The tone was on about 3 (out of 10) and picked up a bit of an acoustic tone. My newest project was to put a Godin piezo under the bridge on this guitar, and now I can blend in as much acoustic tone as I want with the pu, or use alone for solo blues performance. I'll post something soon to show how it all sounds. BTW, I now use 11's on it (most archtops use 12-14's for tone & vol) and it sounds really good to me + I can bend the strings easier)...
Let me know when you get around to installing the professional bridge. Very curious to see the type you use and how it sounds. Keep up the good work and keep me posted.
I just got mine. (Love it!) I had a question about the bridge. I had on the reviews its a good idea to change the bridge. The man who wrote the review suggested a Stewmac. I spoke to a repair man who said Stews are NOT good bridges. He recommended a Gibson type tune a matic. I personally like the ebony myself. Can you tell me if you changed bridges and what the differences between bridges? (i.e. metal, woods, such as Ebony or rosewood) What would you recommend? Thanks!
Got to admit when i saw the first vid inthis series my first thoughts were, Oh God he's going to drill holes in that poor guitar. But you did a really good job well done sounds great.
@luis22880 I used a piece of 1/8" flat brass that I had to reinforce the back of the pickguard, otherwise
it would be not solid enough to support the pickup. And I'm using D'Addario jazz lights (12-52's) after trying a few other brands and string guages....
Excellent sound... is the KA pup one of the Korean imports? Did you use 250K or 500K pots? Any issues with the knob placement? I'm contemplating a similar project.
I used 250k pots and the tone control is fine, as you don't want too much treble for jazz. And there were no issues with the knob placement - they're in good position for tweaking - I basically copied other archtops I saw on-line.
I´m impressed with your work on the guitar.I will put the same pu on mine,and would like to know the values for volume and tone and the capacitor you used.
As mentioned above, feedback is an issue and amp placement is critical if playing with a group. I usually don't play with a drummer, but am sure I could if I eq'd it perfectly. Re flatwounds, I just found them a bit dull with my pu, and decided the 1/2 flatwounds R350 Half Rounds (Dadarrio Jazz Light 12-52's) ideal for my setup. Not too bright, but not too dull either,,,
Low frequency feedback is definitely an issue with this guitar and placement of your amp and EQing are critical. With the optimal tone setup on your amp (mine happens to be 0-1 for bass, 4 mid, and 7-8 treble & angle your amp slightly away from you (1/2 towards audience / 1/2 towards your bandmates helps.
Re flatwounds, sound's not as bright / acoustic, but this guitar will never give that really smooth jazz sound that a 335 or wider bodied jazz guitar can give if that's what you're after...
Mine is a side (pickguard) mounted Kent Armstrong HJGS-1 mini-humbucker which works very well for me, and
nicely amplifies the sound without changing it much - and doesn't affect the acoustic sound or volume. Any small side-mounted jazz pu should work, and your guitar shop may be able to dial in best the pu for tone & output to suit your taste and style of playing. Also, get the best quality pots/jack you can find as mine were cheaper ones, and are getting noisy already...
nice playing bro the guitar sounds nice too:) i played one of these in a music store recently
didnt really care for the feel of it . probably because im accoustomed to the 25.5 scale and this has a 24.75 scale so who know i do know its very lightweight and u make it sound good:)
I have electric strings on it here and I believe they're D'Addario 12-56 jazz mediums. It came with bronze wound strings, but they were a little too bright for my taste and these give me more bass...
Thks! Tthe controls are right where I want them when I'm soling. Originally had larger vol/tone knobs, but found these mini knobs in a catalogue and they seemed to suit the guitar.
What a great sound, this reminds me of the Charlie Christian sound. Whilst the sound is acoustic, the pickup adds just the right amount of warmth for a more be-bop sound.
i'm GOING to buy a godin 5th avenue. but im torn between the kingpin and straight up acoustic and then adding a pickup myself like you did. whats the advantage of the floating pickup verses the p-90? whats the difference in sound? how much did it cost for total installation parts included?
I tried the Kingpin briefly in the music store and it sounded really great! When I bought my 5th ave, the KP wasn't due out for another 4-5 months and I couldn't wait. The p/u and parts/labour (I did a lot myslef) cost about $160 and I love my guitar sound, but it was tricky to get everything sounding and aligning perfectly and if I had to do it again I'd go with the KP. So unless you're very adept at this stuff or have a p/u in mind that you want to try - I'd get the electrified version...
great job! you guitar finish is more of a brown sunburst, as all of the guitars i have seen to be a cherry burst color. i too in the future will be installing electronics on a 5th ave. guitar.
