Hand Crafted Pebble SmartWatch Pocket Watch and Fob

The Pebble Smart Watch Dressed in Leather and Silver

The case and pocket watch I carried until college. 

When I was a kid there was a hill behind our house. It had the foundation of one of the first cabins in the area. It belonged to a preacher named Broad. I got this story from the old folks in the area that are long since gone. I did hear of indian attacks on the cabin and how they would shoot back at them from the rock foundation the house sat on.

I say all that to say this - I like things from the past. I especially like things from the 1860's to the 1880's. As a teenager I carried a pocket watch my Dad gave me. It was an Elgin with the spring loaded top.

Lately I have been interested in the new smart watches coming out. First I looked at the Pebble and dismissed it. Then I looked at the alternatives. I didn't want to spend so much I would feel bad about the purchase later so I kept on looking. Then I looked a the Nano 6th gen. It was cool but since Apple abandoned it I figured it had no future. Then I got back on the Pebble.




I wear vests and while I could have got one of my old pocket watches running I figured I could spend the same (or less) on a Pebble. I also know that ultimately the pocket watch will break again. Plus, I love my technology and the Pebble watch looks like something I should own.

I waited until after Christmas and hit ebay. Sure enough there were plenty of Pebble watches at a Buy It Now price around $100. I had one in my hand 3 days later.


I like what it can do but I didn't love the way it looked and I wanted to carry this thing as a pocket watch. I thought of a lot of different ways to do that but the only practical way seemed to be with leather. I have not messed with leather since I was a kid so I hit the Tandy leather store and bought some supplies.

The Watch Fob

The Pebble leather cover. 

The leather and the Pebble cover that the leather will live on. 

The question was how to attach the leather to the Pebble without harming it. I found a nice cover for $15 that snaps on and off. Now my leather piece can be removed easily and I can put a band on (that I will make out of leather) any time I want. I also wanted a fob. I measured my buckles and it only took two tries before I had what I wanted (shown above).

Cutting the leather and getting everything just right took some doing but I finally got things looking good.

With a little creative thinking and some trail and error I wound up with almost exactly what I saw in my head - a good looking, practical way to carry my Pebble in my vest via an 1880s silver watch chain.

The final product - A Pebble pocket watch. 

Hand Tooled Leather Meets the Griffin Separates - A Cowboy's Dream

The Custom Cowboy iPhone Case - Griffin Separates Meets the West
I'm was raised on a ranch in Texas that in past times had stage coaches running on it and indian attacks on the log cabin on the hill behind our house. My dad bought me my first real cowboy boots and hat when I was 5 years old. All that to say that for years I have been looking for the perfect iPhone case that would protect it but still have some western flair.

The Hunt
While doing an extensive Google search on "tooled leather iPhone 5" I found a case made by Nocona Boots. I'm familiar with Nocona because the factory is not that far from where I was raised. Nocona is named after the famous Comanche indian chief Peta Nocona. His son was the famous Qaanah Parker.

The Nocona iPhone case had the tooled leather I wanted but the case itself offered no protection from drops. I spoke with Mark from Griffin Technology and he told me about their "Separates" line of cases. These are cases that consist of a bumper and a removable back plate. You can switch out the back plate for different looks.











I took my Nocona case and carefully peeled the hand-tooled leather piece off.

Then I took Shoe Goo and applied it to the Griffin Separates back plate.

Now I have the iPhone case I have always wanted - a hand tooled leather back with a protective bumper for drops.

Thanks to Mark and Griffin Technology!

The Kick Ass 1 Watt Amp!

The One Watt Amp

So I have lots of 12/15/36/100/130 watt amps.
I like to sit on the back porch and play the blues.
All my Mustang modelers have died on me and I was on the hunt for something tubey.
I stumbled on the HT-1RH 1W. It had the features I needed:
* Low wattage
* MP3 input for backing tracks
* Reverb
* Tubes (push pull)
* Great price

I was also looking at old Fender Champs, Valco amps, Vintage 47 amps, Silvertone etc.

I finally landed on a 1 watt tube amp:

The patented ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) circuit gives you infinite adjustment over the characteristics of the tone control network and takes you from the USA to the UK and anywhere in between. Add a fully specified speaker emulated output, MP3/ Line Input and you have everything you need for recording or practicing.

So the question was how to do take the HT-1RH 1W and also have a cool look?

I put together an extension cab for my 57 Tweed Deluxe - oiled pine wood, potatoe sack grill cloth, Jensen Electric Lightening speaker.

