The dead pickup got replaced with a Seymour Duncan JBJ that came out of the KC90V when I bought it. It might not be F-spaced but it's the best 'classic rock' pickup I've got kicking around and will match the 'vintage hot' single coil in the neck position. Except it's really the middle position courtesy of the stupid length of the EC29 fretboard.
While I was in there I changed to a master volume/master tone/variable coil tap setup. This was at the suggestion of JayGee whose borrowing it prompted me to sort it out. If I was going to rewire it might as well try something new and it seems to work OK. Some day I'm going to have to do something about the cosmetics but for now I'll leave it as it is.
Next up I replaced the selector in the KC90V as it was knackered. I made a much tidier job than originally so I'm happier with it now.
Anyway, now to give the Goldtop some love.
I couldn't resist gigging this baby at least once while it was in my posession. After avoiding having it seized as evidence (or chewed by an excitable Labrador) when the police raided the venue half-way through load-in[1] we ended up playing late, a certain amount of "attitude" was in the air and things were getting pretty loud and intense by half way through our first set...
ReplyDeleteAs a result of this I can happily report that this is one serious weapon of rock'n'roll mass destruction. Some guitars (like my PRS Mira) seem to really come to life when things get loud and Nick's red EC29 in it's current configuration does this in spades. It absolutely howls, cutting through a mix like a hot knife through butter and making even a sad old pentatonic blues scale noodler like me sound[2] (and feel) like a full-on Guitar Hero. Sadly things were brought to a premature conclusion when I somehow managed to dislocate the tremelo (popping one sides pivot right out it's detent in the stud) during a particularly violent bout of feedback driven whammy abuse at the end of "White Wedding" (which actually was the main reason for borrowing it in the first place!) but it was great fun anyway!
This is a fabulous guitar and rather more versatile than it's appearance and speck would suggest - if one turned up at the right time and at the right price I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Shame the Caparison Horus (the only thing I've ever seen remotely like it) is as expensive as it is really...
[1] Which seems an overly grandiose term for extracting a small combo amp and a couple of guitars from the boot of an MG ZT then carrying it across the pavement, but hey, this is Rock'n'Roll we're talking about! OK it's harder work for the drummer and the other guitarist but then that suits them right for having a large drum kit and a Marshall JVM half-stack respectively...
[2] Well, in my own head anyway...