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The "Magic" tones that no profiler will ever emulate, 100% organic, a beautiful thing.

Please don’t use masking tape on amplifiers. It dries out, leaves residue and will alter the color and finish of the metal in 10 years when one removes doghouse again.

Why did you switch the transistors? You made no mention of it? Did they end up sounding bad and switched them out?

How did you strip the neck?

The way you handle that pointed round Cottmann watercolor brush makes me wonder if perhaps you're no stranger to the process of the good ol' ink and wash technique? Maybe I'm reading into it a bit much? I enjoy watercolor painting and guitar playing, so I couldn't help but notice that little round blue detail brush you used to apply the vinegar to the wood sample.

To say that you are a man who keenly appreciates a refined attention to detail is probably an understatement. I respect your pursuit of excellence.

Would be awesome to do this but I stay in africa where its impossible to get a job thanks to affirmative actdion (reverse racism) Nobody supplies those parts and nobody cares because everybody here is too stupid to even know their head from their arse so why bother at all anymore. Nobody cares...africa is obsessed with rap. They don't care about guitar or harp or whatever instrument. All they care about is rap. spitting bullshit lyrics as if they all gona be 2pac. imagine living in that alternate universe of bullshit.

Perfect. Thanks so much.

I’m about to start this with an IBG Epi Junior. Do you have advice on getting the poly off the neck? There is no binding and the poly covers the sides of fretboard. I’m afraid this is where I’ll make a mistake.

This 59 was for sale on Reverb 5 years ago for$329,000. The pickups are the ones that were always In the guitar they just took the covers off.

BTW how does a guy from Massachusetts end up winding pickups in Chester?

My Dad's '56 sunburst had quite neat and uniform coils, slightly bulbous in the middle, coil impedance varied from one multimeter to the next, average 5.8k. I have yet to hear a better sounding electric guitar.

I had to laugh at Dave Hunter's article about how there's no such thing as "hand winding". He stated the obvious; how nobody sits down at a table with a bobbin and a spool of wire and winds it with their bare hands. I laughed and thought "nobody thinks that!" which may not be ENTIRELY true, but come on! The problem is, he doesn't know what "hand winding" actually means, which is bizarre, considering his profession and seeing as how there are thousands of videos on youtube of people doing it - like this one. Really like this one.

No black wax, too uniform, wrong color and..........they didn't use zip-ties in the '50s. Fun video.

There are a lot more of these Champs on popular recordings than you'd think, like Clapton's first album, and Duane Allman and Clapton using one on Layla studio sessions

My dear old grandad did wind pickup wire by hand. Well that is to say a hand cranked spinner and guiding the wire with the other. I still have the little jig in my shed. He built it from the guts of an old clock and its mounted on a breadboard. He taught my dad how to make them and me too, but i have never been able to make any money from it as pickups are easy to get now.

I gotta go to work in 6 hours, was about to go to bed… but now I’m here having a cigarette and watching this beautiful video. Funny is that I was not even looking for guitar repaint videos, was just watching some upgrade ideas for my firebird… btw I didn’t find any good but at least the algorithm referred this video to me randomly and I loved it. Great video mate, just subscribed :) Out of curiosity if you don’t mind me asking, how much would be such type of work roughly? Without relic just the repaint. I was not looking for such mod for my guitar but I want to be prepared if I decide to do such thing in the future :)

I used a 8 ohm and when I measure on the input it goes from 8 - 40 ohms. I thought it should stay the same

You missed the transition period P90 covers in 1962, which were nickel plated black plastic covers. The plating didn't wear well, so they soon switched to nickel plated metal covers. I have a 62 ES-330TD in tobacco burst, transition nickel plated balck plastic P90 covers, Bigsby trem, Stinger neck, and tiger maple back. Have had it for eons and love it!! Those P90s are incredible.

Alnico 3?

Were the strings changed ?

