jacques Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Well, to some die hards that would be sacrilege, but trust me - it can easily be restored if necessary. Some of you may remember I play a 1988 VIP2 (for pics you can check my website). Although this is disputed by my tech, the body of these beasts is maple, according to Rendall Wall. My tech thinks it is some kind of very hard ash, but what the heck - it is hard, dense and heavy. I replaced the original Schaller pickups with Seymour Duncan Alnico II pro humbuckers to bring out more warmth from this rather tight body where every note seems to bounce off. This worked for me, but I kept getting mixed up with the old VIP system, which I'm sure many people love, but it just didn't work for me and probably the inventor, mr. Wall had good reasons too for a more modern VIP system. So I asked my tech to give the guitar a Les Paul switching system and use two of the VIP mini switches for coil splitting. The third switch does nothing. Very much to my surprise some tightness was added to the humbucker sound and the various single coil positions (bridge, neck or combined) have very warm and at the same time crystal clear tones. My tech did not react when I told him this - he probably thinks it is just my imagination. But my son, who is becoming more and more talented with guitars fell in love with the VIP2 for the second time (he already loved its fast neck). More sustain, dad! I also find that the difference between humbucking and single coil has become much more distinct. So something must have made this guitar more responsive after removing the Variable Phase. More 'communication' between wood and electronics? It has become so much better - I can't leave it alone actually. Anyone any thoughts on this?
SouthpawGuy Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Hi Jacques .... I got HRWs factory installed on my own recently acquired VIP II. The body does seem to be maple, but with a very tight straight pattern. I found the HRWs to be way too high in output, straight into the Blues Jnr at very low volume I was getting overdrive / distortion way too easily. In fact I could not get a clean sound in humbucker mode at all, the heavy strings in particular produced pronounced and horrible "bass farts" ! The solution I found was to greatly lower the height of the pickups, they are now screwed down into the pickup rings. This is mainly due to the design of the guitar I think, compared to the 575 the pickups on the VIP II are much closer to the strings. I too have noticed more sustain after doing this. I found that lowering the strings greatly cleaned up and warmed up the tones and I can get some really great fat clean sounds now,( after all there is no guitar fx pedal that will produce a clean tone from a distorted one ! ) As for the Double VIP it is fun to experiment with, the single coil tones are not bad and the out of phase is tricky to use at times. I stick mostly with the humbucking tones and use the single coils for a volume drop, as with most split buckers the volume drops a lot when split. Regards.
shook494 Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Sounds like a good deal. If you like it then it's good right? I change my guitars all the time for what ever sound I feel like at the time.
jacques Posted March 17, 2009 Author Posted March 17, 2009 As for the Double VIP it is fun to experiment with, the single coil tones are not bad and the out of phase is tricky to use at times. I stick mostly with the humbucking tones and use the single coils for a volume drop, as with most split buckers the volume drops a lot when split. But Paul, did Ren put in the modern VIP system in your VIP2 while he did the insides or is it the old one? As you describe the possibilities (and impossibilities) of your particular VIP2 it could be an idea to experiment with the less complicated settings I described. It cost me 30 euros to get the whole soldering done and I think you could have better single coil tones, which can add great dimensions to your tone palette. Why isn't the VIP2 on your picture list? I figured it hadn't arrived yet -rusting away in customs-, otherwise I may have corresponded earlier with you through pm...
SouthpawGuy Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Hi Jacques ... New HRWs and Double VIP were fitted into the "beast" by the Heritage guys, I'm not sure who did the wiring but Brent arranged it for me and it was discussed with Ren before the job was done. I received it about a month ago now, I just haven't got around to taking my own pictures of it yet. Here are a couple taken by Brent ... before the pickups were replaced. http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010117.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010114.jpg[/img]
cod65 Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Hi Jacques ... New HRWs and Double VIP were fitted into the "beast" by the Heritage guys, So, Southie, should another one of these lefties drop from the sky , you won't be needing it then? Would you buy it again for wahty you put into it ? Great color BTW
SouthpawGuy Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 So, Southie, should another one of these lefties drop from the sky , you won't be needing it then? Would you buy it again for wahty you put into it ? Great color BTW This one is taking time to grow on me, it is totally different from my other Heritages, ( it's kinda different from almost everything else too ! ). It has seen some serious playing time but is still going strong after 20+ years. As for not needing more lefties well .....
cod65 Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 say, do you have st patty's day there, or is every day st patty's day? C. O'Dowd
SouthpawGuy Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 say, do you have st patty's day there, or is every day st patty's day? C. O'Dowd It's St Patricks day here today, only happens once a year .... this is St Patrick http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/funnies/StPatrick.jpg[/img] This is Patty .... http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/funnies/PattyNew.jpg[/img] ... any excuse for a holiday ! 8)
jacques Posted March 17, 2009 Author Posted March 17, 2009 Stop this! Patti's stealing my subject > You men are so easily distracted from the really important issues on this here planet, like the removal of the older VIP system.
