Members mymindsok Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 Problem: I have a beautiful Brawley Attack and while I love the guitar, I'm not in love with the Pickups. Evidently, the standard Strat pups won't fit and in "Blue Guitar" Steve Ahola describes them this way: "narrow base strat-style pickups are more common than I had thought and that companies like Kramer have used them on their SSH guitars." http://www.blueguitar.org/new/articles/blue_gtr/gtr/brawley_revisited.pdf The pickup winder that I've been talking to (D Allen) has evidently never heard of these style pickups and has suggested that I buy regular Strat pickups and then cut down the bases to fit. The problem with that is that I don't want to buy an expensive set of pickups and then risk ruining them, trying to make em fit and I cant cut up the guitar because it doesn't use a pick guard and routing it would ruin the looks. Have any of you ever solved this kind of problem? If so, how? I guess that the final option might be having the stock pickups rewound but I've never had that done that before either, so your advice or opinions would be appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TunaNugget Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 Not familiar with your guitar (pretty!), but I know Yamaha people often have to resort to routing out a bit to change pickups. It's the dark side of having close manufacturing tolerances. I have a metalworking mill that would do it easy-peasey without hurting the surrounding finish, but guitar folks don't seem to use those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretmonster Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 I guess you're just fussier than I am. The only problem I ever had with mine was the stock nut as the string spacing at the nut was waaaay too tight for me (1&5/8ths I think). I replaced it with a Fender spec'd tusq nut and the thing plays and sounds so much better to my ears. The neck is plenty wide at the nut to accomodate the change. This guitar is my jangle box (poor man's Ric) and I really like the way it sounds with the stockers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mymindsok Posted September 8, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 I guess you're just fussier than I am. The only problem I ever had with mine was the stock nut as the string spacing at the nut was waaaay too tight for me (1&5/8ths I think). I replaced it with a Fender spec'd tusq nut and the thing plays and sounds so much better to my ears. The neck is plenty wide at the nut to accommodate the change. This guitar is my jangle box (poor man's Ric) and I really like the way it sounds with the stockers. Your E to E string spacing was 1 5/8"? Are you sure? On my guitar the whole nut is only 1 5/8" wide. Maybe we have different guitars... Whatever... My strings are spaced at 1 3/8" and thats either the sames as or very close to my Strat, so everything copasetic. Unfortunately, the PU's sound way to dark for me and I would be much happier if they were lighter, brighter and more Vintage sounding. COme to think of it, the pots that came stock in this guitar are 500K. Would 250K's sound better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretmonster Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 Regarding the nut spacing, although I have repaced the nut on virtually all of my guitars, including my two US Hamers, once I've measured and installed I basically forget about it. But I do remember that guitar having the tightest string spacing at the nut of any I own. My 90's vintage MIMs were even a bit more open spaced before I put Fender American spec'd nuts on all of them. That guitar looks almost identical to mine and I just assumed it was the Threat LTD model. Mine has a three piece Swamp Ash body with a maple veneer top and the last thing I would describe it as is dark. After taking a better look at yours, it is different. Mine has more of a photo quilt finish. Is it possible that yours is basswood? PS Installing a tusq nut would actually brighten up the sound (not to mention improve the overall fidelity). And I never mess with pots and caps in a quality guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mymindsok Posted September 8, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 Well lets see.... The body on my Brawley is three nicely mated pieces of swamp ash, with a carved top instead of a cap. The neck width and radius are the same as my EJ Strat. The only difference is that the EJ has a fatter neck and a two piece Alder body. As far as I can tell the nut is still the stock Graphite item. It's absolutely first class in build quality and as far as I'm concerned, its just as good a guitar as the EJ, despite the fact that the Fender costs $1300 more. I guess most of the Brawely's came with Gotoh locking tuners, roller trees, a graphite nut, Wilkinson trem, recessed strap locks, shielded control and pickup cavities, and all that other stuff and I cant-for-the-life-of-me understand why Fender cant deliver better hardware, considering their pricing. I'm definitely keeping my eyes open for another one of these guitars and if I can solve this little pickup problem, I'll try to snag a dual humbucker model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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