Yeah, there's not too much of a cherry finish but I love it none the less. The best of luck on your project and hope to see/hear the final results posted.
That is a great sound you've ended up with. Well done. I have the same 5th avenue. Very pleased with it but missing exactly what you have now with yours. I think Ill follow you down that road.
Can you tell me what sort of strings you have on it now. ?
A good guitar tech could easily do the installation and wiring. I did it myself for the experience but it took a lot of trial & error - I'd probably get a professional to do it next time.
I used contact cement and small bolts to attach it the the pickguard. I had to re-enforce the back of the pickguard with 1/8brass (plastic would also work) to eliminate flexing and movement of the pu.
It still moves a little but it's not noticable. I made a small slot in the pickguard to center it over the strings and the distance to the strings worked out pretty close to perfect - about 1/4".
I did this with a Framus (1950's model dont know which one) which had two small holes each side of the end of the fingerboard/ neck end and built a small brass frame with the side nearest the fingerboard being cut in the centre and bent back into two wings which lined up with the sides of the neck linning up the screw holes and fixed it to the neck, apparently the original had similar.
Vol/Tone fitted onto a plate and arm screwed to the pickguard mount.
I've seen that setup on flattops and it seems like the most rigid mounting. On my Godin, the end of the neck is tapered in a way that, that mounting would be very difficult, so I went with pickguard mount.
I wish i still had it to play here and show the setup, but it belonged to a friend and i did all his tech work and conversions, when he found out it was worth over £800 he auctioned it on e bay to pay for a Gibson Les Paul.
It was a good strong setup, rigid, did not touch the top of the guitar, the height , pickup a Gotoh PAF type, was fixed according to the bridge height he preferred before i made the rig. I made a new pickguard, and fitted electrics on a plate and bar to the mount.
The Vol was a 250k Log and the Tone 250k Lin with i think a 223 capacitor, we did experiment with that as i recall and got some nice tones. We did consider a small 6 pole switch with 6 capacitors (Varitone) , but left it off in the end. I think i have some photos somewhere i will try and find them and send them. i also built a new bridge for it with a brass saddle which he used to change occasionally for the original saddle, and it sounded brighter.
i have an epiphone emporer which u were so kind to post a nice oomment on i didnt like the stockHB it had on it (guitr was made in korea in 96)so i installed a KA mini HB on it a few years back made a huge difference in the sound and once again ty for your more than nice comment.... good playing to btw
Good tone and great playing! I also have a 5th Ave. and considered installing a pickup. The Kent Armstrong seems to be a strong contender. Thanks for posting the clip!
Yeah,it's called a Kingpin and they were available fromGodin last fall. I did read about them before I started this project, but
wanted a unique sound and didn't like the body mounted P90's. They're great pickup's, but having a few guitars already with P90's, I find them not ideal for jazz...
It's definitely got that old jazz sound like Charlie and Johnny Smith. I think the laminate
top sounds good because they didn't put 10+ coats of vibration killing lacquers like many luthiers do - it's a very fine/low gloss finish like almost like no finish at all...
The tone was on about 3 (out of 10) and picked up a bit of an acoustic tone. My newest project was to put a Godin piezo under the bridge on this guitar, and now I can blend in as much acoustic tone as I want with the pu, or use alone for solo blues performance. I'll post something soon to show how it all sounds. BTW, I now use 11's on it (most archtops use 12-14's for tone & vol) and it sounds really good to me + I can bend the strings easier)...
wildkattraynor 2 months ago
Let me know when you get around to installing the professional bridge. Very curious to see the type you use and how it sounds. Keep up the good work and keep me posted.
Bigasstbone 5 months ago
I just got mine. (Love it!) I had a question about the bridge. I had on the reviews its a good idea to change the bridge. The man who wrote the review suggested a Stewmac. I spoke to a repair man who said Stews are NOT good bridges. He recommended a Gibson type tune a matic. I personally like the ebony myself. Can you tell me if you changed bridges and what the differences between bridges? (i.e. metal, woods, such as Ebony or rosewood) What would you recommend? Thanks!
