Kiwi

Originally I'd had in mind something that was a bit more Yamaha SG-ish but set in rather than through neck.  But that never got off the ground because the manufacturer's sales representative decided that I wasn't going to buy enough from them.  So the neck is a five piece laminate made from maple and mahogany with an ebony fingerboard.  It's not the one piece maple job on the Aria because I prefer laminated necks for strength and wanted a bit of mahogany in the mix just for the mid range definition and slightly sweeter attack.  

I've been a little obsessed with guitarist Alan Murphy in Go West for a number of years.  The quality of my playing is a borderline insult to his legacy of talent but hasn't stopped me from a bit of a dive into 80's sounds.

So to scratch the itch, I'm working on a new build which is a bit of a mish mash of some of the instruments he played in the late 80's.  The primary mission is to recreate the cleans from his Aria RS Esprit. 

The Esprit is a very interesting guitar technically because it not only featured active electronics (which runs against the tide of prevailing opinion these days) but the circuitry was actually licensed from Alembic, a company whose reputation is founded on bass guitars.  Alan was quoted in a Home Recording Studio article, published a month after he passed, that the Aria sounded like nothing else on the market for cleans.  

So that was the starting point for this build - crisp, shimmery cleans with not much bottom end. 

But, as previous builds will attest, I have a habit of making things far more complicated than they need to be.   The Esprit has only two pickups - neck and bridge and both pickups are single coils with that middle 'pickup' a dummy hum cancelling coil.  The neck and bridge together are where it shines (or shimmers if you will) but just having a guitar for that setting seemed like a wasted opportunity.  So I felt the need to build in more options.  

The controls are volume (pull = active circuit on, activates a flashing red LED), Lo pass sweep neck pickup,  bridge pickup boost switch at shelving point, lo pass sweep bridge pickup, neck pick up boost switch at shelving point and 3 way pickup selector switch.  The alder body and 1 piece bolt maple neck are nothing remarkable and neither is the Floyd inspired fulcrum vibrato.

That middle coil was at the centre of my concerns about 'waste'.  Firstly because hum cancelling can be achieved more effectively through other means these days (stacked coils for example).  Secondly because arguably the positions 2 and 4 on a strat are arguably some of the most evocative, conventional clean sounds.  So it would be nice to have them as well but that wouldn't be possible if the middle position was just a coil.  So I wanted to find a way to re-utilised that middle position for a pickup but without compromising what the Esprit does best.

This means having to use pickups that don't need a dummy coil and that also throws into the air questions about wiring direction, phase and inductance.  As it so happens, Aria commissioned Kent Armstrong to make the pickups for the RS Esprit based on information supplied by Alembic so after an exchange of emails with Aaron, we had a short chat on Skype about what Aria were up to.  Aaron makes almost all my new pickups since Andy at Wizard retired.  He can tap into all of the work that his father did for major boutique brands like Celinder, Ken Smith and others (as well as Aria).  Aaron advised that most of the clean sound of an Aria probably came from the filters and that to get traditional strat sounds from positions 2 and 4,  it was more phased on the phase relationship between the pickups than on the wiring.  This meant that doing the RS Esprit thing AND the Fender 2 and 4 thing could be technically feasible.

Aaron kindly offered to dust off the plans for the Aria pickups and wire up a set of improved coils when I was ready.  I also did a bit of research on Alan's signal chain and found that he ran a clean and dirty channels separately.  For overdriven sounds with Go West, the Aria was shunted into Alan's cherished Fender Super Champs and then into a Session power and JBL cab.  But for clean sounds, he went straight into the PA to preserve that crystal high end.  Here's a clip of Alan playing cleans into a Roland Dimension D and then direct through the PA at a shared billing gig in Japan with Go West, (or should I say 'Go Wet' given the inclement weather conditions.)

The next trick was the filters and there are a few options available.  First option was to use Alembic's Activator preamp.  I happen to have one in my Pedulla fretless which I wanted to replace so I just needed to find another.  But they're not cheap and the second option, replacement lo-pass filter circuits by Boogieman on Ebay are on the pricey side as well, now.   I also caught wind of a low volume manufacturer called Lustihand who were making circuits for Wal and Alembic basses and contacted them through Facebook.  A new double circuit was going to cost the same as a single, used Alembic Activator and Lustihand offered to tailor it for guitar frequencies so that might mean filtering anything out below 80Hz and above 8KHz.  I'm not sure yet, will have to think about it some more.

