Not Terrified
I’m swapping pickguards on my Stratocaster again next week (assuming my parts get in on time). Pickguards are really very cheap (even custom ones), so it is fun to swap them out and try different pickup configurations. This time I am going with an HSH configuration (a humbucker in the bridge position and neck position, and a single coil in between them). I’m using the standard Ibanez wiring config with the 5-way switch, such that the first position is the bridge pickup, the 3rd position is the middle pickup, the 5th position is the neck pickup, and 2 and 4 each use the middle pickup in combination with one coil of either humbucker. That way, all the positions cancel hum (except the middle), and you can get a huge variety of sounds. At least that’s what I’ve heard. I haven’t actually tried it before.
The pickups that I’m putting in are a pair that I’ve been wanting to try for a very long time. The GFS pickup brand is a very popular budget pickup brand in the guitar world, and I’ve always wanted to try a pair of their Alnico II humbuckers. I finally decided to give it a shot. These pickups use Alnico II magnets, which are weaker than the more common Alnico V and Ceramic varieties. This fact, coupled with fewer windings than most modern pickups, give these pickups a fairly low output level. This means a lot of things for the sound you get out of them, in theory. I’ll get more into that (and the associated science, such that I understand) after I get a chance to play them and compare them to my other pickups.
For the middle single coil, I’ll use the fender bridge pickup that was installed in the guitar when I got it, as its relatively higher output should balance well with the two humbuckers.
I’ve always hated the tone of high-output humbuckers. I think the old PAF-style, lower-ouput buckers have much greater dynamic range, and allow for better expressiveness through pick attack. Had an Ernie Ball John Petrucci sig model that I loved the feel of (and control layout), but DESPISED the high-gain Dimarzios. Should have kept it and traded the PUPS out but ended up selling. My current main is a G&L SC-2. Has wide, soapbar shaped single coils(MFDs) , with a huge ceramic magnet on bottom. The big magnet allows for fewer winds of wire and lower noise, higher output than standard single-coils. Love these pickups. G&L puts them on the ASAT Special as well.
Powerful magnets and low windings makes a lot of sense. I never really thought about that. This will be my first set of low output humbuckers. In the past I’ve used a Dimarzio PAF Pro (reasonably high output), some ceramic stock p’ups that came in an Agile LP copy I used to own, and of course my EMG 81/85 (which mostly count as high output, though being active changes the definition a bit). I’m pretty excited about it. I figure if Slash plays high gain stuff with low output pickups it must not be THAT bad an idea.
I will admit that I briefly thought about buying a set of Petrucci Dimarzio ‘buckers (crunchlab and liquifire) for this guitar. 😉
Can’t say I ever really have been nervous about a party since I was a kid. I still can kinda relate though. I still remember my first national final. I was only first replacement, but gosh… I was more nervous than our actual shooters.
The next year was nearly worse though, when I was one of the shooters myself. And started of my final run with four nines (on a 1-10 target). Then came a six. Catastrophic as that was, it finally let me calm down and I still managed to get a halfway decent ninety out of hundred possible in total.
What kind of shooting? I’m not familiar with gun sports at all. Except the one with the skiing.
Pistol on 50 meters, team contest. It’s four shooters a team, each getting two training shots and then ten shots single fire on a P10 target (this side shows an example of one: http://www.prkeigenamt.ch/p10.html). All results are added together to make the final score. Two teams scoring the same means that the single results of the shooters are compared from highest to lowest until one team has an advantage.
I’m quite an active competitive shooter in my parts actually. With a rifle (SIG SG550-1) in the military category on 300m, a pistol (SIG P220) in the military categories on 25 and 50m. But mainly with a Haemmerli 280 (a .22 long rifle calibre sports pistol) on both 25 and 50m and a Steyr LP1 air pistol on 10m.
Best results so far are one time Swiss national champion pistol 50m team contest, fourth place national championship pistol 10m team contest and in single contests a few top ten results in a local Schützenfest (don’t know how that could be translated into English, leo.org gives me “fair featuring shooting matches”, but that doesn’t sound right) and 23th in the Eastern Swiss championship pistol 10m.
What I’ve never tried is biathlon. As interesting as I think it is and as experienced as I am with alpine skies, I’ve never in my life stood on cross-country skis.
Clearly you need to invent the downhill biathlon.
Woo! Geek/nerd stuff! The more you write, the more I’m beginning to understand, and I don’t have to ask stupid questions. Keep it up! 🙂
I couldn’t stop talking about guitar gear if I tried 😉
It’s true. Brother chiming in here. Whenever I call the dude, it’s the first thing he wants to talk about. 🙂