Would EBMM Sell Pre-Assembled SM Pickguards?

[yesandno]

Has anybody purchased a second pickguard for a SM with all the pups and electronics pre assembled from the factory? (The original blueburst model)
Would they even sell one?
It'd be nice if I could swap between the stock assembly and a second one with a different set of pups. I'd buy one. Really. I mean, if it wasn't too out of line price-wise.

 

[Colin]

You can purchase all the parts separately and assemble it yourself.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

You can purchase all the parts separately and assemble it yourself.

You can also purchase all the parts together, pre-assembled, from EB - but it comes with the rest of the guitar.

 

[ibanez2005]

/\ Straight from the school of stating the bloody obvious.

I think its a good idea, whether EB or anyone else would do it is another matter.
Maybe it wouldnt be cost effective or they'd have to charge that much that no one would buy em anyway.

 

[Big Poppa]

Ibanez Pete was kidding..

We sold different pickup assemblies for the silhouette for years and they didnt sell. It was one of the original features that we offered...If you wanted to go two humbucking you could seven screws and a molex connector

 

[yesandno]

Uh-oh, now I'm feelin' all guilty for askin'....

For the record, lest anyone get the wrong impression, I never pm'd Big Poppa (read: bugged him about it) and didn't call customer service because this isn't a "problem" and posted on the forum as it might be of general interest as to whether you can get a new assembly.

Yeah, I suppose I can get the parts and assemble myself but if given the choice of me having to solder it up or have it done "at the factory", I'd opt for the later.
No matter how hard I try its never going to be as neat and tidy as the factory.

All replies were appreciated, even the wisecracks.

 

[Big Poppa]

if there is sufficcient demand we would obviously reconsider. Just fair warning each time we re release something by popular demand (like trans green) it doesnt sell and we wonder why we didnt listen to the sales the last time.

 

[beej]

Yeah, I suppose I can get the parts and assemble myself but if given the choice of me having to solder it up or have it done "at the factory", I'd opt for the later.No matter how hard I try its never going to be as neat and tidy as the factory.

Well, you can always take it to a local tech to wire up. You can order the pickguard from EB or Chandler, the switches you can get in a few places including EB, and you wanted different pickups anyway (which defeats the purpose of the pre-wired assembly). So worst case you pay somebody a few $$$ to put it together for ya. Even better if you do it yourself- messy wiring shouldn't affect your sound much

 

[ibanez2005]

You'd learn alot more by doing it yourself. It can be a pain in the ass but hey, its worth it in the end when you get what you want.

 

[tommyindelaware]

this is what i do at my day job all day long.
we can do the job on a prewired template ......or u can send us a new pickguard and we will use it. u do have to buy the pickups from us though.
www.acmeguitarworks.com

feel free to delete this post if u feel it is a shameless plug ( which it's not).......& not an attempt to help.( 4 which it was meant)

 

[Big Poppa]

tommy I hereby appoint you the official preloaded pickguard guy......Try to but the pickguards from me...and Tommy Im not slippin as you mentioned to a few people....

 

[tommyindelaware]

tommy I hereby appoint you the official preloaded pickguard guy......Try to but the pickguards from me...and Tommy Im not slippin as you mentioned to a few people....

?????

 

[OrangeChannel]

Tommy you work for acme? I was about to order some duncans awhile back from Brian but I sold the axe due to some whacky neck issues. Please apologize for me. I will definitely order from you cats in the future however. I have some questions for you about this...will hit you on the PM side. LATE.

 

[yesandno]

In reply.....

I already did redo my SM with other pups. Did a nice clean (somewhat to pass my anal gear mind) job.....even tied the wires back together with ties and used heat shrink tubing. However, I always had in mind to get a stock replacement.

The last things I've done, about a year and a half ago, was replace the pups in my tele and strat. I even replaced the pups on the doubleneck. Its not that I can't do the job, its just that I dread having to go into it knowing how painstaking and time consuming it is.

That Acmeguitarworks looks interesting. But I'm curious.....I can understand selling something thats all attached to a pickguard like the SM and Strat. But how does it work with other guitars? I mean, in a tele or LP, some of the wiring can't be assembled because the wires have to go through holes in the wood first.

I did a strat wiring back in the late 70's. I got it from guitar player magazine. I wish I knew the "name" of the wiring. I haven't come across it yet by way of any schematics I've seen on the web.

Basically, you turned the middle tone into a volume for the middle pickup. Then you can go back to a 3 position switch. The 3 positions would be neck - neckt+bridge - bridge. The extra volume would allow you to add as much of the middle pup to any of those 3 choices. So as well as all the "normal" strat positions, you also could have just bridge and neck as well as all 3 pups at once.
(of course with varying blending in of the middle...from all the way up to all the way off)

Have you heard of this one Tommy?

 

[beej]

+1 on Tommy's recommendation for anyone else ... Tommy knows what's he's doing!