In the meantime, a set of Alembic Activator stratocaster pickups popped up on Reverb. 

Normally they'd be about 400 quid for a used set but the seller was asking for less than half that.  So I snagged them after confirming with Mica at Alembic that they were indeed stacked humbuckers and therefore independently hum cancelling.  While not quite as shimmery as the Series instruments, I bore Aaron's advice on the role played by the pickups in the RS Esprit in mind along with a few clips on Youtube that suggested they'd be good enough. 

All the while this was happening, I also had in mind a guitar neck that I'd commissioned for thirty quid in April...

Hide glue is fabulous stuff - nothing else out there beats it but it's not as convenient to use as gorilla glue.  For things that need long term maintenance like fingerboards, I'd still use it if I had it.  

On 19/01/2021 at 18:31, EdwardMarlowe said:

I remember the Gibson case well (followed it out of both personal and professional interest). I wasn't surprised PRS won on Appeal. The first instance decision was nonsense - nobody spends that much on a guitar without having a fair idea what they are getting into, and the idea that anyone in any way would assume the PRS was a Gibson is bunk. Pretty transparently Gibson were trying to shut down a competitor who made them feel threatened, imo. Otherwise, Vintage would be a better rand to sue (look a lot more like Gibson, and really are a "copy" rather than "inspired by". 

I think you may be right.  Additionally, there are plenty of other makers out there doing almost exact replicas, like Heritage who even use the old Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, who weren't subject to this level of attention from Gibson.  So it seems sensible that they would feel threatened by PRS.

On 19/01/2021 at 18:31, EdwardMarlowe said:

That said, what I meant was guitar players were like "ok, fine, it's the PRS version of a Paul, that's cool" - the same people, by and large, who went apeshit when PRS did their version of a Strat. Granted, it was a step further away from *most*  of what PRS is known for, style wise (it seems everyone has forgotten their early 90s EG models, which are pretty damn close to these, if less blatantly "our version of the Strat),

And there is the 305, plus the swamp ash single coil models - that's all about as strat as a guitar needs to be for the sound and playability.  But the shape and the scratch plate also in the Silver Sky?  I don't blame some out there for interpreting this move as antagonism from Paul.

On 19/01/2021 at 18:31, EdwardMarlowe said:

Endorsements are an interesting thing. Definitely true that they sell product; Gibson and Fender so rarely advertise outside of the hobbyist press, but they continue to dominate the market largely because they got there first - all yer heroes play F or G, so you want F or  G and  when the next generation make it b ig playing F or G because their heroes did the new raft of kids in the audience want 'em.... self-perpetuating loop. At least we have some more variety in the market these days, but still. It's what makes me laugh a bit about people who whine and complain about "me too" brands.... generally exactly the same people I've often seen say they *would* buy X, but for "that ugly headstock - why can't they do a nice one, it's just not as good looking as the Fender..."

I think you're right about the pattern of emulation...which is ironic given music is supposed to be a creative industry.  One would expect a bit more originality from us guitarists.  But anyway, I think some of it is to do with many guitarists not being that interested in their instruments and just want something reliable without going down a rabbit hole of spec. that'll perform predictably...which is arguably Gibson also dropped the ball on...and PRS around the mid to late noughties.  Lee mentions in one of the early PRS review vids with Rob Chapman by Anderton  that PRS appear to have improved the quality.

And speaking of Chapman, and Sire.  Two brands that have managed to establish themselves through grass roots support via social media rather than support from the industry.  Hats off to both Rob and Kyle Kim for that.   Interestingly enough, Kyle Kim actually displayed Sire at NAMM with the support of Marcus Miller already in place.  Yet NOONE in the US was interested in representing the brand despite the clear and obvious game changing nature of the products.  So clearly even superstar endorsements aren't a silver bullet (although they have definitely helped Sire). 

