ON THE BENCH #12: Jessica Dobson of Deep Sea Diver's Bilt S.S. Zaftig! Lollar Regals, Micdeth 

I enjoy your music. It is so heartfelt, spacious, and airy, with just a dusting of melancholy to taste. Thank you for showing us what you bench. It is interesting to see other artists’ guitars.

I noticed the pickup change from her Premier Guitar rig down to her show her in Eugene, OR. It was you Mike! :) And yes, sounded fantastic live. Bravo!

That neck rhythm circuit is to absolutely die for!!! Thank you!

Great video! Love the Zaftig-and that rhythm circuit, too.

Just got Deep sea diver’s album on vinyl and now I’ve decided to order myself a bilt from the local shop. Hope it won’t disappoint.

Sounds great - Awesome guitar and new pickups! The ultra clean wiring pleases my OCD tendencies. Thanks for sharing :)

Great sound and playing. Thank you.

Yesssssss I was just listening to History Speaks this morning on my run. Great timing!

Random question, have you played the Squier Contemporary Jaguar yet? any opinions?

took me a minute to see that jumper that runs between. That is a cool idea. And, the little plug is fucking genius

Thats it! I'm throwin down for those WR's. Thanks for the play through Mike.

Mike, I just got done playing a Guild S-200 Thunderbird. I can't escape how Jazzmaster-like the whole thing is. 1: Very odd control layout not unlike a Jaguar. Practically two separate circuits. 2: Oddball pickups. Something like mini-humbuckers and pho-foil pickups. 3: Janky trem. Surface mounted, shallow break angle, long stretch between the tune-o-matic bridge and the fulcrum. Not as long as a Fender Jazzmaster, but Guild has never been the ambitious sort. 4: Offset body. Or at least it sits in the lap and hangs off the strap that way. I've always thought they were indecently garish guitars, but I'm having second thoughts now. Have you ever worked on them, and would you compare them to traditional offset guitars?

It’s a thing of joy to see you so happy with a wiring job.

Some lovely playing on a lovely guitar. This made my Friday morning.

Have you tried Railhammer Humcutters? If so what’s your opinion?

Just saw Deep Sea Diver at Harlow's Sacramento and they were fantastic and at first, I thought that was her Starcaster sitting on the guitar rack. It sounded great and she sounded great! Output is the main reason I could never get my favorite guitars, Jazzmasters, to work for live play. The Fender Noventa Jazzmaster (with the middle P-90 lowered and pole pieces raised) solves most of those isses and I discovered I love P-90s! Does BiLT use Orange Drop Capacitors? Pretty nice!

The Jazzmaster pickup form factor is so great, you can fit nearly any pickup in there. So many great choices out there. Though I wonder that now Fender have reissued WRHBs with Cunife magnets if other makers will be able to lay hands on them too

By the way you are my favorite GuitarTube personalitiy!

Hey Mike. In your opinion, what's the biggest difference a Thinline body makes?

I solved the no knock solution for the panorama tremolo. The unit is coming into contact with the guitars cavity and being amplified cause tis the bridge. THe bottom plate is larger on the panorma. If you shave , sand out some material you get no knock and way better return to pitch. I do like your spring upgrade tho but my solution is the real one lol!! please mention Raymond FRom the Rock and Roll Creeps as the one who figured it out first thanks!!

I retired from 21 years in the communications field. Rule one, slack is your friend. Unless you have a wire stretcher.

did they just use a long piece of solder to ground the pots? that is brilliant

Stunning sound, makes me want those WRs now! My Zaftig has Lollar Gold Foils currently; love the guitar overall but I'm looking for pups with a bit more oomph. Great video!

Big DSD fan and Jessica is a big reason I recently bought a Bilt. Love the guitar. Has Lollar Firebirds and a Bigsby. Thing is amazing! Love the Lollars so much I’m getting the Lollar Vintage pickups added in my Tele. Can’t wait to get it back!

on a regular Jazzmaster , the position of the volume knob is too close to the bridge pickup ; always on the way of the hand ... the BILT guys were very smart solving this issue ...

Mike, just out of curiosity … how did you feel about the wiring? 😉 I completely get it. I have found myself way too excited about a great wiring job several times as well. It is a beautiful thing.

Honestly, I’m not even into Offset guitars (although you are convincing me to give them a shot), your passion for them and knowledge is just infectious.

@Puisheen I have a MIJ 2011 fender pawn shop mustang special, and I’ve been having issues with it not being able to handle certain cables. what could be the potential issue?

Hi Mike, please don’t forget to review the Jazzmaster Vintera serie when you have one close to your fingers!!!

Zaftig is both Yiddish and German (both languages have words from each other). It means juicy in German. Saft means juice in German. Of course in Yiddish the saucier overtones are right up front.

That may be the best sounding guitar I’ve ever heard. Wow.

The guitarist from Paramore is clearly playing one of these Bilt guitars in more recent videos. Just curious, were the old pickups too low output and these are higher or...?

Now I want to see how the wiring looks under josh Scott’s built guitar considering it has 45 pickups

Man I discovered Deep Sea Diver about 3 weeks ago and Jessica Dobson is an amazing guitarist. Love everything about their music, and a total bonus she uses Jazzmaster and Jazzmaster-inspired guitars. Side note: I really want to hear your thoughts on the Vintera 60s Jazzmaster. Its the only one in my price range with vintage specs and the rhythm circuit 😁

The Zaftig is just THE guitar.

Cath!! Uh oh, I think you’re going to make me get WRHBs in my Jazzmaster again

I need that shirt

I’m stealing that ground bus idea, genius.

I would imagine that the yiddish word zaftig comes from the german word "Saftig", of which the literal translation would be juicy

what a beautiful guitar (i want it give it)

11:15 - Thank you for not saying "orientate". Great content as always!

❤️

Cath is one of the best guitar sound recorded by dcfc

Cookie 👏 party 👏 for 👏 sure👏

Nice shirt.

Commenting for algorithm goo

Between Josh Scott and this, I have a bad case of Bilt envy.

Ah Sappig!

That Get Offset t shirt

I need to quit watching your videos before I buy an offset for no other reason than they look cool...