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St_G

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Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
151
I had to wait three weeks for the Fralin Firebird Neck (FFN), but the Lollar Firebird Middle (LFM) came in four days, so Step 2 is here sooner then I expected!

I mentioned before that the FFN was a bit scooped, but it's nothing compared to the Lollar. This this has ZERO mids and a very extended high end. With a 500k pot, I think it would actually be entirely too bright.

You could market this design as a noiseless Strat pickup and no one would bat an eye. It's THAT sparkly.

It's wound to 6.7K, so just a hair hotter than the Fralin, but I'm curious to try them in opposite positions. Sort of seems like it might play to the strengths of each.

Up next: I'm going to move one of the DP-168s into the bridge, before considering aftermarket options.

But I am very happy so far. I seem to be very much on my way to not only solving the mudbucker problems of the stock HHH, but to dialing in a quasi-SSH set of sounds.

TLDR: Things keep getting brighter.
 

St_G

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Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
151
Woops. Disregard my description above.

I noticed this morning that the noise floor was noticably higher on the Lollar than on the Fralin (silent) or the Dimarzio (low). Double checked my wiring and...I had accidentally wired it up split.

So yeah... that's one way to get a crazy bright sound: a ~3.25K single coil. No wonder it reminded me of my Danelectro...

Got it fixed now and it's much more similar to the Fralin.
 
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NickNihil

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Mar 28, 2021
Messages
133
So I take it you've removed the circuit board harness. Have you looked into finding the Gibson 495r and 495t's? They're hard to find aftermarket as they're stock in the modern Firebirds-they're what made me fall in love with mini humbuckers in the first place. Great clean, lots of chime, versatile. The reason I didn't keep that guitar is it oddly wasn't percussive enough for funk, at least in my rig at the time (scale length+neck through+rosewood+wrong amp+wrong overdrive? I'm no luthier), plus the body shape bruised my right forearm while playing for long periods. And I wanted a whammy bar. And I didn't like one volume/one tone per pickup. AND I wanted those Strat-like off positions. NONETHELESS, I really liked that guitar.

Also, which STV do you have again? Is it the Stealth Black?
 

St_G

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Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
151
I've kept the stock harness for now.

I've got a 2016 Vincent Blue w/ the rosewood neck.
 

St_G

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Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
151
Slightly OT, but I figured I'd post it here rather than clutter up someone else's thread: I saw St Vincent last night and, over the course of the show, even playing the new, brighter Goldies even for older tunes, she kept her pickup selector LOCKED on the bridge.

The only time I for-sure saw her use a different pickup was on Live In The Dream, where she used the middle pickup up until the key change, then she was back to the bridge.
 

Dagnabbit

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Joined
Oct 8, 2021
Messages
8
Did she actually play the OG STV model at all? I haven't seen any shots of her with one since the Goldie was announced.
 

NickNihil

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Joined
Mar 28, 2021
Messages
133
She used the original (and the HH) everywhere and on everything from late 2016 on. The new record is just such a different sonic vibe and she's been rearranging her old material for the current sound, plus it's all a pretty specific theatrical production. The Goldie was voiced to be a vintage funk/soul machine, the OG's basically to be processed beyond all recognition.
 

St_G

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Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
151
Not in this show. All Goldie, even on the older songs (some of which predate the sig model entirely) except for one brief bit where she went HAM on something random that I couldn't ID before she literally threw it down.

Her tone was, overall, quite thick, across the board. Other than some envelope filter parts (which will thin out ANYTHING) she seemed to leave the chime and quacky bits to Jason Falkner. He spent about a third of the night on one of those old Danelectro guitar/sitar hybrids.

Did she actually play the OG STV model at all? I haven't seen any shots of her with one since the Goldie was announced.
 
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