Guitar Control Locations

Another (unanticipated) benefit of Uni-Neck construction is it allows for some nifty control relocations. My favorite of which is the pickup selector switch on the underside of the neck structure, where fingertips can easily locate and flick to change settings, even mid-arpeggio. And there's no danger of an unhappy accidental bridge pickup selection during passionate rhythm strumming.

I learned guitar on a Les Paul, and developed the habit of hooking my right hand pinky under the PAF pickup bezel, a feature I've strongly missed on other guitars over the years. It just feels like home. My hand seems centered and balanced during complex picking. Skele caused me to fall back in love with this feeling, with the newly acquired ability to slide hooked pinky and ring fingertips up and down the neck for bell-like tones or metallic grace flourishes.

I relocated the volume knob closer to the bridge, so when performing a partial palm mute, the rounded contour falls comfortably in the crevice of the first pinky joint. A slight pull or push of the pinky will roll the volume for those amp sweet spots.

In the photo below Skele is assembled to test and tweak electronics. The pickup configuration is quite interesting, which we'll discuss soon. At the moment, the guitar is disassembled again so Tricia can complete the skull and crossbones painting (depicted here in an intermediate state).

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Comments

[Alex]

What's that pickup? It looks like a Lace Alumitone, but without the bends that make the "feet". Did you make your own primary coil and put the secondary coil from an existing Alumitone pickup on it? Did Lace make a one-off pickup for you? Or did you make it all yourself?

Sorry, but I'm eager to know more about it. It looks as if you've got a pickup that doesn't require you to route a big cavity that weakens the structure of the neck/body. You mentioned that problem earlier, IIRC, and this pickup seems to do the trick.

The whole guitar is still amazing, but I've been looking for pickups like this, so it caught my attention right away.

/Alex