Like NGD again! SG mods done & report

[deeaa*]

Yup:



I have the 81TW and 98 EMG's installed, no tones, just two volumes with push/pulls to change between single- and dual coil (humbucker) modes.

I wired it so that the neck 89 is by default in single coil mode and turns to bucker when the knob is lifted, and vice versa for the bridge 81TW.

I've yet to test it with a real amp, but on Amplitube the 81TW sounded surprisingly warm, usually the 81's are a touch colder than my usual 85's but we'll see...in my experience the 89 which is supposedly 85 and SA in one pickup sounds like neither either. (ha). I once tried an 89 in bridge position but it didn't work anywhere as well as a real 85. So I have high hopes for this 81TW now; I was already preparing to swap it for an 85. We'll see. Since the neck 89 is in single coil mode, it's easy enough to mix it in a little if need be, it gives it warmth a plenty if used both pickups on & adjusted their mix to taste with the neck pup volume.

In this pic (cell phone pic) the guitar color appears very much like it actually does indoors. On a quick glance and low(ish) light conditions it could even be mistaken for black.

The next pics I took with an actual camera under a window, and that brings out the colour much better, even better than it looks in reality usually:



Ain't she pretty? It's now very much like the EX model would have been, but I like the fact it's not that modern-metal looking with the red tint, as the gray would have been. Plus now it's kind of GX/EX as with these pups I could retain the original GX ability of using single-coil modes on both pickups as well. Also the copper EMG marking on the pups (on all splittable EMGs) happens to match the reddish overall scheme really well as if planned.



In bright sunlight or flash like here the guitar looks quite different, and the wood grain jumps out from behind the dark surface lacquer.



Finally a pic of the control cavity. The previous owner had cut the wires in the middle so I had to first repair the wires (14 tiny weeny leads in all to solder!) which already took a good while. Then he had soldered the push-pull pots really weirdly - I don't understand what kind of a setup he had had - but anyway I had to de-solder 'em again and re-build the entire switching system, so that was a few dozen more solders. Damn those EMG wires are TINY I really felt like a surgeon trying to fit my solder gun there. In the pic it's still missing a battery and the clip, but they just fit in there nicely.

In the back corner you can see the tape under which I drilled two .40 holes 1" deep and pushed two S&W .40 caliber bullets in the holes and covered with tyre lead. That, and the battery and the EMGs weighing down the body made it balance rather perfectly. It is nicely enough neck heavy so that it's very nice for bending as the guitar stays down and provides a stable leverage point for bending the strings, but not neck heavy enough so that it would turn the neck downward, but instead it stays perfectly straight on a strap when just hung around the neck.

In fact I started thinking I might want to add just a little bit of weight in my Davette's headstock...it feels very nice to have the neck weigh enough so that you can bend the strings without holding on to the neck, and it stays down and doesn't follow the bend upwards like usually happens.

If the sound is similarly good as my Davette's or the strats, this could become a main player even methinks.

[deeaa*]

And, oh, BTW I'm still looking for a pickguard I could test to see if that would work well on this...I'm thinking a silvery/white like abalone, full size SG picguard with black screws could look really really cool on this guitar. I'd just have to relocate the knobs and switch one step backwards but that'd be no problem, just drill a new hole is all.

[deeaa*]

Can you imagine the guitar with this kind of picguard? :-)

[NWBasser]

Deeaa, that SG looks sweet and I bet sounds even better after all your mods.

Very nice customizing there.

[Ch0jin]

That looks amazing Deeaa, a fantastic upgrade job! I'd be tempted to leave it as it is with no pickguard because I think it's pretty much perfect. If I were to upgrade a guitar substantially these days I'd probably include locking tuners as part of the upgrade, but that's just for convenience of course.

I love the story of the .40 cal bullets used for balance. Did you just use the lead slugs themselves, or did you wedge the whole round in there? I'm thinking of upgrading an old bass of mine that is super neck heavy and whilst my countries gun laws would make procurement of any kind of ammunition quite difficult, I'm thinking lead sinkers (from the old fishing kit) would do the job just fine! I could even melt it and pour it into some tactically drilled holes..... H'mmmm you totally have me thinking now....

[sunvalleylaw]

That looks awesome! I like it without the pick guard.

[deeaa*]

Thanks guys! Just the actual bullets, Ch0jin :-)

Yeah I like the looks fine as they are, but I think if I find a suitable pearloid pickguard, I'll see how it looks...no need to install it with screws, though, at least before I'd be sure it's good that way. I could just saw some screws short & glue them onto the pickguard so it looks screwed in, but actually just hook it up from the cavities etc. with no new holes made.

Might be hard to find a pearloid pickguard though, at least at reasonable price...

