new pickup for Heritage Sweet 16

[vejesse]

Hi Guys. I just bought a used Sweet 16. It's a bit dinged up but has potential. It came out of Las Vegas and I believe the dry air affected things. The fingerboard must have shrank in width and the binding has become unattached in places. Also, one side of the neck joint is showing a little space between the sides and neck heel. The neck appears solid so I'm not going to worry about it. Also, the fingerboard has some lumps. I did a quick fret leveling and it's playable now. I'm thinking of refretting the guitar so I can fix the binding and install some narrower frets. I like the Stewart Macdonald .092" wide frets and these are more like .103". I do my own work out of my shop in Madison, WI.

 

I'm a little disappointed with the factory bridge. At the correct height the adjusters are high enough that there's no metal post within the bridge saddle, it's just resting on the adjusters. Maybe the beck angle increased but it doesn't look like it. Plus the saddle is the straight, non intonated type and the foot of the bridge fits the top badly. My 575 has a nicer bridge. One thing I've noticed about Heritage guitars is that you can tell they're factory made. For example, my 575 has badly fit parallel braces, they even used wood putty to hide the bad fit! Bad year maybe. I did look inside the Sweet 16 and they did a good job fitting the x braces. I'll be carving a custom ebony saddle that intonates correctly with the the Thomastik George Benson flatwound 12's I like.

 

Anyway enough bitching. I've always liked Heritage guitars. Here's my question. I'd like to replace the pickup and I'm wondering what other folks have installed. With roundwounds the sound is very bright, just too bright for jazz. Schaller pickups seem to sound a little thin. I'd like to avoid cutting a hole in the top so I'm looking for a floating pickup.

 

The Dan Armstrong ones available from Archtopguitar.com have gotten good reviews. Hase anyone tried to install the full sized humbucker with the adjustable pole pieces on a Sweet 16? I see that they recommend 5/8" worth of clearance between the top and the strings and I don't think I have quite that much room. Has anyone tried? I'd like to fit the best sounding pickup that will fit. How about the slightly smaller Benedetto pickup, anyone try that? Other suggestions?

 

Thanks for the replies. I'll post some pics if anyone is interested.

[peteraltongreen]

It's the Kent Armstrong pups that look great.I always liked them,as they look like the small humbucker used on the Johnny Smith guitar.Go to Kluson.com or W.D.products & have a look.They have both neck & scratch plate fixings,chrome or gold,and they sound great.Now,get those pictures up !

Peter Alton Green

[Patrick]

Hi Guys. I just bought a used Sweet 16. It's a bit dinged up but has potential. It came out of Las Vegas and I believe the dry air affected things. The fingerboard must have shrank in width and the binding has become unattached in places. Also, one side of the neck joint is showing a little space between the sides and neck heel. The neck appears solid so I'm not going to worry about it. Also, the fingerboard has some lumps. I did a quick fret leveling and it's playable now. I'm thinking of refretting the guitar so I can fix the binding and install some narrower frets. I like the Stewart Macdonald .092" wide frets and these are more like .103". I do my own work out of my shop in Madison, WI.

 

I'm a little disappointed with the factory bridge. At the correct height the adjusters are high enough that there's no metal post within the bridge saddle, it's just resting on the adjusters. Maybe the beck angle increased but it doesn't look like it. Plus the saddle is the straight, non intonated type and the foot of the bridge fits the top badly. My 575 has a nicer bridge. One thing I've noticed about Heritage guitars is that you can tell they're factory made. For example, my 575 has badly fit parallel braces, they even used wood putty to hide the bad fit! Bad year maybe. I did look inside the Sweet 16 and they did a good job fitting the x braces. I'll be carving a custom ebony saddle that intonates correctly with the the Thomastik George Benson flatwound 12's I like.

 

Anyway enough bitching. I've always liked Heritage guitars. Here's my question. I'd like to replace the pickup and I'm wondering what other folks have installed. With roundwounds the sound is very bright, just too bright for jazz. Schaller pickups seem to sound a little thin. I'd like to avoid cutting a hole in the top so I'm looking for a floating pickup.

 

The Dan Armstrong ones available from Archtopguitar.com have gotten good reviews. Hase anyone tried to install the full sized humbucker with the adjustable pole pieces on a Sweet 16? I see that they recommend 5/8" worth of clearance between the top and the strings and I don't think I have quite that much room. Has anyone tried? I'd like to fit the best sounding pickup that will fit. How about the slightly smaller Benedetto pickup, anyone try that? Other suggestions?

 

Thanks for the replies. I'll post some pics if anyone is interested.

 

For what it's worth, I have 2 custom built arch tops. One is a 17" and the other is an 18" Both have Kent Armstrong floating pups. The smaller one (not sure of the model number) with the gold plated cover would look great on a 16" body. The sound is pure mellow jazz . . . kind of like Johnny Smith. If your pick guard is already cut for the larger pup . . . then you probably want to stay with that size. But, I'm real pleased with the Kent Armstrong. Also, it's worth mentioning even though you seem to be a real savvy guy with wood . . . . I'd let that guitar rehydrate sufficiently before I did any alterations at all to it.

 

Regarding the bridge fitting the sound board badly, I've also seen that problem from the factory. But, don't discount the possibility of movement in the top due to the wood moving as it dehydrated . . . or the possibility that it isn't the original bridge and bridge base. But, you're correct. They do not carve their own bridge bases and they would be much better off going with a compensating bridge saddle, as well as going back to the inserts in the saddle. What is the serial number .. or year of manufacture of your Sweet Sixteen?

