Soapbar size active mount.

The Nazgûl is available for 7 and 8 string players and also comes in an active mount (soapbar) sizing for those who own a guitar that originally came with active pickups but prefer the tone of passive pickups. To help achieve its aggressive tone it uses a strong Ceramic Bar magnet and has a DC resistance of 16.5k (7-string) and 18.7k (8-string). You can hear it in action in the video below.

Dealers who have this product in stock (we will update this for the next two weeks)

Gearhounds

 Coming soon:

The STRATosphere

The Music Zoo

Motor City Guitar

Mike’s Music

MacDaddy Music

Island Music

Guitar Asylum

Drum City

Capitol Guitars

On the Stage: Every venue is different. You have places that have been designed for live music, but most of the time the average musician is going to be playing at a restaurant/bar that threw a stage and/or PA at a corner of the building and decided that they’re booking live music now. No matter the venue, attention to the overall sound is crucial. I’ve played in a number of venues that have swallowed any bass sounds, and then I’ve been in places where the bass frequencies are literally bouncing around the room. And if you’re one of a number of bands on the bill that night, you can guarantee that your sound check is going to sound remarkably like your first song because, well, it probably will be.

In this situation, you have a couple of options (all of these I’ve resorted to at one time). If you have friends in the crowd (that you trust), you can always have them be your ears for the house mix. Another is to listen to the band before you (assuming you’re not first), hear how their mix sounds and adjust yours accordingly. I’ve also intentionally adjusted the tone to be much more hi-mid focused prior to any sound check in an effort to address any bass frequency issues. There is also trusting the soundman completely and leaving everything where it is. Any of these (or multiples) should help you sound your best in the mix.

In the Studio: This is a completely different environment. In this venue, your overall sound live may or may not work well – if at all – in the studio. It’s here that I take instruction from the sound engineer, as they are ultimately the ones in control of my sound.

The biggest hurdle that I had to overcome in the studio was that the tone that you may not like when your bass is soloed can sound amazing in the mix. There are a lot of different ways this can come about, but knowing exactly what you have onboard your bass will help you make quick and rapid adjustments when you want to “try that again, but let’s make the tone more aggressive.”

Ultimately, the exercises of twirling knobs and figuring out what they did may have yielded a lot of tones that you liked and ones that you didn’t, but when it comes to playing live and in the studio, those tones that didn’t sound quite right in the bedroom sound amazing in the mix. It’s the knowledge of your onboard controls that will let you find that perfect sound, live or in the studio, with a little bit of listening and twirling. What venues have you been in that have had you change your tone drastically, and how did it turn out?

Fast forward. NAMM 2013. I was at the NAMM floor and I got to play some of his guitars and I casually ran into him. His guitars played so insanely good and sounded so insanely good, I just had to interview him! I had to know his motivation, I wanted to know what his inspirations are and in what way music and genres influence him and his designs. After NAMM I contacted him, and this is his story.

What was the spark that set it all in motion that you decided to develop and build your own guitars?
I think the original spark was “hey, I can probably do this!” which was actually set off by reading an interview with Allan Holdsworth in Guitar Player Magazine back in 1982. He had gotten a guitar made by Grover Jackson (at Charvel) out of a wood called Jelutong, which I had just used in wood shop in school, and I realized that maybe building a guitar maybe wasn’t voodoo. I had no money to buy a good guitar and grew up in a crafty family, so it was just natural.

I called up the (only) guitar builder in town and he was kind enough to let me borrow the only real specialty tool that is needed – a fret crowning file – and offered me a single piece of wisdom: “If you have time to write a book about building guitars, you’re obviously not any good”. I didn’t quite take his word, but bought a book (Make your own electric guitar, by Melvyn Hiscock) and with some help of a teacher at school, I built a solid maple Telecaster style guitar with a Kahler tremolo. It looked great and sounded terrible, but I had such a good time building it that I immediately moved on to the next project and the next and the next and ended up selling a few guitars and basses.

Fast forward 15 years of pursuing a career and bringing up children, I have always had an interest of product development, industrial design and design in general, so when I found myself with some spare time on my hands after quitting a gruelling job, I decided to put everything together. I didn’t want to just build another guitar – I wanted to solve a problem and take it to the next level of evolution.

Focusing on ergonomics is based off the idea that a comfortable guitar lets you practice more and play longer/faster/better without fatigue and with less risk of injury. Low weight is a key component of ergonimics and a headless design is natural in this equation since the lack of headstock allows you to build a lightweight body without the guitar becoming neck heavy. When starting out, I was unable to find any headless hardware to buy, so I set off designing my own. I went to school to become a mechanical engineer and worked for several years in a prototyping workshop, so I actually had the skills to both design it and manufacture the first prototype.

I started blogging about the project and posted frequently in the Project Guitar forums, and got others interested. I was then able to round up a small grant to get the first small production batch manufactured by a local company. I started selling the hardware to others, and was happy just seeing their completed instruments and exchanging e-mails with people all over the world.

But from early on, I had a complete concept worked out – The Ergonomic Guitar System (EGS) – with an ergonomic neck and body shape, and tons of ideas! It took me two and a half years of hardware development and sales before I actually had the time and resources to bring these other parts to completion. I was very tempted to go all in and solve every single design problem that was on the table, but eventually settled for a balance between traditional and new construction techniques. Instead of coming up with proprietary designs and secret methods that would differentiate me, I tried to make sure that my designs were possible to industrialize. Not because I thought they ever would be (!) but because I wanted to approach the problem from an industrial design angle. Winning Project Guitar’s “Guitar of the Month” with my first EGS prototype back in December of 2009 was incredibly cool.

