Not a Warmoth product so I guess it is OT for this board......

[ChristopherG]

was at my ancestral music store the other day and the guitar find gods smiled upon me. You see, the last three guitar types on my list of guitars I don't already own are.

1. A Les Paul style body guitar
2. A single pickup guitar
3. A Erlwine Lazer--off the shelf Lazer II, Lazer I if I win the lottery.

There in the shop was a guitar that killed 2 birds with 1 stone. Michael Kelly's Les Paul Junior clone, The now discontinued Patriot Blake Shelton signature model. I knew this guitar existed but thought it was only available in redneck-bait camouflage, but no it is also available in high gloss black.

I've been a fan of MK for a long time. My MK Vex is still one of my favorite guitars. So I sat down, plugged 'er in and played it. Played great, sounds great, felt great, and because it is a discontinued model at my ancestral shop--great price. Put her in layaway for a sticker price of $300. I can even forgive the horribly country inlay. For me, it is ironic.

My only complaint: Seriously, if you are going to make a single humbucker guitar, it won't kill your production budget to put in a push pull pot and wire it for splitting. All the other Patriots are wired for splitting for Christ's sake.

Specs for the interested. https://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/en/products/view/patriot-blake-shelton-signature

 

[Logrinn]

I first thought you were joking about that camouflage paint ... 

 

[ChristopherG]

No sir, it exists and it is hideous.

 

[Logrinn]

Yes, i followed the link to their website and that's when I saw ... IT ... 
And I totally agree; it's hideous. I thought that the whole idea of having a nice paintjob was to make the guitar more visible when on stage.

 

[ChristopherG]

At least high gloss black is classy even if not always highly visible.

Once I get 'er home I am thinking about swapping in a hum sized P90. What to do, what to do?

 

[Logrinn]

True, black might not be that visible, but the high gloss can perhaps act as a mirror making the guitar take on colors from the spotlights I guess.

Why not first try and put in that push-pull (or push-push) pot you spoke of and wire it humbucker/singlecoil or humbucker series/humbucker parallel? See how that sounds.

 

[Kostas]

...Once I get 'er home I am thinking about swapping in a hum sized P90. What to do, what to do?

For me it's the way to go, I prefer one P90 over one HB. I've read that HB sized P90's don't sound like P90's because of the different construction. I have also read more than a few times that he is the only guy that makes true P90's in HB size http://bg-pups.com/pure90/ I don't have experience with his products but the S.D. Phat Cat I had although a nice sounding pickup, was not a P90.

 

[ChristopherG]

Yeah, that is why I call them P90ish.

But then again, you are never going to get "that true P90 sound" because there never was a "true P90 sound". Back in the day, quality control was not priority number 1 when it came to these pickups. Over the years I have played at least 6 330s and 335s that were made between the early 60s and 70s and they all sounded noticeably different. So which one was the "true P90 sound"? To paraquote one of the great science fiction editors of all time, "It's a P90 because I say it sounds like a P90." There are several that come close enough for government work or at least don't sound like either a single coil or a humbucker.

I forgot about the Kinman's, I don't know how.

And the BGs are definitely on my short list. Have read a number of recommendations for them around da webz.

 

[Kostas]

HB's, tele, strat, P90's, Filtertrons: Every type of pickup has seen many models with different output and tone, still there are common things in each of them. There is a P90 sound like there is a HB and single coil sound. I have P90's from three different companies. They have more similarities than differences.