El Toro's Official Guitarded Thread...

[lerxstcat]

I never got to play a Falcon, but I always did wonder why they had TWO Strat copies in their lineup. In recent years I think the tables are turned and the Falcon is lower-line; of course they're both made in Indonesia now! The Predators come with 2 hums, backrouted, no pickguard, and licensed Floyds, or string-through, wheras the Falcons are now 21-fret, body shaped a little different (Thinner horns), 3 single coils and vintage trems. I kind of hate when a manufacturer puts the name of a once nice axe onto a lowline POS, but so goes the whole industry.

Not that I've played them; they might be nice. I had an Indonesian Washburn BT-10 and it was pretty nice, I have to admit, for a super-cheap guitar.

[ElToro]

Anyone know where I can find inexpensive snakeskin?

[Sleek]

You live near the desert?

[ElToro]

I'm thinking about covering the Destroyer in snakeskin.

[AndiiChrist]

A friend was tossing a busted Morley Bad Horsie so I snagged it. One of the parts needed replacing, and fortunately there was a good replacement in my Pro Series II wah. So after 10 minutes of tinkering the Bad Horsie is up & running.
Best wah I've played yet! Now wondering if I should be tracking down a Bad Horsie II.

[Liquid Boom Boom]

Been dicking around in Open G...learning stuff that I should have learned years ago. I fucking love this tuning!

Anyone have some good stuff in open G to learn besides the Stones/Crowes?

[Sleek]

Been dicking around in Open G...learning stuff that I should have learned years ago. I fucking love this tuning!

Anyone have some good stuff in open G to learn besides the Stones/Crowes?

Faces/early solo Rod Stewart.

Get a 12 string in open G and you can finally do "every picture tells a story" justice.

...also, make sure to get a slide going.

[Sleek]

Oh!

It should go without saying, but the first Keef solo rekkid has some good open G stuff..."You shouldn't take it so hard" is a classic open G riff.

Some Zep is open G as well...

The Faces/Stones/Zep occasionally tweak it up a step and make it open A...don't be fooled.

[ElToro]

If it's Keef... it's 5 strings...

[ElToro]

Any try an M5?

[ElToro]

I played a Damage Control pedal... AWESOME tone, but too much noise.

[ElToro]

Nothing new out there?

[exitflagger]

New guitar day!!!







1985 Greco. It finally came in and it's pretty fucking sweet. As I figured there are some issues to be addressed but actually way less than I thought.

Downsides:
Low E has a buzzing fret; high E frets at the neck pickup cover at highest fret instead of where it should. Volume pots are a little sluggish. Neck position pickup is noticeably quieter than the bridge pickup. Plastic plate over the cord input shorts a little if you wiggle it at the connection. Definitely going with a metal replacement. But that's pretty much it; all easily remedied.

Upsides:
This thing has NO aesthetic flaws. It looks like somebody must've bought it back in '85, stuck it in a closet and forgot about it. The action is fucking AWESOME. So much better than any new Gibson I've played in recent memory. The bridge pick-up is actually pretty nice sounding although I'll probably replace the pickups anyway. Machines are fluid and tight. The nut that I thought might be a problem is not really noticeable as any kind of a tone dampener. Did I mention the action? Holy shit!

I'm fucking pleased as punch with this thing. It's actually better than I hoped it would be. The guy that sells these Jap lawsuit guitars on ebay, "chingo123" packs it very securely and has a really good rep as a seller. I highly recommend him.

[lerxstcat]

Sweet score, man! Congratulations!

[ElToro]

NICE!!!

Damn! Those Grecos were better than the Gibson of the same era. Might I suggest a pick up change though? The SD Alnico8 is killing. I just heard one in a LP Saturday and have a huge case of the wants.

[exitflagger]

Might I suggest a pick up change though? The SD Alnico8 is killing.

I welcome any pickup recommendations. Actually I went by the guitar shop today and looked at their array of Duncan pickups (which still seems to be the go-to brand). I brought home a catalog and there's an Alnico II and an "Alternative 8" but no Alnico 8 in there.

I really want to try and get close to a vintage Gibson PAF sound and the more I look at the "Antiquity" line, the more those seem to be what I'm looking for. I want the tone of this guitar to be a little warmer and more detailed on a clean setting than my other main humbucker guitar which has a couple of really hot Duncans in it. Only thing is I'm kinda worried about them not quite being hot enough which sounds stupid, but the cool thing is the shop says if I bring it home and I'm not thrilled they'll either refund them or throw in a different pair. I may have to take them up on that.

[ElToro]

Sorry. Alternative8... I juxtaposed the wording...
here's my $82 Made in the USA guitar

lightly relic'd, but more to come...

[Captain Morgan]

I really want to try and get close to a vintage Gibson PAF sound and the more I look at the "Antiquity" line, the more those seem to be what I'm looking for. I want the tone of this guitar to be a little warmer and more detailed on a clean setting than my other main humbucker guitar which has a couple of really hot Duncans in it. Only thing is I'm kinda worried about them not quite being hot enough which sounds stupid, but the cool thing is the shop says if I bring it home and I'm not thrilled they'll either refund them or throw in a different pair. I may have to take them up on that.

