Rather than breaking this into several different posts, I’m gonna try to ask all of my questions in this one post. We’ll see how well this works.
First, this is my guitar - a Kramer 450G:
1. Can anyone recommend a luthier/guitar repair shop in the SF area to route my Kramer for a middle pickup? I’ve seen Gary Brawer Guitars listed on Waldo’s site as a reseller of his (Waldo’s) TPC1, so absent any other recommendations I’ll probably approach him first.
2. Ballpark, does anyone have a rough idea of what can I expect to pay for the routing and associated work, not including the cost of the new pickup? Rounded to the nearest hundred dollar is fine -- I really have no idea how much to budget for this.
3. Is there a source for triple pickup mounting rings or plates? I’ve seen a few on guitars posted in this forum, but my Google-fu is failing me so far. My guitar has a lot of bright aluminum and some chrome, so I’m more interested in chrome or polished aluminum than brass, FWIW.
4. Which pickups are commonly used in a typical Tiger setup? Obviously the Dimarzio Super II is favored for the middle, but which pickups are typically used for the neck and bridge?
5. With age, do pickups improve, fade, or remain unchanged? My guitar currently has the vintage Dimarzios pictured above (installed ca. 1976-ish), and I am uncertain of how to proceed w/r/t its current pups. I bought the guitar used in 1977 or so, and it came with the Dimarzios pictured above. They are simple two wire humbuckers and I want a bridge pup that’s wired for a coil tap, but I don’t know if swapping out the current vintage pups would be unnecessarily foolish.
This forum rocks - thanks for whatever info you guys can provide!
First, this is my guitar - a Kramer 450G:
1. Can anyone recommend a luthier/guitar repair shop in the SF area to route my Kramer for a middle pickup? I’ve seen Gary Brawer Guitars listed on Waldo’s site as a reseller of his (Waldo’s) TPC1, so absent any other recommendations I’ll probably approach him first.
2. Ballpark, does anyone have a rough idea of what can I expect to pay for the routing and associated work, not including the cost of the new pickup? Rounded to the nearest hundred dollar is fine -- I really have no idea how much to budget for this.
3. Is there a source for triple pickup mounting rings or plates? I’ve seen a few on guitars posted in this forum, but my Google-fu is failing me so far. My guitar has a lot of bright aluminum and some chrome, so I’m more interested in chrome or polished aluminum than brass, FWIW.
4. Which pickups are commonly used in a typical Tiger setup? Obviously the Dimarzio Super II is favored for the middle, but which pickups are typically used for the neck and bridge?
5. With age, do pickups improve, fade, or remain unchanged? My guitar currently has the vintage Dimarzios pictured above (installed ca. 1976-ish), and I am uncertain of how to proceed w/r/t its current pups. I bought the guitar used in 1977 or so, and it came with the Dimarzios pictured above. They are simple two wire humbuckers and I want a bridge pup that’s wired for a coil tap, but I don’t know if swapping out the current vintage pups would be unnecessarily foolish.
This forum rocks - thanks for whatever info you guys can provide!
Last edited by redeyedjim on Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dilettante - sounds nicer than "hack"