Colin, thank you so much for your review and very much noted comments about those pots! We noticed those basically frictionless pots and took them out of the production right away💪
First time I'm seeing these Mercurys, really love the modded-vintage sort of style and all the little details. The nut and truss rod adjustment through the fretboard are both genius. I'd love to get my hands on one some day. I'd think the switch screws could be totally solved by adding some lock washers, either split or internal tooth. Also, if it wouldn't cause any sort of vibration, adding springs (low pitch ones, perhaps) to the nut shafts could keep those locked in place as well. Just a thought, thanks for making cool shit and being responsible about making improvements!
You guys are awesome! I can tell you that the Bournes mini pots do have more of a CTS "throw" to them if you want to stay with that brand. CTS is the Fender and Gibson standard so most players will be accustomed to them. I do have the full sized Bournes quick throw pots on a Squier Standard Telecaster. I did the control cavity plate flip and having that quick roll from the Bournes let's me do Volume Swells and Tone swells pretty easy with my pinky like a steel guitar. You definitely want a Tele barrel knob to partner up with the pot so this is the easiest combo to do the swells. Keep up the great work and SLAVA!😎👍✨🇺🇦💙💛
The thing I like best about this, is I find the first thing I do with my brand-new-from-factory guitars is .... take them apart and fix the stuff that's not quite right. When I was 18 I dunno what I was thinking, it just seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Now I think it's crazy, but some how can't stop doing it. Cheers, Colin!
After a long wait I finally have a Valiant Mercury to call my own, this is so close to being my perfect guitar - if only I can solve a couple small issues... Valiant Mercury Copper - valiantguitars.com/product/guitars/mercury/orange-distressed-fb/ Old Bones Pickups Modern Set - oldbonespickups.com/products/modern-hss 10% OFF your Valiant Guitars purchase with 'LOUD10' This video contains product provided by Valiant Guitars. More details on how Science of Loud implements product promotion - www.csguitars.co.uk/disclosure #scienceofloud #valiantguitars #guitarmods Timecodes - 00:00 - What's in the case? 01:16 - Replacing the Potentiometers 03:08 - I've got a Screw Loose! 04:06 - Adjustable Bronze Nut 05:21 - Pickup Switching Explained 07:29 - How Mercury Differs from Jupiter 07:50 - All Other Features (Check the Web) 09:08 - Mercury Sound Samples More from Science of Loud: Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/csguitars Join Science of Loud Discord - discord.gg/uJHFgJRunb Buy Science of Loud Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - colin@csguitars.co.uk ___________________________________ *Description contains affiliate links. Purchasing using one of these links will generate a small commission for Science of Loud at no additional cost to you.*
Bonus tip for Loctite application: The tip of the bottle has a tapering which has the correct diameter to attach an industry standard dispensing needle to it.
loctite/thread lock has a purple version too. it still keeps stuff together but isnt quite as strong so you are less likely to strip something when you need to move it. i really like it for guitars and pedals and things that are smaller and more delicate.
Glad you mentioned this. Also worth mentioning one should NEVER be using Loctite red versions on a guitar!; because you are not getting that hardware off ever again without destroying the guitar in the process... well, unless your guitar is all metal with a high enough melting point to withstand the heat treatment to un-bond it 🤣
For "any tone" versatility, I'd choose the Taylor T5 Pro ... you have a great variety of great electric tones PLUS a great acoustic guitar tone, and in a slim body slim neck lightweight package. The Taylor T5 Pro is an extreme quality guitar, and it's also pretty expensive too.
As someone who is a big Jaguar guy, these are sick. Seems like they might just need some lock nuts on the switch screws and maybe some springs on the nut "saddle" threads if that wouldn't cause vibrations. Threadlocker works too though (again, as a Jag guy, I'm very familiar ha). I'm totally with you on the pot torque, I love a quality feeling smooth and slow turn and also am a big fan of the normal CTS pots. I get why people like fast pots, but they're not my cup of tea. LOVE the little details on this thing though, congrats on picking that up. Seems like a blast and sounds righteous
I think for me, the tippy top tier on this would be instead of the slide switches, normal three ways so you can get at them when playing easier - like the Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmasters!