People associate sustain with weight for example, which was one area where I did have to look at new construction techniques to overcome. Turning all conventional wisdoms on their head and working with lightweight and stiff materials and with parts that are tightly coupled to each other, it all works out. This is another example of the “spark” – a problem that needed to be solved. There continues to be daily sparks, but I have learnt over the years that success comes from ignoring most of them…

Are you motivated by the pursuit of tone, playability, ergonomics or all three and if so, do you have to make compromises?  What do you eventually want to achieve?

Definitely all three! In terms of compromises, let’s take them one by one -

Tone: A Strandberg guitar is typically very responsive and “organic” sounding. It is dynamic and responds quickly. I could probably never build a guitar that sounded and played like a Les Paul or a 335 for example. To some, that may be a compromise, but I consider it a unique selling point and part of the concept.

Playability: No compromises. Ergonomics are a huge part of playability and these two combined lead to a great sound. The playing style obviously has a lot to do with the sound, and with a playable guitar, it’s like taking away a compressor from the signal chain. A very responsive instrument can be intimidating to some players, and some are freaked out by it, but most people enjoy it.

Ergonomics: When I set out to design my EGS guitar (now called the “Boden” design), I looked at what was out there of course. And I noticed that most guitars classified as “ergonomic” looked very untraditional, and for good reasons. There are things like the “Torzal Natural Twist” from Little Guitar Works which is an absolutely brilliant idea that actually works. And there are body designs that really hug your body and have ergonomic advantages. The former can freak people out from a technological understanding perspective and the latter from an aesthetics perspective. So yes, I do make compromises on the ergonomics. I try to make sure that it is possible to industrialize the manufacturing, that a guitar repair technician with skills from a conventional guitar can service them without special training, and that they are easy on the eye. As always with the 80/20 rule, chasing those last 20% can lead to having to make other sacrifices.

Seeing “my” guitars on stage and hearing them on albums is very motivating and that only happens if the owner likes the instrument, which is what my “made-to-measure” concept is about. If I had to name one achievement, it would be making this more accessible, i.e. a full custom instrument with material choices, scale lengths and neck shape are adapted to the player, with a reasonable wait time and price point.

I am also motivated by problem solving in itself, and have several innovations just waiting to be realized. Being able to pay others to do work for me will be a great help to make this happen.

How does your personal taste in music influence your designs?
Not so much, but the reverse is definitely true. I have expanded my musical tastes considerably from working with my customers. Having said that, I thought I was building a jazz/fusion guitar, but due to early adoption by Extended Range players like Chris Letchford (Scale the Summit), who was my first ever made-to-measure customer and who now has a recently announced signature model in the works, Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders) and Misha Mansoor (Periphery), the Extended Range segment is where it really took off. I had never listened to that type of music before when I met either of them, but was completely blown away. After receiving my first e-mail from Tosin, having never heard of him, I listened to Animals as Leaders on repeat for a whole day!

Recently getting Allan Holdsworth as a customer and having him record several songs on his new album with his [custom Seymour Duncan 59B equipped] .strandberg* guitar does bring the whole thing home though. It was really with a player like him in mind that it all started but I could not in my wildest dreams think that it would happen. Another headless guitar pioneer, Paul Masvidal (Cynic), recently joined the team of .strandberg* artists and we are bringing out a signature model for him, which is very exciting and totally in line with my personal tastes.

The feedback I receive from my customers and people who try the guitars is a continuous learning experience and an incredible kick. Coming up with well sounding 7- and 8-string guitars, where “well sounding” is to a large extent defined by the djent/technical metal genre, has evolved into a set of rules for material and pickup selection, where I guess personal taste is an element. This continues with many of my 6-string players, like Al Mu’min (the HAARP Machine), playing in drop tunings where similar rules apply.

How much control do you like to have over your designs? In other words, having your designs being build in an OEM construction, would that be feasible?

OEM construction is definitely possible and is happening already. From the start, I made my designs available under a Creative Commons license, allowing others to use my designs for free as long as they state clearly that they got permission from me and that they make their own enhancements or modifications available under the same license. I did this mostly because it was fun to share the work with others, but also to increase the acceptance of headless guitars and grow the market. I would rather have 10% of a market of a million than 100% of a market of thousand.

With my patent pending EndurNeck™, which is a neck profile that encourages a more relaxed wrist and reduces stress and tension on joints, tendons and muscles, the situation is a little different. It took a lot of deliberation before deciding to go the patenting route over Creative Commons, but when it started hitting “Top 5” lists of musicians highlights of the year and the likes, I decided that maybe this is the start of my retirement fund and to try and make some money off it. I now license the design and provide a kit of instructions and 2D and 3D CAD models to others that want to use it.
I have with great success licensed the use of my trademark to Strictly 7 Guitars to manufacture a select set of standard models, based off the specifications of made-to-measure guitars from Tosin Abasi and Misha Mansoor. I visited them several times and trained their staff and worked directly with their subcontractors to implement the designs and construction methods to my standards and continue to have weekly video conferences, but essentially, they are on their own. This kind of work will continue and is part of my strategy to reach my ultimate goal of made-to-measure guitars being more accessible.

I saw that you use a lot of Seymour Duncan Pickups, for instance the SH4 JB and the SH2 Jazz. What are your experiences with Seymour Duncan pickups?

