Aside from the pointy cutaway, that is a lovely guitar! That's my kind of finish!
Thanks man. In the USA they can't use the same cutaway as the other guys. But it's grown on me. Here's her brother from another mother.
Guitar players, let's see what you have!
- Thread starter Mr_Draned
- Start date
Thanks man. In the USA they can't use the same cutaway as the other guys. But it's grown on me. Here's her brother from another mother.
Beautiful LP... and the ESP eclipse is something I've had my eye on there is one at my local guitar center that if I had not just spent a small fortune moving would be in my collection
Is that ESP Eclipse at your guitar center a USA guitar? I haven't seen any of the new USA models at guitar center yet.
I need to find a older Japan Eclipse next. Had a couple of nice specimens on the hook but they have all fallen through so far.
It is a USA model but it's a pre own. It was owned buy their in house guitar tech, said he had to get rid of it before the soon to be x-wife did
I've probably owned 20 guitars over the years but now down to just a couple. A Fender Strat I bought on vacation 20 years ago and a Tacoma DR20 I got for a song. The Strat is a vintage reissue model that's been modded with noiseless pickups and is due for a new nut and fret work. The Tacoma is a beautiful guitar basically a poor mans D28.
No amps right now. I plug in to either iPad apps or Scuffham SGear on my Mac. Most of my playing is late night. I'd love to get a little amp someday. But I also really like effects (multiple delays and reverbs) so that would be quite the expense to swap over.
No amps right now. I plug in to either iPad apps or Scuffham SGear on my Mac. Most of my playing is late night. I'd love to get a little amp someday. But I also really like effects (multiple delays and reverbs) so that would be quite the expense to swap over.
2014 Epiphone Les Paul 59' Reissue with the P90 soapbar pickups, and my honeytone mini amp hoping soon to pick up a Epiphone Lucille or Joe Bonamassa edition Epiphone. Pictures will follow when my camera will stop acting up!
[MENTION=58407]Jarick[/MENTION] which noiseless pickups did you go with in the strat. I've been considering trying some.I've probably owned 20 guitars over the years but now down to just a couple. A Fender Strat I bought on vacation 20 years ago and a Tacoma DR20 I got for a song. The Strat is a vintage reissue model that's been modded with noiseless pickups and is due for a new nut and fret work. The Tacoma is a beautiful guitar basically a poor mans D28.
No amps right now. I plug in to either iPad apps or Scuffham SGear on my Mac. Most of my playing is late night. I'd love to get a little amp someday. But I also really like effects (multiple delays and reverbs) so that would be quite the expense to swap over.
These guys are Zecoil pickups.
[puts nerd hat on]
I've been tinkering with guitars almost since I started playing (get that from my dad who is an EE). I'm always chasing the sound in my head, which is a full sound with good clarity and NO NOISE. I can't stand buzzing, it just completely kills me.
This guitar came with Tex Mex pickups which were both harsh AND noisy, so the guitar got little playing time until I started tinkering.
First pass was trying some Rose Mariposa pickups, which are standard single coils but wound to vintage specs and dirt cheap (they were $30 at the time but demand has them over $60 now). Beautiful sounding in all positions, but you still have that noise.
Second attempt was a number of Dimarzio Area series pickups. I tried the 58, 61, and 67 models. To be honest they are all kind of dull sounding (design flaw). They are "stacked humbuckers" which means they have long magnet rods going through two coils, one wound normally and the other wound in the reverse direction. They cancel noise better than standard humbuckers, but you lose clarity as the high end frequencies cancel out. This is especially bad in the 2 & 4 pickup positions as the "quack" sounds are muffled. The 67 for most people would be acceptable as it is the brightest model.
I also tried a couple other Dimarzio noiseless. One was an older Virtual Solo which is an awesome bridge pickup. Think a really fat single coil like a P90 but with good clarity and no noise. Another was a Pro Track I believe, which is supposed to be modeled after a PAF sound. It was really flat and dull sounding so I returned it.
Third try was from Wilde pickups, which were designed by the late Bill Lawrence who was a pioneer in pickup design. I tried two different sets. The first was a set of L45 single coil sized humbuckers in the neck and middle and an L90 humbucker in the bridge. These pickups are very, very bright. The L90 was a cool cross between a humbucker and single coil but it was several times louder than the other two, which were a little shrill. I could have probably played around with the wiring and electronics to make it work but I don't think I would have got to the sound in my head.
