Sell the vintags Corvettes rather than modifying them and use the proceeds to buy or build the guitar you want. Let another player enjoy them intact rather than destroying their unique character, however flawed you find them. Another player will embrace what you don't like. But if you modify them they will never have the same value. Old guitars are old, let them be that way and make new guitars if you are searching for another sound.

Squink Out!

Also- I love the Corvettes- I don't plan on selling either any time soon. One of them is a complete mongrel- full of holes, shitty routing from the Burns trem and an amateur attempt to put a strat pickup in the bridge position at some stage in its history- but is utterly awesome. I hope to keep that long enough to pass it on to my son when my fingers give in.

FritzCat wrote:

I have a set of TArmonds in a 6120N (semi-hollow) and I think it sounds great for surf.

Also, there's a Gretsch Silver Jet with dynasonics in this video> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z90ks8x1w18

YES! That sounds awesome.

CrazyAces wrote:

I occasionally use a White Falcon with Filtertrons but much prefer DeArmonds for surf and even Duane Eddy sounding stuff so I'd say get the T-Armonds.
I'm planning on getting a set of those for my Duo Jet so I can use it more for this music.
Filtertrons definitely have a thicker, denser sound on the low strings.

Cheers,
Jeff

Cheers, I reckon the universal mount ones will look really cool in my Corvette too.

I know I'm kind of late for the party, but I noticed that my Squier project Strat (plywood) is routed for humbuckers in the bridge position, and I have a TV Jones humbucker Classic Plus that I bought ten years ago. Is that Classic Plus usable for Surf Music?

(Yeah, I know, lipstick on a pig...by the way, are the StewMac Golden Age lipstick tube pickups any good?)

I am partial to original condition vintage axes and once owned a mid-60s Corvette in Black Cherry burst with the Burns Vibrato, Hi-LoTron in the bridge position and reverse 4+2 headstock. A very rock'n'roll axe (Wayne Kramer played one). I traded for a tape echo unit at a shop in Nashville. Those thin plank guitars have a zingy sound that is so badass.

T.Rowe-DeArmond pickups are all the rage these days for good reason. I got a pair custom made for a Teisco I built out with Mosrite copy bridge and tailpiece. The p'up winder is named Brett Brubaker (not Bubacer, AKA Abu Bakr)who can be contacted here. Someone else on this forum recommended him to me and he is a standup craftsman of p'ups whose prices are reasonable and work is excellent. He nails the original "gold foil" p'up complete with microphonics.
Bensen_Honeydew wrote:

JObeast wrote:

Sell the vintags Corvettes rather than modifying them and use the proceeds to buy or build the guitar you want. Let another player enjoy them intact rather than destroying their unique character, however flawed you find them. Another player will embrace what you don't like. But if you modify them they will never have the same value. Old guitars are old, let them be that way and make new guitars if you are searching for another sound.

I should clarify- both of the Corvettes were bought cheaply and are a long way from original. Swapping pickups with another Universal mount TV jones pup won't require any modification at all.

Another guitar is definitely a possibility, but I wanted to explore this option first.

Squink Out!

These are them:

The one on the right has been modded to add a neck pickup and had the Burns Unit replaced by a Duesenberg Trem. I had to add the pickup surround because a previous owner did a horrific routing job so that they could add what looks like a strat pickup. When I got it, it had an amazingly microphonic Coronado pickup. The pickups are both TV Jones. The neck on this one is huge and awesome. I've since replaced the silver pickup surround with a black one.

The one on the left looks mint, but has actually been refinished in really thick poly. It has also had the neck reshaped quite poorly at some point (or possibly could have come out of the factory that way- things were pretty loose at Gretsch HQ in the 60s apparently) which is getting remedied by a local luthier at the moment. I'm eventually going to strip the poly finish and have been toying with having it refinished as a Silver Duke. Will probably be a long term project.

Last edited: Aug 11, 2016 13:56:33

I would take a look at the GFS Surf 90. They are cheap and sound very good to my ears. I have them in three different guitars. I usually use high dollar boutique hand-wound pickups, but these are killer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se5EmNw89SU

I have a GFS Surf 90 installed in one of my guitars and wouldn't buy another because it lacks definition and fidelity. Compared to a Fender or T.Rowe DeArmond it lacks both high and low end. It's not a bad sound, but it doesn't suit my idea of surf music - tight percussive picking reverberated and amplified fairly cleanly, without much obvious distortion.
For not a whole lot more money, I could have gotten a better pickup.

Squink Out!

I just can't make my mind up about gfs surf 90s. Got them on my Eastwood twin tone but they seem a bit plonky... Dunno how else to describe it but I'd like to try them on a different guitar.
But I do know that I love the T Armonds on my gretsch 5129 and they surf well enough. Recently recorded a tune and tried a Jag version too. Studio preferred the t armond equipped 5129. I like both of course but the gretsch had something