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PostPosted: Thu 16 Sep 2010 12:19 PM 
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OK Then. Got the little bird put back together, wired up and ready to go.
I'm thinking of calling it a "Gold n' Black" sort the inverse of a "Black N Gold" Gold" :D
Actually pretty darned happy with the end results. A few comments from my end:

Wound up doing the headstock logo myself with waterslide paper purchased at a model shop, and a little fiddling around with Paint Shop Pro on the computer. Basically took a pic I had of the old headstock, filled in the missing bits of the logo, then re-sized to get the correct size. Actually worked out pretty well, as did the decal for my yellow cs-350. (I'll probably make a separate post about my home made decal experience. In the meantime if anyone needs a black Skylark logo or black APII logo, or artwork for either, drop me a PM and I'll help you out if I can).

Thanks to all for their suggestions and support. I took Graeme's suggestion about the "Tulip" tuners and went with it. These are from GFS, as are the pups, (more on that in a minute), but they seem to be pretty decent, and most of all they were CHEAP, which fit in with the low $$ mandate I had given myself for this project. They are perhaps a little more"green" than I might have preferred, but I looked at a friend's vintage Gibson, and wouldn't you know it, the color is pretty darn close, and it compliments the overall vibe and color scheme just fine.

"How's it sound? ", I can hear you asking. Pretty darn good, actually. I wired the mini-toggle to be a phase switch, and I'm glad I did. With the pick-ups flipped out of phase, I can get either a delightfully funky sound out of it (played clean) or a pretty gnarly, almost half -cocked wah-wah sound when hit with some nice distortion ( Micheal Schenker fans rejoice) The bridge pup is a marvel, fat as any HB, but with better definition than most. Very cool. And for what it's worth, I had this cranked up to "neighbor calling the constable" levels through my 50W HI-Watt custom into a 2X12 Marshall cab ( with a TS-9 and a Turbo Rat up front, just for fun) and didn't experience any squealing or bad noises (except from the aforementioned neighbors :rofl: )
The Bridge PU is a GFS "mean 90" the neck is a GFS "cream 90". If I had to recommend one over the other, I would have to say I prefer the Mean to Cream, but that may have as much to do with placement as anything. Are these as good as the SD "Phatcats" ? Maybe, maybe not, but for way less than 1/2 the cost, for anyone who wants to go cheap, I think these are pretty hard to beat.

(Sorry about the somewhat blurry pics-using the wife's camera, at least that's my excuse today.)

"Enough of my Yackin'-Let's Boogie !"


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Last edited by Gribb59 on Thu 16 Sep 2010 02:38 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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PostPosted: Thu 16 Sep 2010 12:30 PM 
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Gribb59 wrote:
Thanks to all for their suggestions and support. I took Graeme's suggestion about the "Tulip" tuners and went with it. These are from GFS, as are the pups, (more on that in a minute), but they seem to be pretty decent, and most of all they were CHEAP, which fit in with the low $$ mandate I had given myself for this project. They are perhaps a little more"green" than I might have preferred, but I looked at a friend's vintage Gibson, and wouldn't you know it, the color is pretty darn close, and it compliments the overall vibe and color scheme just fine.

"How's it sound? ", I can hear you asking. Pretty darn good, actually. I wired the mini-toggle to be a phase switch, and I'm glad I did. With the pick-ups flipped out of phase, I can get either a delightfully funky sound out of it (played clean) or a pretty gnarly, almost half -cocked wah-wah sound when hit with some nice distortion ( Micheal Schenker (sp? sorry guys) fans rejoice) The bridge pup is a marvel, fat as any HB, but with better definition than most. Very cool. And for what it's worth, I had this cranked up to "neighbor calling the constable" levels through my 50W HI-Watt custom into a 2X12 Marshall cab ( with a TS-9 and a Turbo Rat up front, just for fun) and didn't experience any squealing or bad noises (except from the aforementioned neighbors :rofl: )
The Bridge PU is a GFS "mean 90" the neck is a GFS "cream 90". If I had to recommend one over the other, I would have to say I prefer the Mean to Cream, but that may have as much to do with placement as anything. Are these as good as the SD "Phatcats" ? Maybe, maybe not, but for way less than 1/2 the cost, for anyone who wants to go cheap, I think these are pretty hard to beat.