My first guitar I actually used for something and bought the pickup with my own money, my second build, was built in 1985 and featured a single Seymour Duncan JB pickup and I have always enjoyed Duncan pickups since, and if I played enough myself, my personal guitar would probably still feature a JB.

Right now, I have a couple of very interesting Duncan customers waiting for guitars, and look forward to what is supposed to drop in the mail soon. We have evaluated a couple of the new pickups and are very excited over the new Nazgul pickup as a bridge pickup candidate for our Boden 8-strings.

But generally speaking, my customers have a pretty clear view on what pickups they want in their guitars, and Duncans are certainly a common choice.

Your guitars sometimes have a classic vibe to them but can also look very radical at the same time; do you have the intention (or wish) that your guitars are being used by a particular genre or style or do you simply wish to build your visions?
My ultimate reward is seeing/hearing my guitars being played. My personal preferences have to take the back seat and I try to put myself in the shoes of the customer and interpret his/her needs and meet those requirements. The value that I add is the ability to do so, and my experience so far is that my personal views are requested.

There are several things that I don’t accept doing though, like major modifications to the body shape/headstock, use different hardware or neck construction methods since these are part of the concept. I have brought out a second model, the “Varberg” design, which has a slightly different aesthetic, but also a different approach to the construction.

For “Varberg”, the inspiration was surf guitars, and it is named from one of the few places where you can surf in Sweden. “Boden” is a place in the north of Sweden. I was told by someone that the shape reminded her of reindeer antlers, and this is one of the places where reindeers are farmed.

There are certainly future projects in the pipe with he intent of pushing some technological boundaries but also with specific genres/segments in mind – and a different source of inspiration…

A further recent addition to the artist roster is talented 8-string guitarist (multi-instrumentalist really) Sarah Longfield. I really want to take on the challenge of achieving good tone in an 8-string guitar that works for a smaller size player with small hands.

For more information on Strandberg Guitars, visit: http://guitarworks.thestrandbergs.com/

The Pegasus, Nazgul and Sentient can all be purchased easily in soapbar (active mount) size:

You’ll also be able to order your favorite 7-string passives in soapbar size as a shop floor custom. Just contact your favorite music store and ask them to order it.

JB Model (SH-4)

The JB Model is the world’s most popular humbucker, powering landmark recordings by everyone from KISS to King’s X to Sevendust to Megadeth. It’s a high-output screamer for the bridge position, with singing highs and lively harmonics. And it’s perfectly suited to the 7-string because it sounds crunchy, rich and aggressive at the same time.

Jazz Model (SH-2)
The Jazz is a classic moderate-output neck humbucker designed to pair up well with the JB Model. But even though it’s named the Jazz, it’s capable of much more. Its clear, articulate high end translates into a distorted lead sound that tracks speedy playing with plenty of detail and clarity.

’59 Model (SH-1)
Inspired by the P.A.F. humbuckers of the 50s, the ’59 Model’s sound is full and bright, and it works equally well in the bridge or neck positions. As a bridge pickup it has smooth sustain, warm-but-not-overpowering mids and a clear high end. In the neck position it sounds slightly scooped, with good sustain and articulation. And it sounds great in single coil mode too.

59/Custom Hybrid (SH-16)
The 59/Custom Hybrid started life as a creation by a user on the Seymour Duncan User Group Forums, when a screw coil from a ’59 Model was combined with a slug coil from a Custom. The result is a pickup which combines elements of both: the clear highs and punchy attack of the ’59 Model, and the powerful lows and complex mids of the Custom. The more moderate output of the ’59 Custom Hybrid is well suited for 7-String, given that most metal players already have enough gain through their amps.

Duncan Custom (SH-5)
Like the ’59, the Duncan Custom is inspired by the classic P.A.F. humbucker, but kicks things up a notch or two with a ceramic magnet and a custom coil design which give it compressed dynamics, enhanced harmonics, punchy low end and a distinctive treble attack. It pairs especially well with a ’59 in the neck position.

Duncan Distortion (SH-6)
The Distortion does exactly what you’d expect it to: it slaps your amp’s input stage with plenty of power so it can generate harmonically rich, cutting distortion. The sound is raw and aggressive, and great for maintaining the thickness of the low B string. The high end is particularly strong, and the lows remain clear enough to retain definition no matter how fast or how low you play.

Full Shred (SH-10)
The Full Shred features double rows of Allen screw pole pieces which allow you to fine-tune the high end for clear, precise definition without crossing over into harshness. It’s great for low tunings, the output is lower than the SH-6 Distortion and the midrange is fatter. It’s a great prog rock rhythm and lead pickup with a hint of growl for power-chording and a slight vocal quality when you switch to lead. There’s also a neck version with reduced output and more treble.

Invader (SH-8)
The Invader pushes your guitar about as far as it’s possible for a passive pickup to go. It uses three ceramic magnets, overwound coils and twelve black oxide cap screws to attain a heavy, thick, punchy, chunky rhythm tone and a fat, compressed lead voice. There’s a neck version too, which is wound with a considerably lower output to provide maximum tonal flexibly.

The Pegasus is the newest offering from Seymour Duncan designed specifically for the demands of 7/8 string players. Put a Pegasus in the bridge position of your guitar and you’ll hear harmonic richness, great dynamics, and defined string separation that ensures all those notes break through any distorted mix. Many seven string players have been saying that they need a pickup that isn’t excessively high-gain, given the amount of available gain on modern amps. The Pegasus provides the perfect balance with a more moderate output that lets you push it to the edge and still retain warmth and clarity. It’s a perfect match for progressive metal.

