Favorite H150 and H157 Mods

[SouthpawGuy]

Being very good at DIY, destroy it yourself, I tend to avoid customising guitars myself !

 

My '03 150 was modded by its' previous owner with Kluson tuners, Tonepros hardware, a pair of Duncan Pearly Gates, a poker chip and a Jimmy Page wiring harness from jonesyblues

 

[Bonefish]

Favorite Mods, hmmm...I can think of a few. I kind of wish I had one stock H150 in addition to my macked out H150 Goldtop...maybe one day.

 

9) Complete rewiring 50's style w/graded CTS pots, Luxe Bumblebee Caps (0.022uF B, 0.015uF N), all braided shield wire.

 

 

How'd the rewiring work out? What type of change did it bring to the tone.

 

[HANGAR18]

I like having a black H157 but I also want to know what the wood looks like under the black paint.

I wonder if they painted the guitar black because they were in a hurry to make some guitars, or if they did so because the wood grain didn't look good.

 

I wonder how much it would cost to have the black paint on the maple top removed in order to have a look and then either reshoot the black if the wood looks bad or apply a natural finish if the wood looks good. I don't suppose there is any way to know for sure why a guitar was made black as opposed to a translucent finish.

[SouthpawGuy]

I like having a black H157 but I also want to know what the wood looks like under the black paint.

I wonder if they painted the guitar black because they were in a hurry to make some guitars, or if they did so because the wood grain didn't look good.

 

I wonder how much it would cost to have the black paint on the maple top removed in order to have a look and then either reshoot the black if the wood looks bad or apply a natural finish if the wood looks good. I don't suppose there is any way to know for sure why a guitar was made black as opposed to a translucent finish.

 

Ask Brent , Silverburst III was originally a black beauty before the top was stripped and refinished.

 

( might have been silverburst II though, there have been a few .... )

[jamison162]

How'd the rewiring work out? What type of change did it bring to the tone.

 

It's a must if you want to bring out the best in a LP style guitar. I would post all of the experimenting and late nights/hours spent tinkering but I would probably be laughed at - so I will keep all that knowledge to myself. But at least guys like Dave Stephens (Stephens Pickups) can/has confirmed a lot of what I've learned.

 

Vintage specs = vintage tone (for the most part)

[H]

I would post all of the experimenting and late nights/hours spent tinkering but I would probably be laughed at...

 

No-one will laugh - we're all crazy about guitars here. I'd be interested in seeing the iterations required to achieve the tone you were looking for.

[jamison162]

Well, one example would be dialing in the bridge volume pot. I would hook up 4 pots to ground and use jumpers so I could switch in seconds...just to hear the difference between a 498k, 525k, 540k and 555k. Not only can you hear a difference, but the feel is really affected. The higher pot volumes = more high end obviously, but it's also like increased headroom, less compression. The lower values feel better under your fingers, more bouncy. The volume pot value directly determines the actual resonant frequency of a pickup.

 

I did the same with tone pots, neck volume, a collection of caps (bumblebees, black beauty, Vit. Q's, Jensen, Hovland, Mustard, Mallory, Orange Drops, Sozo), 50's wiring and other schematics....and then yes, actual wire...multi conductor vs. braided shield.

[kidsmoke]

Well, one example would be dialing in the bridge volume pot. I would hook up 4 pots to ground and use jumpers so I could switch in seconds...just to hear the difference between a 498k, 525k, 540k and 555k. Not only can you hear a difference, but the feel is really affected. The higher pot volumes = more high end obviously, but it's also like increased headroom, less compression. The lower values feel better under your fingers, more bouncy. The volume pot value directly determines the actual resonant frequency of a pickup.

 

I did the same with tone pots, neck volume, a collection of caps (bumblebees, black beauty, Vit. Q's, Jensen, Hovland, Mustard, Mallory, Orange Drops, Sozo), 50's wiring and other schematics....and then yes, actual wire...multi conductor vs. braided shield.

 

 

VERY cool. I wish I could get paid for this type of work. I'd enjoy it tremendously.

 

this may be getting nitpicky...but what did you hear from the bumblebees relative to the Vita Q's or Orange drops that you liked?

[jamison162]

 

 

VERY cool. I wish I could get paid for this type of work. I'd enjoy it tremendously.

 

this may be getting nitpicky...but what did you hear from the bumblebees relative to the Vita Q's or Orange drops that you liked?

 

I can't make any hard conclusion on these yet because you would have to compare 0.022uF to 0.022uF; not .022uF to .018uF or .026uF -> tolerances. I did not have a meter that could measure farads at the time, I do now. Still learning.

[kidsmoke]

cool stuff. I have to say....I'm glad I didn't do all of my retrofitting at once. First I replace the tail hardware and tuning machines.....significant increase in sustain. And I loved the look.

 

then I swapped p'ups and harness - 50's style, braided. Oil n paper .022's, CTS 10% 550k pots (a joneseyblues 335 535 harness), with the sheptones, and the tones changed dramatically. But i didn't change a component at a time. Would have like too.

[Bonefish]

Well back in Feb I reluctantly sold my first H150 to "Equiphead" (forum member) to pay for a

Artist model National Reso. I immediately missed it!!! But as fate has it, forum member "602a"

contacted me about his H150 they he had for sale. He saw that I posted on "Tallershadows"

post about selling the same H150 which he had bought back from Tallershadows! I asked him

if I could buy it without the electronics as I had some stuff I wanted to wire in. He cut me some slack

on the price and we made a deal. I also wanted to setup the guitar a little differently, so when

it got here I went to work on it. The work...

 

1) Swapped the bridge inserts and it needed it. The Nashville bridge inserts were loose in

this guitar. The new inserts make twice the contact with the wood and are very tight now.