Bigasstbone 6 months ago
@Bigasstbone I kept the original bridge and it seems to sound ok. I'll have it professionally
fitted someday so that there's no gaps between it and the guitar. Ebony would no doubt
sound richer - metal may brighten an already bright sound up too much...
wildkattraynor 6 months ago
Fantastic!
wildkattraynor 8 months ago
hey, i was just wondering were the jack port for the amp is on your guitar?
i'm trying to do something similar and your help would be great thanks :)
SONOFRHELL123 9 months ago
Got to admit when i saw the first vid inthis series my first thoughts were, Oh God he's going to drill holes in that poor guitar. But you did a really good job well done sounds great.
Bluebuthappy182 9 months ago
@Bluebuthappy182 Thanks! I had a hard time deciding whether to go with a pickguard mounted
1/8" input or a 1/4" one installed at the "strap button" position. It took a large (1/2" hole) and I was nervous
drilling such a big hole. As it turned out, I'm happy I did it this way...
wildkattraynor 6 months ago
How long did it take to put the pick up?
luis22880 9 months ago
Did you reinforce the pickgaurd and what kind of strings did you use?
I'm thinking of adding the floating pickup to my 5th avenue.
luis22880 9 months ago
@luis22880 I used a piece of 1/8" flat brass that I had to reinforce the back of the pickguard, otherwise
it would be not solid enough to support the pickup. And I'm using D'Addario jazz lights (12-52's) after trying a few other brands and string guages....
wildkattraynor 6 months ago
Have you compared this with the kingpin version of this guitar?
razormusik 10 months ago
@razormusik
I did try one and the Kingpin while more versatile, is not as jazzy sounding imo,..
wildkattraynor 6 months ago
wow amazing tone!!Greeting´s from Denmark
Mr4000killer 11 months ago
Are all of the electronics attached to the pick-guard? Great tone and playing!
ckaGypsy 1 year ago
@ckaGypsy
Thanks and yes, they're all mounted to the back of the reinforced pickguard.
wildkattraynor 1 year ago
sounds like a million dollars
chqtarzan 1 year ago
Excellent sound... is the KA pup one of the Korean imports? Did you use 250K or 500K pots? Any issues with the knob placement? I'm contemplating a similar project.
dhouse1946 1 year ago
@dhouse1946
I used 250k pots and the tone control is fine, as you don't want too much treble for jazz. And there were no issues with the knob placement - they're in good position for tweaking - I basically copied other archtops I saw on-line.
wildkattraynor 1 year ago
Nothing like a great guitar put to good use. That's an amazing jazz sound.
WoWintosh 1 year ago
Good combination. Like the idea of putting the knobs in the pickguard and not drilling holes in the top. The tone is nice. Nice playing too.
cyoteblues 1 year ago
that sounds excellent
MitchTenderness 1 year ago
smooth lol
pridefighter93 1 year ago
Very nice.
I just got a godin kingpin this month.
Could you please help me with what strings are suitable for this guitar.
Cheers!
fayyazkc81 1 year ago
Very nice,I have the same guitar just use a stick on pick up as i use the scratch plate.
jennyomalley 1 year ago
sounds beautiful! nice work
cpljazz11 1 year ago
beautiful playing
RcUniverseGuy 1 year ago
I´m impressed with your work on the guitar.I will put the same pu on mine,and would like to know the values for volume and tone and the capacitor you used.
thanks and keep on with the good playing...
hugowester 1 year ago
@hugowester 250k works well, as KA mini-humbuckers are fairly bright sounding
to start with.
wildkattraynor 1 year ago
As mentioned above, feedback is an issue and amp placement is critical if playing with a group. I usually don't play with a drummer, but am sure I could if I eq'd it perfectly. Re flatwounds, I just found them a bit dull with my pu, and decided the 1/2 flatwounds R350 Half Rounds (Dadarrio Jazz Light 12-52's) ideal for my setup. Not too bright, but not too dull either,,,
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
you should be very proud. its a beautifull an some of the best archtops that i ever heard
tcmguita 2 years ago
it is Fender Amp?
revesdours 2 years ago
No, it's a little 15 watt Yorkville practice amp...
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
How does the sound of the 5th Ave with a floating pickup compare with the P90 equipped Kingpin?
amusiathread 2 years ago
I heard the Kingpin ony briefly, but it seems that the P90's are hotter and brighter - so not as mellow for jazz in my opinion.
