Korean Love Rock Finished Product Results.....Please Read!

Hello fello Tokai folks.I've been doing some pretty serious tweaking on my beloved Love Rock..The results....

New wiring including shielded wiring(Guitar is dead quiet)
New gibson 3 way switch
4 new CTS short shaft 500k pots
Switchcraft output jack

.01 cap placed on the neck pickup's tone control...Nice slow controlled tone rolloff.

Made the neck tone control into a "No Load" tone pot....Removes the cap and pot resistance when the tone pot is set to 10...Gives the pickup more highend and more output....From 9 on down the tone pot acts just like stock.
I have the neck pickup pretty much flush with the pickguard...Sounds better to me,more articulate/clear..

Bridge pickup is back to the stock Tokai....Kind of bright...Jury still out on this pickup? Adjusting it up or down,still kinda bright unless I roll the tone control back to about half way....

.02 cap on the 500k tone pot.......Didn't do the No Load tone pot on this pickup as it doesn't need it... ;o) The Classic 57 Plus I had in this position was terribly microphonic and got sent back to Gibson for exchange....Don't know much about this pickup since it was pretty unusable...The Tokai humbuckers appear to be potted very well and are nice and quiet.

The Tokai bridge humbucker measures about what the Classic Plus measured in dc resistance which was around 8.8k...Nice 59 Les Paul overwound reading for the bridge actually....

This guitar is great and I'm about 95% there once I get the bridge pickup dialed in to my liking....

John

Got any MP3's you can post of your new guitar? I want to compare your guitar to mine and see if it is worthwhile for me to make some of the improvements you made!

Good job John !!! They are beauties aren't they? I also have my neck pu flush with pick guard, I still find the bridge pu just about perfect. Does yours have any serial numbers? mine doesn't appear to - catch you later Dan

Frank....Sorry buddy but I'm not set up right now to record onto my computer...

Vaporboy......The bridge pickup in my model is having me scratching my head? it's so bright and I've not found a way to tame it down to where I Like it as of yet? I Love the neck pickup though!

John

Frank....You also own a Korean Love Rock also then? Is your bridge position pickup pretty bright overall in a Tele kinda way? Les Pauls are supposed to be warm,smooth,and borderline dark in tone....Mine is very bright! Yikes!

John

John, actually I've got a Japanese Love Rock, but I'm assuming my guitar would see the same improvements that your's has. But I was told that the electronics in modern day Love Rocks are light years ahead of the ones from 20 years ago...

You know what, the bridge HB on my axe is a little bright, it's especially noticeable when I play it clean. I'd expect something a little warmer. Seems that the only solution would be turning the tone knob, but you've done that...maybe that Gibson 57 will do the trick?

Frank....One of hte things that's driving me nuts with all of this,is that my Gibson SG has a fuller bridge tone and not at all ice picky.It should be the other way around in that the Love Rock or (Les Paul) sound should be rounder,bassier,ballsier,and smoother,but instead it's more like a Tele bridge pickup with a bit more low end and gainier....I'm doing all of my listening tests so far with only clean tones.....The pickup doesn't sound bad or muddy,in fact it's very quiet,but it is bright compared to my SG at the exact same amp settings on my old 50 Marshall through a Vintage 30 Marshall 4x12 cab...

I'm still trying to solve this problem and I don't think the Classic 57 Plus is going to get me there either....One guy on the FDP told me to try a 250k pot......I thought about going as low as the other Gibson 300k value by putting a resistor across both outside legs of the 500k to knock it down,but I feel this is just going about things all wrong! Ya know? Once I get the bridge pickup dialed in to my liking,I'll be in tone heaven with this guitar! It's fun trying to get it though and a challenge also...



John