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I’ve been looking around for a while, trying to understand why the same general range of built options that I enjoy so much in my acoustics aren’t viable in electrics. I’ve learned that there is no real limit on the nut width, but “standard” pickups have a limit as to how far apart the strings can be spaced where they pass over the pickup, and also that standard tailpieces are quite limiting in the maximum spacing that they can allow.
Now I went to a show in Sebastopol, and saw some really nice pedal steels – which seem to have a variety of pickups in wider sizes, which I thought was interesting, and I also learned that they routinely wind custom pickups in different sizes for different board widths. So maybe the pickup size is not as big a deal as I thought?? And looking at your “standard” bridge piece – It seems like they are just a bunch of poles, and that the carrier is the item affecting the spacing, so a custom carrier might be all you need to create more spacing at the bridge – and maybe thats already been done?
So – custom neck, custom pickups, modified tailpiece/bridge, and maybe some cavity adjustment for the electronics –
Thoughts? Experiences? Feed-back? Or better still – any specific makers/models that I could find that might already have gone down this road?
Ideally, I think I’d like my SC F 1-13/16 shallow C neck, fitted onto a shallow F cutaway body, with some simple (limited number of knobs) electronics, but I think thats just a little too custom for the crew at SCGC to consider –
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Pickup makers like Jason Lollar will wind nearly anything you need – and, as you’ve noted, current tech allows them to create bobbins and magnets of different sizes with mess less fuss than in the pre-CNC era.
If you’re looking for something that’ll feel like an F with a cutaway, though – and by this, I’m thinking a solid body or semi-hollow – try an old (1970s) Gibson L6-S (solid body) or ES225 (semi-hollow). Both come with good pickups – the ES225 has standard PAFs or PAF derivatives. and the L6-S has Bill-Lawrence-designed pickups that are humbucker-sized but have a good deal more versatility, and can mimic anything from a Tele to a Les Paul to a jazz box.
The body sizes are pretty large for electrics so they would have some of the arm-filling feel of the F. The necks are a little small but the overall size might be worth checking out.
If you want to try to make something like that, grab a neck from Warmoth, or a neck-through blank from Stew-Mac and roll your own.
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Slightly late in reading this post.
tadol, if you have the chance to try an Eastman El Rey4, it might be worth your time. I’ve had mine for 10wks and it is working out great and, much like your description. It’s a hybrid, fits somewhere between an archtop and thinline hollowbody. Designed by Otto D’Ambrosio, Kent Armstrong PAF pickup, excellent acoustic tone with the mahog/spruce body. Even though I don’t play jazz, I’ve owned archtops for years, love the acous tone.
Eastman builds some great archtops, I’ve owned four, this is the only one for me.
https://www.eastmanguitars.com/electric_signature_archtop
SCGC VJ, Collings CJ mhA, 89′ Martin OM, Eastman E20OM-TC, AC630 jumbo & El Rey4 archtop, bottleneck reso.
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Indeed. That’s yummy.
I spent an hour playing my 1980s Japanese made Squier Tele the other night. It has a 1 11/16″ nut, which I find a bit big, being a mandolin player. The radius on the fingerboard is also a good match for my SCGC dread. So it feels very acoustic-y in my left hand.
I couldn’t tell you what the saddle distances are. Standard Fender I imagine (if there is such a thing).
After feel, you’re looking for sound. As an acoustic player I am actually enjoying –after all these years– the stacked humbucker I put in the neck pocket back in the early 1990s. Really fat sound. Takes well to a little bit of break-up in the preamp and some tremolo.
Enjoy the search!
Daniel
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Bert that is a beautiful Axe.
BUT I BEG Y’All Don’t Tempt Me with Electrics……Look what Y’All did to me when I discovered SCGC Acoustics
1993 Martin Custom HD-28 IR/Sitka
2001 SCGC Custom F Cutaway Maple/German
2008 SCGC Custom OT Madi/Italian
2015 SCGC Custom OM “The Tree” Hog/ European
2016 SCGC Custom 1934 D45 Braz/ AdiThe Bay, The Gulf Stream, The Open Ocean are particular about who they share their Secrets with.
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I won’t tell you how much easier my Tele is on my hands than my SCGC then. 😉
D
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Daniel…It ain’t my hands, I have very strong hands….. It’s my WALLET !!!!
