Grateful Dead Music Forum

I installed DiMarzio Virtual PAF's in my Ibanez Artist 2617. These are the same pups as in the Cowboy. Although the guitar sounded great, it didn't have the Cowboy sound that I must have. I didn't have that very glassy, almost crystalline sound when running in single coil.

I realized that adjusting the pickup heights might make a difference, so I lowered them substantially and now the sound is much closer. Still, I'm not sure I'm there yet.

So...could you Cowboy owners please measure the distance between the strings and all three pups. I would greatly appreciate it. I'm assuming they're still at the height they were when the guitar left the factory...

tnx,
mk

As long as you have your Cowboys out, please answer one more question:

When using just the neck & bridge pups and using them in single coil, how glassy is the sound as when compared vs. using all three pups in single coil? I still don't have a middle single coil so I'm wondering if adding the single coil will make it more glassy.

tnx,
mk

Mike,
I dont have a cowboy, but I can tell you for certain that the middle single coil (more specifically placed toward the bridge pickup instead of the traditional centered position, almost butted up against the bridge humbucker...AKA the "weir spot") is a HUGE part of weirs cowboy sound.
As an example see what eaton did to mod his 2681, he placed a single coil IN the "weir spot".

as an addendum........weir liked that position so much that the later 80's modulus guitars had a similar orientation, specifically in regards to the center pickup. He then also slid the neck pickup down to what would be a traditional center like position.

jeffm725 wrote:He then also slid the neck pickup down to what would be a traditional center like position.

Wow, never realized that, Jeff, but it makes sense. My Jackson gets a great Weir tone in the neck and never knew why. Then a few weeks back I was working with a local luthier measuring out my 3 favorite guitars as he's building one for me (long story short I got one of his one trade and it's doing doing it for me so I'm trading it back to him with a few bucks on top).

Anyway, on my Jackson he noted that the neck and bridge are close together, then measured more and found it to be almost in the center humbucker spot.

Jeff - yes- I'm very aware of what has been written about the middle pickup placement and it's probably true, however, it's interesting to note that the Weir Cowboy that Ibanez made a few years ago had the middle pup in dead center. (sorry about the pun). Hopefully this link will work...

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... N%26um%3D1

Anyway...before I proceed with routing for the middle pickup, I just want to make sure that what I have without the middle pickup is close enough to the real Cowboy (without the middle pickup turned on) so that I can be sure that proceeding is worthwhile. I'd hate to move forward only to be disappointed with the end-result. To me, having the pickup nearer to the bridge makes sense. Maybe I can come up with a contraption like Jeff Hasselberg made where the pickup is moveable. One more observation...in looking at lots of pictures of Weir's Ibanez guitars, the middle pickup was sometimes angled so that the bass end of the pickup was closer to the bridge than the other end. Sometimes it wasn't...

How does one post pics? I can show pics of the guitar I'm using (it's a beauty!) and I have great pics of Weirs '75 Ibanez from Golden Gate Park.

mk

mkaufman wrote:
How does one post pics? I can show pics of the guitar I'm using (it's a beauty!) and I have great pics of Weirs '75 Ibanez from Golden Gate Park.

mk

the photos need to be hosted on a public site not your home computer.
photobucket ?
then click on IMG in the header and paste in between the (img)(img) !
lets see that git !

weir liked that position so much that the later 80's modulus guitars had a similar orientation, specifically in regards to the center pickup. He then also slid the neck pickup down to what would be a traditional center like position.

Jeff - do you have any pics of this??

tnx,
mk

That was in the mid-late 80s; the cocobolo blackknife was like that, as well as the pepto pink guitar.





The Ibanez reissues had the pickup toward the bridge slightly, but not quite as drastically.

Vic:

Very cool - thanks!

mk

The pickguard on Bob's pink guitar just broke and when he had it replaced he wanted the pickups back to the standard way.

In order to achieve the Cowboy sound, I plan on staying w/ the late 70's pickup locations. Moving them to these Modulus positions may not yield the same results...

Anyway....bump on my initial requests...

mk