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Has anyone ever modified their Joe Pass by ...

dbirchett

By dbirchett
in Epiphone Electrics

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I want to investigate Dearmond or Dearmond clone pickups on my JP Emperor II. Getting a unique voice is key to each guitar for me. Especially, as I only want to own a small select number of guitars.

 

I am after a more vintage tone, for my Emperor II.

 

Got a SD Jazz and JB pair on there at the moment. The stock pickups, especially the bridge pickup did nothing for me and the standard faulty switch led me to put in a new assembly, kindly made to order by David at Mojotone, from this template I sent him.

 

joe-pass-assembly-plan.jpg

if anyone finds this useful take it, with my blessing, and pass it on

 

The SD's sound great, versatile, but dare I say it, a little modern and safe. Though I think the SD JB is a great bridge pickup on this guitar to my tastes.

 

As you, with the dog ear P-90 or Soapbars or other pickup footprints, its about squaring the circle, with the existing routes.

 

We can use adapters, to go smaller than humbucker, but scaling up, is a brave decision, if the guitar is ever going back to stock setup (mine aint....and is staying..:-).

 

Sometimes, I wish guitars were like SLR cameras, and you had a neck connector that you could pop in a pickup and play a few chords and scales and then go to the next until we smile and say "that's the one".

 

All this soldering and desoldering and wondering and speculation is a pain in the a***.

 

Maybe in the future guitars will develop with modular "plug in" pickup cavities.

 

(JoeSamick waits for the screams of "No" from the purists.....:-)

 

This is my baby today.......love it to bits, but would love to try that Dearmond in the neck.......

 

P1010215.jpg

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carverman

carverman

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Hey dbirchett

 

Man....look what I found on youtube

 

(JP with p-90s)

 

 

Well, I believe ..you can add dog ear p-90s to a Emp II..but it will

take some work, as you need to find an adapter plater to fill the

the routed hole for the humbucker to support it as the p-90 is a surface mount,

(I'm sure they are available on line somewheres).

 

The main thing though is that once you screw in the screws for the p-90 into

the dogears, there will be a visible hole on each side that would show up

if you ever wanted to convert back to humbucker sized p_ups.

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dbirchett

dbirchett

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Joe, if you want some DeArmonds on it, check out TV Jones site after NAMM. He is introducing a line of DeArmond dynasonic clones in what should be a variety of formats.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the YouTube videos. IMHO, that's what the Swingster should have been.

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bloozeguy

bloozeguy

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Joe' date=' if you want some DeArmonds on it, check out TV Jones site after NAMM. He is introducing a line of DeArmond dynasonic clones in what should be a variety of formats.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the YouTube videos. IMHO, that's what the Swingster should have been.[/quote']

+1 on what shoulda been the Swingster! Back to the drawing board, Epi! P90s on a full-hollow, like the now-defunct ES295 or the Zephyr Blues Deluxe, which I have heard was one shweeeeeeeeeet machine! However, neither in the slightly-scaled-down size of the Emperor II, which is the world's most comfy electric guitar, IMHO (full disclosure--acoustic player here).

Played a used (Samick-built) Pass today through a Fender Champ at the local GC. Bad case of GAS. Have a minor windfall coming up soon. Hmmmm...

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Brianh

 

As I read your post I have that very guitar in my hands and in another thread we spoke about how spoilt we are. These Duncans in my Emperor are lovely pickups, I just fancy hearing something a bit more primitive in there.

 

I went to the GFS site today and they are out of black mean 90 necks. So I did not press the button.

 

There is something very female about that Lollar pickup you suggest, but I can't just put my finger on it.....:-)

 

Also a bit on the expensive side for me.

 

However, I will be buying Lollar for my Sheraton. I have been in e-mail contact with Greg Timmons at Lollar, about what I am searching for, for my Sheraton and based on sound files I sent him and what I told him he sent me a soundfile

 

of a pickup which was exactly what I am after.

 

Soundfile: The neck pickup I will use on my Sheraton

 

I will not spill the beans now, but I have never heard of anyone using the pickup, in a Sheraton before and it is a Lollar.

 

Well that's getting off the point a bit about my Sheraton.

 

Back to the axe in hand my Emperor, I will try a couple of Mean 90's in my Emperor at those prices I have to give it a whirl.

