Gibson Ripper rescue

[Pilgrim]

if i recall i don't think sniper was in the best of health. i hope nothing has happened to him.

Haven't seen him post in a while.  Hope he's OK.

[neepheid]

if i recall i don't think sniper was in the best of health. i hope nothing has happened to him.

Indeed, that's much more important than an insignificant, frankly speaking optional part of my project.  Hope all is well.

[Dave W]

His last activity was May 5 so it hasn't been that long. Hope he's okay. He did have a problem with his leg, I thought that was on the mend.

[drbassman]

I do know he moved to Joplin from Texas and is OK, but I can't say much more.  I sent him a note and I'm waiting to hear back from him.  I'll let you all know what's up when he gets back to me.

[Highlander]

Keepin' them crossed...

[neepheid]

I have heard back and all is well.

Not a big report, but I've ordered my lacquer.  I took the body/neck to my mate who will be spraying and refretting it for a look and he was quite pleased with my wood prep but gave me some pointers of places where I could improve a bit (some scratches in the top bevel and there's a slight dip in the back which he suggested I need a bigger flat sanding block and take a mm off or so).

In other news, I have found a more financially palatable option to buying a Seymour Duncan replacement pickup - Aaron Armstrong can clone my pickup for roughly the same price as sourcing the SD in the USA before shipping and import taxes.  That might have to wait until next month though.

[Dave W]

I have heard back and all is well.

Not a big report, but I've ordered my lacquer.  I took the body/neck to my mate who will be spraying and refretting it for a look and he was quite pleased with my wood prep but gave me some pointers of places where I could improve a bit (some scratches in the top bevel and there's a slight dip in the back which he suggested I need a bigger flat sanding block and take a mm off or so).

In other news, I have found a more financially palatable option to buying a Seymour Duncan replacement pickup - Aaron Armstrong can clone my pickup for roughly the same price as sourcing the SD in the USA before shipping and import taxes.  That might have to wait until next month though.

That sounds like a better option for the pickup even if it were more expensive.

[neepheid]

Quick update to say I've got Curtis Novak on the case for a choke, and the body/neck is away on vacation getting a cherry red makeover

[neepheid]

So I'm going to ask Aaron Armstrong to clone the pickup I have and as it's being custom made I thought I might ask advice from the Gibson cognoscenti about whether or not to deviate from the specifications.

Would it be wise to have this one wound a little hotter and put in the bridge?  Bridge pickups tend to be weedier sounding due to the lesser string vibration/excursion at that point, so I thought I might try and compensate a bit.  Or should I just stick with tradition and have it wound exactly the same, as I believe they were in the original basses?

[hollowbody]

I had one rewound to about 10k and wasn't very impressed with the results. It was a little blurrier in the mids and the volume didn't change much at all. I did like it better when I put it into the neck position and rewired the 4 way switch for neck only operation. I did record some songs with it if you want to hear them.

[amptech]

If I was pleased with the sound of the originals, I would not recommend winding them hotter.
The increase of volume is always altering the sound, unless it is compensated for elsewhere in the pup design.

I have advised many who came to me for hotter bridge pup´s, surprisingly few have tried to balance them by height -
which is free and requires little skills- only time and ears.

Of course, there are situations that calls for a hottie too..

[Dave W]

While I've never had a Ripper, I'd leave it as is. Winding hotter usually changes the mids in a way I don't like, makes them too prominent for my taste. If you're dissatisfied with the sound, that's a different matter.

[dadagoboi]

More winds = Hotter = less high frequency output.

There's a Ripper bridge pickup on Ebay from Reliable Gibson.  Started today @ 0.99

[neepheid]

More winds = Hotter = less high frequency output.

There's a Ripper bridge pickup on Ebay from Reliable Gibson.  Started today @ 0.99

Thanks for the headsup.  I didn't go for it in the end (wrong mounting type - I didn't want to butcher it to suit) and the price ended up being a bit silly.  I can get a new one custom made in the UK for that, before taking the USA > UK shipping and the taxman into account.

[jumbodbassman]

Curtis rebuilt my dead ripper pups.   he went with a single coil p90ish pup similar to a darkstar without the extra height adjustment stuff.  My 0.02 they sound great ,  alot better than any ripper i ever played.   replaced the 4 way switch witha series/parallel switch as i wired it like a jbass.  VVT