Comments

• Jazzaferri Victoria B.C.Moderator Dunn Ultrafox, DuPont MDC20 Gretsch Chet Atkins CG

  July 2013 Posts: 3,707

  why :shock: inlays arent cheap after the fact

  The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
• djangoisgod ✭

  July 2013 Posts: 62

  Some hard earned extra money laying around doesnt hurt... What do you think about the charlie christian pickup? What strings should I use.
• Michael Bauer Chicago, ILProdigy Selmers, Busatos and more…oh my!

  July 2013 Posts: 1,002

  Are you sure it's a real Charlie Christian pickup, or just a cosmetic look-alike? I have a '39 ES-150, and the pickup, magnet assembly is huge. I can't see how an authentic CC pickup could ever be mounted in a manouche guitar without killing the sound (and filling the sound hole). All that pickup and magnet mounted to the top of a gypsy guitar would, in my opinion, keep the top from doing its job.
  
  Don't get me wrong, I think the CC pickup is the best jazz pickup ever, and by a long shot, but I question how it will mate with the platform you have chosen. It would be like putting the cannon from an M1 tank on my Mini! The ES-150 is a heavy structure, designed to mount that pickup. A gypsy guitar, in my humble opinion, is simply not going to be able to accomodate it.
  
  There are P-90 pickups that are made to look like the visible part of the CC pickup. That might work, but it really isn't going to sound like the real thing. As for strings, you are stuck with Argies or their equivalent, no matter how they sound. You put flat-wound 13's on a gypsy jazz guitar, and my guess is that you will have kindling is very short order.

  I've never been a guitar player, but I've played one on stage.
• Jazzaferri Victoria B.C.Moderator Dunn Ultrafox, DuPont MDC20 Gretsch Chet Atkins CG

  July 2013 Posts: 3,707

  Well, if not quite kindling..at least a pretty good approximation of a bow :shock:
  
  Why not get a better guitar?

  The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
• Michael Bauer Chicago, ILProdigy Selmers, Busatos and more…oh my!

  July 2013 Posts: 1,002

  I didn't exactly feel like disassembling my ES-150, so I looked it up. The CC pickup assembly is something like 5-6 inches long and weighs two pounds, give or take. I understand loving the sound and looks, but it seems to me that the real issue is a) finding one, and b) figuring out where and how to mount it. You'd be pretty much ending its life as an acoustic guitar.
  
  If it's a copy you want, that makes more sense in terms of mounting, but just understand it isn't going to sound anything like the real thing.
  
  If I wanted a really electric sound, I'd probably go with a Peche a la Mouche pickup. I personally prefer the Krivo. It just sounds less "electric" to me, which I like.

  I've never been a guitar player, but I've played one on stage.
• pickitjohn South Texas Corpus, San Antonio, AustinVirtuoso Patenotte 260

  July 2013 Posts: 936

  For what it's worth:
  
  I took some white nail-polish and put side markers on my guitar. Works for me I can't see the ones on the fretboard when I'm playing anyhow.
  Don't have any expereince with pick-ups, Except I used to drive one for a while.
  
  pickitjohn

  Warning There was an error rendering this rich post.
• Michael Bauer Chicago, ILProdigy Selmers, Busatos and more…oh my!

  July 2013 Posts: 1,002

  I use White Out (or whatever the commercial spelling is) for side markers, which is probably just a variation of nail polish. Nice thing is, if someone wants a 9th or 10th fret marker, they can scratch the wrong one off and put their own on. Klaatu found some stick on side-fret markers, and I really should try them.

  I've never been a guitar player, but I've played one on stage.
• MaximusVolumus ✭✭ Holo

  July 2013 Posts: 56

  Michael Bauer wrote:

  I personally prefer the Krivo. It just sounds less "electric" to me, which I like.

  
  
  For me, the Krivo has always been disappointing. Maybe mine is unique in a sense and this problem doesn't affect other Krivo owners, but the single coil quack it gives off is overpowering (my Hodson ends up sounding like a Strat).
  
  It was good to see you at DiJ this year, Michael!
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  July 2013 Posts: 440

  Michael Bauer wrote:

  I didn't exactly feel like disassembling my ES-150, so I looked it up. The CC pickup assembly is something like 5-6 inches long and weighs two pounds, give or take. I understand loving the sound and looks, but it seems to me that the real issue is a) finding one, and b) figuring out where and how to mount it. You'd be pretty much ending its life as an acoustic guitar.
  
  If it's a copy you want, that makes more sense in terms of mounting, but just understand it isn't going to sound anything like the real thing.
  
  If I wanted a really electric sound, I'd probably go with a Peche a la Mouche pickup. I personally prefer the Krivo. It just sounds less "electric" to me, which I like.

  
  Think the OP was talking about a Lollar CC pickup.
  Its not the "real" CC. but Lollar does very advanced work with the magnetics so no need for those large bar magnets.
  If not the Lollar ? Just cosmetics, IMO.
  The Lollar will stand toe to toe with the real deal, very lush and detailed.
  Check their Chicago Steel in a strat. Amazing.
• Archtop Eddy Manitou Springs, ColoradoModerator

  July 2013 Posts: 589

  I have a 1937 ES-150 with an original CC pickup (modded lefthanded). I also have a 1928 round-hole Gibson L-4 on which I mounted an original style CC pickup custom wound by Seymour Duncan. Essentially, the size and dimensions of the original pickup and the Seymour Duncan are the same. I pondered a while on how to put the SD into the L-4. I wanted to find a way to mount the pickup that would 1) not modify the guitar with holes -- even screw holes; and 2) look "correct" to the vintage guitar.
  
  The good news was that the round-hole on the L-4 was quite large in 1928. As a result I could get the pickup to sit in the hole. without cutting. It was a matter of finding a way to mount the heavy pickup in the hole without it falling out or damaging the guitar.
  
  Ultimately, I ended up pushing the pickup snug against the top of the soundhole and held it in place with a circular sheet of clear plastic. I found the circular sheet by taking the clear CD-shaped dust-shield from a pack of recordable CD-Rs. I trimmed the top and then pushed it up against the pickup to hold it place. Now it was a matter finding a way to hold it all in place which I did by creating a bracketing system of black Popsicle sticks inside the sound hole. I then held the circular plastic sheet, bracket and pickup firmly in place with three screws (a modification of the mounting system used on the original ES-150 CC).
  
  No new holes necessary! I questioned how well all this would hold together, but I've had the guitar this way for more than 10 years and it's still solid as a rock. It's been a viable and satisfying gigging guitar.
  
  I added a pickguard (made of paper!), stashed the volume and tone controls under the pickguard, ran the pickup wire from their to a output jack that I built on the to of the tailpiece and it's all been good. Again, no new holes.
  
  Pictures below show the pickup and the pickguard and the "out of body" tailpiece.
  
  As for sound, I love the CC sound and the Seymour Duncan version is a very true to the original in sound, look and style. It is a bit more robust than the original which has 64 year old magnetic pickups. However, the difference is not a negative and only noticeable if you compare the two guitars side by side. Both have that Charlie Christian sound.
  
  I use flat wounds on both, but I'd have no issues changing to roundwounds and even trying GJ strings. Basically, strings are cheap and one of the easiest ways to experiment with your sound.
  
  As for Lollar CCs, I'd given 'em a try in a heartbeat, and in fact am thinking of adding the Lollar humbucker-size CC to on Eastman 175-style guitar.
  
  Here's some pics... AE