Apologies for the hijack, but since all the guitar gurus are gathered here:
What the heck did Billy Gibbons mean when he said* “Always keep it in the key of G Demolished”?
*On an episode of “Bones”.
Guitar Building Project, Pt6 - Final Assembly – initial impressions (and one bad pic) – way too long
My guess is that it is a simple play on words: there is a chord - a jazzy one - called G diminished. And since Billy G is more demolished than diminished, I think he’s making a Funny.
Update - email to a buddy of mine:
Okay,
I tried to take it easy today – a mellow day to process what’s been going on. Was looking into my pickups:
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Okay, so my Duncan Jerry Donahue is higher output than I thought – about 7.8k ohms, which is on the high side of a vintage-style pickup
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In looking up other pickups, I am finding that Duncan has the clearest explanations (yay good marketing and service) and it turns out that his Alnico Pro II Lead Tele pickup has a lower output (about 6.2 ohms and it says that it has a “warmer, rounder tone with a somewhat spongier bass” vs. their other Tele pickups. Since I am getting such tight lows out of this guitar, this may provide a better balance to this particular body.
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Doing other research, I found this line: “I’ve found that the hotter pickups get more compressed sounding and tend to push the mids or low mids a bit more… “ which makes sense – and since I am feeling like the mids on this set up are being pushed too far, this could be a way to open it up a bit more…
My buddy Mike has a couple of Tele pickups lying around from previous experiments. I am going to ask about the models – if either is close to the Alnico Pro II, I may borrow one and try dropping it in. Or, if I wait a bit but decide I need to change, go ahead and get the Alnico and see how it sounds. Again, with Duncan – we’re talking about $60…
Something to think about…
Okay - it turns out my friend is interested in buying my current pickup, so I went ahead and have bought the new Duncan - I will swap it in and see if it works.
I am also talking with my drummer about getting a couple of simple sound clips that I could post - I’ll do what I can…
So, wait – are you tossing the Jerry Donahue or the P-Rail? Or both? And how does either impact the cap and pot for that pickup? And if its the P-Rail that’s getting tossed, what becomes of that micro switch in your setup?
ETA: thanks for the update, this is really interesting seeing you go through the steps in swapping things in and out. More detail please when you’re ready.
Swapping out the Jerry Donahue in the bridge - to see if putting in the lower-output pickup will take out some of the mids in the tone and unclog it a bit. Shouldn’t impact the cap and pot; the pickups are in the same range so match with the same components. Microswitch stays - I honestly haven’t paid attention to the P-Rail yet (I mean, I have been using it, but not really focused on its tone) since I am focusing on the bridge pickup right now.
I played with my band for the first time in a while - but it ended up being unplugged at the last minute due to a spousal late-work emergency and no babysitter for one of the band members. Bummer - I had been hoping I could show up early for a loud practice and get a couple of sound samples recorded. Maybe next time.
Got any examples?
Of G Diminished? Sure - I Googled this.
Got one black pickguard - matte black, single layer (no white edging). You know what? It isn’t right either - just kinda lies there. Perfect for a butterscotch blackguard Tele, but this needs more pop. Returning it and ordering a gloss black with a white layer.
Pickup ordered.
Hmmm. I’m not sure what I meant by that.
You know, I thought exactly that when you said you were getting a black pickguard, and I restrained myself from posting that you should get a black-white-black one. That SG-look you want really demands it, IMO, glossy and out there, no restraints.
BTW, when you get that new 2 or 3-layer pickguard on, can we get one more totally crap picture of how it looks? 
Sorry, cheap shot, but I can’t believe your household can’t dig up a camera that can take a good pic + the expertise to post it. Can I help?
No worries - and yeah, I stink as a picture-taker and my wife, who is great, wouldn’t have the patience to work with me (understandably so ;)). However, hope is in sight - a buddy of mine is a pro photographer (it is good to live in the NYC area - he does fashion shoots, has helped with the SI Swimsuit Edition, etc.) and he has agreed to come and take some shots of my guitars. With this project Tele, I am finally in a spot where I have a few guitars that are all keepers and I need nice photos for both insurance purposes and to use as wallpaper on my PC! Not exactly sure on the timing, but should happen in the next month or so…
…and yeah, I think you’re right about the b/w/b - hopefully it will arrive in a day or two and I can install it. The new pickup already arrived from eBay on Saturday but I didn’t install it due to soccer games and the need to wait for the 2nd pickguard to arrive later this week. I hope to install them this weekend along with the fancy, old-school, oil-and-paper capacitor I got (if I can find room for it in the control cavity; it’s big!).
You know, looking at the pickguard on my 70’s SG, the material is actually black-faced, but the edges are w/b/w, not b/w/b; this seems to give it more ‘pop’ because you see the white edges against the black even looking face on. I’m not sure if this is typical or not for a Gibson.
Interesting. Well, I ordered mine from Warmoth and it is coming hopefully in a few days - we’ll have to see how it looks…with better photos!
My SG pickguard detail here. And here’s someone else’s “batwing” pickguard, which has pickguard layering the same as my older SG.
Yep - those are 5 layer 'guards vs. 3 layer - a whole 'nother level of Fancy! Gibson also does 5-layer and 7-layer bindings and pickguards, etc…
I guess it depends on if you want your axe to feel dressed up. The 5-layer pickguard gives it a tuxedo feel. Are you going for SG or Melody Maker esthetic? Concert cellist or working class Joe? Both are perfectly fine approaches, but IMO that raw-meat color pulls toward the fancier side. If you had binding on the body or neck, that would cinch the choice. But you don’t, so it could go either way.
Well I am really going for a 50’s Les Paul Special - see a photo here. Hmm, in looking at it, it has the 5-layer like your SG…oh well, I will stick with my paltrey little 3 layer for now - well, once I get it. Seriously, it doesn’t strike me as that big of a deal, as long as there is enough white to make the pickguard pop a little more agains the raw-meat cherry color…
Hard to say until you see it in place. I will note that that 50’s Les Paul Special had binding on the neck, so they’ve got a somewhat fancy-pants scheme going. Having said that, I’m sure your 3-layer will be fine.
Update: I swapped the pickguard. Much better - see another lousy pic.
Also working on the electronics, and soldered in a new pickup but I think I blew one solder. Been traveling for work and the weekend is full of kids’ soccer games so no clue when I can get back to this. Grr.
Awesome! That pickguard is perfect, the white layer makes it pop out really well, and the neck pickup disappears right into the shiny blackness. I’d be really pleased if I were you – that pickguard binds the whole look of the guitar together IMO.
Also, soldering builds character, so tuff it out. Ah, the smell of rosin in the morning… 