Norrin Radd
Well-known member
UPDATE: Gut SHOTS! .... Something strange happened to my HH AL!!!
Yup - as you can see, I made a couple changes. I decided to try an SSH loaded guard on there just for kicks. As I started this "project" I realized when I removed the pickguard from the original that their is no swimming pool route under there, BUT, the wire routing was there. So I figured, no worries, I'll just, get a route in the middle there for a single coil pickup, load the old pickguard (an extra I had lying around) and slap it on there.
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND! The MM routes are so precise (which is awesome!) that the humbucker routes would not accommodate a single coil pickup (Note to self: As weird as it may seem, a standard single coil pickup is actually wider in design than a standard humbucker). At that point, I knew this was no job for a mere amateur like me (in fact, when I decided any routing was needed I knew it was beyond my meager skills and that professional help would be required). SO, I called my favorite luthier, he did the routes. We also had a nice conversation about how impressed he was with the quality and cost of my beautiful MM AL.
Anyways, I got her home, slapped on the guard (BTW: my first full assembly/soldering job of a whole guard by pieces - I used a diagram from the Duncan website - very helpful! I was expecting problems - BUT (pat self on back) it worked perfectly the first time - yay!!
), and then plugged it in. Sounds amazing! I was just really missing that strat style single coil neck tone - and now I've got it back. Really is my favorite tone/position in all of guitardom.
Well enough chatter. Here's the before and afters:
Yup - as you can see, I made a couple changes. I decided to try an SSH loaded guard on there just for kicks. As I started this "project" I realized when I removed the pickguard from the original that their is no swimming pool route under there, BUT, the wire routing was there. So I figured, no worries, I'll just, get a route in the middle there for a single coil pickup, load the old pickguard (an extra I had lying around) and slap it on there.
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND! The MM routes are so precise (which is awesome!) that the humbucker routes would not accommodate a single coil pickup (Note to self: As weird as it may seem, a standard single coil pickup is actually wider in design than a standard humbucker). At that point, I knew this was no job for a mere amateur like me (in fact, when I decided any routing was needed I knew it was beyond my meager skills and that professional help would be required). SO, I called my favorite luthier, he did the routes. We also had a nice conversation about how impressed he was with the quality and cost of my beautiful MM AL.
Anyways, I got her home, slapped on the guard (BTW: my first full assembly/soldering job of a whole guard by pieces - I used a diagram from the Duncan website - very helpful! I was expecting problems - BUT (pat self on back) it worked perfectly the first time - yay!!
), and then plugged it in. Sounds amazing! I was just really missing that strat style single coil neck tone - and now I've got it back. Really is my favorite tone/position in all of guitardom. Well enough chatter. Here's the before and afters:
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