But since you've already done it ... congrats- glad your wiring worked out ok. What p'pups did you use?

I did a strat wiring back in the late 70's. I got it from guitar player magazine. I wish I knew the "name" of the wiring. I haven't come across it yet by way of any schematics I've seen on the web.

Basically, you turned the middle tone into a volume for the middle pickup. Then you can go back to a 3 position switch. The 3 positions would be neck - neckt+bridge - bridge. The extra volume would allow you to add as much of the middle pup to any of those 3 choices. So as well as all the "normal" strat positions, you also could have just bridge and neck as well as all 3 pups at once.
(of course with varying blending in of the middle...from all the way up to all the way off)

Bill Lawrence calls that the Jimi Hendrix Wiring scheme. It's cool and I've wired it up before, like this-

 

[yesandno]

Beej....many thanks for that schematic!

I bought a 70's Strat. The pups were awful. I then replaced those with SD quarter pounders (didn't care for those either)
Anyway...I was a huge zep freak. I HAD to get a gibby doubleneck. When I finally got the money together in the late 70's I went to Sam Ash. I wound up getting talked out of it by a salesguy for an Aria Pro SuperTwin. ( I drank in those days and my brain was addled by alcohol)

I wound up swapping all those stock pups out for Dimarzio's and wired that sucker up, coil tapping and whatnot.

Long winded way of finally saying that I frankensteined that 70's strat with 3 of the Supertwins humbuckers and wired it up like I explained. It sits in the closet. It needs a new bridge and at least a new nut, but maybe a new neck too, since I took a file to it long ago (still played fine even) Weighs a ton, but I'd like to get it back into playing shape at some point in the near future.

By the way, that SuperTwin got stolen about '91. If you or anybody ever find one on the net ( I've looked but haven't found mine. I figured that if SOMEBODY has it, they would post a pic somewhere) or seen one in person maybe it could be mine.

There apparently aren't many.

And I did wind up finally getting the gibby, in the picture, in '99 or '00

 

[Tone Dog]

Tommy you work for acme? I was about to order some duncans awhile back from Brian but I sold the axe due to some whacky neck issues. Please apologize for me. I will definitely order from you cats in the future however. I have some questions for you about this...will hit you on the PM side. LATE.

OrangeChannel:

This is Brian from Acme. No need to apologize, Bro! I talk to guys every day that don't place an order - at least not right then and there. Let us know if there is anything we can help you with in the future and we'll pick up where we left off.

 

[Tone Dog]

In reply.....

That Acmeguitarworks looks interesting. But I'm curious.....I can understand selling something thats all attached to a pickguard like the SM and Strat. But how does it work with other guitars? I mean, in a tele or LP, some of the wiring can't be assembled because the wires have to go through holes in the wood first.

I did a strat wiring back in the late 70's. I got it from guitar player magazine. I wish I knew the "name" of the wiring. I haven't come across it yet by way of any schematics I've seen on the web.

Basically, you turned the middle tone into a volume for the middle pickup. Then you can go back to a 3 position switch. The 3 positions would be neck - neckt+bridge - bridge. The extra volume would allow you to add as much of the middle pup to any of those 3 choices. So as well as all the "normal" strat positions, you also could have just bridge and neck as well as all 3 pups at once.
(of course with varying blending in of the middle...from all the way up to all the way off)

Have you heard of this one Tommy?

yesandno:

This is Brian and I work with Tommy at Acme. I have seen this scheme before and it is pretty useful. We have a similiar wiring scheme at Acme with our Blender pot that works best on 3 single coil equipped guitars.

With our Blender wiring, the middle pot becomes a Master Tone and works on all pickups. The Bottom Tone is replaced with the Blender pot and it works between the neck and bridge pickups. The 5-way switch remains stock so the switching/blending options are as follows:

1. Bridge selected, Blender adds neck
2. Bridge and middle selected, Blender adds neck
3. Middle selected, Blender is not functional
4. Middle and neck selected, Blender adds bridge
5. Neck is selected, Blender adds bridge.

The Blender allows all of the 5 standard pickup selections but also allows you to add to those so you can get neck/bridge combinations and all 3 on.

 

[yesandno]

Hi Brian....thanks for that info.

A variation of a theme. I just realized that the one thing from the guitar player mag schematic was you can't do the middle pup alone.
I seldom use just the middle come to think of it.

When I have some money burning a hole, I'll definitely check you out for putting together something. Hmmmm, maybe that bridge pup switch on the morse can be moved someplace else. Can't do much rhythmn because that switch is right there under the strings....I'll always hit it or it makes me choke the hand strumming chords.
Its definitely a lead playing instrument.

 

[Tone Dog]

No problem, yesandno! By the way - I never liked the middle pickup alone until I started using low output, vintage style single coil pickups. Now, I use the middle pickup pretty regularly.