Thoughts? New Guitar or Mod Existing

PFAllen2

I would like to hear some opinions on my little guitar dilemma. While briefly in Glasgow in December I played a Reverend Flatroc, which is a mildly offset Tele with 2 Filtertron pickups and a Les Paul style bridge. Different enough from my Blade Strats to justify a purchase, if I had the money. 

I could raise the money by selling a guitar, probably a Zion Superstrat HSH with Wilkinson Trem. Or I could mod the Zion with some Filtertron type pickups for much less outlay.

Any thoughts?, 

skullfunkerry

Go for option B: a superstrat with Filtertrons will be cool!

CasperCaster

What was it about the Reverend that appealed? Just the pickups, or other elements? If it was other elements of the guitar (how it played, fixed bridge, balance ergonomics etc) then modding the Zion won't ultimately satisfy.

I had a Fender Mex Cabronita. Loved the sound and the neck, but it was too heavy and the control arrangement annoyed me, given I've played regular Tele's for 40years. So I found a regular Tele I liked and I'm putting Filtertrons in that. 

PFAllen2

CasperCaster said:

What was it about the Reverend that appealed? Just the pickups, or other elements? If it was other elements of the guitar (how it played, fixed bridge, balance ergonomics etc) then modding the Zion won't ultimately satisfy.

I had a Fender Mex Cabronita. Loved the sound and the neck, but it was too heavy and the control arrangement annoyed me, given I've played regular Tele's for 40years. So I found a regular Tele I liked and I'm putting Filtertrons in that. 

Thanks for the reply. You have hit the nail squarely on the head, What was it about the Reverend?
1. Shiny new thing syndrome.
2. I was interested and intrigued to try something a bit different from my existing guitars.
3. The model with the Filtertrons was the one I kept coming back to, tried a Baritone, their Strat type, their P90 version of the Filtertron guitar. Pretty sure it was the pickups.

The HSH Zion is currently in Nashville tuning and there are no Flatroc in stock at present, so I have a bit of time to pop some proper strings on the Zion and play it as it currently is and see if it can chase the thought of the Reverend away!

Any particular make of Filtertron that you are considering for your Tele makeover?

PFAllen2

skullfunkerry said:

Go for option B: a superstrat with Filtertrons will be cool!

It might be absolutely unique, I can’t find a single photo of an HSH guitar with Filtertrons. Strats yes, Superstrats no!

CasperCaster

@PFAllen2 I'm going for TV Jones. Two reasons: I want nickel rather than chrome and a secondhand nickel TVJ happened to come up for sale, so I bought it. Also, the TVJ's are four wire plus shield. Everyone will tell you that Filtertrons sound terrible split due to the low wind. I am happy to believe that, but reckon on a two pickup guitar there maybe some useful combinations - maybe one coil from the bridge in series with one coil from the neck (just as an example - lots of other possibilities with series, parallel, phase, one pickup full plus one split etc etc). I like tinkering so we'll see if I can find any useful extra sounds, and if not I'll still have a nice Tele with nice TVJ pickups, so no loss. 

AuldReekie

I've a TV Jones Classic in the neck of my Blade T2 tele (1989 forerunnes of their current Delta) and in my Eggle NY Broadway.  They are great p/ups and doubt that you will be disappointed.  Re Reverend, I had a Warhawk for a number of years and even after replacing their stock P90 p/ups with BKN ( and I like P90s) was underwhelmed.  Your Zion and Blades are far superior guitars.  Just out of curiosity, what Blades do you own?  I have 4, big fan of Levinsons here.

PFAllen2

@AuldReekie  Thanks for chiming in, interesting to hear from a former Reverend owner as well as a Blade fan. I have 2 Blades, both originally RH4 Standard models, so see thru finish, non matching headstock. Both have been modified.

My first Blade was a Misty Violet R4 bought in 1989 from Chandler Guitars in Kew. Loved it but the gold hardware didn't last well and I sold it to buy an Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro in 1993. I play in church a lot and moved to a different church in 2001, and encountered hideous problems with the hearing aid induction loop system and the Eggle. (No tone control, essentially 2 usable pickup selections out of 9).

I tried to buy a Blade and ended up in contact with the UK distributor. I really wanted a 3 single coil guitar and ended up with a modified RH4 Standard in Honey. Chrome hardware, FT-3 trem, "proper" headstock & 3 Stacked single coils, absolute gem of a guitar and still my main go to guitar. Later modded further with Gotoh 510 trem, 3 Suhr FL pickups and a Suhr Backplate Silent Single coil system.

Bought 2 Zions, an HSS and the HSH from the same distributor, and looked at lots of more exotic boutique "Strats" before having a mid gig epiphany, I love that Blade.

 So I resolved to buy another as a spare, whenever the right one became available. Three DAYS later, a Misty Violet one came up on eBay, superb condition, deal done. Later modded with Gotoh 510 and 3 Dimarzio Area single coils, so very similar but not identical.

AuldReekie

Thanks for the reply. I bought my RH4 new in 1991 and it was instant love.  My other three were bought second hand and after buying them, sent  serial no’s to Blade for more info on them all three turned out to be early hand builds of their models T2 and R2 both from 1989 and a 1997 ‘62 Texas Vintage.  Great great guitars. The Reverend didn’t even come close to any off these in terms of build quality or general finesse of workmanship. Good as the Han builds are, the production RH4 matches them in every sense.  Says a lot about Blade qc