Gibson Flying V project...

Bucket

So, at the tender age of 15 in 2010 I bought this wonderful specimen from Coda Music in Stevenage:

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/My gear/DSCF1684_zps8838f061.jpg

It's a Gibson Flying V in Faded Cherry, made in 2009.

Despite my dislike of Gibson as a company, and my wonderful Tokai, Soloist, Jazzmaster and latterly my MJT Strat, this remains my favourite guitar. Something about it just really connects with me when I play it - it's light, resonant, comfortable and set up absolutely perfectly for the way I like to play. It fits me like a glove and I genuinely think I play about 30% better on this guitar than any of my others.

However, it has been suffering from a long illness for the last couple of years. It developed a serious crackle whenever the bridge pickup was selected, the kind of noise you get from holding the end of a cable against the input, and it was loud enough to take over the entire signal and make the guitar pretty much useless when plugged in. Having been through the input, all the soldering and a new bridge pickup volume pot, I believe the issue is with the pickup itself. A shame, because I quite like the screaming high-output humbuckers it's had since new. But I'm well aware it's not a particularly versatile or cultured sound, and if anything it's just too loud (a height issue more than anything, but yes). 

On a related note, I've recently heard a couple of players I admire a great deal using Firebirds and getting some truly wonderful sounds from them, and a couple of weeks ago the idea hit me - why not equip the V with mini-humbuckers? I mean, it won't sound exactly like a Firebird due to the construction differences, but it'll be close enough surely? And it's a new sound I've never had before.

So I've contacted a scratchplate maker, and have just got back from the post office after sending the old white scratchplate off to him as a template. The new guard will be similar, but obviously routed for minihums - and because I've gone off the rather bright, new-looking white plate, I'm going for 3-ply black instead. Inspired by this:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m190/turboculture/Small_Vjr.jpg

So I thought I'd start this thread to detail the conversion. I'm soon to be ordering two Winterizer mini-humbuckers from @TheGuitarWeasel at Oil City, and I'm really, really looking forward to this. Not only having the awesome Firebird sound at my disposal, but also giving my favourite guitar a new lease of life.

Here's what it looks like with no scratchplate - weird!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3ndCJhIgAELfhc.jpg

More to come!

stickyfiddle

Nice! Firebird pickups are awesome and that's a lovely V from what I remember of Gasfest two-thousand-and-whateveritwas. Should be great

ICBM

Great idea!

Are you getting the Firebird pickups with the chrome surrounds too? That would look fantastic - and would probably help stop them wobbling about in the holes as the pickups are prone to on Vs (And SGs with pickguard-mounted pickups.) The pickups by themselves might look oddly small.

Now if only Gibson had thought of this and made the Firebird V before they did the Firebirdwood X...

Bucket

Would the chrome surrounds work with the scratchplate or would the pickups end up too high @ICBM?

ICBM

Not too high - the chrome surrounds are very thin, only around 1mm. They might just provide a tiny bit of extra tilt-resistance, especially if you fit the pickups through both the surrounds and the guard *before* you drill for the four small screws, then tilt them to exactly the right angle, *then* drill - so it locks in that angle by offsetting the two holes microscopically. If that makes sense!

Fez

Vee with Winterizers in it! Now that I must hear.

Deadman

That's a great looking lump of timber. Certainly something I'd consider if I was to ever venture into pointy territory.

bandmaster188

Oh how I miss my V that I traded twenty years ago =(( . That looks great with the black plate on it. Have a wisdom for a spiffingly good idea!

Bucket

Remembered this thread earlier and thought I should update - the black scratchplate is here, just waiting for the Winterizers to arrive!

ThePrettyDamned

This is a really fantastic idea! 

Bucket

So these arrived today...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7zmO1dCIAAEg_8.jpg

OilCityPickups

Hope you enjoy em mate :-)

Bucket

I'm just screwing them in, it'll all get wired up later today or tomorrow. Thanks so much Ash!

Bucket

Ok, it's all back together. Here she is!

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/My gear/flyingvminihums_zps2f371f14.jpg

Wanky Instagrammed photo:

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/My gear/flyingvinstagram_zpse71672a3.jpg

It sounds AMAZING.

Well, aside from a wiring issue that means the neck and in-between positions are pretty down on power and don't really sound right. Not sure what's up - effectively they sound kind of like a Strat in-between sound with the volume rolled off to about 5. The pickups are both nice and high. Unsure of what the issue actually is, but the fully-functioning bridge pickup sounds magnificent. Much more vintagey output, and a generally brighter, perhaps more Fender-like tone than the old humbuckers. Marvellous. Once the wiring's sorted it'll be epic.

And soon I'll get some chrome pickup rings on it too - WD Music are out of stock so I'll have to find them somewhere else. It looks pretty damn good as it is, but it'll look a lot better with the rings completing the effect.

guitarcookie1

Wouldn't bother with the pickup rings, that looks good as it is

stickyfiddle

That looks amazing!

RedRabbit

It looks great as it is.  Chrome pickup rings could spoil how clean it looks, IMO.

Shark_Eyes

You've done a great job on that, the mini-hums just look ... correct.

TheMarlin

sounds like the middle position is out of phase  Check the wiring. On of the pickups could be wired to the pick selector the wrong way around.  Simple fix, once the fault is found.

Post close up pickies of the wiring

M.

DrBob

Yeah, that's such a great idea Gibson should've done it !

DiscoStu

That looks way better than the white plate/black pups. Nice one Connor!