Fantastic video, very educational, thank you! The chimeyness in those pickups is insane, what a great tone the 50’s spec low-output pickups had. Is the chimey tone more down to the resistance, the wire gauge or coating? The magnets? Potting? I’ve always been super curious about what causes the chime and bell-like tones in vintage strat pickups! Nothing harsh nor hairy-fuzzy. So warm and clean.

I have a set of Maxons' and they have a verry good balance of low and high frequances .It's hard to explain what a sound can make you feel good.

Hi Huw - any chance you could post a link to the free backing track? Thanks!

They’re incorrect about the vibrato on the brownface. The 1960-1963 Fender vibrato circuits use three 12ax7s to create a harmonic pitch-based vibrato, not the volume based tremolo that began in 1964 with the blackface circuits.

That wooden wall behind you, is gorgeous!

Great to watch - and very informative. I have a similar DIY-built amplifier and it's great. One question: I've heard people say that you should use a separate bolt for the protective earth connection, and also that a crimp connector has greater longevity than a solder connection. This is all about the vibration - both in terms of joints getting loosened and movement-induced fatigue in a critical electrical joint. What are your thoughts on this, please?

Thanks for the great video. Any chance you might modify the Gemini diagram to show the push pull .0047 circuit? I see there there is more going on than the switch wiring, but I can’t quite see it fully. Thanks for consideration

I select my instruments (amps too) based on what kind of sound I need, and 330s do nice sounds that most others won't. I had my first used ('63) 330 back in 1965. Cost me £120... and I loved it!

also the black wire at the top end of the trim pots, at the junction of the upper trim pots.... where is that wire going to please. Overall a great vid just missing a few connections that seeemed to not get mentioned.

hi the 100k resistor has a red lead on the bottom turret, can you please say where that red wire is connected to on the other end?

Very good video. their summaries are excellent. I wouldn't trade my brown for anything, but having listened to Stevie many times back in my Austin days, I'm so aware of the awesomeness of the black 15. Possibly the two best guitar amps ever made. -- Gator

Yes. You can definetelly tell the difference when comparing pickups of the same type but different resonance frequency. You can also make them have the same resonance frequency and compensate amp's gain to their output.

Can I ask what is the lower temp setting you use when soldering the transistors into the switches?

your saying a switching mono jack - but that looks like a stereo jack? Are they called something different in the US - I can't find a "switching mono jack" for sale anywhere and I can't really quite see what the jack is in the video - sure looks like a TRS stero jack? But it seems you wouldn't want a stero jack in this particualr situation because you'd want it to be shorting to not blow the amp

Good choice Virtuoso.

This guy is like the Brian Green of pickups… … whole other kind of string theory 😅

yo!! what tf happened next????

what a nice job part 1 & part 2 congrats !

Is the 63 vs 64 a tube vs diode rectifier? 22:17

I have a '64 blonde 6g6B, and while I yearn for the Vibroverb, I doubt I'll ever have the money for one given their exorbitant aftermarket prices. This just makes me want to fire up the bassman.

He’s exactly right… I gig a lot. I mean basically a klon with a tube screamer is what I reluctantly always end up using because well… It cuts…

Never seen a Firebird sunburst! One of a kind!

Awesome 2 part series. Thanks Twins.

I had once a Tremolux here in my studio. Once I looked inside I was shocked about the amounts of asbestos inside. I carefully closed it again and sent it back to the dealer. No ways this hazard would have stayed a minute longer than necessary in my house. The search for tone is not worth it. While making this video already millions of asbestos fibres are in the air. Good luck!

Wee trick for the solder sucker, I usually start by adding some solder to the joint as the heat transfer is a bit quicker.

Hey Joey, why isn't your signature pedal "The Golden Boy" on there? Did you ditch that or??? Just curious, I have the Golden Boy and it's an amazing overdrive, doesn't look like you have anything similar to that on your board.

Might be a stupid question but how to use this? Is the amp speaker signal connected to the attenuator input and the attenuator output connected to the speaker?

Anyone who needs to hear 5 minutes of safety lecture has no business being inside anything that plugs into the wall, period.

Brilliant! Thanks for posting. What was the total cost of the build?