it out here at this link here.
http://www.gibson.com/slash/
He's releasing the budget Epiphone, the USA Gibson and the VOS Custom Shop which is a replica of his first Gibson Les Paul.
You can also preorder the guitar at my store here.
http://www.shazli.com/music.html
Don't miss out!!
http://www.gibson.com/slash/
He's releasing the budget Epiphone, the USA Gibson and the VOS Custom Shop which is a replica of his first Gibson Les Paul.
You can also preorder the guitar at my store here.
http://www.shazli.com/music.html
Don't miss out!!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Just got back from the States
Howdy Y'all,
I've been bad not updating my blog. You see, I spent 6 weeks in Austin, Texas and it has been an eventful time. Too much stuff too blog. My bad. But... I had a good time there as well. Hopefully, I can chronicle a bit some of it here. Saw the Superbowl semifinal between Patriots and Packers ( I think). That was a good game. But I missed the Superbowl final but caught the highlights. That throw from Manning and the catch from the receiver which he caught with the tips of his finger and nailed by the Patriot was the turning point which could have been 19-0. But it was the Giants game and they were worthy winnners.
Austin is a lovely place and all the people are nice and courteous. "How're you doing" and "Have a good one" just makes me smile. The city itself feels cozy and not fast paced and it is the capital of Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas. The spring climate is cool and refreshing. But I am glad I'm home. Hopefully, I'll put some pix soon. Oh yeah! Vote for Obama. If he can inspire with just his speech, think what he can do for USA.
Shazz
I've been bad not updating my blog. You see, I spent 6 weeks in Austin, Texas and it has been an eventful time. Too much stuff too blog. My bad. But... I had a good time there as well. Hopefully, I can chronicle a bit some of it here. Saw the Superbowl semifinal between Patriots and Packers ( I think). That was a good game. But I missed the Superbowl final but caught the highlights. That throw from Manning and the catch from the receiver which he caught with the tips of his finger and nailed by the Patriot was the turning point which could have been 19-0. But it was the Giants game and they were worthy winnners.
Austin is a lovely place and all the people are nice and courteous. "How're you doing" and "Have a good one" just makes me smile. The city itself feels cozy and not fast paced and it is the capital of Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas. The spring climate is cool and refreshing. But I am glad I'm home. Hopefully, I'll put some pix soon. Oh yeah! Vote for Obama. If he can inspire with just his speech, think what he can do for USA.
Shazz
Sunday, December 2, 2007
E minor pentatonic
Hey guys,
I'm starting a new video lesson on guitar soloing. This video teaches you how to perform the basic E minor pentatonic in the box form. Hope it helps.
I'm starting a new video lesson on guitar soloing. This video teaches you how to perform the basic E minor pentatonic in the box form. Hope it helps.
Guitar jamming
Hey Y'all,
This is my first YouTube video of me jamming Jump in the Fire by Metallica on my Les Paul copy guitar and Fender G-DEC amp. Rock on!
This is my first YouTube video of me jamming Jump in the Fire by Metallica on my Les Paul copy guitar and Fender G-DEC amp. Rock on!
My Les Paul with Floyd Rose
My sister in law's husband in New York has helped me buy my new guitar. The Epiphone Les Paul with floyd rose tremolo. I have never had a new guitar before. My first guitar was a Strat copy and I have a Les Paul copy, both second hand. I was in college and money was tight.Somehow the Les Paul shape is classy. Although I have written about the Dean ML shape, the Les Paul is timeless. I'll keep on practicing on my Les Paul until my new guitar gets here to Malaysia. Rock on, Man!
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