Buddha's mod projects

[Buddha Pickups]

I've wanted to make a thread for reference for all my guitars once I've swapped in new pickups, electronics, and hardware if needed. Most of all I need a way to help me remember what guitar has what and I figured this would be a nice way to document everything.

I'll probably circle back eventually to do stuff like fretwork and maybe record some clips.

Pictures might not be great cause I have to shrink and whatnot to get it under the size allotment to upload.

[Buddha Pickups]

First up is my 79 Gibson The Paul

Refinished in Tru oil
A2 humbuckers
Clear bobbins
1 bobbin formvar
1 bobbin plain enamel
Not waxed

4 push pulls
Volume does coil split each pickup
Neck tone does parallel
Bridge tone does series/out of phase

[Buddha Pickups]

Inexpensive Firefly double cut junior I got for $60 on ebay

Update 7/28/24
Installed a chigsby
Bad ass bridge
A5 8k humbucker 5000 5250 42awg
Black speed knobs
500k pots
Push pull volume with 6.8k resistor
.05 cap
Treble bleed mod
Cavities shielded

[Buddha Pickups]

TV Yellow Firefly double cut junior. $60 bstock on ebay

A4 p90 not waxed
Wilkinson wraparound bridge
300k pots
42 formvar wire ~8k
.022 cap
Treble bleed mod

[Buddha Pickups]

Squier VM Sonic Blue mustang
A8 humbucker in a black plastic hum cover
~10k iirc I used 42.5 wire
A5 mustang neck ~6k
500k bourns pots
.047 pio cap
Switchcraft jack
Chrome knobs
Shielded cavities
Treble bleed mod

[Buddha Pickups]

Epiphone SG Jr

A2 hum sized p90
~8k

10/20/23 update
Swapped out the bridge to a Wilkinson
Shielded the cavities
Swapped the tuners to grover style

[bleys21]

Damn, that Gibson is gorgeous! Love the color, and the wood grain coming through.

[Buddha Pickups]

Custom Starcaster.
Rosser body, amber tinted.
Paddle headstock neck cut and shaped by my sister, as well as the body painting.
Gold kluson tuners.
Gotoh Nashville Bridge, aluminum stoptail.
TV Jones classic Bridge
Custom by me neck p90 7k a3.
Wired with 500k pots, bridge pull volume does coil split, bridge tone pull for series/out of phase.
I believe I used .15 pio cap on the neck and .047 pio on the bridge.
Switchcraft jack and switch (I didn't have gold so I spray painted the threads.

The nut is too high and needs to file down but otherwise is a great guitar.

[aullucci]

Custom Starcaster.
Rosser body, amber tinted.
Paddle headstock neck cut and shaped by my sister, as well as the body painting.
Gold kluson tuners.
Gotoh Nashville Bridge, aluminum stoptail.
TV Jones classic Bridge
Custom by me neck p90 7k a3.
Wired with 500k pots, bridge pull volume does coil split, bridge tone pull for series/out of phase.
I believe I used .15 pio cap on the neck and .047 pio on the bridge.
Switchcraft jack and switch (I didn't have gold so I spray painted the threads.

The nut is too high and needs to file down but otherwise is a great guitar.
20210531_095207.jpg

The grain on that is beautiful. Sweet!

[tobijohn]

Custom Starcaster.
Rosser body, amber tinted.
Paddle headstock neck cut and shaped by my sister, as well as the body painting.
Gold kluson tuners.
Gotoh Nashville Bridge, aluminum stoptail.
TV Jones classic Bridge
Custom by me neck p90 7k a3.
Wired with 500k pots, bridge pull volume does coil split, bridge tone pull for series/out of phase.
I believe I used .15 pio cap on the neck and .047 pio on the bridge.
Switchcraft jack and switch (I didn't have gold so I spray painted the threads.

Don't be jealous, you should post closer shots of your sister's custom headstock and painting too...

[redman]

First up is my 79 Gibson The Paul

Refinished in Tru oil
A2 humbuckers
Clear bobbins
1 bobbin formvar
1 bobbin plain enamel
Not waxed

4 push pulls
Volume does coil split each pickup
Neck tone does parallel
Bridge tone does series/out of phase

20210528_210831.jpg

I had a The Paul in the early 80's 81 or 82 mine only said Gibson on the headstock with a natural finish and recently I've been trying to find another. If you ever decide to sell it or want to trade for something please give me 1st dibs and I'm dead serious as long as the price is reasonable and I haven't found another one I'll buy it.

[Buddha Pickups]

Custom Starcaster.
Rosser body, amber tinted.
Paddle headstock neck cut and shaped by my sister, as well as the body painting.
Gold kluson tuners.
Gotoh Nashville Bridge, aluminum stoptail.
TV Jones classic Bridge
Custom by me neck p90 7k a3.
Wired with 500k pots, bridge pull volume does coil split, bridge tone pull for series/out of phase.
I believe I used .15 pio cap on the neck and .047 pio on the bridge.
Switchcraft jack and switch (I didn't have gold so I spray painted the threads.

Don't be jealous, you should post closer shots of your sister's custom headstock and painting too...

