Learn something new every day

[Newc]

Ok, so I decided I didn't like the pickups in my USA Dragon Dinky, and didn't like the fact that the corners of the J100 single coil covers were split, making adjustments difficult, so I took them all out.
I thought the bridge hummer was a Dimarzio Super Distortion - turns out it's a JB. No wonder I didn't like it. Somehow it sounded a little more beefy and less middy than the other JB's I've had - maybe I got a 250K volume [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] can't tell cuz it's caked in solder. I know I got a 500K tone (can see it), but not sure about the volume. Anyhoo, out it comes, and in goes a TB-59. Well, almost. The pickup ring won't go over the pickup (uncovered)? It came off an uncovered Duncan, and is going on an uncovered Duncan, where's the problem?
Ooohhhhh I seeeeee; the pickup ring has been modded a bit to fit very snugly around a non-F-spaced pickup, and the extra width of a Trembucker won't fit in without risking damage to the pickup coil. So I just grab a brand new ring which I had ordered from StewMac a while back, and presto! Now all I gotta do is screw the ring to the body and....WHOAH WAIT A MINNIT! Where's the other 2 screw holes?? WTF!?!
It appears that other pickup ring (made by LSR, coincidentally) not only was designed for smaller humbuckers, but also has more narrow mounting screw spacing [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img] This is a mark of genius [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img]
What the hell moron thought this one up?

Anyhoo, I got the new pickup and the new ring mounted with only 2 screws, as the other two holes are not far enough to the side to reach the screws.

So now the guitar has a J200 (from a Soloist Pro) in the neck, an Armstrong Rails (from a Warrior) in the middle, and a Duncan TB-59 in the bridge.
Sounds a LOT better than it did before [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Newc

[Budman68]

Re: Learn something new every day

Hey newc, what year was the Dragon made?
Dave->

[Newc]

Re: Learn something new every day

'93 according to Jackson's serial chart, '94 according to the artist's signature [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

Newc

[Budman68]

Re: Learn something new every day

Oh ok, but that is odd about the signature isn't it.... [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

Dave->

[Newc]

Re: Learn something new every day

I'm thinking it was either late '93 (close enough for the artist to put '94 on it) or it was refinished in 94.

The sig looks like "Burgian" - never heard of 'im [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Newc

[charvelguy]

Re: Learn something new every day

QUOTE]Originally posted by Newc:


It appears that other pickup ring (made by LSR, coincidentally) not only was designed for smaller humbuckers, but also has more narrow mounting screw spacing [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img] This is a mark of genius [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img] What the hell moron thought this one up?
Newc [/QUOTE]

Must've been the same people who came up with all the different truss rod adjustment locations, sizes, methods.

[ August 31, 2003, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: charvelguy ]

[Budman68]

Re: Learn something new every day

Yeah, I was thinking it may have been one of the older/larger pickup bezel spacings, but I don't believe they did that into '93.

Dave->

[pro-fusion]

Re: Learn something new every day

Perhaps it had a LSR 500xl pickup in the bridge, originally. '93-94 was about the time that Jackson was using them. I had the same issue on the '93 Soloist I had for awhile, which came with the 500xl. I used the p/up ring that came with my TB-6 pickup. It was flexible enough that it would bend in the middle so that I could use all four mounting screws. Looked odd, though.

I've also had the same issue with my 1989 Carvin DC145--Carvin's pickup rings aren't wide enough to fit Duncan Trembuckers, either. But then, those are kind of odd--DiMarzio's equivalent F-spaced pickups are the same width as the regular ones, they just have the pole pieces spaced further part on the same bobbin. I wonder what Duncan was thinking by making wider replacement pickups that wouldn't fit in most standard p/up rings?

[kremit]

Re: Learn something new every day

It's nice to know I'm not crazy [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
I always thought that the spacing was the same until I swapped out the neck pickup on a KV Pro. Either the ring that was on there was the odd spacing or the one I had in the bin was.