1993 Martin Custom HD-28 IR/Sitka
2001 SCGC Custom F Cutaway Maple/German
2008 SCGC Custom OT Madi/Italian
2015 SCGC Custom OM “The Tree” Hog/ European
2016 SCGC Custom 1934 D45 Braz/ AdiThe Bay, The Gulf Stream, The Open Ocean are particular about who they share their Secrets with.
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zorro my friend, if you’re not looking for an electric that matches the feel of your acoustics like Tadol, then electrics can be had cheap! The issue won’t be $$ it’ll be space to store it all! 🙂
Daniel
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Between my wifes PA system and rehersale gear and my guitars and guitar cases and guns and workout machines we are bursting at the seams now.
I guess I could plug in direct to my wife’s Bose Tower sound system But I think I’ll stay acoustic and just work toward my 45th anniversary FTC.
1993 Martin Custom HD-28 IR/Sitka
2001 SCGC Custom F Cutaway Maple/German
2008 SCGC Custom OT Madi/Italian
2015 SCGC Custom OM “The Tree” Hog/ European
2016 SCGC Custom 1934 D45 Braz/ AdiThe Bay, The Gulf Stream, The Open Ocean are particular about who they share their Secrets with.
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tad, this is the only recording I’ve made with the El Rey 4 at present. It had on NYXL 12-52 (wound third).. I have since changed to NYXL 11-50BT (unwound 3rd), me like. The 52s made it sound too throaty and the unwound 3rd really shines.
I recorded it clean with a Shure SM81 positioned about 2ft from the Amp, added a bit of reverb & EQ in the post. I’ve had the ER4 for two months and still bumping around with EQ.
The ER4 is a true hybrid, got acoustic covered… in between an archtop and thinline elec. Otto D’Ambrosio is not afraid to experiment, he build Julian Lage’s archtop amongst other things and he’s now working full time out of Eastman US headquaraters in Pomona.
I took a chance and bought mine online, good fortune happens.
https://soundcloud.com/bertramd-1/el-rey4-run3
SCGC VJ, Collings CJ mhA, 89′ Martin OM, Eastman E20OM-TC, AC630 jumbo & El Rey4 archtop, bottleneck reso.
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Bert,
Just discovered your Soundcloud site….very nice stuff….REALLY like the “Midnight Rider” cut.
Inspired me to try my own version of it.
1993 Martin Custom HD-28 IR/Sitka
2001 SCGC Custom F Cutaway Maple/German
2008 SCGC Custom OT Madi/Italian
2015 SCGC Custom OM “The Tree” Hog/ European
2016 SCGC Custom 1934 D45 Braz/ AdiThe Bay, The Gulf Stream, The Open Ocean are particular about who they share their Secrets with.
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After reading through ALL of this I have only 1 Question……Is the “Real” sound of an acoustic guitar best obtained through the use of onboard p/u through a mixer or is it more accurate reproduction to use a Mic straight to a high quality speaker. ?
Seems to me that our own Eric Skye uses Mics….or is that just the way that Mr. Newman prefers to record.?
I ask because my wife has a Yamaha board to a TubroSound 500 watt speaker or a Bose SoundPure to a Bose tower.
Both I have “Plugged” into and the sound just never seems to be as my ear hears it when I just play unplugged .
Is a Mic a better way to go? and if so what Mic ? I know to position at the 12th fret if using only a single Mic.
1993 Martin Custom HD-28 IR/Sitka
2001 SCGC Custom F Cutaway Maple/German
2008 SCGC Custom OT Madi/Italian
2015 SCGC Custom OM “The Tree” Hog/ European
2016 SCGC Custom 1934 D45 Braz/ AdiThe Bay, The Gulf Stream, The Open Ocean are particular about who they share their Secrets with.
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Mics are nice, but in the real world, pickups have to do.
I love playing with a mic in a listening room, but in a noisy place, almost anything works better than a mic.
My SCGCs have passive SBT pickups, and that and a good preamp – in this case, a Rane AP13 – sound great if there’s time to dial things in. If the playing situation doesn’t present the opportunity to plug in the preamp and fiddle with it for a few minutes before getting started, then it’s time to default to the instruments with barn-door pickup systems that are essentially plug and play.
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