Another great part is that the Pegasus is not just available in passive (naked coil) sizing but also in soapbar (active mount) sizing. Many 7/8 string guitars come with active pickups that use a different (phase 2) sizing and this new size is a direct replacement for those.

The Pegasus pairs nicely with the new Sentient neck pickup. Or if you’re after something a little more extreme from a bridge pickup for 7 or 8-string guitar, check out the Nazgûl.

The Pegasus is shipping now, and you can find it at Gearhounds right now if your preferred retailer isn’t listing it yet.

Check out this video of the Pegasus to hear it in action:

Yes, this actually worked.

Delay, or echo (as it should be called) is the repeating of sound. It is the sound when you yell into a canyon and you hear your voice back at you because it reflects off of the rocks. No canyons around? Well, you can simulate this sound with a delay pedal. But it is usually capable of a whole lot more.

First, I must say that delay pedals have come a long way since the tape driven devices of the 60’s and 70’s. While there are those that can’t get that warm, mushy sound from anything else and still drag around an expensive and fragile tape delay, the rest of us have reverted to compact pedals or multi-effects.

The Line6 POD HD500 models vintage delays. This is what I used for my examples.

These days, pedals can do things that magnetic tape running over multiple play heads could never do. Remember yelling into that canyon? Well, those repeats don’t sound exactly like the original sound. They are quieter, and sound duller than the original sound. If you want more echo, you’d better get a bigger canyon, right? Many current delay pedals can alter the sound of the repeats even further, and this is what we will get into in this article.

Delay as Chorus

The Deluxe Memory Man is renown for the warm analog modulated delays it produces.

If you own a delay pedal with modulation (made famous by an Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man) then you also own a chorus pedal. Remember, chorus takes a sound and modulates (changes) it by speeding up and slowing down the echo, which changes the pitch. When mixed with the original, non-shifted sound, you get chorus. Remember, the chorus only affects the repeats, so you must mix it with the original signal to get the chorus sound. So you can set your delay to a modulated chorus, delay time at 0, mix on 5, feedback (number of repeats) on 0. Great sounding chorus that doesn’t get muddy!

Delay as Looper

Delay is one of my favorite effects, as I started experimenting with a reel-to-reel tape recorder I hooked up wrong when I was 13. Not knowing of pioneers of guitar-based looping like Robert Fripp and Brian Eno at the time, I sent the input into the output and created a loop of sound that repeated, got louder and saturated the tape. Later, I learned of what they called Frippertronics where a Les Paul, fuzzbox and volume pedal were plugged into 2 reel-to-reel tape recorders and produced the albums No Pussyfooting and Let the Power Fall.

A diagram of Robert Fripp & Brian Eno’s original tape loop system, called ‘Frippertronics.’

Today, to get this sound, you need long delay times. I love about 5-7 seconds, but most pedals don’t go that high. This example is about 3 seconds of echo. I chose a tape delay setting which cuts lows and highs, and adds a slight saturation on the repeats. I put mix on 4, and feedback just short of all the way up. If your delay pedal will continue to repeat while it is off, you can turn it off while it is repeating and solo over it. Old playing gradually fades away (since feedback is just short of all the way up), so you can turn the loop back on and add to it. I’d much rather play with something like this than standard sample-based looping pedals available these days.

Delay as Spaceship

This one is fun, and great for the end of a song. Delay time at 8, Mix on 5, and Feedback on 8. When you hear an echo, twist the delay time knob up and down. Instant space sounds! Or short wave radio. Or possessed Whammy pedal. Now this only works on analog delays as well as digital delays that model analog technology. Some delay pedal builders have intentionally muted this sound, thinking that it isn’t musical. Fools!

Delay as Slight Overdrive

This one I was able to do on my PodHD 500 that has a setting called ‘Tube Echo’. This adds slight distortion to the echoes only. So, with delay time at 0, mix at 10, and feedback at 0, all I am hearing is a single repeat but no unaffected signal. Instant trashy overdrive!

Delay as Steel Drum?

I use an analog-style delay, with a very short delay time, and feedback almost all the way up. Mix is on 5, and what we end up with is a very metallic sound effect (almost like a ring modulator) which will certainly annoy most people around you. Very rock & roll.

Manipulating Feedback and Mix in Real Time

On a delay, the more control, the better. Tap tempo and expression pedal control are essential for teaching the sound who’s boss.

The Seymour Duncan Deja Vu Tap Delay has a jack in the back which allows connection of an expression pedal. This can allow real time adjustment of the number of repeats. You can connect another expression pedal to adjust the wet/dry mix, all in real time. Rarely do I set and forget my delay, so these connections for control while I am playing is essential to use the delay as an instrument itself.

I love using pedals in different ways than they were intended. This started when I was very young, and got pedals very infrequently. If it had 2 knobs on it, boy, I used those 2 knobs! I knew everything about that pedal, including using it in ways the designers never really thought of.

Now, I haven’t even gotten to syncing delays to the tempo, like The Edge, or reverse delays like Led Zeppelin used. What creative ways have you used effects pedals in ways they weren’t intended? What cool sounds inspired you to experiment?