I started out with a pine 12 inch extension cab with a Jensen Electric Lightening.
When the HT-1RH showed up I played it for a while and then I pulled the amp out of the head.
It's held on with the 4 screws that are holding the rubber feet on.


I pulled the back wood off the cab and started playing with ways to get the amp in there.
I could have installed it flat on the bottom of the amp but I thought it would be safer and more accessible on the top.


I put a piece of paper over the bottom of the cab and made a template for the holes.

I made my marks and drilled the four holes in the top of my cab (two were under the handles, so they are hidden. The amp was screwed on tight using the screws from the cab.

It was super simple.

I used the cab wood back plate to go around the amp face and I left the bottom open.
I figured the amp would be pointed away from me most of the time anyway.

I put on a cable keeper to keep from yanking out the power chord.

The cool part is that I can still use the cab for my 15 watt 5e3 if I want as well.

The one watt concept really works. I try to sit on my back porch and play every day. My 57 Tweed was jut too loud. I can get the Blackstar Ht-RH cranked up and get some really rich blues tones. I'm getting killer harmonics as well.



I'm really liking the tone and I really dig I can get some Fender type tweed tones and rounded off Marshall tones. 
My final thoughts - a 1 watt, pine combo with a 12 inch speaker? - SICK!!!

Take a listen. My neighbor, and killer guitar player, Karl plays as I jibber jabber:

Seymour Duncan BG-1400 Pickup Wiring Schematic (BG1400)

Are you the proud new owner of the Billy Gibbons 1400 - AKA BG1400, BG-1400?
Are you wondering how the hell to wire this thing?

Well so was I and I'm here to tell you what I have learned.

First the why - The BG 1400 was designed for and by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame.
This is a custom shop pickup but at $150 it's pretty reasonable. I think Billy was looking for something to put in the bridge cavity of his Esquire but wanted a humbucker.
This is a stacked humbucker. It's really tall but it fit in two Telecasters I tried without an issue.
I have a think for the Bigsby B16 and your only option there is a single coil pickup.
This is why I wanted the BG-1400. It looks stock, will fit in my B16 but is a four wire humbucker with lots of options.

I tend to get as complicated as possible in the wiring dept. and this build was no different. 

 

I have tried 3 way wiring:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7440801/Guitar%20Wiring/EsquireH-3-Way8.jpg
This taught me one thing - you want the outside option. The inside doesn't sound good at all.
I also learned that the tone variations in this 3 way scheme didn't vary that much and I ditched it.

I tried 4 way wiring:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7440801/Guitar%20Wiring/Esquire4-Way3.jpg
This just didn't give me the options I wanted. 
Straight to jack didn't sound much different to me than volume and no tone.
Volume and tone sounded about the same as the other two.
The Eldred mod was interesting.

EUREKA! A Great BG 1400 Wiring Schematic!
Then after wiring and rewiring I found a scheme that totally took at advantage of the BG1400's stacked humbucker design.  You need a Telecaster 5 way super switch for this. Mine fit in my Tele with no modifications.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7440801/Guitar%20Wiring/EsquireH-5-Way4.jpg
The single coil sounds great.
Coils in parallel is louder and my favorite position.
The  two coked wah positions could be handy.
The humbucker is exactly as stated.

So I felt like this really got just about everything I wanted out of the pickup. 
I spent a lot more time on this wiring job because I wasn't sure what I wanted an no one out there could really help me.

Here is the site where you can find all kinds of wiring schemes:
https://sites.google.com/site/phostenixwiringdiagrams/teles/esquires

One thing to remember is you can use any of the two wire diagrams with the BG-1400. You can simply wire the red and white wires together BUT I highly suggest a push pulll volume or tone pot. You wire the red and white to the center left lug. When you pull it up it sounds louder and clearer.
 Deaf Eddie is a great resource for push/pull tricks:
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/pushpull/pushpull.html

Maybe my favorite setting. There are also instructions with the BG1400 for a simple 3 way switch and boots.
I hope this helps anyone out there looking for options for this great blues/rock Seymour Duncan pickup. Mine lives in my Texcaster I put together.

The "Walt Guitar" - Walt Wilkins Guild

THE WALT GUITAR
As y'all know I'm a huge Walt Wilkins fan. We have been running around since our college days when we were both young and pretty. Walt was my film instructor at Baylor in Waco. Most of what I want to say is in the video but I was pretty stoked when Josh Grider (another great sing/song writer) dropped off Walt's old Guild acoustic from our early Nashville days. A treasure from the past and to top it all off she is still a great player! Thanks Waltus!

