A Tale of two ES150's....

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villager said:
just for interest i have found out that the 150J has an ebony board...

Cool!

I don't think I have ever seen a 150J pic or maybe if I have I never looked closely enough!
 
Here some fantastic sounds made with a ES-100 from Marinblues forum member. Good taste from him.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=101781
Not affiliated at all!
 
Cheers Luis! Great playing and some nice tone.

I take it the red semi is the ES100?

Thanks for sharing. :)
 
Yes it was
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nl4SqH69DA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTNw5im8kcU

Cheers.
 
Now that I've had these semi's for a while it's easier to hear their own different voices in an objective way.

The ES135 is the one I've been picking up the most. It has what I would call a traditional semi voice and has 3 good sounds. It's kind of not vintage voiced but not modern either and I just gravitate towards it.

The ES158 is louder and has a more modern voice. It sounds very good but I always seem to want to tame it a little! The pickups are lowered a bit to do just that without being anaemic. The neck pickup sounds superb and is very clear.

The ES150 is very vintage voiced as you would expect. It has much lower output than the other two. I love the sound of it but have to turn the amp up a notch.
I spoke with Spence yesterday and he suggested that the pickups were perhaps just too low and he was right! I had raised them up from when I bought the guitar but it showed a line on the pickup cover where they had been sat low in the surrounds for over 30 years and looked like I was raising them too much. It made me stop.
I measured the height of 3 other humbucker guitars with Spence's PAF pickups in and they were indeed lower in the 150.

Raising them more has increased the output but they have still kept their very sweet tone.

I now seem to want to play it the most!

I also noticed that the nut is nylon on the ES150. I didn't realise but found out when I came to cut it with nut files.
All 3 play the same but the neck on the 150 is bigger and just feels great to me.

I'm having fun and I NEVER play my Gibson 335 which is a dog by comparison.
 
Three ES's! Now you're talking!

Regarding Spence... you mean Spence from Shed pickups? I have a set of those in my LS80. I'm actually thinking of replacing them for lower output pickups...
 
Hi Emiel.......I seem to have got the collector bug!

Yes, I mean Spence from Shed Pickups.

I have quite a few sets of humbuckers, single coils and P90's of his. They are great pickups and they can be quite loud. Although I always go for around 7.5k neck and 8k bridge they are quite strong in output.

Have you tried Deacci pickups?

I might try a set and also have been thinking of a pair of Seymour Duncan antiquities for the 135. I had one in a Les Paul bridge years ago and loved the tone but felt the output was a bit low. I now play with very little gain and I think they would now suit me!
 
Deacci pickups have been high on my list but I just noticed the prices have gone up a fair bit so that leaves me to look elsewhere.

There are so many pickup winders these days which makes deciding even hard! Antiquities are definitely nice pickups, I once had a set of those in a Gibbo Lester. If I recall they were a bit 'soft' sounding, properly due to the Alnico 2 magnets.

Low wound pickups are definitely more my thing these days, especially with humbuckers. I tried to get in touch with Spence about maybe rewinding my set of PAF Daddy's but I'm still waiting on a response. I might end up selling them and buying a set of Monty's or OX4s... those get great reviews!
 
Brian, I have a Deacci set now in my LS320CS, I gladly would send to you for trying them ....
 
luis said:
Brian, I have a Deacci set now in my LS320CS, I gladly would send to you for trying them ....

Wow Luis that's a great offer and very kind of you! Really appreciate it.

What do you think of them? I go for lowish PAF type output and if they are the same you can perhaps offer your thoughts on them. If you are blown away by them I might as well just buy a set.

If you are thinking of selling them let me know but taking them out of your guitar for me is so kind but a lot of trouble on your part. :)
 
Deaccis have a strong voice, I like those. Polepìeces are bigger than usual I have seen in other pickups, this would make the sound brigther.Declan had a great job with them, he knows about pickups.

Brian, no problem sending them to you for testing, just let me know where to send them.
 
Hi Brian, just wanted to thank you for inspiring me to restring my ES100 using the wraparound method. Made the strings feel that little bit slinkier. Cheers!
 

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