Ash Les Paul <> ALP - 1 (?)

Even playin' on the neck, you must be doing a Pete Townshend impression to be hitting the switch:P
Strumming up there kind of defeats the purpose of putting good pups in if you ask me...[/quote]

Gosh! Pete Townshend, well if it was the sixties it would have been ideal to play like Pete, but, although we may have played some WHO songs never got around to smashing any equipment.
I have to disagree with "playing up there defeats the purpose........." the sound of the string struck from so far away from the nodes decreases the "sharpness" of the attack and I (if only me) like it better. I would have liked to have put good pickups in, but had to use the old beat up ones that I had lying around, but if they were in good condition, yes they were once good.

Anyway enough of that, I have a quick demo, it's a bit rough and ready but might give some idea of the sound of front and back pups, about equal volume, together. Hope it works. I need to get a microphone to record I think but until that happens I'm stuck with this.
Will put a track down with some of the possibilities when I think it is up to scratch.

Oh, (and) I'm not unhappy with the middle pickup, just that I won't do that again and it was some thing to do and I think I will get use to not grabbing the strings to stretch them when I put new sets on.

Cheers Rick.

It didn't come through, I'll put it up in demos.

Rick

OK, lets hope that this works, I put it on sound cloud, apparently I had joined up some time ago but this is the first
Don't expect too much, and there is a little funny bit in the middle but I didn't worry too much about it.

https://soundcloud.com/rickmoff49/de...sh-les-paulmp3

Will also put it the demo section.

Rick

Right, back again.
I still haven't finished the ALP, but got to a stage where I play it and it's ok, however there is still work that needs doing.

While adjusting the front pup the spring "pushed"the bolt through and striped the thread. (on the pup mount) Thats what I get for using beat-up pups'. (see photo). When I change the strings I'll fix that.
Another pic shows that I have changed the middle switch from an on / on, to an on / on / on, this is because I didn't like what the first switch was doing. I wired this up to the Dimarzio to give me three sounds. Parallel, series and single coil in the middle position.

Not exactly happy with the three pups', don't think I'll be doing this again. The first way I wired it (my way) didn't give me what I wanted so wired it to the book, so it is working the way it should but I don't like it. The reason for 3 pups' is (to my way of thinking) either pup individually, any two together or all three together. This isn't the case here so, I am thinking that I may need to wire the P94 to a separate out put, but I doubt this will happen will get used to the way it is.

Another problem, which I won't worry about, is the middle pup is as low (in it's cavity) as it will go which happens to be about the correct place so guess it's ok.

pic #1. Ash, resting in it's sister's bed.

pic #2. Striped thread on front pup.

pic #3. New on,on,on switch.

Rick.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...028_103943.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...028_104010.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...028_104020.jpg

sounds the 3rd pup has complicated it too much Rick. I won't ever bother fitting a 3rd pickup

AaaaaaGggggg! How my guitar worked is anybody's guess.
Have been enjoying playing it but not really having it work the way I wanted, so, today I took the control cavity cover off (almost put it straight back on) what a mess, wires everywhere. Oops! no wire connected to one of the pots, wonder how it got a sound? (strange).
Anyway sorted everything out, tried, one pickup wasn't working but got that sorted, the volume pot must be a little wacky as a light touch of the knob done the trick (after much trouble shooting) although it just decides to stop every now and then. Should have used the ones I have here, next time I'll drill the holes out before I apply the finish.
Spent about 3 hours but rewarding as it is now working as I want, each pup or any combination, should have done that first. It's a bit of mucking around because turning pups off with the volume is time consuming,
All the switches are working, but not happy with the tone switch, I expected more variation, might be just me (deaf) hearing much but it's working. Not that I will use it much I'm sort of a 10 guy.
The 3 sound switch is working but best when I have just the back pickup alone.
Fixed the front pickup base so it will hold the screw and spring. first pic if I can figure out how to send them.

Ok, can anyone tell me how to post a pic?

