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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 8, 2023 10:33:02 GMT -5
CLWEA: Can't Leave Well Enough Alone. You build or buy a guitar. You gush, the honeymoon is on. Everything is perfect. Then creeps in the desire to tweak. Pickguards, pickups, bridges, tuners, wiring, pots, caps, etc. Some result in favorable outcomes, some result in a whole new guitar, or leftovers that justify the next build. I think this phenomenon is more infectious than GAS itself.
I have a 2010 Gibson LP 50s Tribute. My recent adventure is swapping alnico magnets in the P90s. What fun, and relatively easy and inexpensive. Started with A2 mags in the neck pickup, A5 mags in the bridge. I thought the A2s were a little dark so installed A5 mags. Better but still not in the sweet spot. Tried a combination of A2/A5s in the bridge pickup. Interesting. Then tried A8 mags in the bridge pickup and holy schmoly, I really like it! Hot and gnarly but still articulate when cleaned up.
But I still have a couple sets of A4 mags to try. Hmmm.
A combination of pickup and pole height on the neck pickup has gotten me closer to where I want it, but think I might try installing 500k pots for the neck volume and tone which currently have 300k pots. Or should I say "re-installing" since I have a pair from the previous incarnation. You'd think by now I'd heed the words of that wise man Pinetree, "Just play the dang thing".
Hi, my name is Larry and I suffer from CLWEA. 😄🤪😑😕
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 8, 2023 13:45:59 GMT -5
Woohoo, the A4s are installed and made a very noticeable difference in the neck pickup. I fully expected to have a darker result than the A5s but it seems to have made the pickup less bass heavy and more transparent. It plays really nice with the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup has noticeably less oomph than the A8s but still sounds nice with a little coercing. I might try coupling A4/A8 combination next time in the bridge when stricken with CLWEA.
The madness continues...🥳
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Mar 8, 2023 20:50:15 GMT -5
Yeah, it makes sense.
A lot of people who are amateur tinkerers lie awake at night and dream up "dream guitars", and might some day make them real. It is usually based on very fundamental descriptions of how parts behave ("this makes the tone warmer, but this one makes it brighter so if I do both it'll be perfect..."). Once a tinkerer hits an intermediate level, they realize that those late night dreams don't always work out as well, even if they are good experiments. Then the intermediate tinkerer wants to try a few things, using his knowledge. CLWEA as you call it is how people really learn how to build a guitar sound from the ground up. I'm lucky that I see hundreds (thousands?) of guitars pass through the shop so I can let others do the tinkering for me.
A bit of a tangent, but many guitar designers these days are amateur tinkerers. If they ever went through a CLWEA phase, we'd probably have better guitars. If you check out the Fender jobs postings, they usually want people with MBAs who also play guitar... so, probably people who have had the "lie awake at night and dream of the perfect guitar" dreams, but never advanced to the intermediate level. That is why we get a lot of "Mr. Potatohead" guitar designs.
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DrKev
Wholenote
It's just a guitar, it's not rocket science.
Posts: 418
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Post by DrKev on Mar 9, 2023 4:13:41 GMT -5
I am also a CLWEA person. I enjoy it. It's good for the brain and in the absence of health conducive to working it keeps me occupied, when I'm up to doing it. As funky points out (in a slightly backwards way) people who CLWEA are the ones we want designing guitars. Leo Fender was one (look at Music Man StingRay bass and G&L guitars).
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Post by Leftee on Mar 9, 2023 7:56:07 GMT -5
I used to be in this club. I’m only an occasional member these days. But when I was up to my earlobes in CLWEA I learned *so much*! Not that I am any bastion of knowledge now. I am forever learning. But these days I tend to LWEA.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 9, 2023 9:19:16 GMT -5
I really do think my latest build, the Catalpa Tele, is going to be left alone. I let it rip yesterday when my wife went off on an errand and it just has so many sweet spots. Its one of those where the pickups and neck weren't extraordinary on other guitars but finally found a compatible host. Maybe that's good news where my latest build is one of the better ones. The tinkering is starting to pay off.
I have evidence, seriously incriminating evidence in my inventory of buffoonery. Fortunately most of it lies under the hood. I have a Warmoth Gibson scale neck that I had to make a custom sized truss cover to hide some inexplicably placed screw holes. You'd think alcohol, but low blood sugar can be equally IQ diminishing. My soldering skills have improved but I'll never earn a spot in the "Solder Joint". Plus I've gotten a little shakey in that department.
Anyhoo, its been fun but I'm pretty sure my cobbling days are over, if but for anything because I have no more room on the wall. There may be a pickup swap or two, a trem unit, maybe even a refin. But I think I've reached the apex of my abilities. No hand cut bodies or necks for me. Part of getting better at something is also bring realistic about your limitations.
Now, I'm off to try an A4/A8 magnet combo in my bridge P90.
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