[FredZepp]

It sounds like you picked up a Sweet 16 that needed some real attention. And it sounds like you're the right person to get it done.

 

And yes... we always love pics.

[unikh550]

The Shadow Attilla Zoller model floating pickup is a very clear-sounding floating pickup. They also have one that routs into a standard humbucker cavity. You can get them at Musicians Friend (Guitar Center) for about $135. You can look up "Attila Zoller pickup" on the web and find other places that sell it. If you look up "Jimmy Raney Guitar" on youtube, you can hear him playing a Hofner that has this pickup on it. Good luck!- Charles

Hi Guys. I just bought a used Sweet 16. It's a bit dinged up but has potential. It came out of Las Vegas and I believe the dry air affected things. The fingerboard must have shrank in width and the binding has become unattached in places. Also, one side of the neck joint is showing a little space between the sides and neck heel. The neck appears solid so I'm not going to worry about it. Also, the fingerboard has some lumps. I did a quick fret leveling and it's playable now. I'm thinking of refretting the guitar so I can fix the binding and install some narrower frets. I like the Stewart Macdonald .092" wide frets and these are more like .103". I do my own work out of my shop in Madison, WI.

 

I'm a little disappointed with the factory bridge. At the correct height the adjusters are high enough that there's no metal post within the bridge saddle, it's just resting on the adjusters. Maybe the beck angle increased but it doesn't look like it. Plus the saddle is the straight, non intonated type and the foot of the bridge fits the top badly. My 575 has a nicer bridge. One thing I've noticed about Heritage guitars is that you can tell they're factory made. For example, my 575 has badly fit parallel braces, they even used wood putty to hide the bad fit! Bad year maybe. I did look inside the Sweet 16 and they did a good job fitting the x braces. I'll be carving a custom ebony saddle that intonates correctly with the the Thomastik George Benson flatwound 12's I like.

 

Anyway enough bitching. I've always liked Heritage guitars. Here's my question. I'd like to replace the pickup and I'm wondering what other folks have installed. With roundwounds the sound is very bright, just too bright for jazz. Schaller pickups seem to sound a little thin. I'd like to avoid cutting a hole in the top so I'm looking for a floating pickup.

 

The Dan Armstrong ones available from Archtopguitar.com have gotten good reviews. Hase anyone tried to install the full sized humbucker with the adjustable pole pieces on a Sweet 16? I see that they recommend 5/8" worth of clearance between the top and the strings and I don't think I have quite that much room. Has anyone tried? I'd like to fit the best sounding pickup that will fit. How about the slightly smaller Benedetto pickup, anyone try that? Other suggestions?

 

Thanks for the replies. I'll post some pics if anyone is interested.

[vejesse]

Some of you may recognize this guitar as it was listed recently on Ebay. The top suffered some dings and the place on the neck where the guitar hangs on the wall recieved some damage to the lacquer. I think I can touch up the neck but the top dings may have to stay. Oh well, it's a player and I play guitar.

 

I fit the bridge to the top and added a piece of ebony to take up a lot of the gap between the bridge foot and the saddle as you can see in the picture. Nice flame, good looking guitar. I popped out the big die cast H on the tailpiece and the damn tabs broke off. The new tailpieces are so gaudy. I guess I can file off the remnants of the tabs and and drill some holes for new ones if I want to put if back on at some point. I was thinking about an ebony insert. The volume pot was bad so I soldered in a new on and I'll turn a nice ebony knob for that.

 

I don't think that binding is going to work it's way back to the edge of the fingerboard. Here in the upper midwest the RH runs between 30% and 40% right now as the forced air kicks in. I suspect that the wood was a bit green and it's been that way for years. The frets will have to come out to fix it right as its the frets that are keeping the binding from touching the edge of the fingerboard.

 

The serial number is R05502.

 

[byrdland]

Some of you may recognize this guitar as it was listed recently on Ebay. The top suffered some dings and the place on the neck where the guitar hangs on the wall recieved some damage to the lacquer. I think I can touch up the neck but the top dings may have to stay. Oh well, it's a player and I play guitar.

 

I fit the bridge to the top and added a piece of ebony to take up a lot of the gap between the bridge foot and the saddle as you can see in the picture. Nice flame, good looking guitar. I popped out the big die cast H on the tailpiece and the damn tabs broke off. The new tailpieces are so gaudy. I guess I can file off the remnants of the tabs and and drill some holes for new ones if I want to put if back on at some point. I was thinking about an ebony insert. The volume pot was bad so I soldered in a new on and I'll turn a nice ebony knob for that.

 

I don't think that binding is going to work it's way back to the edge of the fingerboard. Here in the upper midwest the RH runs between 30% and 40% right now as the forced air kicks in. I suspect that the wood was a bit green and it's been that way for years. The frets will have to come out to fix it right as its the frets that are keeping the binding from touching the edge of the fingerboard.

 

The serial number is R05502.

 

 

Ditto on the Attila Zoller pickup. They reproduce the natural sound of the guitar. I have a Sweet 16 with a Bartolini pickup that I like as well. The Oasis in case humidifiers get good reviews. I have one in each of my archtop cases. Some of the other folks here may have some input on controlling humidity as well. The R serial number should be a 2001 guitar.