Carvin SH-475, Ghost and magnetics replaced

Started by carlb, October 05, 2014, 04:59:07 PM

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carlb

I recently sent an SH-475 in for work by Brian Moore's iGuitar shop.

The stock Ghost electronics were acting wonky, and with some VG-99 patches no matter what the modeled pickup was set to, it would quickly work its way to the bridge pickup.

I've been wanting to try the Richard McClish hex pickup setup for quite some time. Reports are that it's less prone to string cross-talk, is better shielded, and has lower active electronics noise ("hiss") than do the Ghost systems.

I can report that yes, all the above are true. I'm relieved to be able to rest my palm on the bridge once more, something that would cause buzzing noise with the Ghost hex-pickups in the bridge.

With the GP-10, altered tunings have less of the odd tracking noises that could make their way to any strummed chord. Harmonics still exhibit this glitching, which makes sense, there's still the differing frequencies on the top versus bottom string portions which make it difficult for the processor to discern which fundamental to use.

Also, the magnetic Seymour Duncans are just superb. They add a lot of great character, whereas the stock Carvin pickups were not bad, but just not as interesting sounding. Especially with both pickups selected. They're also louder too, or are so in combination with the RMC electronics, because I don't have to use as high of gain on the amp models for a given distortion amount. Which means less hum/buzz noise overall.

The iGuitar shop was great, worked with Patrick there. Sent them a hand-drawing of what controls I wanted and where, and they gave me exactly that. Hex and Mag controls, coil-tap, etc. And finally changed the metal knobs out for gold speed knobs. Perfect.

Also, the guitar has a hex-USB output now, to go straight into a laptop or such.

It's just a fantastic instrument now.

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ES Les Paul, internal Roland GK
Boss SY-1000, Valeton Coral Amp pedal
Morningstar MC8 & MC6
QSC CP8 powered speaker

carlb

#1
Update on this guitar, now three years later.

The 13-pin output is beginning to act wonky again.  For models of acoustic, nylon, and especially 12-strings, there's buzz noise that's never been there before. The output just isn't ... clear. Guessing it's the dreaded moisture induced piezo failure.

I decided to try hooking up a GK-3 to this guitar tonight, had one from the GP-10 purchase a while ago.

OK, I have to say it: The best pickup system for 13-pin guitars is magnetic. Very little of the "warblies" for alt tunings, and over-all just cleaner, more transparent sound than piezos. No piezo mechanical vibration to pickup, only the string vibration. Fret buzzing isn't as much of an issue, either.

I'm going to investigate options for a permanent installation of a Roland hex pickup, with internal electronics. The hex magnetic performance is hands-down the best.
ES Les Paul, internal Roland GK
Boss SY-1000, Valeton Coral Amp pedal
Morningstar MC8 & MC6
QSC CP8 powered speaker

chrish

I'm convinced that hex pickup setup and even the type of guitar used greatly affects the tracking in both  Cosm and PCM sample triggering.

An example of this would be having my gk3 hex pickup mounted on my Ibanez artist pickup ring where it is subject to Magnetic interference from the guitar's standard pickups.

Also the resonance qualities of the guitar itself can be detrimental to the tracking. For example on that same Ibanez guitar playing the G and A note on the high E string causes the open D & G string to trigger false notes.

Mounting the gk3 on the Roland g505 greatly improved my tracking experience.

carlb

Ibanez Artist guitars are 'gibson-esque' in bridge to humbucker dimensions. So I wonder if the GK kit will have the same tracking problems on many gibson-like guitars.

The humbucker could be replaced with a mini-humbucker (with adapter ring to cover original size hole), but I have to wonder about the resonance issue.

Is your Artist noticeably more resonant than most other guitars?

ES Les Paul, internal Roland GK
Boss SY-1000, Valeton Coral Amp pedal
Morningstar MC8 & MC6
QSC CP8 powered speaker

chrish

I think the resonance might be coming through the heavy Brass Bridge on the Ibanez artist.

I'm going to experiment with some string dampening and see if that helps with the tracking.

I was also thinking about replacing the rear pickup with a Cycfi hex pup and running that to a GK board. But that's a future project as I've run out of gear bucks for a while.


frummox

Just spoke to Patrick about 2 weeks ago. Explored the possibility of adding an internal TriplePlay to my RMC/Piezo iGuitar with USB out and a whammy bar. At the time Patrick felt it was too much stuff to cram into the instrument, particularly with the space taken up by the whammy bar springs. He later reassessed the possibility but I had already put some bucks down on a TriplePlay Strat (still waiting, its coming from Europe. We'll see how that goes) Carib's comment piqued my interest and I compared the iGuitar to my Ibanez with a mounted GK-3 pickup. The iGuitar is old and the Ibanez sounded much cleaner. Patch 3 (GR-300) on the GP-10 seemed prone to scratchy noises with the iGuitar. Makes me wonder if the RMC piezos are going.

carlb

That's a real possibility, frummox. I'm looking into having the iGuitar guys install a permanent GK pickup with internal electronics.
ES Les Paul, internal Roland GK
Boss SY-1000, Valeton Coral Amp pedal
Morningstar MC8 & MC6
QSC CP8 powered speaker

Majiken

After all of this, I'm wondering if I should get silly and think about gutting my LGX-T (restorable) and installing an internal GK-3? Could keep the piezos for the "acoustic" mono approach*... love the guitar & its playability, warbles are terrible, though.
I have an external GK-3 on my '92 PRS CE24, warbles are much lower on that.  Haven't been able to dial in a good hybrid sitar/pu sound on it for when I cover "Norwegian Wood" or "The Games People Play", I use the standard pups and blend the sitar with the expression pedal at the appropriate times. The clean PRS pups are just too dark, so far I get much better results using the piezos* on the Godin.

Maybe I should just wait until I can afford a complete custom build....

Carl, that Carvin is a pretty axe!
Take what you need, put back a bit more, leave the place behind you better than it was before :-)

www.majiken.rocks