You can check out my interview with Walt here. 
 

Jim T's Friday Story - Elvis Presley and Red

This week's story is about the king of rock, Mr. Elvis Presley. This is the true story of how Elvis used his Karate skills to take Red's gun away from him. The ending isn't pretty...but it's cool!

The Barncaster - My Hand Built 150 Year Old Tele

 The 150 Plus Year Old Barncaster - Telecaster - By Jim T.
I started really getting into barn wood telecasters a year ago. I love the idea of real barn wood being used for a Tele. I would spend my night doing Google image searches of barncasters and I decided I had to have one. I contacted a great body wood crafter. His company is called Wildwood. He cuts great bodies. He had a few pieces of barnwood left over from another project.

The description of the wood:
That is actually wood from a barn. It is wormy chestnut from one of the chestnut barns in the Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio. Chestnut barns are rare. The wood was stored for about 15 years in a climate controlled room to make picture frames and the builder decided that he was not going to use it. It is 150 plus years old and could be much older. The marks on the horn are saw blade marks from way back when. Lots of nice worm holes and more!












I put the guitar together from all my favorite parts: 
Neck PU - Lollar Imperial Standard wind heavy relic. Thee hand wound humbucker!
Bridge PU - Rio Grande Muy Grande (purchased on TDPRI)
Bigsby - B17 (GRRRRREAT)
Bridge - The stock was good but the Compton has more sustain. He custom made it to fit the B17 bridge.
Knobs - I made these out of 12 gauge shotgun shells and a .45 acp for the switch.
Control Plate - That is a black GFS tele control plate. I just scrubbed it with a green Scotch pad. They may not make this anymore. I had this one laying around.
Wiring - Toneshaper for the Tele. The cool part here is that I can switch from a 500k to 250k pot depending on where I'm at with my switch.
Neck - That is a CEG Hardtail Mighty Mite. I tried many things to get the color right. Plays great. No complaints. I drilled it with a hand drill and everything is straight.
Body - This was custom made and he cut the neck slot with the 4mm angle in it. I bolted on the neck and it was ready to rock!
Nut - Earvana - I love em.
Tuners - GFS Gotoh locking knockoffs. These are great tuners and drop right in. I have put these on several guitars with no issues and they kick ass. I ordered the black ones and scrubbed them with a green scouring pad while watching Smokey and the Bandit. Nicely aged!
String Hold Down - I was popping the strings off the bridge and wanted something to hold them down. I contacted Trussart and he was nice enough to reply to me but he doesn't sell his separately (I knew he wouldn't). I looked over and saw some .357 shells and an hour later I had a killer home brew string retainer!  

This guitar plays and sounds as good as my high dollar Fender Tele, in fact I like it much more. If you have never built your own guitar I highly suggest it. It's fun, rewarding and you get the exact guitar you want.

Here is video of Sam Eakins from Taylor Guitars taking a spin on the Barncaster de Hell:
 

Friday Story - The Tater

I thought I might start telling story every Friday. Here is my first about my Dad and a Tater!

The Christmas Caddy - A Caddy Miracle!

To celebrate Christmas I was out putting lights up on the house. The weather was so nice I got the Caddy out and put some lights on it. I thought it would make for a good Christmas photo. Within the hour cars were stopping and taking photos. Those photos made it to Facebook and people were demanding I leave the car in the front yard lit up! The wife wasn't so happy about this because I used the tree lights on it, but she also wanted to leave the Caddy out.

Fast forward to a few days ago. I heard my girl dog Billie barking. It wasn't the "Mom's here!" bark, or the "Kids in the yard! Kids in the yard" bark. I thought it was the "UPS TRUCK!" bark. I ran upstairs and saw a car from the local government in my driveway. I've been around long enough to know that car isn't usually a bearer of good news. I pondered whether I should lock the door or go outside. I opted for a leap out the door and with a hardy "Hidy!"

As the local govt. official walked up my driveway he was eyeballing my car. I immediately knew what he was about to say. "What's happening!" I asked the man. "Well sir, it seems one of your neighbors has an issue with your car in the yard and called to have it removed." What the neighbor didn't know was just the day before it was raining pretty hard and I had already decided to put the Caddy back in her covered area. "I'll move that car, I don't mind", I said. Then something very Christmasy happened. The man said, "Well I'm going to have to make you move that car by January 11th." Then he smiled, a lot like Santa might smile, and told me to, "Have a good one!"

