Project - Pickups

Last night I bought a pair of Gretsch humbucker pickups from someone on Ebay. I was quite surprised I won the auction and at such a low cost too. I know the Electromatic is a Gretsch budget line but still these are from a GRETSCH guitar!

As I tweeted at the time this new acquisition has made my guitar project all the more interesting. Now we're moving deep into customisation territory waters and I for one am excited at the prospect. I mean the sound from a Gretsch is amazing and when combined with the punchy dynamic sounding pickup I have in the bridge (though I'm now tempted to rip that and have a pair of Gretsch's) as well as the hollow 335 shape body I'll be creating a very unique sound indeed.

I knew right from the off that this guitar project would definitely be a customisation job (unlike the Squier) as I had the neck problem as well as the bridge pickup having no cover over it and standing out a mile - though I suppose I could purchase one of these from Ebay the fact is it is not the original pickup. Other considerations include the brand name. Although this guitar is far more superior in build to the Squier Tele the name Grant isn't as recognisible as Fender or even it's budget line Squier therefore meaning that this guitar may be harder to sell when complete or may not command the price it is worth therefore would it even be worth replacing parts such as the 4 control knobs when I could just get another 2 that were similar to the remaining 2 just to finish the job off. Or is it even worth replacing the pickup switch knob which was melted by a stray soldering iron years ago? I mean it still does its job and is merely a cosmetic fix. Pretty pointless restoring an already functioning guitar when you'll probably get the same or similar price for it as it was. Like I said I knew what I was getting myself into.

With this in mind I've been looking at a replacement neck pickup for a while now as after plugging the Grant in the other month I liked the sound of the two humbuckers together (combined with the sound of the hollow body) but thought the neck pickup on its own sounded weak. Have to admit I wasn't searching as actively this last month due to other financial priorities but after sorting that out and making a few quid selling bits & bobs on Ebay I had a quick look and found myself watching the aforementioned Gretsch pair and a single Seymour Duncan humbucker. Last night with the Gretsch minutes away from finishing and the Seymour Duncan suddenly leaping in price (with still a day remaining) I decided to make a move. I was plesantly surprised to say the least that I got one decent humbucker at the price I paid nevermind two of them!

With the seller informing me that they will be posted the following morning I decided to prepare the Grant ready for their arrival. Cleaned up the no-nails as best as possible (as can be seen in the below post) and removed the neck pickup. Herein lies the next exciting instalment of this tale.

I was expecting the current neck pickup to be the original one (maybe it is?) but was shocked to find that instead of some cheapo no brand stock humbucker I found a Kent Armstrong! I have a pair of Kent Armstrong humbuckers in my Jim Reed PRS copy and they do an amazing job so to find one here is an exciting discovery (as it means I can probably sell it and make back some money I spent on the Gretsch pickups). My initial thoughts are that I bought and installed this years ago (when I replaced the bridge pickup), knowing that Kent armstrong pickups kick arse. Funny how I thought it sounded weak? I haven't tried it for several weeks though (since I first dug out the guitar) so am relying on memory. All I know is that I wasn't happy with the combination. Oh well this name on the rear of the pickup means I should be able to make a few quid off it rather than just binning it off.

For now though I'm just sitting tight waiting for the next exciting chapter of this project to unfold (ie arrival of the Gretsch's). As ever here's the pics, enjoy.