Installing Synth Pick-up TA with pickguard

[Lucidology]

Have any of you installed a Roland Synth Pickup on an TA with a Pickguard? And, if so, would ya care to share your experience...

Ciao and thanks,
the Joseph
Monterey, CA

[bud]

I looked at the graphtec Ghost, and RMC systems and the 13 pin jack requires a huge hole. The RMC and Ghost saddles also are designed to emphasize the fundamental so you get fewer overtones than on Anderson bridges. I found this to be true on the Brian Moore I-guitar I owned for a while (it tracked flawlessly but had little personality otherwise)

The latest Roland GK-3 will mount on a Gibson Tune-o-matic with no non-reversible mods, so an Atom might work depending upon the spacing of the bolts on the wraparound bridge (the length of the wrap around might be a problem)

If synth is a major component of your rig, fitting one in an Anderson may be worth the challenge you face. If it isn't, you may want to consider anything from a Roland ready Strat to one of the synth enabled Godin's.

[tom]

i've seen a couple of our guitars with the roland stuff attached. at least one had the pickguard cut to make room for the pickup.

[Stys]

Didn't Neal Schon have this done to his Anderson guitars?

[tom]

yup he did.

[bruce]

I've installed a few. There is not much room inbetween the bridge and our bridge position humbucker...espeacially if it has a Floyd Rose bridge... It can be done, it's just a tight and careful install. I've installed them two different ways.. screwing the synth pickup onto the pickguard so they have no chance of moving, and the other way of just using the supplied adhesive. Using the adhesive method is good if you need to remove the unit in the future to bring the guitar back to it's original state, but adhesive isn't that great in the long haul if you plan on playing summer gigs outdoors or if you sweat profusely... the adhesive melts and breaks down and you then have a pickup that is moving away from its critical position. The worst case is you would have to remove the messy, old/bad adhesive and start fresh again.

[bud]

This thread has got me pondering again. I thought I had gotten past my "keyboard player" envy, but obviously such deep seated issues are difficult to let go :o .

The Roland GK3 pickup tracks very well and the mounting system for a Tune-o-matic seems great, no permanent mods to the guitar and the thing stays in place with just the string pressure on the bridge. The controls mount by sliding a bracket under an end pin.

If anyone in the know could indulge me: What it the spacing on the holes on the Atom wrap around bridge (is it the same or very close to a Tune-o-matic) ?

[tom]

are you needing the spacing of the studs or strings? the studs are the same as the gibson stud tailpiece.
corey picked up my hollow atom for a sleep over if you want to check it out for fit.

[bud]

Thanks Tom,

It was the stud spacing on the Atom as compared to the screw/stud spacing on the Gibson bridge (not stop tailpiece) as the GK-3 mounts to the bridge, but the string spacing is in question too.

I'll have to try and get ahold of a GK-3, the one I had was on a sleepover for photographs. I

[guitarzan]

Bud,
I'm always looking for an excuse to come down to the brainyard. I can bring the Atom down if you need to get a tactile measurement.

I'll bring my resume. :)

[bud]

Bud,
I'm always looking for an excuse to come down to the brainyard. I can bring the Atom down if you need to get a tactile measurement.

I'll bring my resume. :)

Sounds fun, you could bring the LSS too.

[guitarzan]

And a Fuchs Lucky 7
And my newly acquired Red Llama OD pedal
And those 3 modded Boss pedals (CS-3, OD-3 and BD-2)
And a few other new toys.