Marcel's auction win JK2 (PBG build #4)

[Simon Barden]

Are the pickups 2- or 4-wire? No real details about them at all on the Belcat web site. Are they the BH-21s or BH-31s?

[Marcel]

BH-21... 2 wire... Completely sealed potted blocks.... If they fail the only option is to throw away.

[Simon Barden]

Well, there's no room for wiring errors then! Have you measured their DC resistance? Neck should be around 9.2k, bridge 16.2k.

[Marcel]

Lol... wiring errors are seldom my problem Simon ....

Not yet measured the resistance....Just got them and loaded them in... I did notice the magnetic field wasn't very strong so I'm suspect it may be a field problem over a winding issue.

[Simon Barden]

Just thinking if they were 4-wire with no info as to what the wire colours were, then wiring to one colour scheme (when it was another) could easily have got it wrong. Even if you belled-out the wires to ascertain the two coils, you'd still have to empirically test the pickup connections in order to guarantee a full humbucker sound.

The quoted Henries values for the Belcats seem about right for similar humbuckers. Maybe they cheated and only put one bar magnet inside instead of two? You always have the option of fitting a kit pickup in to see if there's a marked difference in output and tone.

[Marcel]

Well, sitting on a rack for two years essentially gathering dust has finally paid off....

Not long after Simon's comment in October 2017 the guitar was finished. The pickups were replaced, the nut was filed to within 1cent and bridge intonation was set, and despite sounding and playing quite decent the guitar build went up on a wall rack for visitors to my home to ogle at and say "Wow"...

Two years and two months later a lady friend visited bringing along with her her two young sons. The next day the lady friend contacted me in regards to this guitar build citing that her 12yo son hadn't shut up about it the entire evening before. To cut a longer story short she has decided to gift this build to her son for Xmas, and she and I negotiated an appropriate price. The son will also get a VOX Pathfinder 10, a lead, a strap, some picks and a clip on tuner to round out the Xmas present.

So in summary, this build has been sold..... Yay !!!,

The funny part for me is the 12yo son calls this guitar the "Star Trek guitar'"..... I guess it does resemble the chest pin communicator emblem when the build is sitting on a stand...lol...

[Simon Barden]

If it has to go at all, it's always nice to see a guitar go to a good home.

[Marcel]

So true Simon.

I've known this family for only a few months, yet I know she is keen on her boys maintaining an interest in music. They have an upright piano in their lounge that gets regular use, so I think this build will also get far more use with them than what it has gotten from me....