I love that during the headstock touch-up, Dan - as he always does - gives credit to Frank Ford and Chelsea Clark for the techniques he employs. Gene's rewind was incredible. And relicing pots is a new one to me! So much care and attention to detail, but I suppose that's nothing new from Dan and Gene. Bravo!
This is THE best content on RU-vid. Dan's videos should be preserved on every medium possible, multiplied countless times and then buried all over the planet to age like wine for future generations to dig up and honor.
@@MidtownSkyport It's also cool that there are videos of guys playing the Bloomfield tele after all the repair work done here. I especially like the video where G.E. Smith plays it and talks about its history.
It's not easy to share a stage with Dan Erlewine, but Gene was a great co-star. He let's me sit here and nod along like we're doing it together. Look at us, we repaired a bunch of PAFs!
My jaw is on the floor, the level of detail especially in terms of relicing is insane. The section on restoring the PAFs should be required viewing for anyone interested in learning about pickups especially if you are into winding or restoring them. Thanks for an amazing video!
Good for you, Dan! Beautiful work Dan and Gene to restore a real beauty! Your videos through the years have been so helpful to me personally. Sincere thanks!
Looks like the old Alembic “Hot Rod” Kit that came out in the 70’s. They gave you a ceramic magnet and a small roll of copper tape for shielding the pickup as with the thicker magnet you couldn’t get the covers back on.. I seem to recall there being a few wooden shims to make the coils taller so they’ll be even
What an amazing job, thanks for all your knowledge Dan, this channel is so inspiring and educational to me, even when in my country (Guatemala) this things and tools are super hard to get (and expensive) So now i have my very own project with a 1980 japanese Cimar strat clone, that is falling in pieces, hope i can rescue the poor thing. Thanks for the lessons man!
Just have to love it when a guitar comes back home. No matter what the condition is. The joy of having it your hands once again. Being a world renown Luthier who can bring it back to life is a major plus for that precious instrument. A true synergy of good vibes. Excellent video, Dan and Gene and Stew Mac team.
Beautiful guitar! Wonderful job restoring it too, but one thing I don't get is insisting on using an original style nylon nut, but not using original style knobs. 😅 I totally understand though.. I mean, hey it's Dan's guitar, so I respect his decision to do with it what he wishes. Plus us guitar players have a tendency to modify things anyway. ;) Nice work fellas! 👍👍 Lots of great tips here too.
My first thought was unwind each bad pickup on a coil winder. When you find the break, repair it and then respool with the OG wire. Not sure why it wasn't done here.
Using the original wire is a dumb idea, cause the reason it got breaks in the first place is corrosion, and that old wire is just gonna corrode and break again quickly
I don’t think it was worth the effort to use the original wire. If it were mine I would have just preferred fresh new wire on all the dead coils. Great to watch this whole restoration process though!
I agree entirely, Wire is wire. Ohms are ohms, and inductance is inductance. Same for the tape actually, re-using that is idiotic. And the work on the pots amounts to forgery. I also cringed when he referred to 7.6 kOhms as 'output'. I've seen Dan do that too. It's a DC resistance, gentlemen, and is not linearly related to the output level. As a matter of fact by using 7.6 kOhms' worth of wire instead of 8 kOhms he has reduced the output level to 72% of the original, or -0.9 dB, and improved the treble response a little, by reducing the inductance by that factor, although again the effect in dB is minor.
@@EJP286CRSKW Yes, ohms are ohms, wire is wire. I don't disagree. That wasn't the point. If I thought it made a difference in tone I would have done all three that way. The rewound pickup sounded just as good. And yes...resistance isn't exactly output. But without it you have no output, and when comparing two otherwise indentical pickups it is a reasonable gauge of how they may compare volume wise. I did put fresh tape down first, the old tape just looks better to me. You're welcome to think it's idiotic, not everyone is into this. I just prefer parts on a vintage guitar to look like they belong there, it's not about forging or deceiving anyone, it's about preserving what we can of a historical guitar and doing our best to restore it to be as original as possible...and to me appearance is part of that. Thank you for watching.
@@guitarrepairman It's not a 'reasonable gauge'. There is a square law. You should be comparing the squares of the resistances. And _theoretically_ with superconductive wire you _could_ have output without DCR. What matters is the inductance, and you can measure that just as easily.
I used to wind and rewind pups myself. Just to look how somebody else does it brings back a lot of memory of joy and frustration! The "stronger" magnets and the missing metal covers. I used to collect all little parts from vintage pups just like Gene. Must be a common desease among the pup winders! ;-) Good job! From the both of you!
Somewhere on the corner of a bench in Dan's workshop is an aged Stanley metal lunch pail with the initials D.E. stamped on it, just above a fading Folger's coffee stain and a few stray drops of Fender guitar paint 2876 Lake Placid Blue.
