Harmonic Design pickups are like adding nitrous under the hood of a 4 cylinder Honda. All of a sudden, you have a hot rod hard to control.
Scott installed the pickups along with new pots, a capacitor or two, and special Voodoo wiring. Compared to the original Duncans, they are hotter and louder. The taper on the volume pot allows you to get the Duncan sound at about 5, meaning it’s softer and sweeter. Roll it all the way and you are Thor fighting a fire breathing dragon.
I put a new set of DAddario NYXL .010s on and drove to practice. My brother Mike always says what he likes. First, it was my Melody Maker with TTop PAFs from the mid 60s. Then it was the Tele. I pulled out the PRS and it was his new fave. I played the Tele at first with the HD Vintage + set. Scott’s version of a P90 for a Tele, I love it through my Victoria Tweed Deluxe, which I used for the gig Friday with the pedal steel player. Then I switched to the McCarty. Brother Mike once again proclaimed it his favorite. I find a new set of strings too crisp. I dialed in my tone, got the spank and harmonic overtones I love, and when the band started playing, the sound disappeared in the mix. Extremely frustrating. I will play it for a week to quiet the strings and decipher the Rosetta Stone of adjustments to get what I consider to be the best tone.
More to come in a week.