Kitarat: kitarakamat ›

Taigo: So regarding the "double eagle" tune-o-matic bridge.. that's the key to get the "strat-sounding" sound out of it right? Has anyone ever seen one like that on ebay or other website for sale? I can only find some floyd rose copies from the brand "double eagle".
When i look at the video of Espoon axo, it looks like a huge square bridge, but the thing i notice most is the position of it.. it's right against the pickup, which is pretty weird for a gibson.
Any recommendations for a replacement bridge, if i'd never find the double eagle?
Like it was mentioned, member "fox" kindly sold me this DoubleEagle tune-o-matic style bridge, made of brass. I just took few pictures of it for you:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vIW8Inklv8c/T … ADBw/yN7Rrq0kI1k/s1152/IMG_2213.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vIW8Inklv8c/T … ADB4/xcD4SSUEIKw/s1152/IMG_2215.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vIW8Inklv8c/T … AADCE/eqWB4mjpYHs/s640/IMG_2216.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vIW8Inklv8c/T … ADCI/Jbb2eJ94hd4/s1152/IMG_2217.JPG
 
I think any tune-o-matic made of brass would do the trick. You would at least achieve the sound with it. Brass is somewhat weird material, since it makes the sound fuller but also brighter... at least in today's Les Pauls that are mahogany with maple top, and glued in mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. Remember, Pete's Les Paul was a Deluxe, from Norlin era. It had a sandwich body that shouldn't be "overlooked".
 
Also, he is using a Gibson paf for neck, and a dirty fingers for bridge PU right?
The neck pickup wasn't really a PAF-pickup. PAF stands for that black sticker saying "Patent Applied For", and Pete's neck pickup had patent number on that sticker. So it's Gibson's PAF yes, but not in the very sense of it :)
 
I think most of today's PAF-replicas would do fine there. Even BurstBucker #1 with split-coil function. I personally like BareKnucklePickups' Stormy Monday in my Les Pauls these days. It's a nice sounding humbucker with a mild singlecoil-like character... you know, warm with clarity. And absolutely fantastic when splitted :)
 
The bridge pickup is Gibson Dirty Fingers from the 80s. Not quite the same they are making today, but sort of like that. A hot pickup anyways.
 
But the thing that confuses me is those switches. From what i understand he uses them as coil splitters right? I just wonder why he has 2 switches, since he "never used the bridge pickup in splitted mode".. i guess he just performed the mod on both pickups and didn't like it on the dirty finger?
You answered your own question there :)
He used to have coil-splitting for both neck and bridge pickup, but once DirtyFingers was installed the second switch was left "unhooked". Some people have asked why Pete didn't use just one switch for tapping them both pickups. One reason might be the center-position of the regular LP pickup switch when both pickups are "on" and if you then use the coil-splitter, it makes both pickups "singlecoils". More variations and sounds when you build a switch for both pickups (humbucker/humbucker or single/humbucker or humbucker/single or single/single) :)
 
The tuners are Grover Kidney "BEAN"? or something else, they look huge when they're filmed from the back, really sticking far out of the headstock..
They weren't those regular "beans" or kidneys. They were larger, more square-like. Almost like oversized modern Strat tuner-buttons.
 
I'm not sure if I'm going to get it explained well enough, but at least all the finns here know if I mention "lätkäliiga-karkki". That candy is pretty much the shape of those buttons :)
 
Finally, he replaced the P90's with humbuckers, but how did he cut out the wood?
Harsh and rough... just like a butcher :)
One tiny detail was the corners of that humbucker routing. There weren't any wood where the pickup frame's screws bite into. Those corners were filled with small "extra wood" afterwards... glued there with the same "butcher-like style" like the routings were done. So the routings were pretty harsh... and there was no coating of any kind.
 
like a standard les paul or different? the humbuckers might be placed higher/lower compared to anything else out there.. and the fact that the bridge is so close to the dirtyfinger only makes me wonder more..
You are somewhat correct. There's a small gap between the pickup frames and the pickguard. I would say 2-3mm from both neck and bridge pickup side.
 
PS; does anyone have the BIG PICTURES from this;
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1438/872146490_3a4e717016_m.jpg
Yes, I have them burned on some CD, which is located somewhere here in my apartment. But during these years I have been "cherishing" the wish of the Pete Walli Les Paul's current owner not to share around those pictures.
 
Slightly bigger version: http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vIW8Inklv8c/S … E8oKHhbRJeE/walli_lp_thumbnails.jpg
 
I'm not trying to recreate a perfect replica, but i think the color of my les paul is in the right ballpark;
http://cmdstud.khlim.be/~apaletta/blahblah/Fresher10.jpg
Yeah, it was more of a brown than an orange. Still it wasn't completely brown, there's a "orange hue" to it. Maybe because of the bare maple underneath...
 
I hope someone will respond..
Cheers,
 
Anthony
I hope we could help ya. And cheers back at you :)