Now I'll be the first to admit I like be contrary. It just seems natural to me. I called my wife and told her about our Christmas miracle. We both decided there was just one thing to... decorate the living tar out of the CADDY! I'm on the hunt for a Santa for the drivers seat. If I score that then there has to be reindeer pulling the Caddy!  I have added more lights tonight and as I was pulling out the LEDs and replacing them with old yellow lights it dawned on me that we are all like Christmas lights. Singularly we can put off a little light but when are all get together and "plugged in" we all shine!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidaze from Jim T's Caddy!

Jim T's Caddy - Rolling Stones Sax Player Bobby Keys Interview

 Jim T. Graham and Bobby Keys sporting "Team Hell" shirts!

BOBBY KEYS

In this podcast I interview my old friend and sax player for the world's most notorious band - the Rolling Stones. You might know Bobby's work from songs like "Brown Sugar" but did you know Bobby got his start with Buddy Holly? This fellow Texan found a sax as a kid and proceeded to change the sound of rock and take a ride most of us could only dream of, and few of us could survive!
I know Bobby from the airfield and we were friends before I ever knew what he did for a living. He has always been nothing but a great guy and I'm proud to call him a friend. Be sure to download this first of a series of 3 podcasts and hear first hand about the rock and roll exploits that myths are made of. Also be sure to go get Bobby's new book, "Every Night's a Saturday Night: The Rock 'n' Roll Life of Legendary Sax Man Bobby Keys.http://www.amazon.com/Every-Nights-Saturday-Night-Legendary/dp/1582437831" It spans the early days of rock and really gives you a behind the scenes look at the formation of rock as we know it.

I also have an epic guitar story about a drunk, a gun, a bullet and a Les Paul! This story was so good I broke out the recorder and had to include it. It teaches a lesson we all should already know - a guitar can save your life!!

Check out this episode!

Davis Raines - The Adventures of Big Boy

Last night I had a dream. I was in a foreign country and I walked up on Davis Raines and his band playing. I yelled to the stage, "DAVIS!!!" He smiled, nodded and kept blasting out the real country music. Then I walked past and there was a wall. It was a wall filled with a variety of cowboy boots (I approved of them all), old jeans, snap button shirts, old straw cowboy hats and Telecasters all made of barn wood (one was in the shape of Oklahoma). I remember thinking to myself, "Holy hell, how have I never been here before? It's like heaven." 
When I woke up I went down stairs, flipped the switch on my 57 Tweed Deluxe and laid down the song I heard in my dream. Too damn cool.

Here is the good news for you fine folks, Davis has a new album out called "The Adventures of Big Boy". So far "Jump Back Midnight" is my favorite but if your looking for real life country music you don't need to look any farther than Davis. He is the real damn deal.

Stay tuned for my next interview that will be featuring Davis. Hell, He literally lives 4 minutes away from me. I could yell the questions to him and he could yell them back. We probably won't do it that way though!

Go check out "The Adventures of Big Boy" here...right now!

The Avett Bros. Meet Randy Travis

 

The earliest memories I have of country music are going to my Uncle Kenneth's bluegrass shows that he held in his aircraft hangar in Sadler, Texas. I got my proper country music education from a 20 record set that spanned the progression of country music from the early 1920s to the then current date of the 1970s given to me by my Grandpa. I was 5 years old at that time. I distinctly remember singing "Hey, Good Lookin" to a girl in first grade. That song convinced her to "go with me." My Dad always liked to ask where we were going...HA!

I'm not sure when I became aware of Randy Travis but I do remember the song that got me. It was "He Walked on Water." That song will actually give me chills. I was pretty close to my Grandpa growing up, and that song takes me back to that time. I miss him a lot. So I "get" Randy Travis, and man he was huge back in the day.

A few years ago after the Nashville flood the wife and I were just about over the edge with getting the house back together, spending money we didn't have and trying to put things back to normal. Each night that summer we would sit on the porch, drink a little wine and listen to Pandora. Every so often a song would come and I would say, "Who is that!" It was always the Avett Brothers. So we decided we needed to own their music and that was the Avett Bros. summer. We listened to them every night. We went to see them at the Ryman. Then we started traveling to see them. This was an actually living, breathing band that was alive and writing new songs that I loved. A rare thing for me.

 Fast forward to last week. A good friend of mine that I went to college with and later art directed country music videos for, invited us to the taping of CMT's Crossroads. This episode featured The Avett Brothers and Randy Travis. I knew the wife was going to be excited. She clapped her hands, jumped up and down and said, "oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" So I guess she was excited about getting up close to the Avett boys.

