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My Charvel Allan Holdsworth is a wonderful little guitar, with quite a provenance.
I guess most old timers around here know about it, I think it used to belong to Tim Rose, then it went to Keegs, then Romain who quickly flipped it over on ebay and I bought it.
I then sold it to Chuck about a year later, and bought it back from him in 2007!
Couldn't live without my AH! It had become an obsession until I finally got it back...
Anyway, I own or have owned now about 12 Charvels, among original SD's, 1995-95 SD I/II reissues, new SD custom shop pieces, you name it, and this one is by far the best playing and best sounding Charvel I have.
Actually, in terms of tone and playability it's probably the best guitar I own period, maybe on par with my Gretsch White Falcon Stephen Stern masterbuilt.
The only issue for me was that I've always missed not having a neck pickup, so I've decided to gently hotrod it and add a neck pickup and a 3-way selector switch.
I could have simply cut out the original pickguard and add a neck pickup and switch, but I didn't want to tamper with the original parts, also because this particular SD '59 bridge pickup is simply magic, never found one voiced like this one (I wonder whether at the time it was wound differently and voiced like one of AH's pickups?).
So I had an exact duplicate pickguard cut by the fine folks at Deadlight Customs, I gently aged it to simulate pick wear, and got brand new electronics to go with it.
For pickups I chose the new Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jazz/JB set, and I specifically asked for single conductor, unpotted and wound by MJ, with the JB bridge pickup slightly underwound.
I thought that, given the guitar unplugged is extremely resonant, a set of fairly microphonic, slightly degaussed pickups would both be historically correct and sound best!
The pot is one of those new CTS close tolerance ones with solid brass shaft, which measures exactly 496 Ohm.
So here it is as it was:
My lady ready for minor surgery (note the bad routing scar, I wonder whether there was a preamp circuit in there:
Original pickguard:
And the original SD '59 pickup, tonal awesomeness to the max!
The new SD Custom Shop pickups:
New & old pickguards side by side. How do you like the zebra/black combo?
And finally, my Charvel Sand Dimas Allan Holdsworth, 2.0!!!
Tonally this thing is now a monster! I get all those really open, crunchy and dry bridge tones I had before, plus the crispy creaminess of the new neck humbucker and in the middle position an amazing funky Strat-like almost SRV sound, couldn't be happier!
This little mod is totally reversible, so no permanent damage done here...
Also, this was a good opportunity to experiment and perhaps erase some misconceptions. For example, I always thought that a flush tremolo sounds best and ensure optimum sustain, because the bridge is coupled to the body.
Well, I've tried setting the DiMarzio tremolo up with a bit of float. and guess what, the sustain, which was already magnificent, with no dead spots anywhere on the neck, has actually improved!!!
Perhaps this is not news to many tinkerers, I mean, after all, every banjo player knows that one quick and effective way to improve a banjo's sustain is to thin out the bridge as much as possible, reducing the contact surface with the head...
And of course, the biggest improvement tone-wise is the period correct Santa Cruz screaming hand sticker!
So, what do you think? Better now or in its original form?
I guess most old timers around here know about it, I think it used to belong to Tim Rose, then it went to Keegs, then Romain who quickly flipped it over on ebay and I bought it.
I then sold it to Chuck about a year later, and bought it back from him in 2007!
Couldn't live without my AH! It had become an obsession until I finally got it back...
Anyway, I own or have owned now about 12 Charvels, among original SD's, 1995-95 SD I/II reissues, new SD custom shop pieces, you name it, and this one is by far the best playing and best sounding Charvel I have.
Actually, in terms of tone and playability it's probably the best guitar I own period, maybe on par with my Gretsch White Falcon Stephen Stern masterbuilt.
The only issue for me was that I've always missed not having a neck pickup, so I've decided to gently hotrod it and add a neck pickup and a 3-way selector switch.
I could have simply cut out the original pickguard and add a neck pickup and switch, but I didn't want to tamper with the original parts, also because this particular SD '59 bridge pickup is simply magic, never found one voiced like this one (I wonder whether at the time it was wound differently and voiced like one of AH's pickups?).
So I had an exact duplicate pickguard cut by the fine folks at Deadlight Customs, I gently aged it to simulate pick wear, and got brand new electronics to go with it.
For pickups I chose the new Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jazz/JB set, and I specifically asked for single conductor, unpotted and wound by MJ, with the JB bridge pickup slightly underwound.
I thought that, given the guitar unplugged is extremely resonant, a set of fairly microphonic, slightly degaussed pickups would both be historically correct and sound best!
The pot is one of those new CTS close tolerance ones with solid brass shaft, which measures exactly 496 Ohm.
So here it is as it was:
My lady ready for minor surgery (note the bad routing scar, I wonder whether there was a preamp circuit in there:
Original pickguard:
And the original SD '59 pickup, tonal awesomeness to the max!
The new SD Custom Shop pickups:
New & old pickguards side by side. How do you like the zebra/black combo?
And finally, my Charvel Sand Dimas Allan Holdsworth, 2.0!!!
Tonally this thing is now a monster! I get all those really open, crunchy and dry bridge tones I had before, plus the crispy creaminess of the new neck humbucker and in the middle position an amazing funky Strat-like almost SRV sound, couldn't be happier!
This little mod is totally reversible, so no permanent damage done here...
Also, this was a good opportunity to experiment and perhaps erase some misconceptions. For example, I always thought that a flush tremolo sounds best and ensure optimum sustain, because the bridge is coupled to the body.
Well, I've tried setting the DiMarzio tremolo up with a bit of float. and guess what, the sustain, which was already magnificent, with no dead spots anywhere on the neck, has actually improved!!!
Perhaps this is not news to many tinkerers, I mean, after all, every banjo player knows that one quick and effective way to improve a banjo's sustain is to thin out the bridge as much as possible, reducing the contact surface with the head...
And of course, the biggest improvement tone-wise is the period correct Santa Cruz screaming hand sticker!
So, what do you think? Better now or in its original form?
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