New Pickups

I stuck new pickups in my Japanese “History” brand ES335 copy yesterday. Now I have to fire it up and see if I like them.

Funny thing: the potentiometers were covered with some kind of sticky foil. I don’t know what this stuff is. I assume it’s intended to block noise. If anyone can tell me what it is or where to get it, I would appreciate it. They also have strange black fabric tape on them.

Looks like I put the selector switch in backward. DOH.

Fujigen makes some really nice Les Paul copies at very reasonable prices. These are essentially the same thing as History guitars. They make several lines. The lowest two lines differ only in that the cheapest ones have Japanese electronics, while the next tier of guitars has American electronics. I’m not sure US electronics are a smart buy. The Japanese pickups in my Burny Les Paul are fantastic, and I have no reason to think the potentiometers and so on are any lower in quality. My guess is, a smart person would buy the cheaper Fujigen guitar and then customize as needed.

Not that I will do this. Oh, no. Not me.

The cheaper Les Pauls go about a thousand dollars. The next level is around $1350. After that, you jump up a few hundred bucks to instruments made with 200-year-old wood raised from the bottom of the Great Lakes. At this level, you get thick caps instead of veneer. You could conceivably spend up to $1800. Does that sound bad? Consider the Gibson alternative: a short-tenon instrument that costs $1900, with inferior workmanship and cheap wood. Hmm…Fujigen Custom Shop for $1800, or price-point bargain-basement Gibson for $1900. Indeed. Yes. A puzzle.

There is a stunning History guitar on Yahoo Japan auctions right now. It looks like a Gibson L5. I don’t know much about fat Gibson hollowbodies. Really nice to look at.

The fanaticism of Japanese craftsmen is hard to turn ignore. It’s a little neurotic, but you end up with wonderful products.

Time to switch on the amp. Hope this works.