I don't see the logic in rewinding pickups with obviously brittle wire, in the name of "originality" or otherwise. They're just going to open up again.
I am astonished at the level of expertise here, particularly the level of patience and skill shown at the pickup restoration. Two incredibly skilled Gentlemen! A brilliant video Gentlemen. A pleasure to watch. Thanks and much respect from the UK
I'm really digging these long form project videos (I've watched that recent complete guitar build one at least 3x now - and I can barely attach a new pickguard). I've heard plenty about the lengths a skilled expert will go to restore old Gibsons, but Gene's footage w/those PAF's really shows you what that means. More please....
Absolutely riveted to the video. I called in sick to finish watching the video. I’m gonna learn this stuff. I want to do this for a living. I may not get rich but I’ll be doing what I love… Thanks
OLD SCHOOL! OLD SCHOOL! OLD SCHOOL! Yes, man, there's nothing like good ol' attention to detail and no fear of elbow grease. I really enjoyed this, and I learned a lot. Now write a blues song and call it "What Was Al Thinkin'?"
this video made my day 100000x better. so satisfying to watch. the attention to detail, keeping everything as original as possible, treating these instruments with all the respect they deserve! my dream is to one day own one of these 58’ 335’s. THANK YOU STEWMAC!
And I thought I was silly but innovative when I've plugged the holes in my old 335 copy with mother of pearl plugs 😂 I think Leo Fender said something along the lines of: "if you can't hide it properly, expose it and make it look good" while designing the skunk stripe on a strat.
Just asking…. At what point does a restoration become a counterfeit? Taking new parts and making them look original, not just matching the finish, but obscuring manufacturers marks? How far do you go?
So I'm assuming the '58 neck angle (famous for being too shallow?) did not, in fact, pose any problemmo's (?) IMHO this thing has more value with y'all's handiwork and amazing TLC than some untouched '58 in perfect condition
Just to be safe, it's always the more ethical choice to mark the PAFs to indicate how they were reconstructed. The clean solder attaching the solder is a good indicator that something non-original is going on, but every attempt should be made to ensure that it isn't sold as an original in the future.
Dan Erlewine is probably one the best luthier's there's ever been. I believe he must be partially made of wood. and I mean that in a very good way. he has tought me so much over the years. and I have to thank him for that. and him playing that blues diddy at the end. was the licing on the cake. thanks again Dan.
Nice video For years I was told people remove pickup covers to get a different sound, but after having many unpotted covered pickups go microphonic, I can’t help but to think it was more often done remedy that, and yes I do know that isn’t the only reason pickups go microphonic. If anyone would know if this was true it would be Dan. What do you think?
I am not even a guitarist, and watching these videos just make my day... Informative, nerdy, peaceful, fun, and just simply day brightening! Thank you! 😊
Love this episode! I just found my exact 2002 Gibson les paul custom 68 reissue that I regretted selling two years ago. Exact serial number found on the reverb, and I had to get it back. Won't part with it again. I had to restore some of it, too, and now it's back in business 🔥🔥🔥
I have a friend like that, I like to restore, he likes to, well, whatever the opposite of restore is, that's what he does. I gave this video the 666th thumbs up
Now if Dan can only make Stewmac get a phone number and the old customer service we might be in business. Love you Dan but the Mac is not what it used to be on the customer service side. Great while it lasted. Spent thousands but we have to have some humans to work with. Take care and good luck!
Thanks for your feedback! You can reach customer service and our technicians via the "Need Help" widget at the bottom right hand side our website. We can arrange phone callbacks if necessary, and we are working toward a return to direct phone access in the near future.
@@stewmac Uh, yep. If you read what I wrote that's the whole problem. Thanks for proving my point here on RU-vid. You can't make this stuff up now can you folks??
Really fun to watch that guitar come back together. When I saw the relicing of the pots, I was like "what!?, why!?" but then I realized at that point, it's a labor of love and it's fun to get all of the details right. That's a really neat experience, thanks for sharing!
Dan is a treasure as we all know and kudos to Gene for doing a great job talking through his work and explaining each step to the viewers. It is great to see the challenges and successes of this project.
I recently bought a 1974 Fender Telecaster Custom that had several modifications. One of which was the original wide range pickup had been gone into for coil splitting options. The meter showed good readings, and I was able to put the original lead back onto the pickup in original wiring layout.
This is an awesome channel. You two are absolute masters. Amazing job on those pickups. That guitar looks beautiful! Dan is a real treasure. I love the “I got these knobs from Mike Bloomfield’s guitar”. Unreal.
Excellent - great guitar, great story, very informative video. Thanks Dan & Gene. By the way, I am 100% with you on the choice of gold 'speed' knobs for an ES-335, my favourite too :)