I had just finished redoing the interior of the Caddy, and it was just days before the weather changed into being too cold, so we dropped the top and headed to Franklin, TN. About half way there I realized that Ang really wanted to see the show, and taking the Caddy might have been a risky choice. I just had tons of mechanical work done on it but I was still concerned. What if she blew a hose, or threw a belt? I tensed up. The good news is that the Caddy did fine, and we made to the show.

 

Ang admitted she was pretty nervous. "Nervous about what? Watching a show?" She couldn't really explain why she was nervous, she just was. We met Thom and Beth for drinks and dinner. I got lucky; the restaurant, Saffire, had chicken fried chicken, and they knew how to do it. 5 stars!! I also had a martini. I think a good martini should make you want to cry...just a little. This was one good but no tears were shed.

 Luckily we had VIP passes. The line was long but we slid in and took our seats. It was great to get to see Randy and the Avetts be themselves between songs. The first 3 or 4 were Avett songs. The last 3 or 4 were Randy songs. I'm not sure if Randy actually learned the words to the Avett songs but he did seem to know how they went, so that was good. Seth and Scott seemed natural and friendly on stage and laughed at the stories Randy told between songs. Randy said that due to recent events he was petty sure they pulled the sign down that said "Home of Randy Travis" in his home town. The Avetts said their sign was down as well, but probably because it was made of cardboard and they had put it up themselves. They were having fun up there.

It was interesting hearing Randy try to use his 80s vocalizations on the Avett lyrics. I will say that when he sang in his natural voice he sounded pretty damn good. It made me want to hear a Randy Travis album with no super low/super high notes. I know that is his signature sound but I think he would sound good singing in his own voice. He blew a few lines but joked with the crowd telling them he was doing pretty good for a guy that had 7 concussions!

 

At one point Randy was trying to figure the key of a song on his guitar. Scott Avett walked over and took Randy's capo off the head of his guitar and clamped it on Randy's guitar two frets from the top. Randy smiled and Scott smiled. They genuinely seemed to get along.

The mood shifted gears when Randy's band came on stage for the second part of the show. Randy was in his element and they blew most of his classics with one take. I know some folks would say the Avett Bros. are country but they are not on any country spectrum that radio would consider. Scott Avett sounded great singing to Randy's songs. I'd hate to see it happen, but if he had to, I think he could sing "country" music with the best of them.

The show concluded with "Forever and Ever, Amen." It was at the end of this song I realized I was going to get to hear Randy Travis do the ending of that song live. When the time came he worked it! I mean he he took the "Amen" up and down! He took it North, then he ran it South. I never knew you could get so much out of such a small word, and then...it was over. Randy shouted, "GOOD NIGHT!" Everyone was big smiles and we left the building.

PS - Here is one of my favorite Avett Youtube videos.

Tres P90 "Hell" Paul!

Well it was a pretty long journey to this guitar. It all started because of a single P90 pickup. That sparked a guitar build project that took on a life of it's own. Here is a journal of how this guitar was conceived and created: 01-27-2012 06:24 PM 1 LP Body, 3 P90s and a Bigsby

So here is what I'm thinking: Black Les Paul style body 3 P90s - GFS Mean 90 6 way switch or 3 volume knobs and 1 tone or push pulls B70 or B7 Bigsby All chrome hardware (not gold) Chrome knobs Chrome trim rings Chrome locking tuners GFS roller bridge I'm basically going to pull everything off and rewire/rebuild the whole thing.

01-29-2012 11:23 AM Here are some Photoshopped mockups I have made:

