Going for a WGD Garcia build

[jackson929]

I am going to be doing a WDG Garcia Rosebud style build.

I have a few questions. 

1) I want to do a veneer on the headstock but do not see the option in the builder.  Do I need to call and see about a special request?

2) I want 24 frets and it seems the only way to do this is with a single coil neck and then middle hum and bridge hum.  Not with a hum in the neck as well. 

3)  Where can I find a onboard buffer that will work with this plan?

TIA

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

I love the Rosebud edition of Jerry's guitar!

Yesterday was actually his birthday--Happy Daze Between.

Call about the headstock veneer.  I imagine its possible.

Cripes, 24 frets?  Can't help you there.  I'm more of a 21 fret guy.

Do a Google search for the buffer.  They are out there.

Maybe try and contact the Klanch.  Once again, do a Google search.  He used to be a member, but was run out of here by the previous message board management who thought his liberal views were a bit too much for their taste.  I personally found him to be a helpful member--hence my recommendation to contact him.

In any case, good luck.  Whenever I think of this website and its great cumulative knowledge, I always remember the lyric "Once in awhile you get the shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

 

[jackson929]

Thanks for the help, I am very excited for the build but it is a lot more confusion then other builds I have done. 

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Can you explain what purpose the buffer serves?

The one I know of is EMG PA2 which has a switchable boost.  Its expensive for what it is, but I don't know of a better + cheap alternative.  I would avoid using any buffer unless you need to use a long guitar cable.  I don't like it because it changes the tone and gives the volume control has a different response. 

 

[jackson929]

From what I understand:

A unity-gain buffer circuit simply converts the high-impedance signal into a low-impedance signal—like that of a typical microphone. With a low-impedance signal, you can play through a 100-foot cable without losing highs, turn your volume knob down without the sound getting muddy, and even plug directly into a mixing console. Perhaps most importantly, you get to hear a sparkle from your pickups that had been previously masked.

I am not the most electronic minded person.  Seems some love the onboard buffer and others do not.  Jerry Used one all the time so I would like to put one in. 

 

[drewfx]

Jerry used the onboard buffer in large part because he had an effect loop built into his (later guitars - I seem to recall he had a booster circuit earlier on). The On Board Effect Loop (known as OBEL) meant his pedals were always given a full signal (which he preferred) and then the pedalboard output fed back into the guitar so that the guitar volume was after the pedals.

But Jerry also liked things bright so the buffer plays into that as well and had a completely unusual rig in general.

For the last 15+ years he mostly played using one coil of his middle PU - the coil nearer the neck using DiMarzio Super Distortion's first and then Super2's.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSwJM5uSvmg

Are you planning to do something like this?