Got finished doing a bit of work to my Wave Guitar build, which I originally put together in 2013 - some of you may remember the build thread. There were just a few niggles that I'd become aware of - problems with the clear acrylic finish on the headstock front, which had cracked and clouded over time, also the bridge saddles could not quite be adjusted far enough forward to get spot on intonation - it was so close you'd never notice, but it still bugged me. So the headstock front has been re-finished with a few fine coats of Tru Oil, and I found some longer adjustment screws to use with the bridge saddles.
Main thing though was the pickups, which just weren't quite what I wanted in the end. In particular, I had an SD Lil' 59 in the neck position, which I found a bit cold sounding somehow. Anyway - have now fitted a new set of Entwistle XS62N single coils, which have neodymium magnets and adjustable poles - strat sized but done with a P90 type of magnet arrangement. Bit of a punt on my part, but I just had a hunch - and actually I think these are the right pickups for the guitar. They sound nothing like normal strat pickups - kind of a much deeper voice, although with a nice balanced, full range kind of aspect to the tone as well. Lots of output, but a very clean, "hi-fi" kind of thing going, and quite sweet-sounding. The bass response is not too heavy, which is an issue for me with some pickups. Hard to describe tones, but anyway, I'm really really chuffed. Took a few pictures today - I do think the guitar looks nicer now with a matching set of pickups.
Love this guitar to bits - the body is an amazing bit of swamp ash - I sent my design as a full scale plan, to Phil at
www.guitarbuild.co.uk and he did a superb job making it. The neck came from a 90s Japanese made Starfield guitar (a long and sad story). Planning to use this guitar at a gig tomorrow evening. Anyway, just wanting to show it off again really I admit!
Comments
I think I'll be looking to Wudtone as a finish when I build my Telemaster next year.