Dislike of low friction pots Colin? Stares at the EVH Wolfgang where Ed specified low friction pots for the Volume (got to love the swells for Cathedral) and, though he never used them prior to the Wolfgang, a "regular" friction pot for the Tone.
I think it's pretty bad that the guitars hasn't been cleaned and checked before it's been shipped to you. Especially for a $3k guitar, I wouldn't expect any loose screws, how insignificant it may be.
It was cleaned and checked prior to being brought to the UK from Ukraine, had I been at the trade show I would have collected it in person. I wasn't there, so it got shipped to me directly from there, after the reps (who are not the luthiers and QC team) spent a weekend letting people try the instrument. This is the "special treatment" I get as a youtube content creator - and was entirely expected. Any customer paying money to order one wouldn't have that experience.
I thought pairing the bridge pick up with a 250K pot would be a bit dark, but it isn't seeing how BRIGHT the neck pick up was, a 500K would be way TOO bright! I too, HATE pots that are too loose!
I have a jazzmaster. I replaced the pickups with humbuckers. The neck is a Novak that is actually two single coil pickups sharing common pole pieces, with 2 distinct windings. The bridge is an old Dimarzio multibucker, which is their chopper and fast track on a single hb mounting. I have the neck pickup wired to a mini 3 way switch so I can choose either coil independantly or both in series. Then both the bridge and neck go into a freeway strat-style switch, with the two coils of the bridge pickup treated as separate single coil pickups. The selector switch is 10 position. So I can get about 30 different sounds out of my guitar. All that feeds a volume w/treble bleed circuit and two tone controls - a fender tbx and a bass cut (using a 1M pot and a .022 capacitor.)
I feel like for $3,000, it's literally the _least_ they could do to put fresh strings on it before sending it to you after it was played by dozens of grimy hands at a public show... Sick guitar though!
Also a little fun fact about it, it won't dry on the surface of stuff because it only dries/cures in the absence of oxygen, like when it is on installed threads.
There's a price point above which any permanent modification devalues a guitar ... except if you're a renown artist. Below that, any mod is often basically ignored, that's why you always keep the original spare parts to reverse back to original and either keep the upgrades (PUs, hardware, ...) or sell them separately. Like, if you're not Jeff Beck, don't mod a costly Strat with an original vintage Wilkinson Split Roller Nut for instance ... or maybe do it with a replacement neck, but not on the original neck. You can sell the original guitar, and then sell the replacement neck and the Roller Nut separately.
Why the silly switch position? Is the idea to make it inconvenient to change those switches in a hurry for some reason? I only have one guitar that has a s/p switch and it's a push/pull, so mine is even worse in my opinion but this seems not ideal either.
Imagine NOT throwing a Fuzz pedal on this! There was a Fuzz Face used alongside the Orange AD30 for the sound samples. Sounds great with a toothy tone.
My first thought was "Must be full sized Bournes pots..." Yup. Now, two things. You can do what you did and just swap out the Bournes for CTS full sized pots. They are equal, you see Bournes in Boutique made guitars. You can also swap out for Bournes mini pots because the "throw" is very similar to full sized CTS pots. I definitely recommend Bournes mini pots for Import guitars if you want a CTS feeling throw and you have a cramped electronics cavity. I had to do that on my Samick Malibu (the black one in my pic) and it works great! I have full sized Bournes pots on two guitars. I have a Squier Standard Telecaster with the control plate flip. The reason being is that I can do Volume ans Tone swells with my pinky on that guitar. I am in the middle of making a non working Ibanez Roadstar II guitar work and I have Bournes pots on that. It was a free guitar and the old electronics has seen better days so I am bringing essentially a non playing guitar and making it playable with new pickups, electronics, and tunners. Before anyone gets upset this guitar was in "Poor" condition, left in a garage in Phoenix for a decade or two and I am doing this basically as cheap as I can with existing parts. So it plays better, once the pickups are in it will sound good. The old pickups are going to a buddy who can use them and one or more may need to get rewound. Basically a new set of Alnico V pickups from Amazon are way cheaper than fixing the old ones. The guy works at a music store so it will either be cheap or free for him to get fixed. He likes vintage more than I do. I like taking a vintage guitar and make it more in line with modern guitars in terms of sound and playability. I like the destressed patina that the neglect has given this particular guitar.