Next up was a set of more traditional L200's in the neck and middle and L298 in the bridge. These are stacked single coils but supposed to be an improvement in manufacturing and design. They have a bit more clarity but the sound is a little weak and it's still a little dull in the 2 & 4 positions. Bridge is good but not really a fat sound. Lots of compromises.
Last set to go in are Zexcoil. These are a completely unique design. Each pole piece is wound like a little pickup with the top three strings wound in one direction and the other three wound in the opposite. This means you have no noise but there are no dummy coils to cancel high frequencies. Lindy Fralin has a similar split blade design, but that's got two large pieces rather than six, so it's a different sound. The Zexcoils should sound more natural.
The models I have are the vintage 5's, which are vintage wound specs. They sound like a vintage spec Strat pickup, maybe not exactly, but really close, and with strong low end. The bridge model is higher wound which makes it sound a bit shrill to my ears, but I spoke with Scott (the owner/designer) and got a recommendation for another model to try and will do so when money and time permits. There are a lot of options and they are pretty expensive, but I think it's the best thing on the market right now for noiseless pickups.
[/nerd hat off]
My arch top would drive you insane I bet! She needs the right set of pickups for sure! Someday.
Good luck with it. It is a beautiful guitar. That's not a color you see everyday.
I picked this baby up on Friday. Gretsch 2014 6120 '59 LTV. My first go into Gretsch territory and I'm loving it so far. This thing still had the plastic on the pickguard. It didn't have a scratch on it either. The guy bought it new, played it a handful of times then traded it in. I couldn't pass it up.
As someone who understands electronics and has a Fender fetish, I'd like to thank you for the detailed post. I can see you're really chasing that sound in your head, and I think a lot of us that are more serious do this. 'Buzz' vs 'authentic un-attenuated clarity', has always been classic tug-of-war with old Fenders. I generally chose to leave the stock pick-ups in place and deal with the hum, because to my ears nothing sounds so good and pure as an old Strat or Tele played with the volume & tone controls wide open!
I did find on my old '70 Strat (now gone) that I got a fair amount of the buzz removed by running an additional small ground wire from the shell of the cord jack housing to under the bridge plate. No idea if that works on all Strats, or was particular to mine.
But regardless, I could listen all night long to Roy Buchanan and early Mike Bloomfield, not just for their playing but for that glorious sound of an old pre-CBS Leo Fender made & wound Tele amped through a classic old Fender Twin Reverb tube amp.
If someone's a Fender guy, and The Paul Butterfield Band's '65 debut album or Buchanan's '72 debut don't work for them, I'd be speechless! Just listen to Bloomfield on "Our love is Drifting", or Buchanan on "The Messiah will come again", to see what I mean if you haven't already. Pure sonic joy!
And those tubes hum too, but that's a whole 'nuther subject!
Some buzz & hum has always been a part & parcel of old Fender gear (doesn't bother me - I'm immune to it), but if it's a killer for you, man I feel your pain 'cuz you've got a tough row to hoe! But I wish you sincere good luck chasing that sound, cuz that's just what we do and I respect the hell out of that!
She a beauty alright, but then all the Gretsch's pretty much are.
Congrats on acquiring yours.
They seem to be the one marque that we want in the back of our minds, but most of us never seem to get around to 'putting our money where our mouth is' with this brand, for some reason.
I think we can thank Brian Setzer for helping spawn a Gretsch resurgence, when they were seemingly languishing on their deathbed, and this has continued 'till today.
Every time I wanted one (since the '70's!), there always seemed to be some more mainstream piece of gear that led me astray. Something I kinda' regret.
All hail the Gretsch 
That has kind of always been me too. I wasn't even really looking for a Gretsch. I had my eyes on a new guitar, but I was looking at PRS's, Les Pauls, 335's, 345's, etc. I just happened to pick this one up as I was mulling over a '74 ES-175. I'm sure glad I did because I wasn't thinking about that 175 any longer. I bet I played this thing for and hour and a half. I'd set it down, pick it back up, set it down, look at it, pick it back up. It played that great. I love it. It may be the best guitar purchase I've ever made.
All hail the Gretsch
Love the pickups on the center Strat!
I've a few other guitars, but this is my basic (but VERY loud and extremely heavy) rig
