NGD 120th Anniversary Melody Maker

Since I can't use the SD Vintage P90 in my Melody Maker I had to see what it sounds like so I put this guitar back together and put it in here. It sounds great, best this guitar has ever sounded. I had a SD Custom P90 in it before, the vintage is better. Now I have 2 P90 guitars, it's like a NGD all over again.

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As for the Melody Maker, I've figured out what to do to fit a normal size P90 in it so I'll probably try an SD Antiquity or something in it. That will be a project for another day and after I get another pickup. For now I'm just going to play it as it is.
 
DirtySteve said:
I might just remove the spacers, I can't imagine how they can have any effect on the tone. I wonder if it isn't just a "vintage correct" thing to make the pickup taller because back in the day they weren't height adjustable.

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The SD Vintage P90 and the SD Antiquity P90’s are 7/8” tall. All the other SD P90s are about 3/4” tall. How tall is that Kent P90?

Concerning SD P90s: My favorite combo is a Vintage P90 in the neck and a Custom P90 in the bridge that are installed in one of my Hamer’s.

I also like Gibson P90s, Wolfetone P90s, and the “too-expensive” Kinman P90 Hx “Zero Hum”.
 
syscokid said:
The SD Vintage P90 and the SD Antiquity P90’s are 7/8” tall. All the other SD P90s are about 3/4” tall. How tall is that Kent P90?

Concerning SD P90s: My favorite combo is a Vintage P90 in the neck and a Custom P90 in the bridge that are installed in one of my Hamer’s.

I also like Gibson P90s, Wolfetone P90s, and the “too-expensive” Kinman P90 Hx “Zero Hum”.
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I didn't realize the Antiquity was also that tall, it doesn't have a warning about it like the Vintage does. The Kent Armstrong is 5/8" and it has short screw poles that don't extend thru the baseplate, that's why it fits.
 
syscokid said:
The SD Vintage P90 and the SD Antiquity P90’s are 7/8” tall. All the other SD P90s are about 3/4” tall. How tall is that Kent P90?

Concerning SD P90s: My favorite combo is a Vintage P90 in the neck and a Custom P90 in the bridge that are installed in one of my Hamer’s.

I also like Gibson P90s, Wolfetone P90s, and the “too-expensive” Kinman P90 Hx “Zero Hum”.
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If I'm not mistaken you were the one that told me about the Custom P90 back when I was building that guitar. I forgot about Wolfetone, thanks for reminding me. :yesway:
 
DirtySteve said:
Since I can't use the SD Vintage P90 in my Melody Maker I had to see what it sounds like so I put this guitar back together and put it in here. It sounds great, best this guitar has ever sounded. I had a SD Custom P90 in it before, the vintage is better. Now I have 2 P90 guitars, it's like a NGD all over again.

GN3wpxR.jpg


As for the Melody Maker, I've figured out what to do to fit a normal size P90 in it so I'll probably try an SD Antiquity or something in it. That will be a project for another day and after I get another pickup. For now I'm just going to play it as it is.
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If you want to sell that body just blink twice :blink:

Was that once or twice? :victoire::run:
 
I've been going back and forth between these 2 guitars all day. I'm really starting to like the Kent Armstong in the Melody Maker. It's not bad at all and comparing the tone next to the SD Vintage P90 it really does have that P90 vibe once I got past my mental block that wouldn't let me hear it. It just needs to be a little further away from the strings but there's no adjustment to it, it's bottomed out in the cavity. I think I've figured out what to do about that. I mentioned that it's the neck version of that pickup, I wonder if the bridge version would be the same, or better. :hmmm:

I remember now why I gave up on the P90 Tele, the more I played it the less I like the sound of it. It's not the pickup or the feel, it's something in the tone of the wood. Almost all the bodies I bought for my builds are Black Korina (Limba) and they all have this same "thing" I guess all I've done in building guitars is learned that I just don't like that wood. If that's truely the case it sure was an expensive lesson. :facepalm: I built one guitar with a Mahogany body and it was my best sounding build, unfortunately I don't like the feel of that guitar, it just isn't comfortable to play.