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
Low frequency feedback is definitely an issue with this guitar and placement of your amp and EQing are critical. With the optimal tone setup on your amp (mine happens to be 0-1 for bass, 4 mid, and 7-8 treble & angle your amp slightly away from you (1/2 towards audience / 1/2 towards your bandmates helps.
Re flatwounds, sound's not as bright / acoustic, but this guitar will never give that really smooth jazz sound that a 335 or wider bodied jazz guitar can give if that's what you're after...
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
Mine is a side (pickguard) mounted Kent Armstrong HJGS-1 mini-humbucker which works very well for me, and
nicely amplifies the sound without changing it much - and doesn't affect the acoustic sound or volume. Any small side-mounted jazz pu should work, and your guitar shop may be able to dial in best the pu for tone & output to suit your taste and style of playing. Also, get the best quality pots/jack you can find as mine were cheaper ones, and are getting noisy already...
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
nice playing bro the guitar sounds nice too:) i played one of these in a music store recently
didnt really care for the feel of it . probably because im accoustomed to the 25.5 scale and this has a 24.75 scale so who know i do know its very lightweight and u make it sound good:)
steveeolio 2 years ago
I have electric strings on it here and I believe they're D'Addario 12-56 jazz mediums. It came with bronze wound strings, but they were a little too bright for my taste and these give me more bass...
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
sweet tone and i love where you placed the knobs!!
FahQposeurfag 2 years ago 2
Thks! Tthe controls are right where I want them when I'm soling. Originally had larger vol/tone knobs, but found these mini knobs in a catalogue and they seemed to suit the guitar.
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
Inspiring. Thanks. What a great tone and style.
peterfclark 2 years ago
What a great sound, this reminds me of the Charlie Christian sound. Whilst the sound is acoustic, the pickup adds just the right amount of warmth for a more be-bop sound.
RedBankKid 2 years ago
thanks alot. it sounds really nice by the way.
robbyday826 2 years ago
i'm GOING to buy a godin 5th avenue. but im torn between the kingpin and straight up acoustic and then adding a pickup myself like you did. whats the advantage of the floating pickup verses the p-90? whats the difference in sound? how much did it cost for total installation parts included?
robbyday826 2 years ago
I tried the Kingpin briefly in the music store and it sounded really great! When I bought my 5th ave, the KP wasn't due out for another 4-5 months and I couldn't wait. The p/u and parts/labour (I did a lot myslef) cost about $160 and I love my guitar sound, but it was tricky to get everything sounding and aligning perfectly and if I had to do it again I'd go with the KP. So unless you're very adept at this stuff or have a p/u in mind that you want to try - I'd get the electrified version...
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
Nice tone. Man that thing sounds sweet!
gorblimey61 2 years ago
I thought it was 5K (Gibson style) pots but have to check and will post a new reply soon.
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
Incidentally what capacitor value did you put on the tone and what was the K value of the pickup and Vol and Tone pots, Linear or Log
carroj9 2 years ago
great job! you guitar finish is more of a brown sunburst, as all of the guitars i have seen to be a cherry burst color. i too in the future will be installing electronics on a 5th ave. guitar.
sbkwas 2 years ago
Yeah, there's not too much of a cherry finish but I love it none the less. The best of luck on your project and hope to see/hear the final results posted.
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
That is a great sound you've ended up with. Well done. I have the same 5th avenue. Very pleased with it but missing exactly what you have now with yours. I think Ill follow you down that road.
Can you tell me what sort of strings you have on it now. ?
Many thanks and very nice playing as well
rek525 3 years ago
Thanks for your comments! I have D'Addario jazz lights (12-52's) and they seem to be a good fit for this instrument
and my playing style. Good luck and pls post videos of your progress if possible.
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
beautiful.
kennygob 3 years ago
Looks good and sounds even better!
davo171 3 years ago
A good guitar tech could easily do the installation and wiring. I did it myself for the experience but it took a lot of trial & error - I'd probably get a professional to do it next time.
wildkattraynor 3 years ago
it is was well worth the effort. Very sweet tone. Nice!
toptenhits 3 years ago
Can you please explain how you installed the floating pickup to it?
carthagepropaganda 3 years ago
I used contact cement and small bolts to attach it the the pickguard. I had to re-enforce the back of the pickguard with 1/8brass (plastic would also work) to eliminate flexing and movement of the pu.