Fortunately I did some research, performed some trial and error experimentation on my own semi-hollow (a very nice Epiphone Dot) and found what I consider to be the best way to wire up a hollow body guitar. You won’t need any uncommon tools or equipment – just a wrench set (or an adjustable wrench), plenty of wire, a pair of needle-nose pliers, a soldering iron, and a bit of patience. I’ve included plenty of pics to help illustrate each step.

Let’s get started!

Start by removing the pickguard and putting it aside. Next, remove the knobs. I use a rag wrapped around the knob to pull them off without scratching the finish.

Once the knobs are off, you can use your wrench to remove the nuts from the pots, jack, and switch. The pots and switch will fall through into the cavity. That’s fine.

You should now be able to gently extract the pots and switch through the F hole. Start with the components closest to the center of the F hole (usually the switch) and work your way back, using the wires to pull components toward the F hole. The jack should come out last. I use a hand towel to protect the finish.

At this point you should have the pots, switch, and jack out of the guitar with the pickup wires still connected. You can either de-solder the pickup wires or use wire cutters to clip them off. If you’re replacing the pickups as part of your re-wiring, you can do this now (I did not in the example photographed here). Just feed the leads of the new pickups back through the holes in the pickup cavities.

Removal of the old components is now done. Set aside any components you want to re-use, get any new components ready to wire up, and heat up your soldering iron if you haven’t already done so.

It’s a good idea to make a template for your wiring on any guitar where the controls aren’t mounted to a pickguard (like a Strat) or a control plate (like a Tele). To make the template, put a piece of non-corrugated cardboard over the guitar, use finger pressure to find where the control holes are, and very carefully poke through the cardboard with a punch or a nail to make a hole for your template. You can enlarge the holes with a pencil or a round file until they are big enough for the controls to be mounted snugly. It’s also a good idea to write what is supposed to go where on the template with a marker.

Wire up your pots, switch, and jack on the template.  Always use more wire than you think you will need. If your wiring is too tight, it will be very difficult to get it back into the guitar. You will not cause any problems by using a little too much wire, so don’t be afraid to make long connections.

If you need to know how to wire up the components, Seymour Duncan has plenty of good wiring diagrams to help you.

Once you’re satisfied with your wiring, solder your pickup leads to the controls. At this point, I strongly recommend testing your wiring before proceeding. It will be very difficult to troubleshoot problems once the controls are back in the body. Use a multimeter, circuit tester, or just plug the dangling jack into an amp and tap on the pickups.

It’s now time for the most challenging step: fitting everything back into the guitar. Don’t worry: if you did everything correctly up to this point, you shouldn’t have any problems getting it back together. You’ll be using extra wire to pull the electronic parts through the F hole and into their mounting holes on the body. It’s best to start with the component that’s furthest from the F hole, which is usually the jack.

Run a length of wire (approx two feet is usually plenty) through the jack mounting hole and down into the cavity. When you see the wire in the cavity pull it up through the F hole. Make sure the wire is long enough for one end to stick out the jack hole, and the other to stick out the F hole. Tape the jack hole end of the wire to the guitar with masking tape, or tie it to the strap button. This will ensure it doesn’t fall through the jack hole while you’re working on the other end.

Thread the F hole end of this wire through the jack, and tie it to a washer or a nut. Any washer or nut that is too big to fit through the jack will do. Give the wire a test tug to make sure it doesn’t come loose.

Feed a wire through each tone pot hole and out the F hole in a similar fashion. Instead of tying the other end to a washer, just tie the wire tightly around the shaft of the corresponding pot. You won’t need wires for the volume pots or the switch – they’re easier to install by hand.

Now comes the fun part. Put the jack and the tone pots into the F hole, and use the jack hole wire to feed the jack through the cavity. If the washer holds, the jack will pop up through the jack hole. Thread the wire through the jack washer and nut, and pull up on the wire to hold the jack in place while you tighten the nut. Once you’re sure the jack is firmly installed, clip the wire and let the washer end fall into the cavity. You can shake that out through the F hole later – just leave it for now.

Repeat the wire pull technique with the two tone pots, starting with the furthest one. You will probably have to feed the volume pots or even the switch into the F hole to make this work. Just be careful to not twist or tangle any wires on the way in.

You can also use the wire fishing technique to install the volume pots and the switch, but it’s usually easier to just use your fingers. Reach into the F hole and carefully ease them up through their respective holes.

Put the knobs back on the pots, shake the loose nut/wire end out of the cavity, and re-install the pickguard. Congratulations – you’ve just completed one of the most dreaded tasks in the guitar universe!

I’d love to know if you guys have any tips for installing wiring in hollow-bodies. Also, if you’ve got questions about this process, I’ll do my best to answer them. Either way, post a comment!

In this article I’ll take you through the various things you’ll need to know about soldering to work on your guitar. You’ll need to know how to protect your guitar, how to solder to lugs, how to de-solder wires, how to clean contacts,and how to solder to the back of a pot. But first, lets make sure we’ve got the right equipment.

Equipment

Firstly, you’ll need a soldering iron. It doesn’t need to be expensive, although if you’re doing a lot of soldering, you might like to get a temperature-controlled soldering iron. A 25W iron isn’t really powerful enough. I do all my soldering with a 40W iron, which is just right. A chisel tip or pencil tip are both fine – it’s more a matter of what works best for you. Start with a chisel tip if you’re not sure. A soldering stand is essential, as is a sponge for cleaning the tip.

Like a lot of things in guitar wiring, the type of solder you use attracts a reasonable amount of superstition regarding tone. Take it from me – you don’t need to worry. Just get something that is called “solder” and you will be fine. For guitar work, thin solder is better than a thicker type. We’re talking less than a millimetre in diameter, ideally.

