Midas Phaeton 90

heh...that threesome shot looks like you took it in Castlevania.

Ya, der "brutally mellow" refrigerator magnet GeThunkin' again.



guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=1155775716


Amongst these:




I like this the best:


I have the guitar, I have the pickups, I do still need to buy a round toit (as in I haven't gotten...).

Well, on 4.

I was going to consider using a Duncan P-90 Stack in the neck but the excessive depth of its route into the neck tenon concerned me.

So, it will be the stock P-90s in the neck and middle (moved from the bridge) and a DiMarzio DLX Plus in the bridge (really a mid scooped humbucker like the Steve's Special). Should be kinda interesting in a mahogany (mid-pronounced) guitar. Methinks that a 12 position rotary switch will be needed in lieu of an operator's consol.


Paging Mr. Forstner, your bits are needed.....

I toyed actually with CKs idea on the Duncan stacked, as I have some Dimarzio HS series which when put into cut-coil mode are quite credible in authentic strat sound, yet somehow greatly diminish the single coil hum. Also there are hidden sound by combining the bottom coil with the top coil of another pup. So 4 of those (which would cost more than I have in this entire guitar) and that would be 8 coils to work with. Now GN2, would that be enough of a challenge on wiring designs.

Also, I worried about the picking channels you mentioned. Turns out to avoid the whole "stratitus" phenom, you lower the pups anyway. IF you want closer pole contact ..... use the adjust-ables, a feature sorely missing on strat pups.. So in actuality the picking channels can be larger as the p90 cover can go down as low as the guard, and the small footprint of the adjustable pole line is smaller than that of a strat pup.

The mid and bridge are closer together in order to get a stronger emulation of a humbucker at the bridge when both are kicked in in series, and the geometry between the neck poles and the mid poles are that of a strat to capture "Quack." And it does as designed. Go figure.

Actually the pickguard is in fact not textured, but as smooth as glass. The gold leaf adds the texture, that is then filled with multiple layer of Poly, until smooth. Actually a quiet nice effect as the surface appears to have great depth, but doesn't.

Yes I have to figure out a treatment for the Headstock. My first thought was gold to match the bod, but I toy with the gold leaf, because it is .... well ... extreme.

The pointy Jackson style headstock was not always one of my favorites until you anointed the RWS SG, then it was a done deal. Absolutely ... pike the heathens.

One thing about that neck, though, is it is fatter and more substantive than most Strat necks, and matches the richer midtones and bass of the P90s.

I am considering seriously though the Duncans that CK mentions.

Have you tried them CK, and if so how is the cut coil sound with the top coil only?



This migrated from a labor of love to one of curses, as every thing had to be fitted custom. eg, there is not enough meat in the pup cavity in front of the springs rout for those wood screws going through the pup covers to bite into. Had to use brass bushing inserts.


Would I do it again? Probably, but maybe with a precut pickguard, and it would be easier with a hardtail. The gold happened because a friend wanted a gold strat. I picked up the bod, then we found him what he really wanted, a goldtop LP.

So I sat on this awhile, going, "now what." Then the P90 vision happened. This thing is pretty over the top, as it should be.

RW

Money tone: Well my real musician buddy is driving now so I have not spent enough time to settle in yet.

Mid pup by itself and Mid/Bridge in series are slap-the-monkey tough. both get differnent versions of my favorite P90 tone --- Leslie West back when Felix was living. Now if I start eating 2 whole pizzas a meal for 6 months and achieve LW's profile, I'm sure I'll play like him ... unless it was his wack-fro, then forget it, because the folicles are starting to give out on me.

I rarely use a strat bridge pup by itself, but the P90 fills out the mids so that this is a mean and nasty tone in the bridge alone, that cuts throught but doesnt ice-pick the ear drums.

Other keeper tones:

Neck alone: Big, bull, and not muddy. I have a couple of older JBL K120s I run the Twin brain through. These were used alot in PA boxes in the 80's and they have an almost hi-fi range of sound. The bass on the pups is very full and tight, not boomy at all, just an incredible presence with balance and depth. And the "single=coilness" of the P90s adds just enough under-spank to give nice note definition.

Neck/Mid in Parallel. Aflac. Cool in clean settings. Little Wing with fullness.

Neck/Mid and Neck/Mid/Bridge, SysSeri -- vol down a few notches, play with the tone ---- fifties jazz box --- ES175 al-la Kenny Burrell and Wes.

Neck/Mid/Bridge, SysSeri -- Roll the blender toward the Mid/Neck, crank the overdrive. PowerChords to Metal Underworld.

Those are the primaries. There a a bunch of other obscure tones with the blender and also the OoP, but the above are home bases.


Headstock. both. Hmmmm you may be on to something. I have a little logo sort of like my avatar. So that in left and big enough to be the truss rod adjst. cover, metalic gold background.

But that will wait a bit, as this thing messed with me trying to dial in all the issues. I want to just play it a while, and move through the parts inventory for some other builds. the hardware and headstock are secondary esthetics for now.

RW

Ok, CK:

I see your 4 or 5 coils, and raise 4 or 3 with the Duncan Stacked 4x and ,,,, and 12 switches:

This would then be Midas Phaeton 90 X16-Z8.

"...very impressive Rune.

but shouldn't that have more volume and tone knobs, too? .....

-Unk

OK, OK.

Horse patootie! I'm in lust - satisfy me! ;D How much?


sumgai

already got that one sussed John.

it's gold tooth er, i mean Bluetooth enabled.