What i would like to know is if the Orange 30 cand keep up with the backline of a band. perhaps more important the drummer, LOL. So could you tell me what it's usable dB level is. A great show to do would be to show the dB level on all your amps. A real world show on dB in general showing ideal dB needed per instrument in an un-miced backline would be beyond practical and useful.
That's got MUCH more to do with the speakers, their sensitivity rating, and how many of them there are. You can't give that data for an amp because the amp isn't the thing generating sound, it's the speakers.
If I could get a Valiant with a Floyd Rose, I would never play another guitar ever. That said, I'd probably be perfectly happy with a non-trem one too.
When metal is used on metal to mechanically fasten something threadlock should always be used. On you guitar or even for the bolts that fall off your guitar stool. Please don't use the red stuff. Blue 242 rather.
I recently got some grief from a friend because i out the everything axe pickups in my mim hendrix strat. I love Hendrix but i mostly wanted it for the body and neck. And I'm pretty sure Hendrix wouldn't care if he were alive.
@ScienceofLoud Exactly. I love all my guitars but at the end of the day they are tools to help me create the music I hear in my head. Too many guitarists put them up on pedestals. I also feel Leo Fender would encourage it since the strat was designed to be modded.
I thought I'd give an update. I went with the Duncan fully loaded classic pickguard with their noiseless pickups. I've played strats with the fender noiseless, and for my tastes I think the Seymour Duncans sound better and way quieter. And definitely quieter than the factory single coils.
You seem to have some Caledonian black finger rot? Is that from touching something that an Englishman has touched? You know that it makes you part English now! So welcome to the club.
$3000 and cheap pots and they couldn't even put every screw in properly, you might as well buy a crappy basswood bodied Ibanez if you wanted to get ripped off.
Colin, thank you so much for your review and very much noted comments about those pots! We noticed those basically frictionless pots and took them out of the production right away💪
Is it possible to buy those awesome nuts seperately? Can't find them anywhere except on ur guitars o_o
You can get a guitar and get a nut for free🥰
@@tehalexy finally somebody asking the real questions
First time I'm seeing these Mercurys, really love the modded-vintage sort of style and all the little details. The nut and truss rod adjustment through the fretboard are both genius. I'd love to get my hands on one some day. I'd think the switch screws could be totally solved by adding some lock washers, either split or internal tooth. Also, if it wouldn't cause any sort of vibration, adding springs (low pitch ones, perhaps) to the nut shafts could keep those locked in place as well. Just a thought, thanks for making cool shit and being responsible about making improvements!
You guys are awesome! I can tell you that the Bournes mini pots do have more of a CTS "throw" to them if you want to stay with that brand.
CTS is the Fender and Gibson standard so most players will be accustomed to them. I do have the full sized Bournes quick throw pots on a Squier Standard Telecaster. I did the control cavity plate flip and having that quick roll from the Bournes let's me do Volume Swells and Tone swells pretty easy with my pinky like a steel guitar. You definitely want a Tele barrel knob to partner up with the pot so this is the easiest combo to do the swells.
Keep up the great work and SLAVA!😎👍✨🇺🇦💙💛
"rancid english jobbie hand crust" is not a phrase i was expecting to hear this morning. Merry Xmas Colin - Great vid! 🎄
Good to know the length of the shaft doesn't affect pleasure
At least that's what they keep telling me...
@@ScienceofLoudI came down to the comments looking for this screaming, "Nah, nah, NAAAAHHHHHH"
It's always come down to GIRTH me boy! ;o)
The thing I like best about this, is I find the first thing I do with my brand-new-from-factory guitars is .... take them apart and fix the stuff that's not quite right. When I was 18 I dunno what I was thinking, it just seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Now I think it's crazy, but some how can't stop doing it. Cheers, Colin!
After a long wait I finally have a Valiant Mercury to call my own, this is so close to being my perfect guitar - if only I can solve a couple small issues...
