Continuing this issue’s customisation theme, deputy editor David Mead heads off to Bare Knuckle Pickups in Cornwall to try his hand at the deceptively difficult art of winding pickups, embarking on his very own PAF to enlightenment…
We’ll begin with a confession: w once upon a time, I was a serial pickup-changer. Every time I bought a new guitar, the stock pickups would be out of it before you could say “knife”. The guitars from that era that are still with me – which is most of them – have a range of Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II single coils, Custom Custom humbuckers, David White Old Glories and, more recently, a Bare Knuckle here and there. When I switched to playing acoustic guitar almost exclusively back in 2005 or thereabouts, the madness ceased. I mean, they tried to make me go to rehab, but I said, “No, no, no…”
All this being said, one of the projects that I have been meaning to get around to for years is what amounts to performing a factory reset on my 2001 Les Paul Standard. I realize it’s a fool’s errand to try and transform a contemporary guitar into a true vintage piece, but I’ve always reasoned that this isn’t the point. My most admired guitar sound is to be found on Sleepy Time Time from Live Cream, performed on Clapton’s ‘Fool’ 1964 SG Standard, which would have been around four years old at the time. Not ‘vintage’ at all, then: a mere four-year-old. So the mission is to try and return my Les Paul to ‘fresh out of the box’ status… but from an early 1960s box, if you catch my drift.
When the opportunity came up to kickstart ‘Project Retro’ by winding my own pickup at Bare Knuckle HQ in Falmouth, I jumped at the chance. After all, I’d watched the process before, both on video and in the flesh, and so I reasoned, ‘How hard can it be?’ I was in for a shock. It’s hard.
A Proper Wind-Up
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Summer 2019 من Guitarist.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Summer 2019 من Guitarist.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
BASIC INSTINCTS
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Second String
As PRS's more affordable USA-made S2 line moves into its second decade, the series gets a revamp with - at last - USA-made pickups and electronics. What took so long?
PABLO VAN DE POEL
When a band from The Netherlands describes themselves as 'raw, psychedelic Southern rock', it may take a little cognitive processing to work out what that might mean. One listen to DeWolff, however, and you will be duly transported to the 60s for some fuzzed-out rock 'n' roll
THE BERNIE MARSDEN COLLECTION
With a fabulous collection of the late Bernie Marsden's guitars, amps and other highly collectable music gear going under the auctioneer's hammer on 11 June, we were thrilled to have the chance of a sneak preview
LENNY KRAVITZ
Some 35 years since the release of his debut LP, for his 12th record, Blue Electric Light, Lenny Kravitz is back again with equal doses of vigour and vibes, using vintage guitars and the purest valve amps
GEORGE VJESTICA
You may not know him at first glance, but the work of Stoke-on-Trent native George Vjestica has probably impacted some of your favourite albums and movies
DICKEY BETTS
Emerging from the shadow of Duane to write signature hit Ramblin' Man, the Allman Brothers guitarist was a hard-living pioneer of Southern rock
NICK GUPPY
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our highly valued amplifier guru, who died suddenly in April
Lucky Break
Alex Bishop blends old wood with new in an attempt to fix a severely damaged guitar headstock
Tones Behind The Tracks
Cedric Burnside learnt at the knee of his fabled grandfather, but his latest album is a hill country blues masterclass on his own terms