Cream hardware hell!

OilCityPickups

As folks will soon see (probably in the Making and Modding section)... we have a new pickup demo guitar: I've said for some time we need a Les Paul ... and as I'm somewhat of a tightwad ... I didn't want to spend huge amounts. Well, one of our fabulous fretboarders offered me a 2014 Midnight Blueburst, flame top Les Paul Studio ... Minus pickups (how convenient for me) for a price I simply couldn't refuse ... so I snapped it up.
originally they came from the factory with a rather nasty looking mustard colour cream plastic hardware ... which someone has changed for black on this beastie. Well the pickup rings are a bit the worse for wear, so I figured I'd go back to all 'vintage cream' plastics for a nice contrast to the blue ... oh dear now my troubles have started.
I ordered pickup rings, and output jack plate ... thinking I would get around to the poker chip, switch tip and scratchplate a bit later on ... I ordered from a trusted and well known supplier ... 
Yesterday the pickup rings arrived ... and they were each a different shade of cream ... and totally different to the output jack plate!
I'd forgotten the 'curse of the cream plastics'! Every manufacturer has a different idea of cream ... and even different batches from the same manufacturer can wind up very noticeably different!
There seems an almost total lack of 'complete and matching plastic sets' for LP ... just some cheap ass £9.95 rubbish on e bay. 
Arggghhhh 

ICBM

Just save yourself the bother, black looks much better on blueburst anyway .

And you want a metal jack plate... always .

WezV

I dont mind a bit of a mismatch, must be used to it.

i do hate the pinky Barbie colour though

OilCityPickups

ICBM said:

Just save yourself the bother, black looks much better on blueburst anyway .

And you want a metal jack plate... always .

I know what you're saying ... especially re the jack plate ... but I can't help preferring cream lol ... 
I get this issue with cream P90 pickup covers for customers all the time ... and cream PAF bobbins ...
 WezV said:

I dont mind a bit of a mismatch, must be used to it.

i do hate the pinky Barbie colour though

That's what I was sent ... one nice antique ivory ... and one pinky Barbie pickup surround! Blurgggghhhh

Funkfingers

The pickup covers supplied with Seymour Duncan Antiquity Stratocaster pickups vary from faint magnolia to a shade of grey-green that would not look out of place on Kluson keystone machinehead buttons.

Sporky

There's an obvious answer; sparkly silver everything. 

Funkfingers

... or Barbie Pink! 

WezV

Funny thing is the stuff I got with the cheap Chinese kit all matches perfectly.

It’s a bit yellow in some lights, but all the same.  

I put it it on my epiphone, because that was nowhere near

bodhi

I recently bought these pickup rings and a jack plate from crazyparts.de, and they are exactly the same colour, albeit a shade lighter than the pics on the web site.

They went onto a Gibson USA Les Paul, and fit well enough IMO, but if you're a perfectionist a bit of sanding may be required:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBusI7wEjOc  

guitargeek62

bodhi said:

I recently bought these pickup rings and a jack plate from crazyparts.de, and they are exactly the same colour, albeit a shade lighter than the pics on the web site.

They went onto a Gibson USA Les Paul, and fit well enough IMO, but if you're a perfectionist a bit of sanding may be required

The stuff from crazyparts is generally great - I've rarely bought from anywhere else since stumbling onto it a couple of years back. That said, they don't exactly do budget parts very often!

bodhi

These pickup rings and jack plate are pretty nice.  However, I will in future steer clear of their nylon saddles and switch tips.  Bought some of those once and they were absolutely rubbish IMO.  Maybe a bad batch.

rossi

WezV said:

Funny thing is the stuff I got with the cheap Chinese kit all matches perfectly.

It’s a bit yellow in some lights, but all the same.  

I put it it on my epiphone, because that was nowhere near

Funny I was going to post similar .

OilCityPickups

A brilliant fretboarder has stepped up and offered me a set of matching cream hardware from an R0 Historic ... for not much more than I'd pay for aftermarket rings etc ... sometimes I love this place.

impmann

TheGuitarWeasel said:

A brilliant fretboarder has stepped up and offered me a set of matching cream hardware from an R0 Historic ... for not much more than I'd pay for aftermarket rings etc ... sometimes I love this place.

Ah... I was going to throw you a curveball.

PRS accessories.

I know lots of folks dismiss and even mock PRS - but the fact is that their plastics *are* consistently the same colour and consistently well made. Their pickup rings are IMHO better than the fodder sold by most aftermarket companies (recessed adjusting screws... little details, and all that). But they are expensive compared to the cheap stuff sold by most (and used by Gibson these days).

Glad you're sorted.

Oh and I like the description of the aged cream Gibson plastics as being "prosthetic limb" coloured! ;-)

OilCityPickups

impmann said:

Oh and I like the description of the aged cream Gibson plastics as being "prosthetic limb" coloured! ;-)

Glad I don't need prosthetic limb coloured knob! 

OilCityPickups

Winding the pickups for the LP Studio today ... it's going to be the first recipient of my prototype 'GreenMan' set ... my recreation of the Peter Green reversed phase/rewound neck humbuckers. Butyrate bobbins, rough cast alnico 2 and all the PAF appointments ... in reversed zebra (just because I can). I shall fit a phase push pull pot on one of the tones to revert to normal phase for both pickups on if I want. Should be interesting. 

ICBM

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Winding the pickups for the LP Studio today ... it's going to be the first recipient of my prototype 'GreenMan' set ... my recreation of the Peter Green reversed phase/rewound neck humbuckers. Butyrate bobbins, rough cast alnico 2 and all the PAF appointments ... in reversed zebra (just because I can). I shall fit a phase push pull pot on one of the tones to revert to normal phase for both pickups on if I want. Should be interesting. 

Just out of curiosity, was the question of whether the Peter Green/Gary Moore/Kirk Hammett* Les Paul's pickup was reversed electrically or magnetically ever resolved? I can't remember...


(*I can never resist saying that for maximum Blues Snob irritation factor .)

OilCityPickups

I have it on pretty fair authority that it was magnetically reversed ... that's what I'm doing with mine but with four conductor wiring ... so I can flip the polarity back at any point. Those are perhaps the most bullshitted about pickups in history ... even dear old Peter was evasive as hell about them (and not just vague as usual). 
I'm rather pleased Hammett has got the guitar ... at least it stands a good chance of being used. 

ICBM

TheGuitarWeasel said:

I'm rather pleased Hammett has got the guitar ... at least it stands a good chance of being used. 

Same here - for me it's three reasons: it's getting used, both in the studio and on stage; it pisses off snobs who thought it should have gone to a 'proper player' (ie blues) or a collector; and actually, given its inherent honky tone and the half-cocked wah sound he likes to use, it's perfect for him.

I also have a suspicion from something I read on another forum that pickup rings are no longer original, but are faked substitutes. I wonder what exact shade of cream they are?

OilCityPickups

ICBM said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

I'm rather pleased Hammett has got the guitar ... at least it stands a good chance of being used. 

Same here - for me it's three reasons: it's getting used, both in the studio and on stage; it pisses off snobs who thought it should have gone to a 'proper player' (ie blues) or a collector; and actually, given its inherent honky tone and the half-cocked wah sound he likes to use, it's perfect for him.

I also have a suspicion from something I read on another forum that pickup rings are no longer original, but are faked substitutes. I wonder what exact shade of cream they are?

I think it's a very messed about guitar these days ... er ... player grade? 

WezV

this is where i am at today.   i wanted the change in colour and am quite happy with that,  but not the change in shape!