(Sorry about the somewhat blurry pics-using the wife's camera, at least that's my excuse today.)

"Enough of my Yackin'-Let's Boogie !"


Excellent Tap reference! Is that avatar from the Ramones cartoons, too? :up:

I was eyeballin' those p'ups on line just the other day, glad to hear that they're good performers.

Guitar looks great, should be a really usable weapon. Nice work!

je

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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Thu 16 Sep 2010 01:06 PM 
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Quote:
Excellent Tap reference! Is that avatar from the Ramones cartoons, too? :up:


Thanks. Actually the avatar is from an old "Best of Jack Bruce" album that came out on Polydor about a million years ago. I found it in a flea market for 99 cents. It's also the same drawing they used for their "Best of Cream" album as well. They just left Eric and Ginger off of this cover ! The geniuses at Polydor had also made Jack left handed, for symmetry, I suppose. I had to flip him around !)

It's funny, I went to see Blue Oyster Cult last weekend at one those free community events. ( "Old Settlers Days" - yeah when I think of people homesteading the western plains, my thoughts naturally go to a bunch of rockers from upstate New York....but I digress)

Anyway, they now have RUDY FREAKIN' SARZO ( former APII endorser, btw) playing bass for them. It was great fun to see, and interesting that his Peavy signature bass bares more than a passing resemblance to an SB1000.

And speaking of a passing resemblance- the avatar looks more like Rudy than it ever did of Jack. Whatever you think of the guy, he has great hair.

Oh and BOC ? They absolutely rocked the place. Don't ever pass up the chance to see them, they're still really, really good.

Old Guys Rock ! :rockwoot:


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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Thu 16 Sep 2010 02:19 PM 
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Gribb59 wrote:
...Old Guys Rock ! :rockwoot:
You bet your adult diapers they do!
Absolutely love what you did to this old axe. Looks bloody fantastic!! Love the tulip tuners too.
I'm also happy to hear the positive report on the Mean 90's. Like Squid, I've been sniffing around these as a potential replacement for the pups in the Korean TA60 that I just picked up.

Great resto job! :up:

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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Thu 16 Sep 2010 06:07 PM 
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I repeat my now somewhat repetitive 'oh wow'!!!!! I can't think of any better initial response again.

Looks fantastic! Love the green tuners. GFS have been on my radar as the alternative great-value/great- quality hardware to Wilkinson.

That is one impressive resto mate. :up:

Best of all it's a resto that actually sorta enhances provenance, if that's possible. You must be rapt.

Phase-reversal works wonderfully in some guitars, and not others. Glad it's the case here, as it can make some guitars very versatile.

Was talking to Pop from the Nannas about it, and he loves it too!

Sensational.

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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Thu 16 Sep 2010 07:17 PM 
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PS,

loved the Marti de Bergi quote! I'm impressed by your punctuality.


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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Fri 17 Sep 2010 09:05 AM 
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:rockwoot: :hyper: :clap: :jammin: :goodjob:

Amazing job! :love:

It looks better now then it ever did! You made the right choice by redoing her.... and it paid off in full! Just WOW :yeah:

Gribb59 wrote:
I'll probably make a separate post about my home made decal experience.


I am really interested in this little part also... since did not take the time to print mine, would not mind learning from your experience. The logo looks great by the way. Realy, realy great job!

P. :D

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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Fri 17 Sep 2010 09:36 AM 
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That looks awesome!! :love:


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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Fri 17 Sep 2010 05:03 PM 
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That is absolutely beautiful! Wonderful job.


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 Post subject: Re: Thanksgiving Skylark
PostPosted: Fri 17 Sep 2010 09:58 PM 
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:D Thanks all for the kind words,fellas. I'm pretty happy with it, and it seems it was worth the effort.

Quote:
Best of all it's a resto that actually sorta enhances provenance, if that's possible.


Well put, Graeme, that is EXACTLY the vibe I was going for. :D

Cheers,
G


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