Valiant Mercury Copper - valiantguitars.com/product/guitars/mercury/orange-distressed-fb/
Old Bones Pickups Modern Set - oldbonespickups.com/products/modern-hss
10% OFF your Valiant Guitars purchase with 'LOUD10'
This video contains product provided by Valiant Guitars.
More details on how Science of Loud implements product promotion - www.csguitars.co.uk/disclosure
#scienceofloud #valiantguitars #guitarmods
Timecodes -
00:00 - What's in the case?
01:16 - Replacing the Potentiometers
03:08 - I've got a Screw Loose!
04:06 - Adjustable Bronze Nut
05:21 - Pickup Switching Explained
07:29 - How Mercury Differs from Jupiter
07:50 - All Other Features (Check the Web)
09:08 - Mercury Sound Samples
More from Science of Loud:
Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/csguitars
Join Science of Loud Discord - discord.gg/uJHFgJRunb
Buy Science of Loud Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store
Website - www.csguitars.co.uk
Contact - colin@csguitars.co.uk
___________________________________
*Description contains affiliate links. Purchasing using one of these links will generate a small commission for Science of Loud at no additional cost to you.*
Bonus tip for Loctite application: The tip of the bottle has a tapering which has the correct diameter to attach an industry standard dispensing needle to it.
loctite/thread lock has a purple version too. it still keeps stuff together but isnt quite as strong so you are less likely to strip something when you need to move it. i really like it for guitars and pedals and things that are smaller and more delicate.
Glad you mentioned this. Also worth mentioning one should NEVER be using Loctite red versions on a guitar!; because you are not getting that hardware off ever again without destroying the guitar in the process... well, unless your guitar is all metal with a high enough melting point to withstand the heat treatment to un-bond it 🤣
@@Droops24 ope yeah that red stuff is going nowhere near my music things haha
The red 1 is for permanent seals!
For whatever reason, Colin, you haven't been showing up in my feed for a while. Glad to see you again. Happy holidays!
For "any tone" versatility, I'd choose the Taylor T5 Pro ... you have a great variety of great electric tones PLUS a great acoustic guitar tone, and in a slim body slim neck lightweight package. The Taylor T5 Pro is an extreme quality guitar, and it's also pretty expensive too.
Taylor T5 is indeed great! To be honest, first time I noticed this model when Serj Tankian used it…
As someone who is a big Jaguar guy, these are sick. Seems like they might just need some lock nuts on the switch screws and maybe some springs on the nut "saddle" threads if that wouldn't cause vibrations. Threadlocker works too though (again, as a Jag guy, I'm very familiar ha). I'm totally with you on the pot torque, I love a quality feeling smooth and slow turn and also am a big fan of the normal CTS pots. I get why people like fast pots, but they're not my cup of tea. LOVE the little details on this thing though, congrats on picking that up. Seems like a blast and sounds righteous
I think for me, the tippy top tier on this would be instead of the slide switches, normal three ways so you can get at them when playing easier - like the Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmasters!
Beautiful guitar mate! Goldie and Tony should hang out one day ;)
Dislike of low friction pots Colin?
Stares at the EVH Wolfgang where Ed specified low friction pots for the Volume (got to love the swells for Cathedral) and, though he never used them prior to the Wolfgang, a "regular" friction pot for the Tone.
Potentiometers that turn easy is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to electric instruments
100%
I love the colour and inlays. It's a beautiful instrument.
I think it's pretty bad that the guitars hasn't been cleaned and checked before it's been shipped to you. Especially for a $3k guitar, I wouldn't expect any loose screws, how insignificant it may be.
It was cleaned and checked prior to being brought to the UK from Ukraine, had I been at the trade show I would have collected it in person.
I wasn't there, so it got shipped to me directly from there, after the reps (who are not the luthiers and QC team) spent a weekend letting people try the instrument.
This is the "special treatment" I get as a youtube content creator - and was entirely expected.
Any customer paying money to order one wouldn't have that experience.
Love the way the truss wheel is cut out
I didn't know about the adjustable nut ! That's a great idea !!
Love it! 😍👌
Can't believe you tightened the secret "tone" screw tho! 😲
Was very surprised that didn't completely ruin the tone 😅👍
On my Jazzmaster I put the adjustable kind that just uses 2 screws and I love it. It’s great for down tuning , no more rattles.
