As you know, last month, I completed the build of a JEM Tribute guitar for one of my long time clients in Canada. He usually does reviews of his projects on the forums and blogs etc. Since he does these reviews, he likes to 
use companies he hasn’t used in the past so he can get new vendors and companies a bit of press and exposure. One of the companies he used, and subsequently introduced me to was Sublime Pickups out of Hungary. (Sublime Pickups) once the page opens, click on the button with “Bezar”
After being introduced, I received a set of pickups from my new friend Andras for my clients guitar. I immediately discovered these pickups were not your usual breed of pickup. They were pretty hefty and seemed to be pretty well made and solid. Nice polish to the chrome covers and the engraving was very eloquent. Once installed, it became evident these were not your normal pickups. Very cool tone and some features I like to see in my select builds such as nice volume response, concice and clear note separation, some very cool natural distortion and a subtle ring (like a bell ringing the exact note being played) by design to offset the note of the wood (mahogany body).
Once I completed the project, I delivered it to my client and he is still playing around with it. Testing out all the versatility of the guitar and it’s ability to adapt to many playing styles. Once the review is published, it will be noted here in my blog.
But that isn’t where this story ends-
After a few weeks, I was contacted by Andras, the creator of the pickups. He let me know that there were a few sets in the US that were stranded at a test facility that was no longer able to conduct his testing and he would like to know if I would like to receive them and conduct the testing for him as well as complete the shipping process on an additional set for an artist located here in the States. I naturally accepted and have since received the pickups.
So given the fact that these pickups really set off a fire storm with the JEM build, I’ve decided to build another private stock variation of the JEM I did last month. This version will be built based on a 2 – piece alder body finished in either a translucent black or a black metallic finish. A rock maple neck with an ebony fingerboard and Red Inlay to match the pickups I received, stainless steel 5100 frets. In addition, the version I build will have the “Grip” but it will not have a Center Pickup. So basically it will be an RG of some sort with rear routing and mounting rings. I’ll add a variety of switching options since the pickups have been setup for just that option. As a mater of fact, the neck pickup has been designed specifically for the coil tap option to reduce the output on demand.
Just a bit of detail on the pickups:
- Style – Red Resin Cast Humbucker with custom artwork engraved – (that’s a whale on the bridge pickup, the neck graphics are pretty self explanatory I think)
- Neck – Distant Land with DCT 17.2k / 9.3k
- Bridge – Deep Ocean Blue – 19.8k
Once again, the bridge of choice in my shop is the CGT Modified Schaller Double Locking (Floyd Rose License) with the shortened, increased mass brass block will be used on this project as well as the Schaller Staggered / locking tuners, all chrome-
For additional information on this or any other CGT projects, click HERE–
Casper's Custom Guitar Shop 