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JohnMcClane5000

JohnMcClane5000

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why would anyone reconvert it into humbuckers? I think putting humbuckers on a full-hollow body's just a waste of time... Single-Coils FTW! And I don't like the idea of a dogear in humbucker size, it just doesn't seem right to me, even though it involves alot less work, but hey, do you want that guitar to be great or do you WANT that guitar to be great?! [cool]

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And I don't like the idea of a dogear in humbucker size,

 

I am a little confused do you mean you do not like humbucker size p-90's? And that you would prefer dog ear pickups on a JP?

 

I just would not like the work involved for sake of pair of dogs ears. (personally I think dog ears are ugly) but do not quote me...:-)

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brianh

brianh

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I think JM means that once you commit to dog ears, there's no point/need/desire in going back to HBs, so the holes and mods are not an issue.

 

Not sure I agree. Tastes and needs change, and folks do sell guitars they never thought they would. And for some strange reason, "factory stock" (or factory stock looking) seems to get a higher price, even with relatively inexpensive asian guitars...

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I would agree with that Brianh if that was the choice. There is one bigger neck pickup I would pay the extra to try out but it is a soapbar and I would not have a clue how it would mount on a JP.

 

Carverman put me onto the sidewound Lace PS-900 they really interest me.

 

http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/ps_900_905/soapbar_specs.php

 

If someone could figure out how to mount one of those into the neck of a JP Emperor that would interest me....:-)

 

Brianh, thanks for the heads up on the CC, I have just checked out the Lollar Charlie Christian sounds beautiful, possible ideal jazz pickup.

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

But, I am trying to get away from that sweet jazz sound, want the bark and bite of a hollow bodied blues box, if you know what I mean. T Bone Walker, Duke Robillard type hollow bodied blues sound.

 

Check this out, for a playing style, wow.....also sure they are dog ear p-90's, 3 in a row....

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]
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Will do Dbirchett will order the Mean 90's as soon as Jay at GFS as got the black neck Mean 90's in stock.

 

What did you think of the T Bone Walker clip above.

 

Three dog ear p-90's in a row on a big hollow box.

 

You may have missed it but this is the soundfile of the pickup I have chosen for my Sheraton.

 

Soundfile: The neck pickup I will use on my Sheraton

 

I have been searching for that sound for so long, and it was Greg Timmins at Lollar who came up with the answer for me.

 

Just done a little research the guitar that T Bone is playing it is a Gibson ES-5, fine set of dog ears on it....:-) this 1954 model is for sale £5,999.00 + delivery ($9,560 + delivery)

 

Gibson_ES5po1954Nat_m.jpg

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bloozeguy

bloozeguy

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I would agree with that Brianh if that was the choice. There is one bigger neck pickup I would pay the extra to try out but it is a soapbar and I would not have a clue how it would mount on a JP.

 

Carverman put me onto the sidewound Lace PS-900 they really interest me.

 

http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/ps_900_905/soapbar_specs.php

 

If someone could figure out how to mount one of those into the neck of a JP Emperor that would interest me....:-)

 

Brianh' date=' thanks for the heads up on the CC, I have just checked out the Lollar Charlie Christian sounds beautiful, possible ideal jazz pickup.

 

[YOUTUBE']

[/YOUTUBE]

 

But, I am trying to get away from that sweet jazz sound, want the bark and bite of a hollow bodied blues box, if you know what I mean. T Bone Walker, Duke Robillard type hollow bodied blues sound.

 

Check this out, for a playing style, wow.....also sure they are dog ear p-90's, 3 in a row....

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

THANK YOU so much for the TBone vid! It's off the American Folks Blues Festival DVD, and, IMHO, is the hit of that whole set, Sonny Boy Williamson notwithstanding!

Worth noting, though, is that later in his career, TBone did move to humbuckers. But then he also moved to playing more piano and less guitar in his sets.

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Bloozeguy glad you liked the vid. I was amazed by T Bone's playing style. The point you make about the progression single coils DeArmonds, P-90's to Humbuckers is a very valid one. When people see the later footage of people like T Bone and John Lee they think they sometimes falsely assume they had those guitars when they recorded their very early stuff. I read T Bone gave Hooker his first electric and in those days they were dishing it out with barking snarling single coil jazz boxes.

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