Who would install Gearless tuners and single coils onto a Love Rock?

paulnb57

Me!
Came across a Chinese Tokai Love Rock on eBay, being broken for parts, made an offer and scored the neck/body carcass.



Nice condition, small chip where a tuner bushing was removed and a little fret wear

I vowed to use as many parts as possible that I already have, I didnt have any 3 a side, but I did have a set of Steinberger gear-less tuners, so decided to use those, “that’ll be unique” I thought, except it isn't as Gibson did on their Future Tribute models (there's a Tribute SG currently in the classifieds)
So the tuner holes in the headstock were reamed to 10mm and the tuners installed, all the rest of the hardware, is from the parts stash, with the exception of the electrics.
Pickups are custom guilt Val-Tones from Oil City

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/3854776/#Comment_3854776

So close of play yesterday

Pickups and tuners are in, bridge and tail fitted, wiring kit arrived, sorted 4 matching Tele knobs….



Next, wiring

BillDL

That's pretty unique looking, in a really good way.  The stop bar looks like an Ibanez Quik Change III.  I assume the custom pickups are supposed to have the polepieces both facing forward?  Interested to know how it sounds once fully assembled.

paulnb57

BillDL said:

That's pretty unique looking, in a really good way.  The stop bar looks like an Ibanez Quik Change III.  I assume the custom pickups are supposed to have the polepieces both facing forward?  Interested to know how it sounds once fully assembled.

Im assuming the pickups are correct orientation, the wires both exit bottom left as viewed in the photos above…
Ive already had these two pickups in a Gibson SG and like them a lot, I had these made as I have a Supro reissue which had the same type of pickup, so Ash made me a pair to the same spec, the pickups were removed from the SG as Im going to move it on….
I cant find the words to describe how they sound, I just know I like them, perhaps Ash @OilCityPickups could chime in?
As single coils go, they are virtually noiseless

Oh and yes, its an Ibanez TOM and Quickchange

Funkfingers

paulnb57 said:

Who would install gearless tuners and single coils into a Love Rock?

HarrySeven, of course.  

paulnb57

Funkfingers said:

paulnb57 said:

Who would install gearless tuners and single coils into a Love Rock?

HarrySeven, of course.  

DUH, Of course!….

Funkfingers

He would probably also install a Bigsby, Kahler or Jazzmaster vibrato.

paulnb57 said:

I cant find the words to describe how they sound, I just know I like them … As single coils go, they are virtually noiseless.

I have a pair of Eastwood "own brand" pseudo-vintage single coils in humbucker covers. These are much less prone to hum and interference than I had any right to expect. They make some distinctive sounds.

Enjoy.

OilCityPickups

paulnb57 said:

BillDL said:

That's pretty unique looking, in a really good way.  The stop bar looks like an Ibanez Quik Change III.  I assume the custom pickups are supposed to have the polepieces both facing forward?  Interested to know how it sounds once fully assembled.

Im assuming the pickups are correct orientation, the wires both exit bottom left as viewed in the photos above…
Ive already had these two pickups in a Gibson SG and like them a lot, I had these made as I have a Supro reissue which had the same type of pickup, so Ash made me a pair to the same spec, the pickups were removed from the SG as Im going to move it on….
I cant find the words to describe how they sound, I just know I like them, perhaps Ash @OilCityPickups could chime in?
As single coils go, they are virtually noiseless

Oh and yes, its an Ibanez TOM and Quickchange

There is no right or wrong way with pole directions with Val-Tones ... the baseplates are vintage style PAF ones ... so you can use em either way ... tradition has it with PAFs that the neck pickup is turned around so that the wire exits on the bass side ... cos that's how Gibson did it ... but no right or wrong.

And yep they are very quiet ... almost difficult to believe they are a single coil :-) 

paulnb57

@OilCityPickups ;;
How would you describe the sound of the Val -Tones?

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:

tradition has it with PAFs that the neck pickup is turned around so that the wire exits on the bass side ... cos that's how Gibson did it ...

… which might be because the cable tunnel through a Les Paul body is fashioned on a diagonal path from the control cavity to the selector switch. 

ICBM

Seth Lover said that the pickups were oriented with the screw poles at the outer ends simply because he thought it looked better, but as Funkfingers said it works well with the diagonal cable rout in a Les Paul too - although I'm not totally sure which was the first Gibson model to get them.

DrBob

See in my mind I confused Love Rock with Daisy Rock …

DartmoorHedgehog

So what are these single coils that look like humbuckers then?  I had a crappy 70s LP copy (bolt-on neck, pressed plywood top) that had single coil pickups under humbucker-sized covers, but they were pants - surely if Oil City is making them they must be something better than that.  Are they more like a HB-sized P90?

paulnb57

DartmoorHedgehog said:

So what are these single coils that look like humbuckers then?  I had a crappy 70s LP copy (bolt-on neck, pressed plywood top) that had single coil pickups under humbucker-sized covers, but they were pants - surely if Oil City is making them they must be something better than that.  Are they more like a HB-sized P90?

Val -Tone repros

High output Single Coils, Pretty unique construction, have a look here

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/3854776/#Comment_3854776

DartmoorHedgehog

paulnb57 said:

DartmoorHedgehog said:

So what are these single coils that look like humbuckers then?  I had a crappy 70s LP copy (bolt-on neck, pressed plywood top) that had single coil pickups under humbucker-sized covers, but they were pants - surely if Oil City is making them they must be something better than that.  Are they more like a HB-sized P90?

Val -Tone repros

High output Single Coils, Pretty unique construction, have a look here

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/3854776/#Comment_3854776

Weird - I've not seen those before.  Thanks for the link.

paulnb57

Wired it and it tested ok through a headphone amp, buzzed like crazy through a proper amp…checked and rechecked the wiring, all looked good..”its surely not the output jack wired back to front?”. Yep!  FFS! Idiot!

Anyroadup I swapped out the front pickup ring for a thinner one as the pickup was below the top edge of the original one and it did my head in….also swapped the orientation of the pickup polepieces for @BillDL ; . once he had mentioned it it bothered me…
The bell end that sold the carcass had snipped the bridge earth lead level with the edge of the control cavity, had a hell of a job getting the ferrule out….
Im not the biggest fan of the switch position on an LP so replaced the neck tone pot with the switch, certainly made wiring easier, 2 vols, master tone
Just waiting for a poker chip (a dome head Allen will fill the hole) and backplates are in the mail and its done

DartmoorHedgehog

That looks really good - never would have thought those tuners would work, but somehow they're just so unexpected on a LP shape they just seem to add something.  Interested to hear how those pickups sound.

(oh, and nice cock )

paulnb57

DartmoorHedgehog said:

That looks really good - never would have thought those tuners would work, but somehow they're just so unexpected on a LP shape they just seem to add something.  Interested to hear how those pickups sound.

(oh, and nice cock )

The pickups are superb! I cant find words to describe them, I just know I like them

You made my day, Ive been sharing photos for ages with the Cockerel painting the MrsB did, in the background, expecting a “cock” comment, thanks! Made my day, cant believe it took so long! 

GSPBASSES

Off-topic, what's with all the cotton reels and buttons in the jars? Like the guitar.

paulnb57

GSPBASSES said:

Off-topic, what's with all the cotton reels and buttons in the jars? Like the guitar.

The table is in the smallest bedroom which is Mrs nb57’s sewing room, the shelf is the end of a pallet I found on the beach years ago (who knows why the end of the pallet was originally cut off?) carried home, dried out and waxed…..perfect shelf for reels and jars of buttons etc