preamp wanted

djangology

thats one of the coolest tips I have ever seen. thanks for sharing that one. that makes me want to get a preamp (even though I dont need one). :-)

Also, this is the first time I have heard of a "deluxe bigtone"... Jack, what kind of guitar did you put it on?

Jack

BluesBop Harry wrote:

Hey Jack,
Did you install the Deluxe Bigtone on your new Hommage??
I'm very curious about both the guitar and the pickup.
Could you please post some kind of review or opinions about them??

Yeah, it's in the Hommage.
So far I'm enjoying the guitar immensely. It's got a great neck with a flattish back (is that a D shape?) and although it seems to have about the same at the nut as my Selmer style (Dell'Arte Minor Swing) I find that some of the lines I've struggled with in the past are much easier to play on the Hommage.

Action is about 3.5mm/bass and 3mm/treble, and the tone is a lot rounder (and much louder) than my other guitar, which can sound thin acoustically, especially in the higher registers. On the other hand, my initial feeling is that the Minor Swing has a wider range of tones in it, particularly when you want to play quietly; that could change as the Hommage gets played more. Right now it's still got that 'new guitar' sound with super-fresh strings...for some reason I'm not crazy about new strings.

The Hommage is definitely a more heavily built guitar--the weight is probably closer to many standard flattops than to most Selmer styles--and it's got what seems to be the usual enthusiastic factory finish. My Minor Swing has a really thin matte finish (satin?) so I can't really compare the two. On the other hand, over the last couple of winters the Minor Swing has developed really bad finish checking, something I don't think will be an issue with the Hommage.

The pickup seems great tone-wise now that I've got the Baggs running; it was really tough to hear its character without that boost. Now that I've got it, it seems much warmer and more natural sounding than my other, standard, bigtone. One issue is that the stock bridge on the Hommage has a really pronounced compensation: it runs on an angle so the bass side nut-to-bridge length is markedly longer than the treble. The replacement bridge wasn't as angled, and to get the intonation right it had to be set at a bit of an angle between the moustaches. I don't think that has much effect on anything structurally (I guess it could be putting a little extra pressure on the moustaches) but it does look a little funky.

I noticed too that the wiring is a little different on Josh's pickup--my other bigtone seems to have a braided sheath, while Josh's is a black covering. I'm not sure if there's any real difference in terms of shielding, protection against wear, or anything like that; maybe Josh will chime in. One other thing is that while the Dell'Arte pickups ship with installation instructions, the Djangobooks ones don't...that could make a difference if you're dealing with a luthier who doesn't work on these guitars often.

I haven't played out with this guitar yet; I hope to take it out Friday for our regular gig, but I'm hesitant for one reason. When I ordered it, I also ordered a hard case, but the cases were on backorder. It's listed as selling with a gig bag or free shipping, so I figured I could use the bag while I waited for the case. When it arrived, there was no bag, and a month later the cases are still on backorder (it did come with six extra sets of strings and a Wegen M350, so I'm not really complaining). I have a ratty old bag that fits it--the Favino size means none of my hard cases fit--but it's really no protection at all and I'd hate to see something happen to the guitar.

Hope that helps!

best,
Jack.

CalebFSU

Jack- I am actually with you on not really liking new strings. It seems as thopugh I am not comfortable untill the strings have a little skin on them.