It still moves a little but it's not noticable. I made a small slot in the pickguard to center it over the strings and the distance to the strings worked out pretty close to perfect - about 1/4".
wildkattraynor 3 years ago
Do you think someone at a guitarshop could do this for me?
carthagepropaganda 3 years ago
I did this with a Framus (1950's model dont know which one) which had two small holes each side of the end of the fingerboard/ neck end and built a small brass frame with the side nearest the fingerboard being cut in the centre and bent back into two wings which lined up with the sides of the neck linning up the screw holes and fixed it to the neck, apparently the original had similar.
Vol/Tone fitted onto a plate and arm screwed to the pickguard mount.
carroj9 2 years ago
THat's awesome - I'd love to see/hear it.
I've seen that setup on flattops and it seems like the most rigid mounting. On my Godin, the end of the neck is tapered in a way that, that mounting would be very difficult, so I went with pickguard mount.
wildkattraynor 2 years ago
I wish i still had it to play here and show the setup, but it belonged to a friend and i did all his tech work and conversions, when he found out it was worth over £800 he auctioned it on e bay to pay for a Gibson Les Paul.
It was a good strong setup, rigid, did not touch the top of the guitar, the height , pickup a Gotoh PAF type, was fixed according to the bridge height he preferred before i made the rig. I made a new pickguard, and fitted electrics on a plate and bar to the mount.
carroj9 2 years ago
The Vol was a 250k Log and the Tone 250k Lin with i think a 223 capacitor, we did experiment with that as i recall and got some nice tones. We did consider a small 6 pole switch with 6 capacitors (Varitone) , but left it off in the end. I think i have some photos somewhere i will try and find them and send them. i also built a new bridge for it with a brass saddle which he used to change occasionally for the original saddle, and it sounded brighter.
carroj9 2 years ago
Sure, just research the wiring setup before hand as the instructions with the pu's are usually pretty vague...
wildkattraynor 3 years ago
that's a nice sound.
would you say a project like this would be doable for someone with limited soldering ability?
peppersfan87 3 years ago
What gauge and brand strings are you using?
TheTritoneTerror 3 years ago
the kingpin sound like this?
sonatonemaster 3 years ago
I haven't heard a Kingpin yet. I'm sure it sounds sweet, but will have a different tone with the body mounted P90...
wildkattraynor 3 years ago
Thanks man and looking forward to your future postings...
wildkattraynor 3 years ago
i have an epiphone emporer which u were so kind to post a nice oomment on i didnt like the stockHB it had on it (guitr was made in korea in 96)so i installed a KA mini HB on it a few years back made a huge difference in the sound and once again ty for your more than nice comment.... good playing to btw
steveeolio 3 years ago
Wow, great job! Thanks for the video :)
mojocaster 3 years ago
great sound
nice playing too
well done wildkatt !
talou
pictal 3 years ago
Good tone and great playing! I also have a 5th Ave. and considered installing a pickup. The Kent Armstrong seems to be a strong contender. Thanks for posting the clip!
dirtbagdf 3 years ago
just so you know, there is a 5th avenue out there with a p90 mounted on it stock.
save a bit of time, unless you're into that sort of thing.
hatethismusic 3 years ago
Yeah,it's called a Kingpin and they were available fromGodin last fall. I did read about them before I started this project, but
wanted a unique sound and didn't like the body mounted P90's. They're great pickup's, but having a few guitars already with P90's, I find them not ideal for jazz...
wildkattraynor 3 years ago
yeah, i find they get pretty close to charlie christian territory, which i'm still psyched on.
i'm just freaking out that a guitar made from a laminate can sound that good. and the neck feels like a strat. dream guitar anyone?
hatethismusic 3 years ago
It's definitely got that old jazz sound like Charlie and Johnny Smith. I think the laminate
top sounds good because they didn't put 10+ coats of vibration killing lacquers like many luthiers do - it's a very fine/low gloss finish like almost like no finish at all...
wildkattraynor 3 years ago
Beautiful tone and great playing, Nice work bro.
jeeves251 3 years ago
Thks man! When are YOU gonna post some more amazing guitar/finger-picking vids?
wildkattraynor 3 years ago