My New '65 USA Reissue

[Elliot Easton]

Man oh man!

Sweet Candy Apple.
I believe those "Original" models have the Dana wound pickups. Let us know how she sounds once you get the chance to plug in and jam a bit.

It sounds just fantastic, and pretty much identical to my pearl white Fillmore that I got several years ago. I found that by a bit of adjusting I could really balance the 2 pickup sound so it has both fullness and chime. I only have one complaint, and it's a minor one: Unusually, the noisiest setting with the most hum on both of my Mosrites is with both pickups on. This seems kind of odd, since as most experienced electric guitarists know, it's a simple thing to make the neck pickup reverse wound/reverse polarity so you have a hum cancelling setting with no change in the tone whatsoever when you use both pickups together. I really wish they did that, as I would find that hum-cancelling setting very useful for stage and recording. It's one of the prettiest sounds on these guitars anyway so it would be a no-brainer to make them that way. It would just make the guitars that little bit better! I'm not complaining, just a bit of constructive criticism. I understand that these are vintage reissues, with all the quirks of the originals but I doubt anyone would miss the hum!

[olrocknroller]

I know all about embarrassing noises from guitars... In my younger years (read the 60's) I put together a guitar from scraps out of the local music store etc., and when I took it on stage for the first time, it actually picked up the local radio station! Not quietly either, my 60 watt Silvertone amp (wish I still had it) made certain everyone got CJME loud and clear. Thankfully, it only did that once, but it did hum a lot too...not the musical kind.

There are all kinds of suggestions on this forum for ways to tame electrical gremlins, so I won't repeat them here. If you don't feel like tackling the project yourself, any reputable guitar shop could probably exorcise them for you, and quite inexpensively. It would be a great finishing touch to what sounds like a sweet-sounding guitar!

[Elliot Easton]

would it be too much trouble to post a link to where this matter is discussed? i'd really appreciate it. maybe a simple mod like reversing a magnet would do the trick but that may just affect phasing. you really need reverse wound AND reverse polarity for the sound to stay the same, just without the hum.

[olrocknroller]

Okay, I'll do my best to replicate what has been discussed for studio wiring:

Step one: Line the entire wiring cavity with thin copper sheet or aluminum foil, firmly glued in place. This includes attaching a layer to the back of the scratch plate(s). Once it is dried in place, a spray coating of rubber adhesive will help insulate against accidental contact with connections. Let this dry too.

Step two: Replace all long runs of wire with shielded wire, the outer shell grounded.

Step three: Ground the bridge to the main circuit grounding loop.

As for reverse winding, I haven't played with how pups are wound, so dunno if that would be a dramatic improvement...guys...guys?...a little help here would be nice!

I have reversed polarity on strat pickups, and they are quieter, but very thin sounding... I have studio wired Strats with single pups as described in steps 1-3 above, and they were VERY quiet!

Seymour Duncan has a very nice reference for various pickup wiring diagrams and techniques at http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=p90

Hope this helps somewhat!

Sorry I can't be more helpful at finding an appropriate thread in the form, but my search didn't narrow the field down enough to find what I was looking for...maybe a moderator can help narrow the field???

[MWaldorf]

definitely noisy guitars, and very sensitive to direction. I've found the idea spot to stand in my home studio to minimize the noise. On the positive side, with such high output, it's still a pretty good signal to noise ratio

On the VIII, you can select phase, which reduces the noise significantly, but the sound is much thinner that way.

[JimPage]

Hey, Elliot and other Mosriters--

I mentioned that we oftentimes commission art for the various projects and publications that our medical association/research college does. Here is the latest, done for our member magazine, Cardiology, which went to press yesterday afternoon:



The illustrator created this image in just a week, and there were more than the average amount of editorial "improvements" that he had to deal with, but we think he did a heck of a job.

--Jim

[MOSDAN]

Great looking guitar!!!! For those in question, all of the Dana made "Originals" have the Dana made pickups. She winds them the same way she wound them for her father years ago using a sewing machine and they are fantastic pickups. As far as the noise, I would contact Dana before trying to mod her pickups as she may have a simple solution.

[Elliot Easton]

Great looking guitar!!!! For those in question, all of the Dana made "Originals" have the Dana made pickups. She winds them the same way she wound them for her father years ago using a sewing machine and they are fantastic pickups. As far as the noise, I would contact Dana before trying to mod her pickups as she may have a simple solution.

i would never mod the pups. the solution is to get her to wind me a neck pup that's rw/rp. it's not about shielding, grounding etc.

[GTSP]

You need to check your photo program. All of your pictures are backwards.

[Sarah93003]

Not if you are a lefty.