Like a minor cast member in the movie Total Recall, soldering can make you wish you had three hands. You’ll probably do just fine with two, but if you do find you’re having trouble, I recommend getting a “helping hand” – basically a stand that has some moveable clips on it. You can use it to hold your work in the desired position, leaving your hands free for the task at hand.

Other equipment I like to have to hand: tweezers, needle-nosed pliers, a solder pump and some solder braid.

Protecting your guitar

When you’re working with solder, occasionally a small drop of hot solder will “escape”. If this lands on the finish of your guitar it will instantly make a hole. So, before you do any soldering, put rags or thick card all around the guitar and make sure they’re secure. If there’s a guitar you’re doing a lot of work on, or you’re going to be soldering in a lot of the same type of guitar, you could make a “soldering shield” for that guitar. This is a piece of thick card big enough to cover a decent area of the guitar, with a hole cut in it the same shape as the wiring cavity. It can come in very handy.

While we’re on the subject of protection, it’s also worth wearing safety goggles – at least until you’re confident you’re in control of your solder.

Soldering iron care

The tip of your soldering iron should always be clean and shiny before you use it to do any soldering. If it’s dull and dark, heat it up and wipe it on a wet sponge. If this still doesn’t help, you can melt some flux-core solder on to the tip and then wipe it, which will work, or you can clean it with flux, or a specialised soldering cleaner.

It’s important to note, though, that making the iron completely clean of all substances is what makes it go dull. The iron is oxidising, which is what makes it go dark. You need to keep a tiny bit of solder coating on the tip – this is known as “tinning” the tip.

When you turn your soldering iron off, it’s likely that it will go dull again as you let it cool. If you want to avoid this, you can continuously wipe it on your sponge until it is completely cool, which will stop the thin coat of rust from forming.

Transferring heat from your soldering iron

Once you have a clean and shiny tip, you are well-placed to start soldering. It’s important to note that the point of the soldering iron is to get your other components hot – not to melt solder itself. Depending on the shape of the tip you’re using, and the shape of the components you’re heating, you may have a little trouble. A useful tip is that you can apply a tiny drop of solder to the tip of the iron, which, when pressed against the component, will mold itself to the component’s shape and transfer heat much more quickly. However, you need to be aware that letting a blob of solder stay hot for a long time will oxidise the solder and ruin it. This follows on into everything you do – don’t apply heat for long periods of time. If after a few seconds you find you can’t get the job done, remove the heat and regroup.

Making a solder joint

OK, here we are at the part where we solder a wire to a contact. The most important thing to remember here is that solder isn’t glue. You shouldn’t use it to fill a gap between two pieces of metal, and you shouldn’t try to apply it to both surfaces and stick them together. You should think of it as being added security for an already-functional mechanical joint.

Before you bring the end of a wire to a component, you need to tin the end. Twist the strands together, apply the iron to the wire, and then when it’s hot enough, take a little solder to the wire as well. It will quickly soak into the strands of the wire. Apply as little solder as possible here – the aim is simply to hold the strands together and provide a surface that solder will readily flow to. For “pushback” cloth-covered wire and single-core bell wire, tinning is less important, but for multi-strand wire it’s crucial.

Most components in guitars have solder lugs – they’re little loops of metal that are incredibly handy, because they give you a “hook” you can use. Poke the wire through using your fingers, or tweezers if necessary, and bend it so that it holds steady. The wire should be firmly touching the contact, not hovering somewhere near it. Bring in the soldering iron and use it to heat both the wire and the lug. Once they are hot, you can feed a little solder into the joint – not on to the iron! You don’t need loads of solder – an ideal solder joint will be shiny and small, and you may even be able to still see the individual strands of wire through the solder. Once you have solder in there, remove the heat.

It’s important that nothing moves while the solder is liquid. If anything does move, you’ll see the joint go dull. This is a dry solder joint and it will cause you trouble, if not immediately, then soon. Re-do it now instead of having to strip the guitar down again in six months’ time!

De-soldering

If you’re switching pickups, rather than wiring a new guitar, then your first job with the iron is going to be removing the old wires. This is easier than soldering – all you really have to do is melt the solder that’s already there, and, while it’s still liquid, remove the wire. I like to do this by getting a grip on the wire I’m removing with some pliers first, and applying just a little tension. Like this, you can feel when the solder has melted and just pull the wire away.

Cleaning Contacts

Since you’re likely to be soldering to the contact from which you just removed a wire, it will help you to clean the contact if there’s a lot of solder left on it. For example, if you’re working on a volume pot, the three lugs have holes in them for you to loop the wire through – but these loops can easily get closed off with solder.

To clean up, you can either use solder braid or a pump. Solder braid is good for when you really need to get every last bit of solder off. You put the braid on the contact, apply heat to it with the iron, and then when the solder melts it soaks into the braid. More often, though, you’ll just need to get the bulk of the solder off, and this is more easily done with a solder pump. You “charge” the pump by pushing the plunger down until it clicks, melt the solder with the iron, and then put the nozzle of the pump against the melted solder and push the button on the pump. It creates a momentary vacuum that sucks the melted solder up into the pump.

Here’s a video demo showing how to de-solder a wire from a lug, and clean the lug ready for future use.