SouthpawGuy Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Stop this! Patti's stealing my subject >You men are so easily distracted from the really important issues on this here planet, like the removal of the older VIP system. But we are discussing VIP Jacques ! Very Important Patty 8)
Dick Seacup Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 Patty needs to find some corned beef and cabbage, she's unhealthily (is that a word?) emaciated.
SouthpawGuy Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 Getting back to the original question .... The 170 is being fitted with Duncan P-Rails at the moment. It too had the original VIP switching. http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20170/P1010086.jpg[/img] I've been wanting to get P-Rails in a guitar ever since they came out, over a year ago now. It was a choice of getting the VIP II or the 170 done with the Duncans and I picked the 170 for them. It had the original Schallers and roller bridge and tailpiece and they are also being swapped out. Turns out the pickups that came out of the VIP II, from 1986, were Duncan JBs and seemingly made in the Duncan custom shop. They might find their way into my LP Standard which has Shadow EQ5 active humbuckers in it, http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Gibson%20Les%20Paul/LP4.jpg[/img] Or possibly into the G&L 2HB which has an F spaced JB in the bridge and a G&L bucker in the neck. I've been wondering what that would look like with chrome buckers and a black pearl scratch plate. http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/GandL%20Legacy%202HB/P1010038.jpg[/img] .... I wonder if Patty has a sister called Patricia, kind of a Double VIP thing I had in mind ... 8)
jacques Posted March 18, 2009 Author Posted March 18, 2009 Getting back to the original question .... The 170 is being fitted with Duncan P-Rails at the moment. It too had the original VIP switching. Turns out the pickups that came out of the VIP II, from 1986, were Duncan JBs and seemingly made in the Duncan custom shop. .... I wonder if Patty has a sister called Patricia, kind of a Double VIP thing I had in mind ... Do you mean you have the VIP system removed / given a different function in your 170? Seems like you had no need to have the VIPII's pickups replaced at all, although it is always hard to tell what the JB's did to your sound compared to the HRWs... And you can put them to good use anyway (that 'LP Standard', is that a Gibbon?). I always had you in mind as that poor Irish guy with hardly any access to decent guitars that also had to be made the southpaw way round, which made it even worse. What happened to you!? Celtic tiger? Fraud? Burglary? Inheritance? I mean, us decent blokes don't even dream of this kind of girl you've exposed on these pages, let alone TWO.
SouthpawGuy Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 Do you mean you have the VIP system removed / given a different function in your 170?Seems like you had no need to have the VIPII's pickups replaced at all, although it is always hard to tell what the JB's did to your sound compared to the HRWs... And you can put them to good use anyway (that 'LP Standard', is that a Gibbon?). I always had you in mind as that poor Irish guy with hardly any access to decent guitars that also had to be made the southpaw way round, which made it even worse. What happened to you!? Celtic tiger? Fraud? Burglary? Inheritance? I mean, us decent blokes don't even dream of this kind of girl you've exposed on these pages, let alone TWO. Yes the VIP system, pickups, switches and hardware are all being changed out of the 170. P-Rails with 3 way switches are replacing them. The JBs came out of the VIP II, into which new HRWs and Double VIP were installed. Yes that is a G'brand Les Paul Standard, I bought it new in 1992 and haven't been using it very much at all so putting those JBs into it might make me actually play it. As for access to decent lefty guitars well there aren't any in Ireland - no Heritage, no G&L, no EBMM etc. Just the usual suspects - Fender American Standard Strats ( no lefty Teles stocked anywhere), MIM Strat, MIK Epiphones etc. ( Lefty G'brands are no longer a production item, those that are in stock have stratospheric prices, very limited finish options and those nasty 490 pickups.)
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