In reply to Ian F:
This is far my field of expertise. Most of the guitars I have owned and taken apart have been Stratocasters and Telecasters. Those generally have 6 individual magnets. I am sure other guitar makers have used that general pickup design.
My two main points which sort of got lost are the pick-ups are called MFD's and I really like the way they sound.
Type Q wrote: In reply to Ian F: This is far my field of expertise. Most of the guitars I have owned and taken apart have been Stratocasters and Telecasters. Those generally have 6 individual magnets. I am sure other guitar makers have used that general pickup design.
Gibson pickups have used bar magnets since forever. Pretty much any pickup with adjustable screw polepieces do.
Humbuckers
P90's
Looks like Leo just copied the competition.
Alex, I'm a bit late, but I can tell you Surf90s are very nice, but you'll get a sort pseudo-Dyna thing going on that may or may not pair nice with the P90. Worked (in reverse) for Eddy Cochran, so it might work, though.
Lipstick will be super easy to install, so there's that.
TV is a super-nice guy, though. He's been one of my site sponsors for years, and he came to the KC Gretsch Roundup last year, so I've spent some time talking to him, and he really is as nice as people say. You might give him a call and see what he recommends.
I'm getting a pair of T'Armonds in my in-progress project, and am all a-giddy with anticipation.
And this is what I'll be picking up this weekend:
Sweet. I definitely need to add a big honkin' semi-hollow body to my quiver after all of my existing guitars and amps are in working order again. An ES-175, maybe. 
Anyone here watch the Shopgoodwill.com website for guitars?
Harmony Rocket going for about $210: http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/Harmony-Rocket-Electric-Guitar-1960s-14231652.html
Gibson (Edited from SG to:) Melody Maker 3 humbuckers for $650ish: http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/Gibson-Electric-Guitar-W-Case-14302231.html
RossD wrote: Gibson SG 3 humbuckers for $650ish: http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/Gibson-Electric-Guitar-W-Case-14302231.html
No... never heard of it... interesting...
That SG is one odd guitar... the headstock looks like an old Melody Maker. The seriel number looks hand-written... but it is an old one. Not sure it's worth $650.
I thought 'Old Gibson' usually meant worth more, not less.
Ian F wrote:RossD wrote: Gibson SG 3 humbuckers for $650ish: http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/Gibson-Electric-Guitar-W-Case-14302231.htmlNo... never heard of it... interesting... That SG is one odd guitar... the headstock looks like an old Melody Maker. The seriel number looks hand-written... but it is an old one. Not sure it's worth $650.
That is a modified Melody maker. The heastock, pickguard and wraparound bridge are the giveaways. If they were built like the SG juniors the neck tenon will be seriously weakened by the new pickup route.
Ian F wrote: Sweet. I definitely need to add a big honkin' semi-hollow body to my quiver after all of my existing guitars and amps are in working order again. An ES-175, maybe.
That one's actually a little honkin' hollow. It's just a smidge over 1 3/4 thick, and it's as hollow as hollow can be. No railroad tie in this one. The big hollowbodies are a whole other deal. Takes a manly man to play a 17", 2 1/2 thick big boy.
RossD wrote: I thought 'Old Gibson' usually meant worth more, not less.
Depends... if it's been butchered to hell, value can be substantially reduced.
I have a '71 Les Paul Standard sunburst (picture posted a page or so ago)- by most accounts, a fairly valuable guitar - except some DPO scalloped the fretboard - badly (the headstock had also been repaired). Depending on the quality of the replacement fretboard (OE Brazilian or cheaper Indian rosewood), I was quoted around $1000 to fix it. The shop I got the quote from - who deal with a lot of vintage Les Pauls - didn't think it was worth it. I still haven't decided what I going to do with it.
In reply to Ian F:
Get thee to frets.com to research methods and stewmac.com and do it yourself.
15 years ago I took my 64 Vox to a luthier to get a quote on refretting it. He barely glanced at the guitar then looked me up and down and asked how much the guitar was worth to me. He then priced the repair $100 over what I told him. I bought some fretwire, a radiused sanding block and a fret file from stewmac and did it myself in a weekend for $12 in materials and $50 in tools. It was my first fret work and people still tell me that guitar is one of the best feeling guitar necks ever.