[Buddha Pickups]

Custom jazzmaster.
Alder body with amber tint paint job.
Gold foil hum p90 neck a5. 7.5k
Gold foil humbucker bridge. A5. 8.5k
Switchcraft 3way and Jack.
. 015 pio cap.
Gotoh bridge
Kluson tuners
Treble bleed
Shielded cavities
Roller bridge

I wired in a tuned coil split on the volume push pull and in series/outofphase on the tone push pull. Tuned coil split is a coil split with a resistor in the ground path instead of straight to ground. So you get one full coil and just a portion of the coil. Sounds split but more strength and less noise.

[mozz]

First up is my 79 Gibson The Paul

Refinished in Tru oil
A2 humbuckers
Clear bobbins
1 bobbin formvar
1 bobbin plain enamel
Not waxed

4 push pulls
Volume does coil split each pickup
Neck tone does parallel
Bridge tone does series/out of phase

20210528_210831.jpg

I had a The Paul in the early 80's 81 or 82 mine only said Gibson on the headstock with a natural finish and recently I've been trying to find another. If you ever decide to sell it or want to trade for something please give me 1st dibs and I'm dead serious as long as the price is reasonable and I haven't found another one I'll buy it.

The Paul local for sale here in PA.
https://poconos.craigslist.org/msg/d/ea ... 05065.html

[Buddha Pickups]

First up is my 79 Gibson The Paul

Refinished in Tru oil
A2 humbuckers
Clear bobbins
1 bobbin formvar
1 bobbin plain enamel
Not waxed

4 push pulls
Volume does coil split each pickup
Neck tone does parallel
Bridge tone does series/out of phase

20210528_210831.jpg

I had a The Paul in the early 80's 81 or 82 mine only said Gibson on the headstock with a natural finish and recently I've been trying to find another. If you ever decide to sell it or want to trade for something please give me 1st dibs and I'm dead serious as long as the price is reasonable and I haven't found another one I'll buy it.

The Paul local for sale here in PA.
https://poconos.craigslist.org/msg/d/ea ... 05065.html
00C0C_ax3DZgNIVdhz_07K0ak_1200x900.jpg

I actually got mine from an AGF member somewhere between 2005 and 2010. I just traded a 3100 spalted for it (there's another AL that passed through my hands).
He let it go so cheap because it's had the typical gibson neck break that was repaired, albeit a good repair.
I did not know they were going for 1k range now.

[Buddha Pickups]

No longer have this one....

[Buddha Pickups]

Supro
Update 8/2024

Mods
Roller bridge
Treble bleed
.022 petp cap

[Buddha Pickups]

SX GG7
TV Jones Yandell humbucker
500k coil split push pull

[Buddha Pickups]

I can't remember what pickup I made for this one so I'll have to check and edit in the future.

Another $60 Firely bstock
Blacked out hardware
Bourns pots
Switchcraft jack
Treble bleed mod
Shielded cavities

[tobijohn]

I can't remember what pickup I made for this one so I'll have to check and edit in the future.

Another $60 Firely bstock
Blacked out hardware

20210528_210753.jpg

I've never seen that FF model before and it's not currently on the Guitars Garden website. What made it a b-stock?

[Partscaster]

Nice thread.

[tobijohn]

I've wanted to make a thread for reference for all my guitars once I've swapped in new pickups, electronics, and hardware if needed. Most of all I need a way to help me remember what guitar has what and I figured this would be a nice way to document everything.

This is actually a great idea. Rather than sprinkled in amongst all the other projects in the "What's on your Workbench thread, there will be just a single thread dedicated to all my crazy s***....

[Buddha Pickups]

I can't remember what pickup I made for this one so I'll have to check and edit in the future.

Another $60 Firely bstock
Blacked out hardware

20210528_210753.jpg

I've never seen that FF model before and it's not currently on the Guitars Garden website. What made it a b-stock?

I dont remember to be honest.
I have a gold one and a Pelham sparkle blue as well. They both got damaged/cracked necks in shipping so they were free. The gold one has been repaired but not the blue yet.

The TV yellow double cut one had a messed up pickup. The double cut white one had a couple broken strings.

I have 3 double cut 2 p90 ones as well. They were all ~$60 shipped ea. The ones that came broken were replaced free of charge in whatever color they had.
This ebay seller doesn't have bstocks like this anymore though. I got a few of the 338s for dirt cheap too, I think they were 90-$100 shipped.

The juniors and double cuts were said to have bridges placed in the wrong spot, but I replaced them with Wilkinson bridges with a little more intonation room and they intonated fine.

[tonebender]

Man, I had an "81 The Paul and that was a relic mess the hard way but that thing played like a dream and sounded amazing. I enjoyed playing it so much. I probably should have kept it.

[nomadh]

Custom jazzmaster.
Alder body with amber tint paint job.
Gold foil hum p90 neck a5. 7.5k
Gold foil humbucker bridge. A5. 8.5k
Switchcraft 3way and Jack.
. 015 pio cap.
Gotoh bridge
Kluson tuners

I wired in a tuned coil split on the volume push pull and in series/outofphase on the tone push pull. Tuned coil split is a coil split with a resistor in the ground path instead of straight to ground. So you get one full coil and just a portion of the coil. Sounds split but more strength and less noise.

20210608_004314.jpg20210608_001625.jpg20210608_001615.jpg

Is that like what gibson did on their 14 lp studios? I don't recall the feature name but I think that was the model. It was a modified coil split