Soldering to a pot

The backs of pots are commonly used as grounding points for other components in the guitar. However, soldering to a pot can be difficult, as the large amount of thick metal is capable of absorbing a lot of heat without getting hot enough to melt solder. If you’re not careful, this can lead to heating the pot for such a long time that it overheats the pot’s internal resistive strip, and the pot stops working properly.

There are a few tricks to soldering to the back of a pot. Firstly, pots often have an oily coating when they’re new. This isn’t helping. Also, the smoothness of the pot can mean that solder has nothing to “grip” on to. You can solve both of these problems by giving the back of  the pot a thorough going-over with some fine grit sandpaper or a wire brush.

Once you’ve done this and you have a nice roughed-up surface, you can also tin the back of the pot. Apply some solder to the iron, and then bring this to the pot. It will quickly heat up the part of the pot it’s touching and flow on to the pot. When this happens, spread the solder around with the iron and you now have a tinned surface that will be easier to solder to.

When it’s time to actually solder a wire to the pot, it’s more difficult than soldering to a lug because the back of the pot won’t help you by holding the wire in place. If you can rig up some clips to hold the wire firmly then that’s what you should do. Then you can just heat the wire and the pot, feed some solder into the join as before, and you’re done.

If you can’t rig up clips to hold the wire in place, then you can use my method. You have to have everything ready beforehand as it needs to be done swiftly. Your right hand will be used for the soldering iron and your left for everything else. So, to your left, place your solder, your needle-nosed pliers and the wire. Bring the wire to the back of the pot, and hold it in place with the soldering iron. With your other hand, bring the solder in and make the join. Now quickly put the solder down and pick up the needle-nosed pliers. Use the pliers to hold the wire in place and remove the iron. The solder dries, and now you have your nice clean solder joint to the back of a pot.

I try to avoid soldering to the back of a pot whenever possible. Often, I will tin all the ground wires together, wrap them in heatshrink, and take a single wire from there to a pot. This means only a single solder join to the pot is necessary instead of several, which makes things much easier. You can also find solder lugs that you can sandwich between the pot and the guitar, and solder to those.

Learning to solder is an essential skill if you want to be able to repair your guitar on the go. There are times when your guitar might just cut out – but it’s actually only one loose wire. Being able to quickly reattach it instead of taking it to a tech will save you time and money – and you might even enjoy it. I certainly do.

Something that had a similar vibe, but more of a unique personality? Y’know, one much like the Pearly Gates bridge does compared to the ’59B? Why not try the Pearly Gates Neck? The neck model of the set originally wound for the Rev. Billy G, yes? It’s worth a shot, right? Especially since discovering the PG bridge’s vibe is so cool, there’s possibly a neck pickup that has that much mojo? Uh, WANT!

You got a problem with that?

Looking at the two pickups on the Seymour Duncan Tone Comparison Chart, surprisingly the ’59N is the ever-so slightly higher output pickup of the two compared to the PGn, though both still hover in the “vintage” realm in that regard. What really sets the Pearly neck pickup apart is an Alnico 2 magnet as opposed to the A5 of the ‘59N. A2 has a slightly more mellow character with a bit more give in the bass, pronounced mids and softer highs. This is as opposed to the A5′s almost brash by comparison character. You couldn’t really say the ’59N is brash at all, but hypothetically the PGn will sound warmer and smoother still? Oh yeah. The Pearly neck is definitely going to be a completely different animal from the ’59N. Count me in.

I continued with the similar theme for the test Pearly as the other pickups in the Kramer Chronicles: Zebra coils, 4-conductor wiring and Trembucker spacing. TB-spacing isn’t necessary in most cases for neck ‘buckers, but they’re great if you have big hands and use wide necks like I do, and fortunately Duncan will make them by request. As for companion bridge pickups? Left the JB from Volume V in. I already know the PGn would sound great with the bridge counterpart, but I wanted to see if it could get along with another fairly opinionated Duncan bridge humbucker. Out of all the others I tried, the JB would qualify as “most opinionated,” so if I figured if there was a chance of the “odd” pairing, that would be it. Besides I really like the JB in the bridge of this guitar (the Custom being second favorte at the moment), and didn’t want to change it just yet. Turns out I wouldn’t have to, they paired up well!

“‘Bout time you got home… now go get me another beer!”

The Pearly Gates neck really does the moniker justice -  a little more so than its bridge counterpart, unless the PGb is “bad cop” to the PGn’s “good” or something like that. That scenario would explain the bridge model’s “I’m being nice, but I WILL hurt you” vibe. The neck model, however, is indeed as heavenly sounding as the name implies! Upon plugging it in with a clean sound I immediately noticed the tone was warmer and seemingly fuller than the ’59N that formerly occupied the neck slot in the Kramer. This allows for luscious chordal rhythm comping that darkens nicely rather than getting muddy when you roll back the tone control. The single-coil tone is great too. I really like the clean tone, which is a good sign. I was hoping the “sweet, but slightly rude” character would be apparent in the tones, and it is. Under heavier gain for soloing the vibe is simultaneously smooth and bright.

Like the bridge counterpart, it also has an undercurrent of “danger” depending on how you hit it. The pickup is very responsive to how and where you pick, and there’s an interesting characteristic “cluck” to your pick attack. The pickup has incredible note definition, and is very articulate.