The next weekend I replaced the fretboard on an old Harmony archtop with those tools and a thrift store sourced clothes iron to remove the old fret board. I made my own (stew mac sells pre-slotted blanks though) from a piece of cocobolo and slotted it with a jig I made from a 12" dial caliper and a ground down dovetail saw.
If you have some wood working skills and some attention to detail it is really straight forward.
I don't get the Luthier business model. If you took your car into a shop for a timing belt they wouldn't base the cost on how much your car was worth.
The thought has crossed my mind... I used to do all of my own guitar set-ups, but I've been out of it for so long (and I have so many guitars to get fixed) I figured I'd have it done. Unfortunately, out of the three guitars I've had him do, I've only been marginally happy with one of them.
Time to go dig up the tools... and I'll check out those links. Thanks.
Not to derail this, but I just got back from visiting the Paul Reed Smith factory. I'll be posting some pics soon.
David S. Wallens wrote: Not to derail this, but I just got back from visiting the Paul Reed Smith factory. I'll be posting some pics soon.
Two of my friends work there - one in the custom shop. Great place.
Ian F wrote: The thought has crossed my mind... I used to do all of my own guitar set-ups, but I've been out of it for so long (and I have so many guitars to get fixed) I figured I'd have it done. Unfortunately, out of the three guitars I've had him do, I've only been marginally happy with one of them. Time to go dig up the tools... and I'll check out those links. Thanks.
I've never found a tech who does quality work in a reasonable amount of time for a fair price. Pick 2.
I've found one who does the best work I've ever seen, and at prices that are unbeatable, but the guitar will be in there for 10 months for something simple like a single crack repair or a new bridge. I've never taken it in for just a setup though, so I don't know how long that would take.
I have a 2011 and 1956 les paul junior
Here's the guitar I'm teaching myself how to play on. My old man's 1978 Fender Stratocaster with amp. He bought it as a kid, never learned how to play really and it sat for quite a while. Got some books and YouTube to help me learn! It's a lot harder than I thought it would be!
Even though I feel like I'm very clumsy at it, my wife enjoys the string picking while she reads and does HW and the cat loves to sit and watch/listen. It's pretty therapeutic, but I really want to skip the learning and go straight to jamming!
In reply to procker:
It sort of picks up the pace after you get a few basics into muscle memory. Not that I'm any good, but I've gotten far enough to have fun.
I've taken lessons in person a couple of times, and I found that to be very helpful. My first teacher got me going on the basics pretty well, and a few years later my second teacher gave me some stuff that would end up helping my playing a lot. I wish I hadn't had to stop taking lessons from him when I moved...
In reply to procker:
Lets see here... '78 Strat and a silverface VibroChamp.
Nice. 
4g63t wrote: I have a 2011 and 1956 les paul junior
The most perfect rock and roll machine ever. Only what you need and nothing you don't.
A P90 in the bridge, enough mahogany to keep the important pieces where they need to be and some controls.
I will take mine as a DC in TV yellow Johnny Thunders style
Hard to stop at just one, huh? This weekend I picked up my first bass--a Squire Jazz body with a no-name neck. Know what? I love it.
1382399_10201995530120932_175984803_n by davidwallens, on Flickr
In reply to David S. Wallens:
That looks like a fun bass! I still want a Jazz Bass in the worst way. Every time I go to buy one, I end up buying something else. Last time, I bought my Warwick instead. It was the same price as the Squier Vintage Modified I was looking at.
I thought I had found a score of epic proportions this weekend. I'm on a local FB group that's basically an online yard sale, and people post stuff on there all the time. Someone posts a pic of 2 guitars for sale: some crappy old kid's toy acoustic and a Gibson SG Special that someone took some blue house paint to and put a bunch of seagull stickers on it. I asked how much it was, figuring that if they were dumb enough to do that to it, then they were dumb enough not to know what it was and sell it to me for like $25. Nope, they knew what it was. They wanted $300 for it. Considering that it was unplayable and needed a complete overhaul, I passed. For the money I would have had to put into it, I could have probably bought a new Gibson. 
Thanks. I was thinking that the headstock needed to be repainted to match the body--or at least black--but now I'm going to leave it. I like the mismatchedness.
David S. Wallens wrote: Not to derail this, but I just got back from visiting the Paul Reed Smith factory. I'll be posting some pics soon.
Following up on this, Judy says hi.
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