Better
Whether or not you are a famous guitar/bass player, one of the things we all have in common is our search for better…. better tone, better sound, better setups, better intonation and so on. If you happen to be famous, chances are you have a handy assistant around (guitar tech) who will research and install whatever new devices you think are cool. If you aren’t; like most of us, you have to do all the searching yourself, and obviously all the installing, tuning, adjusting etc….or you simply have to pay someone to do it for you. A very long time ago, I made my choice, and decided to learn as much as I could about tearing guitars apart and re-assembling them to be….better.
Back in those days, we didn’t have places like Solo Guitars to go to, or look at on the internet. In fact, we didn’t even have a lot of choices when it came to parts, pickups, cables etc. A lot of what we did back then was set-up related unless you could get your hands on some new pickups by guys like Larry Dimarzio, who pioneered the world of replacement pickups. Choices in pots, switches etc were very limited unless you had access to an electronics supply. Of course, that opened the door to amp, pedal and fx companies, but let’s get back to the guitars.
You have your guitar, or guitars whether you built them from scratch, from a kit or you just purchased them, it doesn’t really matter. You have done the best setup you can, and you have the hardware of your dreams (tuners, bridge etc), your favorite strings and let’s say, even the pickups you would take to a desert island….so what else do you do? The next most obvious improvement area is the wiring. What kind of pots? What kind of switches? What kind of wire was used for the connecting and what caps? Well …. welcome to the nightmare my friends…. Just go do a bit of reading on the internet and see how many conflicting articles you can find on what parts are better than others, what wire you ‘must’ use, what caps, what treble bleed and whether or not you should use a 3-way or 4-way switch for your Tele….I did say nightmare didn’t I? You’re a pretty organized person right? We’ll just go on the net and do some searches for the parts we need to create the sound we are looking for. Found’em, ordered ‘em, got ‘em… now what?
Are you good at soldering? Do you like soldering? Have you even ever soldered before? And finally, do you want to solder? Luckily, here at Solo Guitars, we have solutions for everything you can dream of. We have EMG solderless Wiring Kits for the active pickup guys. These kits are plug’n’play, with all the required pots and switches and really handy little wires with plugs on them that ensure 100% contact and NO soldering. We also have prewired kits from Emerson that are available for many different guitar types and pickup configurations. Emerson uses top notch pots and switches and vintage style wire and caps to re-create those infamous guitar wiring harnesses from the past. These kits are set up so there is not an excess of wire and the pots should fit directly into the holes on your guitar or pickguard. One of the newest products here at Solo are the Obsidian Custom Wiring kits. Obsidian has been around since 2014 and Mathew (along with his partner Caitlin and staff) have created quite a unique business for themselves. These kits are assembled on miniature circuit boards so there is virtually no wire visible around the high quality pots and switches. The unique thing with Obsidian (if that wasn’t enough) could be the circuits that are pre-designed for coil splitting, or include the Gilmour Switch, or Vintage tone compared to modern and so on….you are getting a lot for your dollar! And what you are not getting is the headache that can come from soldering, the smoke and possibly the frustration. Even the pickup wires are plug-in, so initial installation is easy, as are subsequent pickup changes.
Of course, if you are a soldering guy…we have Hosco and Graph Tech wiring kits that give you everything you need, but you do have to put in the work with the iron. Solo also has a full selection of individual parts from all the big companies if you are only replacing a single part, or you chose to design your own circuit. Solo tries it’s best to keep that smile on your face when you are playing guitar!! Check it out, we have something for everyone!