Dimarzio PAF 36th set. Completely after a PAF tone but the bridge is wound slightly hotter.

[exitflagger]

I really want to try and get close to a vintage Gibson PAF sound and the more I look at the "Antiquity" line, the more those seem to be what I'm looking for. I want the tone of this guitar to be a little warmer and more detailed on a clean setting than my other main humbucker guitar which has a couple of really hot Duncans in it. Only thing is I'm kinda worried about them not quite being hot enough which sounds stupid, but the cool thing is the shop says if I bring it home and I'm not thrilled they'll either refund them or throw in a different pair. I may have to take them up on that.

Dimarzio PAF 36th set. Completely after a PAF tone but the bridge is wound slightly hotter.

Sounds exactly like the design objective of SD Pearly Gates. Which is now what I'm leaning toward. I'll probably change my mind again tomorrow.

[JeffESP]

New guitar day!!!
1985 Greco.

Nice.

[lerxstcat]

I really want to try and get close to a vintage Gibson PAF sound and the more I look at the "Antiquity" line, the more those seem to be what I'm looking for. I want the tone of this guitar to be a little warmer and more detailed on a clean setting than my other main humbucker guitar which has a couple of really hot Duncans in it. Only thing is I'm kinda worried about them not quite being hot enough which sounds stupid, but the cool thing is the shop says if I bring it home and I'm not thrilled they'll either refund them or throw in a different pair. I may have to take them up on that.

Dimarzio PAF 36th set. Completely after a PAF tone but the bridge is wound slightly hotter.

Sounds exactly like the design objective of SD Pearly Gates. Which is now what I'm leaning toward. I'll probably change my mind again tomorrow.

If your local shop will swap out your first choice if you're not satisfied, and they have the continuum of models as pertaining to hotness vs. vintage tone, you really can't lose. You can pick the one you think is right, and if it's not you can work your way down the Duncan lineup to the sound you like. Duncan and DiMarzio both make great pickups, it's a matter of taste and finding what resonates with the wood of your guitar the best.

[Captain Morgan]

I really want to try and get close to a vintage Gibson PAF sound and the more I look at the "Antiquity" line, the more those seem to be what I'm looking for. I want the tone of this guitar to be a little warmer and more detailed on a clean setting than my other main humbucker guitar which has a couple of really hot Duncans in it. Only thing is I'm kinda worried about them not quite being hot enough which sounds stupid, but the cool thing is the shop says if I bring it home and I'm not thrilled they'll either refund them or throw in a different pair. I may have to take them up on that.

Dimarzio PAF 36th set. Completely after a PAF tone but the bridge is wound slightly hotter.

Sounds exactly like the design objective of SD Pearly Gates. Which is now what I'm leaning toward. I'll probably change my mind again tomorrow.

You sound like me. Both have great return policies but I will say that I found the Pearly Gates too bright and weak for my tastes. Unless you're running quite a saturated tone a la the Rev. then the 36th set might cut it more.

[exitflagger]

Yeah, I checked out the DiMarzio 36s and I'm sold on those damn things too. This is going to be a fucking dilemma.

[Captain Morgan]

Yeah, I checked out the DiMarzio 36s and I'm sold on those damn things too. This is going to be a fucking dilemma.

I think, and this is my personal experience, that Alnico 5 magnet pickups work best in an LP type guitar. Allows more "cut". Dimarzio's technology tries to replicate Alnico 2 characteristics but with the positive aspects of an Alnico 5 magnet (more cut, won't weaken as badly, etc.).

Use 500K pots with these to really open them up, especially if you wind up with Alnico 2 pickups.

[ElToro]

1Meg pots open them up even more!

[Space Bear]

Welcome to the Greco club! I know you'll enjoy it.

[Captain Morgan]

1Meg pots open them up even more!

1Meg is dangerous territory - I don't normally recommend them unless the pickup is super duper hot or someone is REALLY not hearing enough clarity/definition with the 500Ks.

[ElToro]

1Meg pots open them up even more!

1Meg is dangerous territory - I don't normally recommend them unless the pickup is super duper hot or someone is REALLY not hearing enough clarity/definition with the 500Ks.

Danger is my middle name .

[Captain Morgan]

Fixed my reverb issue - the v1 preamp tube was microphonic. A direct replacement and she's back to good.

[exitflagger]

Update: This might get a little expensive.

Figured out the fret buzz is because the groove is cut too deep at the low E string so I gotta install a new nut anydamnway. Bone nut is a nice upgrade so fuck it, it'll be worth it. Also figured out the neck pickup problem is from a fucked up volume pot so I'm getting all new pots. Probably needed better ones anyway. While I'm fucking with all this I'm just gonna go ahead and rewire the whole shebang. Beef that shit up. New p/u switcher and input jack, all that stuff.

I'm trying to track down a good price on pickups. Anybody know who's got the best online prices on them? TIA.