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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Reverend Guitar with "Filter'Tron" Swap

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PART ONE:
I'm somewhat of a newbie here, and this is a little bit of information that I wish was available, so I'm sharing. Maybe there are other Reverend users here with a similar question. I play surf guitar and although my main guitar is a Fender Jazzmaster, I do like having the option for the Gretsch sound for certain tunes. Rather than spring for a Gretsch, a few years ago I bought a Reverend Contender RB, a great guitar with Reverend's own "RetroBlast" pickups - their version of a Filter'Tron. I liked the pickups, but they were pretty high output, and a little dark for my Fender-spoiled ears. Here's the guitar with the RetroBlasts:

image

PART TWO:
Anyway, the question I had was this: can I fit TV Jones Classics into the Reverend for a more classic FT sound without routing and major cosmetic change. The info on TV Jones' and Reverend's websites didn't fully answer the question. So, I just bought the TVJ Classics and found out that, yes, they do fit. But, unless you want to use the ugly (to me) Gretsch-style spacers, you will have to widen the really nice Reverend chrome spacers. BTW, I actually didn't do the work, that was done by Ian Bannerman at ABQ Guitarworks. Anyway, it turned out beautifully, I think. Here's the guitar now:

image

PART THREE:
Now the most important part: How do they sound? They sound great. The RetroBlast are great pickups, but a very modern take on FT's - darker and higher-output, so they break-up quicker. The TVJ Classics are low-output and very bright. To my mind that makes them more versatile and a better fit for when my band, White Sands (plug), does Duane Eddy and other early tunes. A little more surf-ish. Anyway, I hope this was helpful. Here's another pic for fun:

image

Looks great. From what I've read, TV Jones is very responsive and helpful, so I expect you could have just called up to ask about the fit of the pickups in your guitar.

Oh, that's good to know. Thanks. I guess I was being a little lazy. Haha.

edwardsand wrote:

Looks great. From what I've read, TV Jones is very responsive and helpful, so I expect you could have just called up to ask about the fit of the pickups in your guitar.

It's hard to go wrong with TV Jones pickups. Fantastic stuff. They even make pretty good guitars! (When you can find them, anyway.)

--
Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

Yeah, at rehearsal yesterday I was digging how they sounded.

chiba wrote:

It's hard to go wrong with TV Jones pickups. Fantastic stuff. They even make pretty good guitars! (When you can find them, anyway.)

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