The Final Product

The Stagemaster is finished, and here it is. Isn't she beautiful? I had time today to put it all back together and I'm happy to say it went off without a hitch--which is not to say that there wasn't a final hitch regarding the electronics. But please allow me to describe the bad parts in a later post.

What I would like to do today is enjoy the moment. The Stagemaster is back together and it sounds . . . well, it sounds like I hoped it would. What more could I ask for, really? I expected and hoped it would sound a certain way, and it has exceeded my expectations.

The new DiMarzio pickups sound sublimely beautiful singly, and in combination with one another. The neck position pickup is a powerhouse with a huge, big fat sound and the single coil in the middle position is as clean sounding of a pickup that I have ever heard.

But the main feature, it turns out, is the f-spaced pickup in the bridge position. This is an ass-kicking pickup that almost sounds like it has an overdrive built in. The power is indescribable.

And finally, the shielding. Going to the trouble of shielding the electronics properly has paid off in a big way. I have never owned a guitar, until now, that is completely noise free. No hum, no buzz no nothing. Complete, beautiful silence.

So what is left to do? Nothing as far as the Stagemaster goes, but what I would like to do for you is to summarize the project in the next series of posts. There were several mystifying developments at the end of the project which you should be aware of if you try something like this on your own. I will describe these to you in detail.

I would also like to summarize what this project cost. I have a feeling that it may have cost more than the guitar itself cost, but we'll see. I haven't added it up yet.

But for now, the Stagemaster is done and I am enjoying my "new" guitar.

Crispy