 
02-10-2012 12:33 AM I have decided the Gibson '60's Tribute had everything I want - flat laquer black paint, chambered body, routed for two P90s, perfect candidate for a Bigsby and Vibramate and it's a real Les Paul! I purchased one site unseen from a shop off the web and I'm hoping for the best!
03-04-2012 03:00 PM So The Bigsby is done. I ebonzied the neck to get it closer to the black body. I ground down a mexican peso until it was thin enough to work as a poker chip. Next week I'm supposed to get my dogear routes. I may go soapbar is the dog ears are going to be a pain to adjust but I love the look of dogears. Some photos (the peso pic is before i dyed the neck)....
Painted the Bigsby red:
My mock up with dogears:
After I ebonized the fret board to get the neck to be as black as the body:
My Peso poker chip. This was a coin my Dad brought back from one of his many Mexico trips: [hr]
Also - I was wanting some silver/chrome for the poker chip and could not see paying someone $15 for a chrome washer. After I had the peso idea I was on ebay and it hit me that after my Dad died I found a bag of coins in his closet. I dug it out and found a nice peso in there. So now there is part of my Dad in the guitar. Nice.
03-05-2012 10:49 AM Pickups I'm pretty firm on going with the VintageVibe P90s set of three. I like the whole magnet concept:
03-07-2012 02:18 PM Routing the LP Where it's at! So I dropped her off at Glasers today. 3 soap bars coming up. About to order the Vintagevibeguitars p90s.
I just got back from Glasers Instruments - the best luthiers in Nashville! They said it would be 2 weeks but it was only one day. The only thing left is for my VintageVibe Guitars P90s to show up. I'm going to bolt on the Bigsby and start the wiring this weekend.
03-09-2012 12:55 PM Nick from Glasers did the routing:
The LP with the P90 covers slid in. I had to route the existing holes corner radius for the non Gibson P90s to fit:
There is no sign for Glasers but the mailbox gave them away: Wiring (Les Paul, 3 P90s, 6 way rotary switch from Stewmac, push pull pots: So Deaf Eddie came through again! I know I like P90s but I have never had 3 to play with before. Deaf Eddie hooked me up again! Go check out his site. Here is the schematic:
and here is what it does ala Deaf Eddie: PULL the bridge volume, and it puts the bridge pup out of phase. This will affect throws 2, 3, & 4, you can make them spikey and/or sweet, but also nasally and thin, DEPENDING on how you balance the volume of the bridge pup with the other volumes. Lots of tonal variations here from working the volume knobs.
PULL the tone control, and it puts the bridge pup in series with the neck pup. This is a "brute force" tone (usually). This will affect throws 1 and 2, and the series combo should be BIG and FAT, and probably a tad louder - some players think they hear a little high-end rolloff, but it's just the bass coming on gangbusters. A side effect of series combos is that the bridge pup will "disappear" from throws 3 and 4, as it is shunted by the presence of the neck pup.
PULL BOTH, and the bridge is in series/out of phase with the neck pup. On almost all the axes I have - single coil or humbucker - throw 1 will be a stinging solo voice, and I like it a lot. Sounds best with some overdrive/crunch. Throw 2 will be a tad mellower, and the other four throws will again be missing the bridge pup.
The red chicken head will point down at the neck pickup. With this wiring here is how that works ala Deaf Eddie: "the sweep is all on the "neck" side of the arc, with "up" as the neck and go clockwise "down" as the bridge"
03-10-2012 10:48 AM I put the Bigsby on and the knobs just to see how she looked. I think the Bigsby bar looks better than the Chet bar but I have found a Bigsby with Chet bar is a lot more controllable for me. It comes close to Strat trem with the Chet bar. The Chat bar also stays in the perfect place for me. I don't have to go hunting for it when I need it.
03-15-2012 10:02 AM 1. She looks killer! 2. For the first time ever I got the wiring right on my first try! (I had one ground that popped off but after a resolder all was good!) 3. Where the Gibson P90s were like, "that sounds pretty good!", the VintageVibeGuitars.com P90s were like, "WOW!" 4. I got to play it for a while with some throw away strings and now it's off to my friend and luthier JFK at Virginias Music Center. He is going to make sure the frets are good and round them off, do a setup and make her right. 5. I'm going with .10s
I should have her back tonight!
Changes - The volumes are dependent so I think I will rewire it to be independent this weekend.
To do: If I can bring myself to do it it still needs to be pinstriped but man it's looking good the way it is!
(She isn't fully put back together in this photo but she is fully functional!)
03-25-2012 12:41 AM She is finished just in time for guitar night. The only thing left are the pinstripes and I'm going to have to warm into that idea. I like so much right now I don't think I can stripe it just yet!
It was passed around quite a bit at my guitar pull last night and even the guys that didn't want to like it ended up playing it for a long time. The chambered body of the '60's Tribute seems to really add to the tonal characteristic of the guitar. You can almost get an acoustic sound out of it but it will also get severely gnarly as well. I was afraid after all the thought, time and money I put in the guitar I might end up not liking it but man do I love it. The action is also great - super fast. The B70 with Chat bar is also very smooth and responsive. And totally by accident the balance is perfect. I don't know the actual weight but after adding the extra p90 and Bigsby it is still lighter than my Epiphone Pro FX but now feels substantial like an LP should. My luthier commented that the combo of the chambered body and the Bigsby somehow really opened up the sound. Audio clips soon but today I have to do my first mow of the season!