Kyle Kim's theory is that there's a music industry cartel in place...which isn't exactly espousing the ideals of free trade and healthy competition.

17 hours ago, Skinnyman said:

So, for me, that leaves the question of where the market for Masterbuilt, Custom, boutique models sits and how much volume it can support. I can see the appeal of a small supply of custom instruments (or car or boutique hi-fi or whatever) but that can only ever be a very limited market for the minority who are prepared to pay a lot more for something “artisan crafted”*. 

Yes, and there are probably parallels with the exotic car market and fine art as well.  The number of people who can afford original vintage instruments and are interested in owning them will continue to dwindle over the next 100 years.  And prices will probably continue to rise mostly because the demand is not driven by players so much as collectors. 

18 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Maybe that's what's going on with PRS.... I can't help but be bemused that as long as they aped Gibson nobody batted an eyelid

Gibson actually took them to court over PRS single cut models.  Paul was in his element in the witness chair though and Gibson ultimately lost their case.  Fender gave up rights to their body shape IP long ago.

13 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

It'll be interesting if their new UK representation can get them reviewed in the UK guitar press, that could be a big help.

Endorsements are the most effective form of marketing.  Fender have been guilty of buying competitors purely for their list of endorsees - I think it might have been Genz or SWR who were an example of that happening, I can't remember exactly.  But it's why good brands die after being bought out by a larger corporate interest.  Mark Gooday tells a good story about Fender's interest in Trace Elliot shortly before announcing they'd purchased SWR.  Trace had to open up their books to Fender as part of the due diligence process...

Oh you mean the other upselling bit.

2 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

? ? ?   Upsold, Shirley..? 

Depends on whether you're assuming that past simple or present continuous is the correct verb.  Marketing activity for a company that still exists has no end... 

On 15/01/2021 at 18:36, EdwardMarlowe said:

It seems to be a small custom shop, building their own stuff, it's not contracted out at all. They did have an agent for a bit doing all their sales, but they've taken that back in house. They're in Guangdong,  if I recall correctly; they're certainly based not too far from the Epiphone factory, though they're not making them there. Could be they drew some of the expertise from there, though. 

Many suppliers have factories located in Shandong which is up north near Beijing, although Guangdong is bigger. But I think you are probably correct, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if someone skilled up at the cost of Epiphone and then went their own way in search of an easier life and more money.  But finding someone in that position from outside China would be literally like finding a needle in a haystack. 

On 15/01/2021 at 18:36, EdwardMarlowe said:

The concept is really sound: a custom guitar that would cost over two grand from the US for less than half that - but they certainly will have to face down the stigma of Chinese manufacturing stereotypes in the West.

There's already precedent with brands of companies outside China.  It's not hard to beat any custom shop on price and quality, the prices of almost all custom shop instruments do not reflect the actual cost of making them.   Yes there is better quality and attention to detail in custom shop instruments compared to off the shelf models but not three or four grand's worth of attention.  But endorsements, online fan boys and youtube influencers are running effective interference.  The key things to watch for are moisture content, tolerances of key joints, finishing and fretwork and they're labour intensive and tend to be skipped in the race to hit production targets.

I've been advised that it's much harder to establish a brand these days than it might have been 15 years ago.  I think the market is shrinking generally but there are still some players out there willing to shell out eye watering amounts and plenty of sellers wishing to charge outrageous amounts if the market lets them.   There's also more competition in the mid price range sector as budget companies like Shecter and ESP are upselling themselves in the same way that mid priced brands like Warwick have upselled themselves to boutique level. 

On 29/12/2020 at 05:35, EdwardMarlowe said:

Scguitars.co.UK 

Anyone had a chance to try one of these Chinese beauties? Lots of positive buzz around. I'm hoping they do lefties...

I'm really curious to know who might be making them.  There are only a handful of Chinese companies that do quality builds.  I've found the rest of them just rush things and try to get away with sometimes school boy errors.   Having said that, the parts are pretty simple and if he's finishing them off by hand and assembling then quality might not be such a problem so long as the wood is seasoned properly.

On 21/09/2020 at 23:37, EliasMooseblaster said:

Now, before common sense and my credit card catch up with me: anybody know how well the Joyo British Sound does for a '60s Marshall sound?