[deeaa*]

Update: funny enough, I'm quite happy with the 81TW on the Prophecy SG. The guitar itself is kinda darker sounding due to shorter scale and all mahogany/set neck construction & heavy lacquering I presume...and the 81TW is a good complement to it, not at all too harsh. It's a bit more 'metal' sounding though, more apparent drive and less rock style 'largeness' and also - I just can't use the neck pup for clean sounds as I can pretty well with 85+longer scale; this sounds way too glassy for cleans...so I need to remember to switch to neck pup for cleans...but, anyway, I'm very happy. It's nice to have a guitar that sounds just the same as the others basically, and can be used as a substitute, but which is still a little more 'heavy' sounding.

I can't tell if the TW sounds different from regular 81, though, but I'm keeping this anyhow!

Also, now that I finally could play full two-hour session on the SG&not get annoyed with how the pickups work, I really dig the Prophecy. It's now perfectly balanced, nicely still kinda light, has a very pleasant slim but not too slim a neck, superb action and the short scale means for very lively bending in leads. And since I moved the strap button on the horn, it also balances just the same in relation to my body when playing, so I always hit the correct frets without looking. It is indeed a very nice guitar, and the only thing I worry a little about is fret longevity, which remains to be seen. I shall definitely put in good frets on this one when they do wear - this is a keeper for sure, and clearly now my main axe along with the Davette, I suspect these two will get most my playing time for a good while now, and these two are the only guitars I have that I take good care of and keep 'em in cases when not used and try my best not to ding and scratch them.

[deeaa*]

How do you like this?



That's just a piece of cardboard. But I'll carve a pickguard out of kind of MOP plexi...white has too much contrast, I think the silvery MOP type one will look just right.

[Duffy]

Nice.

[sunvalleylaw]

I think I would like it either as is, or with a darker colored guard. MOP or otherwise.

[deeaa*]

Thanks...I also think it does look much more 'complete' as an SG with a small pickguard. No pickguard is just too modern and doesn't really look like an SG.

BTW I noticed another small detail that shows it's not 'premium price range guitar' after all...fitting the guard I realized the pup frames are not screwed on straight, they were slanted by several millimeters. I filled two holes with toothpicks and screwed 'em on straight.

Besides that and the incredible amount of lacquer (.12" or so) especially on the headstock, it appears to be very good quality.

[Duffy]

The lacquer can't be 1 point 2 "tenths" of an inch thick. That would be close to a half of a quarter inch thick, 1/8th". I would be very surprised at that, and in my opinion it may be an error in your conversion from metric observation. 1.2mm would be thick even, but seemingly really heavy. I have never seen lacquer 1/10th of an inch thick. Man, that might as well just be solid polycarbonate; the heck with the environment - might as well grab your back pack and a can of pepper spray and head out to Terra Nova.

It is a cool looking guitar though, but pickup rings mounted that far off seems to be yet another example of corporate greed, out of control; dispensing with an even semi-cursory level of quality control. I think those sell for around 700US, new, online price. For that price you could get a decent MIM Fender. That just sounds like total disregard for QC. No wonder people are outraged. Gibson is way far from innocent when it comes to blatant corporate greed, obviously.

At least you got a good deal on it used instead of having to pay the retail price for a new one.

[deeaa*]

Ayuh, I'm not very sure how to actually convert mm to inches - the old anglosaxon system is super hard to comprehend. Now I got 0,078 with another calculator, that sounds about right. I don't understand how it's even possible to measure accurately with those fractional markings, 1/10th etc, I mean, it's so hard to calculate with those.

But the lacquer is around 2mm thick at best, over the headstock, and underneath it the plastic lining is another two mil...really really thick.
Makes it look super glossy and 'deep' though, so I guess that's the purpose.



Here you can see that the plastic lining and the lacquer make up almost 1/3rd of the headstock thickness actually.

[Eric***]

Ayuh, I'm not very sure how to actually convert mm to inches - the old anglosaxon system is super hard to comprehend. Now I got 0,078 with another calculator, that sounds about right. I don't understand how it's even possible to measure accurately with those fractional markings, 1/10th etc, I mean, it's so hard to calculate with those.

2.54 cm / inch, so that would be 25.4 mm / inch.

2 mm x (1 inch / 25.4 mm) = 0.079"

So yeah, I agree with your second result.

[deeaa*]

Allright!



Turns out it's damned hard to get the MOP style showing in photos in this lack of natural light...but it shows just a little here.
It's really cool looking, IMO - matters of taste really but now I'm very happy with it, it looks just like the SG I always wanted to own. Not entirely oldskool, but not too modern metal either, not too flashy but still looking pretty slick and polished.

I'm a happy camper! Right now the guard is just attached with 2-sided tape but I'm actually tempted to screw it in permanently, I like it so much now :-)

[Duffy]

I like that pickguard and the total look has really turned out nice.