Schecter Stiletto-6 FR

I just received email notification that my pickups have been built and my Bare Knuckle order dispatched. 4 week build time at present, I'm guessing in part due to the recent launch of their Boot Camp range and the fact that everyone was snowed-in for a bit. Now I will be watching the postal tracking online with anticipation! Too bad my scumbag boss sacked me in the interim when I took a couple of days off without pay after injuring my back ...
Sorry about your job, man! Is your back ok? And are you out of work at the moment?
 
I had been out of work for three years, then got this job on a special scheme for people over 50, then i had to take a couple of days off and the prick sacked me.

My back is on the mend. My wallet isn't

I've spent all of the money for parts already except for wiring and the pickguard material, but with labour etc and the fact that Steve's supposed to be routing my bass to install the battery box I bought I guess I am up for another $250 or so there. And let's not even think about the repairs that still have to be done to my car ... radiator, four ball joints, the transducer (speedo sender) and a transmission service ... enslaved to Mastercard at this point
 
I had been out of work for three years, then got this job on a special scheme for people over 50, then i had to take a couple of days off and the prick sacked me. My back is on the mend. My wallet isn't

Man you committed the greatest sin possible, you said bad back to a boss and didn't have paperwork showing he owned the bad back.
I'm a union man (as left wing as they come) and very sorry to say I would have sacked you.
Backs cost way too much money in small companies. Had you said "I want a couple of days off without pay" for almost any other reason you'd still have that job.
 
I had been out of work for three years, then got this job on a special scheme for people over 50, then i had to take a couple of days off and the prick sacked me.

My back is on the mend. My wallet isn't

I've spent all of the money for parts already except for wiring and the pickguard material, but with labour etc and the fact that Steve's supposed to be routing my bass to install the battery box I bought I guess I am up for another $250 or so there. And let's not even think about the repairs that still have to be done to my car ... radiator, four ball joints, the transducer (speedo sender) and a transmission service ... enslaved to Mastercard at this point
Sorry to hear that, Dave. Best of luck!
 
Man you committed the greatest sin possible, you said bad back to a boss and didn't have paperwork showing he owned the bad back.
I'm a union man (as left wing as they come) and very sorry to say I would have sacked you.
Backs cost way too much money in small companies. Had you said "I want a couple of days off without pay" for almost any other reason you'd still have that job.

SO---as a devote UNION MAN--- your suggestion --is to LIE --FLAT OUT and DECEIVE the very UNION and the Company you are claiming devotion to???

Sorry to hear about the back Dave---as a person living with 2 blown discs---I "get it"--- also sorry about the job!!

Hang in there !!!!
 
Well the job aggravated a previous, long-standing injury. A friend of mine who works in a worker's compensation law firm says I have a case to recover some costs

No union on site, by the way
 
SO---as a devote UNION MAN--- your suggestion --is to LIE --FLAT OUT and DECEIVE the very UNION and the Company you are claiming devotion to???

Having (long ago) been a shop steward and have the ability to detach emotion and look at the practical reality of most situations, YES.
Each country has it's unique differences.
The Aust system ... companies will support and pay for workers hurt on the job but NOT take responsibility for injury received elsewhere.
When Dave said "bad back" with no history recorded of injury with existing company he sacked himself "so to speak" I've seen it MANY times before.
It stinks but that's how it is :-(
 
I'm more concerned about how long my package might take to get through Australia Post from Melbourne after ANZAC Day, to be honest.

I paid for these parts back in March ... just keen to get my hands on them
 
Well apparently my BKP package has made it as far as Sunshine West today so hopefully it gets to Netley tomorrow and I'll have it on Wednesday, or at least by Friday. My tech is available Wednesdays or Fridays, so either is fine.

Speaking of the work that he did though I am concerned that the neck rout is too close to the bridge and should have been routed toward the neck pocket, given that it is 24 frets. I lined up my Cold Sweat that I have laying around on the top of the guitar and with it hard against the end of the fretboard the mounting screw holes line up with those for the neck single coil, meaning that the magnets line up. Where he has routed it now it is more like the screw coil of the humbucker lines up with the current single coil. Looking at other 24 fret guitars with humbuckers pretty much all of them have the pickup as close to the fretboard as possible. So it looks like the rout will have to be enlarged toward the neck like an Ibanez Jem. The stock pickguard screw arrangement will still work, but the pickguard would be open to the neck ... alternatively, if that is not practical, I still think the gap between the neck socket and the pickup rout needs to be at least halved

This means I will have removed slightly more wood than is strictly necessary but still not bad

If you look at the photos above you will see what I mean
 
I guess the new Schecter Sun Valley Shredders might have a similar neck pickup placement, that's the only one I can think of. Baritones though have the same issue. I am starting to think that if I place the pickup in the current rout and wire it so that the coil closest to the neck is active in a coil split that won't be any less bassy than the current single coil there and with the other coil behind it active in humbucking mode that will be more bassy than the second position on the current 5-way switch (neck+middle). I have a bit of a dislike for neck pickups anyway so this might work. In the end I will probably trust Schecter to have gotten the placement of their neck pickup into a reasonable position via testing rather than my internet-informed guesswork.

This is a photo of the neck pickup on a Sun Valley Super Shredder. For all of the stuff about pickup placement and Les Paul neck sounds this reviewer described the neck pickup on a SVSS as providing "a sort of 'Les Paul' sound on a guitar that has pretty much no resemblance to a Les Paul whatsoever." What gives with that! :ROFLMAO:

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Well apparently the package was processed by Netley Parcel Centre this morning so it is finally in my state and hopefully I will have it tomorrow or Friday.

So I called Steve and the plan is this:

1. Neck pickup in the existing rout but rotated so that the slug coil is closest to the neck. Mini toggle DPDT for a coil split of the neck pickup in the position indicated in the photo below. When engaged the screw coil will be grounded out and the slug coil will function in the same position as the current EMG-HZ single coil.

2. Bridge pickup orientated in the conventional manner so that the screw coil is closest to the bridge. A separate mini toggle DPDT (luckily I bought two) for a coil split of the bridge pickup in the position indicated in the photo below. When engaged the screw coil will be grounded out and the slug coil will remain active. This is how bridge pickups are usually wired with a coil split, as the coil closest to the bridge can be too shrill. Separate switches will enable me to engage the neck split without worrying about the bridge pickup.

The guitar's neck seems to have settled since being tuned down two steps so he will need to adjust the trussrod slightly to remove the fret buzz. This is generally what seems to happen when you tune down. It takes a while for the wood to relax.

You might be wondering how you tell which coil is the screw and which is the slug on a Black Hawk with its rails and lack of screws. Well according to Ben French at BKP the coil with the wires coming out of it is the screw coil, and that is certainly the case with the BKPs I have with screws (e.g., the Cold Sweat). This is also useful to remember with regard to the double screw pickups like Warpigs, Juggernauts, and Aftermaths.

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