So yes @C-Grin , that body is for sale. *wink*wink*
 
DirtySteve said:
I've been going back and forth between these 2 guitars all day. I'm really starting to like the Kent Armstong in the Melody Maker. It's not bad at all and comparing the tone next to the SD Vintage P90 it really does have that P90 vibe once I got past my mental block that wouldn't let me hear it. It just needs to be a little further away from the strings but there's no adjustment to it, it's bottomed out in the cavity. I think I've figured out what to do about that. I mentioned that it's the neck version of that pickup, I wonder if the bridge version would be the same, or better. :hmmm:

I remember now why I gave up on the P90 Tele, the more I played it the less I like the sound of it. It's not the pickup or the feel, it's something in the tone of the wood. Almost all the bodies I bought for my builds are Black Korina (Limba) and they all have this same "thing" I guess all I've done in building guitars is learned that I just don't like that wood. If that's truely the case it sure was an expensive lesson. :facepalm: I built one guitar with a Mahogany body and it was my best sounding build, unfortunately I don't like the feel of that guitar, it just isn't comfortable to play.

So yes @C-Grin , that body is for sale. *wink*wink*
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Million dollar check in the mail. :celebrate2:
 
Actually I don't know what it's worth, I haven't done my research on how to price this kind of thing. I paid right at $400 for it raw, then put a Tru-oil finish on it. Maybe a little stain first it seems like.. The hardware and wiring would be included free, but not the pickup.
 
If anyone is still following along I've decided I'm going to make this Vintage P90 work in here and this is what I'm up against... Hold my beer!

The original pickups don't have a baseplate, I assume that's the reason for this plate mounted in the bottom of the pickup cavity, but I don't know if that's why. Then the pickups mount to this plate using machine screws and that's also how they mounted the Kent Armstrong pickup when someone replaced the original...

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If I remove the plate, which I will have to, then there is a slot in the wood cut out under that plate (to allow for the pickup mounting screws to pass thru the plate) that I will have to fill in order to wood mount the new pickup...

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Then I still have to deepen the cavity or at the very least drill holes or dig out a trough to accommodate the screw poles (now that I've removed the spacers) that are sticking out thru the bottom of the base plate.

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Also, the base plate mounting screws are now too long and will protrude thru the top of the pickup unless I replace them with shorter screws or cut these off. I was going to steal some from another P90 I have (there's one of them in the pic above), but the threads are different and I don't know if they'll hold if I just thread them in there. And! The cover doesn't fit over the turned up sides of the baseplate so I'll have to modify the cover as well. :rolf: :fingersx:
 
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DirtySteve said:
It's got the thin body with maple cap and belly contour. It's really comfortable and not neck heavy at all. This wasn't at all on my radar until I saw it hanging on the used wall at GC. At first I thought it was a studio. I've been wanting a P90 LP for a long time and this fit the bill perfectly.

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Very nice , not sure how I missed this thread.
Love the guitar.
 
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If you drill shallow holes in a straight line then clean it up with a chisel you can create the space for the screw poles.
It wont be pretty and perfect, but it works; I have done exactly that.

This thread made me break out my P90 guitar - an LP type AXL thing I built out from a bare husk. Gibson P90 Treble (bridge) pickup. I found some frets had lifted along the bass side of the fretboard.
(I didn't need to drill those holes on this guitar)

So, it sat until this past weekend I glued them down, but a couple did not sit perfectly tight to the fretboard.
I did another round of fret level and crowning. Came out great!

The pickup sounds great, but I don't recall what it ohms out at. I think in the high 7k range.
Bought it used, don't know the age.

The strings were a bit old and the intonation was a bit off. I considered getting another wraparound bridge with adjustable saddles, but after string change, it is almost dead on.

I wanted to use this guitar for my Punk submission, but it was out of service at the time.

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