It's not bad, you can definitely get Richie Blackmore sounds out of it.  I wouldn't say it's high gain either - more medium gain with fuzzy tendencies.  The voice control will take you into more modern territory as well (which is what I'm after) but it really needs a TS type pedal (I'm using the Mosky Silver Horse) in front of it to kick things squarely into the 80's.  I got it to see whether I could get the Def Leppard thing happening, which it does after a boost from the Mosky.

BTW my first JF14, which I've had for about 6 years, has developed a persistent scream at extreme settings.  So there may be a shelf life to the op amps they use but I'm far away from anyone who could tell me for sure.  It was actually cheaper (given they're 13 quid each where I am) for me to get another.

OK phase reversing is a different thing altogether and involves the frequencies shared by both pickups cancelling each other out to get that Peter Green thing.  I'll be looking into something similar for a project I'm planning - recreation of an Aria RS Esprit but with middle pickup.  I've been advised that phase cancellation will get me in the ball park of positions 2 and 4 on a strat even though I won't be relying on reverse wound reverse polarity in the middle pickup for hum cancellation (each pickup will have a dummy coil and be self sufficient).

I think combining splits and phasing on the same switch is way more complicated than it needs to be, assuming that you have found a push pull pot that can offer all the necessary connections.  Probably better to leave phasing and coil separate but also you'll need to consider whether how the coil splitting will interact with the phase switching.  Are you going to end up in a position where using the phase switches in coil split mode will be like a kill switch due to earthing?  I dunno but it's something I'd be checking.  

Anyways, back on topic:  Have you heard of the site Guitarelectronics.com?  Some useful stuff on there once you've navigated your way past all the product placement.
https://guitarelectronics.com/guitar-wiring-resources/2-pickup-guitar-wiring-diagrams/

For my Esprit project I'm pretty clear about what I want but it needs a rotary switch to keep the number of knobs under control and also because it's the easiest way to make sure that each setting won't interfere with the others.  Something along the lines of: 

Posìtion

1. Bridge only
2. Bridge and middle out of phase
3. Bridge and neck in phase
4. Middle and neck out of phase
5. Neck only

10 hours ago, DrFingeryaguts said:

This is where I need your advice. I have four new cts push/pull pots, so my options are: two pots for individual coil splitting, or one master coil split switch. But am I right in thinking that only one push/pull can't change polarity for two pups?          

Polarity comes from the orientation of the pickup magnets, it can't be changed via switching.  Neither can the direction of the windings of the pickup.   I have a master split on my Yammie MSG's which works well for me as the only time I ever use single coils is for both pickups at once.  You'll probably need to decide what you need specifically and how much extra complication you want in terms of wiring.

There are some schools of thought that say part of the sound of a Les Paul comes from the wiring  harness and there are a load of companies that specialise in recreations of the LP wiring.  Pots are a complicated thing in terms of inductance and I know that better quality pots do make a slight difference to clarity.
https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/whats-the-go-to-wiring-harness-now-that-mssc-is-gone.436264/

On 26/12/2020 at 04:41, DrFingeryaguts said:

Ok, that's not good.

I'm sure they're not all like that (even on ebay).

If paper in oil don't have a good shelf life, then Russian jobs are surely passed it, right? I didn't know the USSR had a guitar regiment.  or is that just a load of balalaikas?

I believe they're still being made, but it's a bit of a rabbit hole to go down.  In any case a lot of these details just end up being hair splitting and make little difference to things to an on stage mix.    I had a set of authentic replica 57 single coils in my Nile Rodgers strat made by some guitar fetishist in Russia.  They had period correct windings and aged Alnico magnets...in fact they were so authentically weak and scratchy that I replaced them with some Fender vintage noiseless.  Be careful what you wish for.

On 19/12/2020 at 05:14, DrFingeryaguts said:

How so?

I've been looking on the net for info on caps, and what I've come up with is; paper in oil "is warm" but don't last, ceramic discs are cheap and looked down on, and orange drops are bright, which is what I want for that country twang. 

I haven't looked in to active yet, but I did read something about them being more precise and better for metal. So what's the advantage, anything I can use for rock & country?  

