And I'm loving it! The guitar came with three APS-1 pickups: alnico 2 with raised and staggered polepieces. I thought the bridge pickup needed a little help so yesterday (Thanksgiving) I took it all apart and installed a Twangbanger.
The guitar had the standard Strat wiring with no tone control on the bridge pickup...I liked the Tele like snap and bark I got out of the Twangbanger without a tone control bleeding treble to ground and diminishing the output of the pickup...but I decided after playing it for a while that I'd like a tone control anyway.
So I installed a .02 cap instead of the stock .05 cap and a No-Load master tone pot that I made from a regular 250K CTS pot by opening it up and putting a drop of Super Glue on the carbon strip right at the end where the wiper would contact it when turned to quot;10quot;. Now when the tone control is on quot;10quot; it is disconnected from the circuit.
When I lower the tone pot to about quot;8quot; it starts to function like a normal tone pot...and it's interesting how much signal is lost! The bridge pickup sounds both louder and snappier when the the tone control is on quot;10quot; and the tone control is removed from the circuit.
I changed the remaining tone pot to a Blender pot...it's another homemade No-Load pot but it allows me to blend the neck pickup into the bridge pickup and the bridge pickup into the neck pickup when either pickup is chosen by the 5 way switch.
I had another Strat for a while with flat poled APS-2 pickups and the Twangbanger. I have to say that I prefer the raised and staggered pole APS-2 pickups. They seem louder, especially the middle four strings, and brighter...probably because the raised poles are closer to the middle four strings.
And for some reason these APS-1's seem deeper: the bass seems stronger and more solid than it did in my other Strat with APS-2 neck and middle pickups.
This is a heavy ash bodied guitar...around 9 pounds. Alot of times a heavy Strat will sound kind of thin to me but not this one. It sounds very deep and clear and sort of piano like. Very solid and deep sounding but it sustains like crazy.
I like the Wilkenson vibrato this guitar came with. I don't use it as a vibrato but I like the way it sounds. Has a full size block like a vintage '62 Fender Vibrato but the saddles are a little differant.
Anyways, through my Matchless Chieftan this guitar has an amazingly deep and well defined tone and in this guitar the Twangbanger sounds more like a great Tele bridge pickup than it has in any other guitar I've tried one in.
Couldn't be happier with my Thanksgiving project!
Lew
Originally Posted by LewguitarAnd I'm loving it! The guitar came with three APS-1 pickups: alnico 2 with raised and staggered polepieces. I thought the bridge pickup needed a little help so yesterday (Thanksgiving) I took it all apart and installed a Twangbanger.
The guitar had the standard Strat wiring with no tone control on the bridge pickup...I liked the bark I got out of the Twangbanger without a tone control bleeding treble to ground and diminishing the output of the pickup...but I decided after playing it for a while that I'd like a tone control anyway.
So I installed a .02 cap instead of the stock .05 cap and a No-Load master tone pot that I made from a regular 250K CTS pot by opening it up and putting a drop of Super Glue on the carbon strip right at the end where the wiper would contact it when turned to quot;10quot;. Now when the tone control is on quot;10quot; it is disconnected from the circuit.
When I lower the tone pot to about quot;8quot; it starts to function like a normal tone pot...and it's interesting how much signal is lost! The bridge pickup sounds both louder and snappier when the the tone control is on quot;10quot; and the tone control is removed from the circuit.
I changed the remaining tone pot to a Blender pot...it's another homemade No-Load pot but it allows me to blend the neck pickup into the bridge pickup an the bridge pickup into the neck pickup when either pickup is chosen by the 5 way switch.
I had another Strat for a while with flat poled APS-2 pickups and the Twangbanger. I have to say that I prefer the raised and staggered pole APS-2 pickups. They seem louder, especially the middle four strings, and brighter...probably because the raised poles are closer to the strings.
And for some reason these APS-1's seem deeper.
This is a heavy ash bodied guitar. Alot of time a heavy Strat will sound kind of thin to me but not this one. It sounds very deep and clear and sort of piano like. Very solid and deep sounding but it sustains like crazy.
I like the Wilkenson vibrato this guitar came with. I don't use it as a vibrato but I like the way it sounds. Has a full size block like a vintage '62 Fender Vibrato but the saddles are a little differant.
Anyways, through my Matchless Chieftan this guitar has an amazingly deep and well defined tone and in this guitar the Twangbanger sounds more like a great Tele bridge pickup than it has in any other guitar I've tried one in.
Couldn't be happier with my Thanksgiving project!
Lew
Very cool Lew.....I use a 250k home made no load tone pot on my own Surfer/surfer/TB strat....The TB is just such a phenomenal bridge pickup!
Originally Posted by STRATDELUXER97Very cool Lew.....I use a 250k home made no load tone pot on my own Surfer/surfer/TB strat....The TB is just such a phenomenal bridge pickup!
In the right guitar it sure is! I've put the Twangbanger in at least three other Strats and always like it alot...but it sounds better in this particular guitar than it ever has in any other Strat I've worked on and it really reminds me of a Tele in this guitar.
Only thing is, this is the ax I bought to put the new Stack Plus pickups in! It sounds so good with the APS-1/Twangbanger combo I just want to leave it as is now.
This guitar is very well shielded right from Hamer...hardly hums at all.
BTW, I did connect the master tone control to the middle terminal of the volume control...the 5o's mod.
Lew
Sounds cool Lew. Part of the reason that so much signal is lost, is that a quot;normalquot; tone control adds to the volume pot quot;loadquot;. So, at frequencies above the cap quot;kneequot;, the pups are seeing a 133k pot rather than a 250k. With your mod, they now see a true 250k.
Anyway, you probably already knew that. Enjoy.
Artie
Originally Posted by ArtieTooSounds cool Lew. Part of the reason that so much signal is lost, is that a quot;normalquot; tone control adds to the volume pot quot;loadquot;. So, at frequencies above the cap quot;kneequot;, the pups are seeing a 133k pot rather than a 250k. With your mod, they now see a true 250k.
Anyway, you probably already knew that. Enjoy.
Artie
Thanks Artie! The diff is quite dramatic. I didn't realize that without a tone control the pickup would be so much louder as well as brighter.
Lew
Originally Posted by LewguitarThanks Artie! The diff is quite dramatic. I didn't realize that without a tone control the pickup would be so much louder as well as brighter.
Lew
That's one of the lovely things about an Esquire, that straight-through position on the 3-way
Lew, did you do the '50s wiring mod to it, too?
Originally Posted by Alvin Lee FanThat's one of the lovely things about an Esquire, that straight-through position on the 3-way
Lew, did you do the '50s wiring mod to it, too?
Yes I did...and this ax sounds as much like a piano as it does a guitar! Really deep and clear and resonant! Lew
It doesn't matter what pickups you put in.....through the Matchless, you could make the worst Chinese-made pickups sound great!
Originally Posted by GearjoneserIt doesn't matter what pickups you put in.....through the Matchless, you could make the worst Chinese-made pickups sound great!
Well...you know how I feel about the Matchless Chieftan: it's the best amp I've ever owned! I didn't get to play my other Strat with the APS-2/Twangbanger combo through it so who knows? But this Hamer is really a special sounding guitar. Heavy though...so heavy that I'd have passed on buying it if I'd known the weight before hand. Doesn't matter now though...it sounds great, heavy or not! Lew
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