I thought pairing the bridge pick up with a 250K pot would be a bit dark, but it isn't seeing how BRIGHT the neck pick up was, a 500K would be way TOO bright!
I too, HATE pots that are too loose!
I have a jazzmaster. I replaced the pickups with humbuckers. The neck is a Novak that is actually two single coil pickups sharing common pole pieces, with 2 distinct windings. The bridge is an old Dimarzio multibucker, which is their chopper and fast track on a single hb mounting. I have the neck pickup wired to a mini 3 way switch so I can choose either coil independantly or both in series. Then both the bridge and neck go into a freeway strat-style switch, with the two coils of the bridge pickup treated as separate single coil pickups. The selector switch is 10 position. So I can get about 30 different sounds out of my guitar. All that feeds a volume w/treble bleed circuit and two tone controls - a fender tbx and a bass cut (using a 1M pot and a .022 capacitor.)
I feel like for $3,000, it's literally the _least_ they could do to put fresh strings on it before sending it to you after it was played by dozens of grimy hands at a public show...
Sick guitar though!
I'd still have changed them anyway, I want to know it's my brand, my gauge, and my set up.
Fair point!
Drooool! That thing looked and sounded NICE!
specifically that locktite is not permanent! make sure you buy the right type and wear gloves when or wash you hands directly after use!
Also a little fun fact about it, it won't dry on the surface of stuff because it only dries/cures in the absence of oxygen, like when it is on installed threads.
Those GT Ratio staggered locking tuners are sensational. Have them myself. On everything.
There's a price point above which any permanent modification devalues a guitar ... except if you're a renown artist. Below that, any mod is often basically ignored, that's why you always keep the original spare parts to reverse back to original and either keep the upgrades (PUs, hardware, ...) or sell them separately.
Like, if you're not Jeff Beck, don't mod a costly Strat with an original vintage Wilkinson Split Roller Nut for instance ... or maybe do it with a replacement neck, but not on the original neck. You can sell the original guitar, and then sell the replacement neck and the Roller Nut separately.
The man really knows what type of shaft he likes
Thanks for sharing.
Well that certainly looks like a cool guitar. And sounds fabulous (particularly for me through the AD30). I kind of wish I needed a new guitar
i love the fret inlays...
It’s the only thing I don’t like on it. They look so bad in my opinion. If it had 70s style black block inlay it would bring the guitar together
You want a low-friction Poti? Try a 500K EVH-Wolfgang Low Friction Pot. You will be amazed how great it is.
Great vid, do you have a link to the finger gloves? Trying to save my callouses!
Cheers
Why the silly switch position? Is the idea to make it inconvenient to change those switches in a hurry for some reason? I only have one guitar that has a s/p switch and it's a push/pull, so mine is even worse in my opinion but this seems not ideal either.
The nut is pretty interesting. Certainly will save time.
Had to check the sound samples and this is a gritty tone to it. Man imagine throwing a fuzz pedal on this?
Imagine NOT throwing a Fuzz pedal on this!
There was a Fuzz Face used alongside the Orange AD30 for the sound samples. Sounds great with a toothy tone.
My first thought was "Must be full sized Bournes pots..." Yup.
Now, two things. You can do what you did and just swap out the Bournes for CTS full sized pots. They are equal, you see Bournes in Boutique made guitars. You can also swap out for Bournes mini pots because the "throw" is very similar to full sized CTS pots. I definitely recommend Bournes mini pots for Import guitars if you want a CTS feeling throw and you have a cramped electronics cavity. I had to do that on my Samick Malibu (the black one in my pic) and it works great!
I have full sized Bournes pots on two guitars. I have a Squier Standard Telecaster with the control plate flip. The reason being is that I can do Volume ans Tone swells with my pinky on that guitar.