Various youtube videos that have dissected them to reveal a plain old normal resistor under the orange packaging. 

A bit like this one: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eek0azC6JV0
 

Ah...he sounds like a reseller rather than a manufacturer. 

Who was the supplier?  Chinese manufacturers can be highly variable

All you really need IMHO for a Gibson is some decent PAFs unless you have something specific in mind that needs high output or specific character (like djenting).  As for wiring, I think the sprague orange drop caps are a con and I'm not a fan of twin volumes generally...but there again, I like active guitars so...what do I know? lol

On 20/11/2020 at 21:10, EdwardMarlowe said:

I noticed recently that my old 1994 US Standard Strat would now sell for more than I paid for it (though not necessarily adjusted for inflation). Mine's a lefty, which makes it rare for that year - also, the left handed ones never had the anniversary badging that the "normal" version shipped with. 

What are the kids playing these days? I'm totally ignorant of the mainstream now. Used to have a really good handle on it via the NME, but I quite reading that in 2007 when it had become all synth bands I'd never heard / didn't like.... they left me, I didn't leave it... I think the last number one I could honestly tell you was Christmas 2009.... 

I'm hoping in the next few years that the Korean made Epiphones become a "thing" like the ProTone Squiers. I've got a beautiful one that I'm in two minds aboyt parting with, but if it made me a decent lump of cash to pour into a new Fender or a Korean Gretsch..... 

To be an appreciating asset,  music gear generally needs some kind of cultish or nostalgic appeal, or bragging rights. A sleb name and rarity often isn't enough.  

3 hours ago, wishface said:

There's probably a ton of good stuff second hand but with things as they are that's not going to be doable right now unfortunately. I've never heard of Rockmans though (tnot that my opinion means much )

Tom Scholz from the band Boston set the company up.  He's a bit of a lectroniks wiz. X100's were headphone amps set so you could have gain, chorus delay and compression in a single unit that could fit on your belt

On 16/11/2020 at 21:26, EdwardMarlowe said:

Eventually they *will* come back round - everything does - and value will go up. 
 

The price of Rockman X100's has exploded in recent months.  They used to be snaggable for a hundred quid but now asking prices are around £350-500.  A quick search on YouTube will reveal a slew of videos posted in the last 6 months by vloggers which will have probably been driving demand.  

Why?  

Def Leppard used them to record their Pyromania and Hysteria albums at the behest of producer Mutt Lange.  

Interestingly Mike Shipley (RIP), the engineer on those albums, has publically slated the sound quality of the units. He emphasised how much eq-ing was needed to get them to sound right. Phil Collen didn't recommend them for use live use either and this was all years ago.   But nevertheless those prices have climbed... 

... as will anything else seen as quintessentially top 40 eighties rock.  Hamer Steve Stevens signature models for example.  Prices of Fender Stratocaster Elite, Plus and The Strat models are climbing despite well documented tuning issues on the earlier versions.  

Exactly and even more of a sense of achievement if you can manage to get close to your fave guitarist!

The cheaper end of the Ibanez SA range is worth looking at.  Some great value guitars with fast necks and the whammy still stay stable even with dive bombs.

3 hours ago, Sammy J said:

You're right, it does run out! I've been avoiding the metronome for so long, but I do appreciate its importance so I'm going to start using it properly. We all start somewhere so I do need to be more patient. Thanks for the advice!

 

I agree with Dad3353, control and quality of playing is more important than speed.  So yeah, slow it down, work on your notes, get control of the piece and then play slightly faster until you make mistakes.  Once you make a mistake, stick at that speed for a while until you get control again.  

Wow, I've always been very curious about them.  The Parker Fly sounds quite bright to my ears so has Rob managed to tame things a bit in this?

The Amptweaker Tight Rock, or any of their other gain pedals, has a side chain loop for clean effects plus an effects loop for when the gain side is engaged.  So basically you can scene change with the press of a button.  But you'll have to buy pedals for each side. 

I believe the most recent versions allow you to send a signal to separate amps too. 

Amptweaker was started by the guy who designed the 5150 amp.  So it could make your 6505 sound like a 5150 too.