The guitar already had a Faber ABR on it, so I ordered their replacement bridge inserts and

for anybody considering replacing the inserts, this is a mod WELL WORTH YOUT TIME!!!

 

 

2) Next I filed the top of the ABR Bridge saddles flat and re-grooved them as the guitar was making

sitar sounds on certain strings and the sustain wasn't there. This was an improvement, and they were

radiused better to match the neck radius. It could be the string gauge I was using was a hair different

than the previous owners.

 

 

3) Replaced the tailpiece, as I had a particularly good sounded Faber lightweight unit. I only

did this because either 602a, or Tallershadows, had been top wrapping and there were grooves

in the the top of the tailpiece which bugged me:)

 

4) Installed David Plummer Pure Handwound Humbuckers (modified Jimmy Page wind),

RS PIO caps, and Dimarzio custom taper parts. It sounds very vintage PAF like now,

but I don't like the taper of the pots, so I am going to replace them soon.

http://www.zhangbuck...humbuckers.html (I will use RS pots and they are on order)

 

5) Had my friend Craig level the frets, and remake a new bone nut. The neck itself is a

hair higher on the bass side so Craig compensated the frets for that and now it plays

GREAT! The old nut that was on the guitar looks like it was replacement and it was cut

with too much space between the E and A strings!

 

6) I also put gibson rings and 60's reflector knobs, 602a added the pocker chip:)

 

 

SO... I took it out to it's first gig and played it solo for three hours. I loved it, and so

did the people listening:) The guitar has great PAF compressed clean tone and

that's exactly what I wanted. The chord sound was great and fingerpicking in the

middle position was THE tone I was looking for. I played it, plugged into my pedal

board, then straight into the PA (the only FX used were a vol pedal, Fulldrive 2,

and a Boss RE20 Space Echo pedal)

 

Here's a photo from the gig...

 

 

Here's a recording of an original singer songwriter type song with the H150 in the two short solos.

This was the H150 into a Blue "Robbie" tube preamp, then into an Amplitude Fender amp plug in.

I was going for a Mark Knopfler style tone.

 

http://soundcloud.co...ld-montauk-h150

I ripped this off another post, but thought it'd be cool to

Well back in Feb I reluctantly sold my first H150 to "Equiphead" (forum member) to pay for a

Artist model National Reso. I immediately missed it!!! But as fate has it, forum member "602a"

contacted me about his H150 they he had for sale. He saw that I posted on "Tallershadows"

post about selling the same H150 which he had bought back from Tallershadows! I asked him

if I could buy it without the electronics as I had some stuff I wanted to wire in. He cut me some slack

on the price and we made a deal. I also wanted to setup the guitar a little differently, so when

it got here I went to work on it. The work...

 

1) Swapped the bridge inserts and it needed it. The Nashville bridge inserts were loose in

this guitar. The new inserts make twice the contact with the wood and are very tight now.

The guitar already had a Faber ABR on it, so I ordered their replacement bridge inserts and

for anybody considering replacing the inserts, this is a mod WELL WORTH YOUT TIME!!!

 

 

2) Next I filed the top of the ABR Bridge saddles flat and re-grooved them as the guitar was making

sitar sounds on certain strings and the sustain wasn't there. This was an improvement, and they were

radiused better to match the neck radius. It could be the string gauge I was using was a hair different

than the previous owners.

 

 

3) Replaced the tailpiece, as I had a particularly good sounded Faber lightweight unit. I only

did this because either 602a, or Tallershadows, had been top wrapping and there were grooves

in the the top of the tailpiece which bugged me:)

 

4) Installed David Plummer Pure Handwound Humbuckers (modified Jimmy Page wind),

RS PIO caps, and Dimarzio custom taper parts. It sounds very vintage PAF like now,

but I don't like the taper of the pots, so I am going to replace them soon.

http://www.zhangbuck...humbuckers.html (I will use RS pots and they are on order)

 

5) Had my friend Craig level the frets, and remake a new bone nut. The neck itself is a

hair higher on the bass side so Craig compensated the frets for that and now it plays

GREAT! The old nut that was on the guitar looks like it was replacement and it was cut

with too much space between the E and A strings!

 

6) I also put gibson rings and 60's reflector knobs, 602a added the pocker chip:)

 

 

SO... I took it out to it's first gig and played it solo for three hours. I loved it, and so

did the people listening:) The guitar has great PAF compressed clean tone and

that's exactly what I wanted. The chord sound was great and fingerpicking in the

middle position was THE tone I was looking for. I played it, plugged into my pedal

board, then straight into the PA (the only FX used were a vol pedal, Fulldrive 2,

and a Boss RE20 Space Echo pedal)

 

Here's a photo from the gig...

 

 

Here's a recording of an original singer songwriter type song with the H150 in the two short solos.

This was the H150 into a Blue "Robbie" tube preamp, then into an Amplitude Fender amp plug in.

I was going for a Mark Knopfler style tone.

 

http://soundcloud.co...ld-montauk-h150

 

These are great ideas for someone looking to tweak their setup, so I copied this post over. Cool stuff!

[76mjs]

For my 96 H150: RS Guitarworks wiring, Fralin Pure Pafs, TonePros tuners and bridge, aluminum tailpiece & steel bushings from Retospec, Tusq XL nut. I also routed the input jack hole to about an inch to install the input jacks used nowadays. The input jacks that Heritage was installing in the 90's is a long cylinder type jack that was a pain to deal with.

[brentrocks]

CTS 500k pots

russian PIO .022 caps

tone pros locking bridge and tail

locking grovers

reflector knobs

schaller strap locks