SouthpawGuy Posted April 19, 2009 Posted April 19, 2009 There are a couple of very interesting new clips up on YouTube by Wolfe Guitars of various guitars / pickup combinations. For those of us who haven't had the fortune of experiencing Lollar P-90s or mini humbuckers these little clips are a very good tone reference. 525PTD with Lollar P-90s, the intro says it's a 575 but it's a 525. That tone has me GASing big time. .................................................... 150 Gold Top with Lollar mini humbuckers. ....................................................... 137 / single Lollar P-90 ....................................................... For those that want to view these clips several times or watch them offline you might want to check out Tubemaster. http://www.tubemaster.sup.fr/ It's a free YouTube video grabber and converter, and it's spyware and adware free. Also it's very easy to use. I use it all the time now to download clips like this.
Kuz Posted April 20, 2009 Posted April 20, 2009 Great videos. But for my tastes, I like the older 525 with the floating bridge vs the tuneamatic straight into the top. The floating bridge (tuneamatic into a wooden base) gives a warmer, jazzy tone on the neck pup. When I bought it from Jay, they said Heritage could put the bridge straight into the top, but Jay said to try it first with the floating bridge. He actually said he like the older ones better too. You can still order them the old floating bridge way if you don't want the brighter tone. FWIW, on the bridge pup on my older 525 you get all the tele spank you would ever need. Pic to see the older 525 with floating bridge (click to enlarge)
Jazzpunk Posted April 20, 2009 Posted April 20, 2009 Great videos. But for my tastes, I like the older 525 with the floating bridge vs the tuneamatic straight into the top. The floating bridge (tuneamatic into a wooden base) gives a warmer, jazzy tone on the neck pup. When I bought it from Jay, they said Heritage could put the bridge straight into the top, but Jay said to try it first with the floating bridge. He actually said he like the older ones better too. You can still order them the old floating bridge way if you don't want the brighter tone. FWIW, on the bridge pup on my older 525 you get all the tele spank you would ever need. Kuz, are there any down sides to having the floating bridge? Tuning issues or the like? Based on your tone description, I think I would prefer the floating bridge as well for what I do.
Kuz Posted April 20, 2009 Posted April 20, 2009 Kuz, are there any down sides to having the floating bridge? Tuning issues or the like? Based on your tone description, I think I would prefer the floating bridge as well for what I do. Well, and I think Yoslate would agree, the only down side would be if you like small strings (wimps ). I use 11s and the bridge hasn't moved a bit. I guess the went for the bridge into body to decrease the chance the bridge would move with whole step bends using 9s or 10s. I make whole step bends with 11s and I have a more versatile guitar (jazzer on the neck, p-90 rat on the bridge). Let me offer an alternate youtube with Gregor Hilden playing on what the new 525 (I like his clip better).
Spectrum13 Posted April 20, 2009 Posted April 20, 2009 Last time I watched one of these videos, it cost me a Swart. Powerfull marketing tool. Kuz did they puts shims or conversion shims under your P90 525 or 535? I can't figure out if they act like a gasket and raise the height to the strings or if they keep the same routing or what... Junior member of club P90.
Kuz Posted April 20, 2009 Posted April 20, 2009 Last time I watched one of these videos, it cost me a Swart. Powerfull marketing tool. Kuz did they puts shims or conversion shims under your P90 525 or 535? I can't figure out if they act like a gasket and raise the height to the strings or if they keep the same routing or what... Junior member of club P90. Yes to shims. Answer is to adjust the height (raise the p-90s to the strings) of the p-90s to adjust for each pickup since there is no height adjustment screw for dog ear p-90s (you can raise/lower the poll pieces though).
Jazzpunk Posted April 21, 2009 Posted April 21, 2009 Last time I watched one of these videos, it cost me a Swart. Powerfull marketing tool. How'd the Swart work out for you? I've been gassing for one a bit myself. Seems like a great amp for blues but I was wondering how you thought it would work in a jazz setting? How much clean headroom is there before the Swart starts breaking up?
yoslate Posted April 21, 2009 Posted April 21, 2009 ...and I think Yoslate would agree Indeed, I would, John, with the points you've made regarding both P-90's on archtops, as well as the observations you've made about the floating bridge. I had Graham at Wolfe set my Super up with the tune-a-matic, on the wooden foot. I'd been led to believe the all-wood set up would be too dark, and string bending (I do mostly blues and swing stuff - only feaux-jazz) would be a problem. Changing strings (.011's) one time, I went to the wooden bridge, just to see what it was all about. Much, much warmer, subtly sweeter, the spruce top really sings with the all-wood set up. And bending, not a problem! Don't know that I'll go back to the tune-a-matic.... Spectrum: Go to the e-Bay thread and pull up the pics of the trans-cherry P 525, the one with the black, and white P-90's. That's as good a shot as you'll see of the shims the boys use under P-90's, on the archtops....
Spectrum13 Posted April 21, 2009 Posted April 21, 2009 Jpunk, The Swart is a spoiler for the P90s. I got the tweed 5 watt and it's loud. There is a boost switch to get more grind but it starts breaking up around 4 and after 6 or 7 it kind of stays the same. It is surprisingly good with the jazz boxes but I can't remember if I stuck the Eastman or the DeAnglico in so I will research that tonight. It is one fun amp that can do blues, rock and jazz with monster tone. The speaker (mojotone) plugs into a 1/4 jack making it easy to switch cabs but I have yet to try it with the vintage 30 or cannabis Rex. Also, have not purchased 6L6 or 34s to swap or taken the plate voltage down with a 5Y3 rectifier. I can only imagine what Kuz goes through when he gets a new amp and or guitar with the different combinations. Remember when you had one guitar and one amp? No complaining, just saying. Slate, looks like all the Heritage hollow and semis have them "spacers". My 137 got a super thick fingerboard and the dog ears screw into the top where the G used soap bars. Pre 1984 the Gs appeared to only have the risers on the bridge pickups so I guess when Seth Lover invented the height adjusting bracket in 1955, it allowed the electric guitar to develop without the adjustment limitations of the P90. Now that a few of us are leading the way by having Heritage build 1958 guitars that never existed in 1958 in 2007-9 I am seeing re-engineering in a different light.
Jazzpunk Posted April 21, 2009 Posted April 21, 2009 Jpunk, The Swart is a spoiler for the P90s. I got the tweed 5 watt and it's loud. There is a boost switch to get more grind but it starts breaking up around 4 and after 6 or 7 it kind of stays the same. It is surprisingly good with the jazz boxes but I can't remember if I stuck the Eastman or the DeAnglico in so I will research that tonight. It is one fun amp that can do blues, rock and jazz with monster tone. The speaker (mojotone) plugs into a 1/4 jack making it easy to switch cabs but I have yet to try it with the vintage 30 or cannabis Rex. Also, have not purchased 6L6 or 34s to swap or taken the plate voltage down with a 5Y3 rectifier. Cool, thanks for the review.
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