The tone is warm and pleasing, but there’s still some noticeable highs with the tone control maxed, giving the pickup’s voicing an interesting character. The key word here may actually be “voice” because that’s what the PGn has going for it that other neck pickups usually don’t. It can be smooth and singing, but if you dig in there’s some attitude going on. There is definitely the perception of a “personality” for lack of a better word; exactly like the bridge counterpart in that respect. Everything the ’59N is, the PGn is and more. If it were a milkshake, it would indeed bring all the girls to the yard. Just sayin’.

What you play on it will stand out, it’s up to you to make worthwhile use of the gorgeous tone you will be rewarded with. Myself, I do believe this puppy is staying in the neck position of this guitar! At least until someone asks to hear a Jazz model in this guitar – ha! No, seriously, I am digging this pickup. And, total win, because I’ve achieved the original goal of the series: coming up with a versatile, killer-sounding set for this guitar. A pair of pickups that while splitting and cleaning up well, are also both equally capable of handling gain and dishing out as much punishment as desired. The JB in the bridge handles all the ROCK and the Pearly Gates neck can handle warm cleans all the way up to sustain-soaked shred fests!

Since this time we’re dealing with a neck pickup I didn’t do the customary set of clips. Instead, here’s two – clean and dirty: The dirt one makes use of the PGn for the main rhythm tone for a little Tom Morello vibe (there is a JB dirty rhythm track underneath as well). Add a couple of PGn tracks doing a harmony lead thing, and another PGn lead track weaving and bobbing in between those two, and there ya have it. For that track I used the Head Case “Crow” and “Heavy 6160″ and a PODfarm JCM800 emulation with HC and Recabinet speaker emulations. The clean example is two tracks, one with HC “Quarter II” and Recabinet “Blackface” cabs, and another using a PODfarm Adrian Belew preset and Recabinet “Tweed” cabs. Enjoy!

If you’ve got a Telecaster that you love the feel of but you’re not totally happy with the lead pickup sound, there are lots of options. In this article I’ll take you through some of them, and let you hear what a few of them would sound like too. I’m going to assume that your Tele is a “normal” one – as in, it has the big metal bridge plate with a single coil pickup in it. Where can we go from there?

Vintage-Style Pickups

Perhaps the stock pickup that came in your guitar isn’t twangy enough, or it’s a bit fizzy. If your guitar was a cheap copy then that’s particularly likely. If you’re just after a “true” Telecaster tone then you should be looking at a vintage-output pickup. Seymour Duncan do several of these, all aimed at getting that classic Tele tone but with minor but important differences. My personal favourite of these is the Broadcaster bridge pickup. It’s twangy when you need it but has a sweetness to the sound too. Here’s a video that demonstrates its tone nicely:

Hot Single Coil Pickups

If you’re looking for something a bit more edgy while still sounding like a Telecaster at the core, then you might want to go to a hotter single coil pickup. The first one that springs to mind is the Hot For Tele pickup. This looks just like a regular single coil pickup but packs a little more punch. The really nice thing is that a tapped version is available – allowing you to wire a switch on the guitar to drop the output back down to vintage levels. There’s also a matching neck pickup to ensure volume balance in the guitar.  Taking this concept up a little and going noiseless brings you to the Hot Lead Stack.

The Quarter Pound for Tele

Another step up takes you to the Quarter Pound for Tele. This is a seriously high output single coil – getting close to the level of output of a P-90. It gives a dark, punchy sound that most listeners probably won’t guess is coming from a Tele. Again, a matched neck pickup is available – and both can be tapped when you want to get that Tele character back again.

Single Coil-Sized Humbuckers

Now we’re really getting away from the traditional style of Telecaster pickup and getting towards some more serious output. By going for a single-coil-sized humbucker you get humbucker levels of output and that growling midrange – but the size of the pickup means that more of your treble remains intact. So while you’re still pushing the amp really hard, there’s still an aspect of single-coil character in there somewhere – although turning the gain up with these pickups is irresistible, and that’s when the humbucker half of the pickup’s personality starts to take over.

I’ve already covered the Little 59 in another article (Two Kinds of Little 59). I suggest you head on over there for a description and some tone demos.

Another option here, though, is the devastatingly powerful Hot Rails for Tele. This takes your guitar well into rock and metal territory. Here’s a great demo that shows how far this pickup can go:

Full-Sized Humbuckers

To put a full-sized humbucker at the bridge of a regular Tele, two things are needed. Firstly, you need a new bridge plate, like these. And secondly, you may well need to remove some wood from the guitar to allow the humbucker to fit in. So this modification is not for the faint of heart.

However, adding a full-sized humbucker to the bridge of a Tele radically changes the tone of the guitar. The result is somewhere between a Fat Strat and a Les Paul. Of course, there are hundreds of humbuckers you could choose from here – you might like the vintage output of a 59 Model, the swaggering, hot-rodded JB, or the growling PAF-plus-balls of the Screamin’ Demon.

Of course, one famous player of a Tele with a humbucker in it is Seymour himself! Here’s a great tour of the Seymour Duncan 35 guitar, featuring a JB at the bridge and a Jazz at the neck. Of course, this guitar uses the Tune-o-matic/tailpiece bridge sytem, but there’s nothing stopping you putting a JB in a Tele with a normal bridge:

And of course, if you have a humbucker-sized hole to fill in your Tele, then you now have the option of a Phat Cat for P-90 sounds, or even a P-Rails, which gives you three options: a full-on humbucker, a P-90, or a single-coil tone.

Here’s a nice video of a Telecaster with a couple of P-Rails in it – you get to see all the different switching options.

Have you got anything unusual in the bridge of your Tele, or do you prefer to stick with the classic single-coil style?