Hey Rick, sounds like that wiring is way too complex.
To upload a picture go to 'Go Advanced' button, then find 'attachments' then hit 'manage attachments' button then choose the images you want to post then hit upload. They should show when you do a quick reply

One thing I've learnt with doing a lot of wiring mods is to keep your wires as short as possible to avoid crowding/confusion. Would love to see some gutshots.

I use imgur.com for pictures - upload from your pc and just copy the BB forums hot link on the column to the right of the picture after it has uploaded.

Well I selected the pix, but they don't seem to come through, guess I'll work it out some how.

Thanks Wokkaboy and Nickosaurus.

Still didn't think that would work, (the pic) but it did, good.
Ok Nick, tomorrow evening I'll take some pix of the mess under the cover, but I warn you it's not pretty. I kept the wires long so I could solder it in place a little easier. I still want to modify it a little but not sure just what to change yet (if ever)

Rick.

Well Nick, here it is.

First pic <> blue switch is the on<>on<>on, which controls the "3 sound". Series (down) Parallel (up) Single Coil (middle={inside coil, bottom pup})
Middle pic <> red switch (on 0ff on), my tone control, up is a .022uf cap. down a .047 cap, middle no cap.
Last pic <> what a mess, red switch (on on) is my "black ice, the twisted, soldered wires come from the capacitor to earth, don't really like it too much, but it's different for sure. (not too bad with volume and a bit of drive though).

For me to hear the variance in tone I need to turn my tone control way down (like "0"), but I rarely use tone anyway. Just a bit of grunt.

Rick.

Ps hope the pics' come out in that order.

Holy Santa Claus Shit!! That makes me dizzy just lookin' at it, 10/10 for that wiring job bro.

Not that bad mate. :p Nice work fitting it in the bloody cavity. That's always the hardest part.

glad it was you doing the soldering Rick, I would have given up way before getting it working !
Well done to fit that much in the cavity.
How's the noise when idle with no copper shielding ?

Ha! Guys, I would have liked to make it neat, didn't want to cut the pup wires (just in case) then to get the soldering iron in the leads needed to be long so they could be "moved", but it was a little difficult. I used some heat shrink to cover some of the earth wires and where I joined the hot.

Well Wokka, no noise, that is since I have "cleaned" it up (so to speak), it wasn't very noisy even before. When I touched the tone switch in the bypass posse it gave a little static but nothing to wright home about.

May be I'll never undo the four screws again, hopefully.

Until the mod bug bites again :p

Don't be scared of cutting wires shorter - you can always splice them longer easily and neatly. Heat shrink is a wonderful thing

Hey bargeloobs
Just saw your "note"]


"You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten...
You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up,
you're on ten on your guitar...
Where can you go from there?.... Where?"



Indeed what is after 10<><><><><><><> oh my Fender Blues junior goes to 12 on both master and volume.

Spinal Tap, eat your heart out.

Rick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rockmof

Hey bargeloobs
Just saw your "note"]


"You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten...
You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up,
you're on ten on your guitar...
Where can you go from there?.... Where?"



Indeed what is after 10<><><><><><><> oh my Fender Blues junior goes to 12 on both master and volume.

Spinal Tap, eat your heart out.

Rick.

---

12's the new 10...Hehehe eat your hearts out indeed:-) nice one man!!

Well, finally finished it. AaaGgg, I don't like the "Black Ice" so that switch will become an on / off for the middle pup, one day.

Here is a few pics'.
Wont be building another for a while so might do some modifications on another guitar that, I feel needs some work.

Here is a few more photos of ASH.
Will put some more in gotm in a little while.

Wow, she turned out amazingly. For my money, I would have used 3x the cream pickups (just for the look ;) ) but she looks amazing as is! Great job!! I hope mine turns ot half as good as yours has.

cheers,
Gav.

Thanks gavin, if only I had the 3 creme pups', but who knows may be one day. This is a growing project.
Just found the reason for the hum (if I'm not touching the strings) the tone switch in the middle position and Black Ice in the off position are not earthed, so will put an earth wire on the switch (if I can find a bit of metal) maybe a bit of wire under the body and that may stop it. Otherwise keep holding the hardware some where (Or switch to the other positions) . {haha}.

Rick.