bryan may guitar (in green) pickup change question - or more standard pups???

nickp

there's a lot to like about the BMG guitar but i don't think I'm going to be playing it much as I'm not overly a fan of the stock pups (doh).

has anyone put in completely different pups - such as seymour duncan humbucking singles, or maybe even routing out the bridge for a full size humbucker....

might even mean a new scratch plate I guess

ta
nick

Cols

Yeah, the stock pickups aren't great.  Before you give up on the whole Brian May thing completely, I'd highly recommend getting a set of accurate reproduction Trisonics from Adeson Pickups.  Adrian is obsessive about getting as close to the originals as possible, and the difference they make is astounding, creamy and articulate as opposed to the somewhat brittle nature of the stock pickups.

sawyer

Junk the lot! New scratchplate. Single humbucker in the bridge! Or is that just me??

Cols

Surely a large part of the appeal of a Red Special is the bonkers switching options?

nickp

Cols said:

Surely a large part of the appeal of a Red Special is the bonkers switching options?

indeed - or it was.  it was also a birthday present from "the boss" and if it wasn't monitored i'd probably sell it as the sounds aren't really useful in "our band" etc - hence the idea of converting it into something more mainstream soundwise that I will use, as the 24 frets, tuning stability, light weight and fretboard are all very good indeed

JayGee

Cols said:

Surely a large part of the appeal of a Red Special is the bonkers switching options?

You can have bonkers switching with any pickup configuration, with humbuckers you could add coil splitting and/or series/parallel options to truly boggle the mind.

I keep thinking about giving a Red Special a try, the only thing which puts me off is that it's one of the few guitars in the world recognisable to significant numbers of non-guitarists and it might prove embarrassing that my band doesn't have a single Queen song in the set... :-)

nickp

JayGee said:

Cols said:

Surely a large part of the appeal of a Red Special is the bonkers switching options?

You can have bonkers switching with any pickup configuration, with humbuckers you could add coil splitting and/or series/parallel options to truly boggle the mind.

I keep thinking about giving a Red Special a try, the only thing which puts me off is that it's one of the few guitars in the world recognisable to significant numbers of non-guitarists and it might prove embarrassing that my band doesn't have a single Queen song in the set... :-)

red is not the only colour - green and white look pretty good and not so embarrassing.  not too pricey s/h either

Cols

More a comment on the above idea of JayGee said:

You can have bonkers switching with any pickup configuration, with humbuckers you could add coil splitting and/or series/parallel options to truly boggle the mind.

Very true - I've got a Les Paul with mad Pagey wiring.  I was more commenting on the idea of simplifying to a single humbucker in the bridge, which would narrow your options considerably.

In stock form, I actually found it difficult to access a wide range of tones without fiddling with the amp or jumping on pedals.  With the new pickups, it's much easier, everything from icepick-to-the-eardrums treble to smooth cello sounds just through the controls..  It's a great gigging guitar with a ton of different sounds available; the only one I can't crack on it is modern metal.

Also, it's a great excuse to talk the band into doing a Queen cover

english_bob

nickp said:

red is not the only colour - green and white look pretty good and not so embarrassing.  not too pricey s/h either

There was an all-black one that looked really sharp:



In fact quite a few of their alternative colour schemes look cool. http://shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk/brian-may-guitars.html

drippycat

Now that one in green... I don't know why. I like the green.

impmann

Looking at that picture, there is a fundamental cock up in the application of Brian's brilliant design.

Part of the reason for the headstock size and shape was to create a straight string pull from the nut to the machine heads, as he and his dad realised that friction was the enemy of tuning stability, especially when using a tremolo.

So what the fuck are they doing splaying out the strings like that? Horrible!! I'm surprised at World Guitars for that.

nickp

impmann said:

Looking at that picture, there is a fundamental cock up in the application of Brian's brilliant design.

Part of the reason for the headstock size and shape was to create a straight string pull from the nut to the machine heads, as he and his dad realised that friction was the enemy of tuning stability, especially when using a tremolo.

So what the fuck are they doing splaying out the strings like that? Horrible!! I'm surprised at World Guitars for that.

still holds tuning really well even under excessive use of the strange dangly arm thing hanging off the bridge

Ancient_Mariner

impmann said:

Looking at that picture, there is a fundamental cock up in the application of Brian's brilliant design.

Part of the reason for the headstock size and shape was to create a straight string pull from the nut to the machine heads, as he and his dad realised that friction was the enemy of tuning stability, especially when using a tremolo.

So what the fuck are they doing splaying out the strings like that? Horrible!! I'm surprised at World Guitars for that.

Modern nut materials can eliminate friction at the nut, so it's a non-issue, provided the nut is cut properly. With bone or plastic it was more likely to happen, and so that was a wise precaution then.

impmann

"Eliminate"? No, it can't.
Greatly reduce the effects of, maybe.

Even so, bearing in mind the design was 1) more elegant, 2) had greater functionality its a shame that they aren't "right".