I got myself a s/h Westfield e4500 the other week, the rhythm/treble switch doesn't stay in the treble position anymore, where can I find a replacement switch, ideally upgraded if there is such a thing?? Also in the rhythm position it picks the pickup near the neck and treble is the one at the rear, I read somewhere it should be the other way around?? Also is it worth me upgrading the volume and tone pots as well? again if there is such a thing as an upgraded pot? cheers.
I tend to use http://www.axesrus.com/ for spares/parts. Site's a bit naff, but they have a fairly good selection of parts.
Any good local guitarshop usually does the trick for me. Always good to get to know the local ones since they can order things faster (I've found) if they know you and are more likely to do so. Pots and switches are easy enough to replace. I've seen a fair few tutorials online of how to do it and where to get parts.
liratheal> thanks for the link mate, wow what a site, now i've got my eye on the gibson pickups and skullhead knobs javaman> Thanks but I don't have a problem with fitting the stuff, I was just curious as to where to get the parts and if there was alternative "upgraded" bits for what I was after.
Local guitar store here stocks such stuff for their own repairs. Just a thought that they might have some sitting around. One of the guys was an electrical engineering research student and was able to get access to stuff from the uni's catalogues lol. Donno where he is now.
Truth is, if I took the guitar in to where I bought it, they would probably fix it, as its only been a little over a week since purchase, but I couldn't bare to be without it lol. Plus you know the saying, if you want it done properly... Thanks for the replies.
The place i go for all my parts and gear is www.gak.co.uk Really good shop with a massive ammount of stock.
Have you tried tightening the relevant items around the switch's base? And yeah, you want the treble pickup near the bridge. Here's a good explanation of why Positioning the different pickups
liratheal> got my switch today and fitted, thanks man! I had a really **** soldering iron, then I ran out of solder, anyway got it done in the end. crazyg> thanks for the link, they have a massive range of pickup's eh! akuman> thanks for the link, it was definitely the switch which was buggered.
thomann is a better music shop, and cheaper. But seriously, doesn't replace the feeling of playing something and finding a diamond in the massive derp of crap of the online music industry.
Man... i've got too many guitars already, and still want more, still want to hotrod my old no-name fender Strat spinoff that sounds sh*t but plays nice, and I still want to refurb my 1973 Gibson ES335 spinoff.
I had my first lesson y'day. The guy was really nice. He taught me some finger picking exercises, and the chords to wonderful tonight by Eric Clapton and Hotel California by Eagles. Does £57.50 for five one hour lessons sound reasonable? OH! and lets talk humbuckers, would it be worth me upgrading them to something better i.e. Gibson 57 classic??
Sounds good to me, my mate learnt from a guy at £11.50 per half hr and that was ten years ago. Most guitarists that I know taught themselves, don't rely on a teacher, guitar should be a passion and not such a chore that lessons can turn into. My first riff I tried was sweet child and that was from the tab in a Total guitar mag, as that was still rather pre-interweb it was a little harder, only olga.net existed. With the likes of utube etc things are a little easier for the novice. I was in a band and toured for a few years and I only bought a guitar and strings in my time lol edit, I say guitar, think I've got 5 now, bass amp, guitar amp and want a banjo, the expenditure as a enthusiast means you'll never have enough!
Humbuckers are a must for rock and metal playing. Not so much for blues. Gibson '57s are rather nice for a typical Gibson sound. I tend to go for DiMarzios more. When talking passives, the IBZ's on my 'Nez RG2570 are REAL nice, so are the D-Activators on my mate's Iceman. The active EMGs in my other mate's 'Nez ART620 (i think) are also nice. Other than that, it'd probably be tempted to go Duncans. Not big on the typical EMG 81/85 combo, since I somehow can't get good tone out of them. When talking gear, I have a good bit as well: -Cheri (aka no-real-name) Fender Strat ripoff that plays nice and sounds shite -1973 built No-Name Gibson ES335 knockoff with Gibson-of-the-day-spec DiMarzios in it that were added in '82. -2004/2005 Ibanez RG2570 Prestige in "Vital silver" - that was the year where they still had the solid sharktooth inlays and the black hardware and headstock. -1996 (or so) Viertmann Hand Made Classical. - 2009 Ibanez Iceman ICB300 Bass in Black. had (and sold) a Cort X11 once as well, but ditched it because of how shite it sounded compared to that 'nez. Otherwise I play straightforward setups: Guitar->Behringer V-Amp Pro->Marshall MG100 Soon to be Guitar->Ibanez Tube King->V-Amp->MG100 Bass->Ibanez combo soon to be Bass->Behringer 600-odd watt amp ->4*10,1*15 Got a bunch of pedals, but don't really use many of them (if any) Next buy (after the tube-king and that bass amp): One of the following: Dean Razorback Schecter Syn Gates Cusom in black/red Schecter Hellraiser V-8 (for the 8 strings) - cricket bat win.
When I modified a strat a looong while ago, I put a set of DiMarzio 61's and a Cruiser Bridge in there. 5-way switch, copper shielding. Thing sounded so very beautiful, even though everyone said I was made for putting that combo in. Looking forward to being able to afford to do something similar again. I am very tempted to do something with bare knuckle pickups, too.
I've been watching some Kerry King videos on youtube and I love the sound of his setup, I believe he uses EMG pickups in his B.C. Rich guitar, I was looking at them today, I really fancy the Kerry King Beast V neck-through. Maybe I could attempt to put the pick ups in my current guitar to give me a similar sound.