I am in the middle of making a non working Ibanez Roadstar II guitar work and I have Bournes pots on that. It was a free guitar and the old electronics has seen better days so I am bringing essentially a non playing guitar and making it playable with new pickups, electronics, and tunners. Before anyone gets upset this guitar was in "Poor" condition, left in a garage in Phoenix for a decade or two and I am doing this basically as cheap as I can with existing parts. So it plays better, once the pickups are in it will sound good. The old pickups are going to a buddy who can use them and one or more may need to get rewound. Basically a new set of Alnico V pickups from Amazon are way cheaper than fixing the old ones. The guy works at a music store so it will either be cheap or free for him to get fixed. He likes vintage more than I do. I like taking a vintage guitar and make it more in line with modern guitars in terms of sound and playability. I like the destressed patina that the neglect has given this particular guitar.
But does it chug?
To Me That's a Lot before the Mods😮!What's Right for me Might not be desired for You!Take care,now!M.C.😃😎❣🥳
What i would like to know is if the Orange 30 cand keep up with the backline of a band. perhaps more important the drummer, LOL. So could you tell me what it's usable dB level is. A great show to do would be to show the dB level on all your amps. A real world show on dB in general showing ideal dB needed per instrument in an un-miced backline would be beyond practical and useful.
That's got MUCH more to do with the speakers, their sensitivity rating, and how many of them there are.
You can't give that data for an amp because the amp isn't the thing generating sound, it's the speakers.
I need to replace the pots on my BC Rich and I'm REALLY not looking forward to it......
If I could get a Valiant with a Floyd Rose, I would never play another guitar ever.
That said, I'd probably be perfectly happy with a non-trem one too.
where can i get that nut! And just that nut for a gibson style nut? I hate having to file the nut down
Those nuts have been available on Amazon and Ebay for decades.
@@2DclanSnipingTeam Guess who just bought some lol
You fixed things that shouldn't have required fixing on a $3k guitar. Sweet axe now though!
When metal is used on metal to mechanically fasten something threadlock should always be used. On you guitar or even for the bolts that fall off your guitar stool. Please don't use the red stuff. Blue 242 rather.
I recently got some grief from a friend because i out the everything axe pickups in my mim hendrix strat. I love Hendrix but i mostly wanted it for the body and neck. And I'm pretty sure Hendrix wouldn't care if he were alive.
If there were one person who absolutely wouldn't care you are messing around and modifying your equipment, it would be Hendrix.
@ScienceofLoud Exactly. I love all my guitars but at the end of the day they are tools to help me create the music I hear in my head. Too many guitarists put them up on pedestals. I also feel Leo Fender would encourage it since the strat was designed to be modded.
I thought I'd give an update. I went with the Duncan fully loaded classic pickguard with their noiseless pickups. I've played strats with the fender noiseless, and for my tastes I think the Seymour Duncans sound better and way quieter. And definitely quieter than the factory single coils.
2:32 Ain't no way blud really said that
Rancid English jobby hand crust 😂 🏴
This guitar is
So
Cool
You seem to have some Caledonian black finger rot? Is that from touching something that an Englishman has touched? You know that it makes you part English now! So welcome to the club.
Rad!
2:35 Giggity
Don’t use red loctite, you’ll never remove them. Must be blue.
Its so dumb that the blue loctite comes in a red bottle.
🇺🇦+ 🏴=😮 yes
$3000 and cheap pots and they couldn't even put every screw in properly, you might as well buy a crappy basswood bodied Ibanez if you wanted to get ripped off.
Cheap pots from Bourns, we will let them know🤣
My antivirus alerts on the valiant website.
Get some.
Of the felt cymbal washers and cut them to fit underneath the knobs to give a little bit more friction
All that and no whammy bar...
Why would I want a whammy bar when I can have a hardtail and the guitar stays in tune?
Really? Surely you have had your hands on whammy equipped guitars that stay in tune? Lovely guitar regardless, love the switching options 👌
Too much Loctite. You only need a drop.
That literally is a drop. The macro lens is fooling you.
@ScienceofLoud Damn lens! 😂
A $3k guitar with defects and requires mods?? Hard fucking pass from me. Could get a Schecter for 3x less and get it flawless.
It’s just adding some locktite and swapping the pots for personal preference. Nothing big imo
@@CoolGuyAtlas And for that kind of money, that shouldn't be something you should have to do.
3k for that???
It's a very ugly guitar. Ma grannies favourite colour of nail varnish.
I'd rather a Mexican strat.
At $3000 you should already have the “best” of everything. All you’ve done is make it different.