In the beginning, Old Black (Who was actually gold at the time) had P90s in both the bridge and neck. The neck P90 has remained, although at some point it got a metal cover. The bridge pickup has gone through some changes but has sported a Firebird humbucker since the mid 70s.
It is installed in the P90 route with a plate that I think fits within the route. Judging by how much of the Firebird is visible, I think the plate must sitting be right on top of the mounting ears? While perfectly functional and certainly distinctive, I've always thought that it could have been executed more.... elegantly. So I took a different approach.
Along with the templates for the aluminum parts that he created, I sent Dangerous Doug a chromed nickel-silver P90 cover that I picked up at Philadelphia Luthier Tools. He modified it to accept the Firebird pickup.
While it was no small feat getting the cover, screws, spacers and pickup to stay together long enough to get the pickup lead routed and to get the support padding situated in the route, she ultimately went in fine.
Elegant indeed!
Oh mama...
As I went to complete the wiring by tying in the bridge pickup, I realized that I had not left myself a place to ground the Firebird's frame. I ended up going to the tab on the base of the bridge push/pull with it. The meter told me I was good from there all the way to the output jack sleeve. I normally avoid soldering to the case of those switches as it's so easy to overheat them and damage the switch internals, but I made it quick and all went well. It's a full house in there!
With all the goings-on in there, it seemed prudent to put a layer of tape between the cavity and the metal surface of the cover.
And it was good...
Oh Yeah...
For a nice solid string tension and a Bigsby that floats like a cumulonimbus, I set her up with Thomastik Infeld Power Bright 10-50s and a "Super Squishy" Bigsby spring from Brick's Biggs Fix. That combination doesn't work so well on a Fender scale, but it is the bee's knees on a Gibby...
She plays wonderfully and sounds killer! All of the electronics work as intended. If time allows, I'll follow up with Glam Shots and some sound clips.
I think I have accomplished what I set out for: a guitar that harkens to Old Black, but with a flair of her own and without coming across like a cheesy knock-off. I am overwhelmingly happy with how she turned out! While there aren't any Warmoth parts on her per se, it wouldn't have turned out this well without this forum. I can't say enough good things about the work of DangerousR6, the parts he made are just perfect. And without the input of Rgand she'd have the wrong knobs!
