| Author | Message | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 407 Registered: 9-2004 |
I have a Modulus Blackstar 6 string guitar made in 1988 in near mint cond. but I don't know much about it and there seem to be some folks here who might. It is a bolt on neck and sounds and plays fantastic. However, I do not know what the tone control does. It seems to act like the tone control off an Eric Clapton strat in that it adds gain while changing tone. The EMG circuit is an active one. Anyone know what it really does? I bought this from the original owner who custom ordered it in 1988 and then left it in a closet. It is in beautiful shape. I do not know why the 3 pups are so close, but they give a fairly wide tonal range. I wonder how many were made. There is not much info about them on the Internet. Thanks, Dave     (Message edited by davehouck on November 18, 2011) | ||
| afrobeat_fool
Advanced Member Username: afrobeat_fool Post Number: 384 Registered: 7-2009 |
Dave. Glad to see you picked that one up. I thought about it for a sec, and said"do I really need another guitar"? Good for you! | ||
| elwoodblue
Senior Member Username: elwoodblue Post Number: 1308 Registered: 6-2002 |
Beautiful guitar, that must have been a custom ordered pickup placement. Congrats! (Message edited by elwoodblue on November 18, 2011) | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 408 Registered: 9-2004 |
Yes, the 3 switches turn the pickups on or off. The 'tone' control affects all the pickups but does not function like a regular tone control. There is a circuit board mounted on top of it too. | ||
| elwoodblue
Senior Member Username: elwoodblue Post Number: 1309 Registered: 6-2002 |
Ha!...you caught me mid-edit...I just saw that micro board. I remember those being popular in the eighties , some were mid boosts, some were "expanders". Is there any part numbers on that tiny board? | ||
| pace
Senior Member Username: pace Post Number: 794 Registered: 4-2004 |
This is the Bob Weir model blackknife. But, I'm pretty sure the ones he's got have a neck-thru TBX style neck. As far as the electronics go, the board looks similar to the one on my '88~ while mine also has a passive hf tone roll off, this is an active 'gain' where the caps seem to accentuate a mid 'hump' as you turn it up. I guess it is similar to the Clapton strats from the same era. | ||
| dfung60
Senior Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 521 Registered: 5-2002 |
You've got most of the facts on this guitar. Bob Weir and Phil Lesh mostly played Modulus during the 80's into the 90's. Bob Weir was a major investor in Modulus during the 90's. The unusual pickup placement was inspired by Bob's main guitars which where through-body. The active tone control is probably an EMG SPC which is a presence/mid-boost control. EMG had a number of different models that all has similar configuration (one is a midrange cut, another is a straight gain, etc). It will say which one it is on the PC board if you look closely for markings. If you look closely at the EMG logo on the pickups, you may see that they are different colors. Back then EMG coded the models using different colored logos. A silver logo is an EMG-S, a gold is EMG-SA, and there are white, blue, and red models at well which all have different coils and built-in EQ. Some of these guitars with the three close pickups are built with EMGs that are custom wound for Modulus. They sometimes have handwritten stickers on the back of the pickup. If there's a printed label with a production code back there, it's a regular pickup. I remember seeing some of Bob's guitars at Modulus in for fretwork back in those days. Some of the later ones had some very unusual stuff - there were blocks of rare metals that were inlayed into the back of the headstock, Roland controllers, etc. David Fung | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 409 Registered: 9-2004 |
Yes, the circuit board has tiny letters that say SPC on it. The pickups are silver letter EMG's. I just put new strings on it, so it will have to wait till I change them to examine the underside of the pickups. What does EMG-S mean? How does the mid-boost control work I wonder? It does get louder and meaner when the tone control is turned up. Thanks, Dave  | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 410 Registered: 9-2004 |
Lucky me, I found a website with the answers to my questions" http://www.guitar.com.au/pickups/emg/Specs.html Thanks, Dave | ||
| pace
Senior Member Username: pace Post Number: 797 Registered: 4-2004 |
Play her in good health, Dave. I don't know what your opinion is of the EMGs, but my Modulus is begging for a set of Alembic Activators!  | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 411 Registered: 9-2004 |
I like the sound of the guitar. It gets a nice bluesy growl going for lead and has many great rhythm sounds out of the 3 oickups. I installed a trem lock on it last night so it won't flutter when I rest my hand on the bridge. It does not sound like a Strat but has it's own sound. Can you post a pic of your instrument here? Thanks, Dave | ||
| afrobeat_fool
Advanced Member Username: afrobeat_fool Post Number: 385 Registered: 7-2009 |
Good to meet you last weekend, Dave. Have a good time in Corvallis this weekend! Nick | ||
| afrobeat_fool
Advanced Member Username: afrobeat_fool Post Number: 386 Registered: 7-2009 |
Good to meet you last weekend, Dave! have a good show in Corvallis this weekend. How many oickups does this guitar have? LOL!! Nick | ||
| dfung60
Senior Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 522 Registered: 5-2002 |
The SPC is still in production (it's probably been around for 25 years now!): http://www.emgpickups.com/products/category/144/4 If you go to the Product Data Sheets area at the lower right of that page, you can download the installation sheet which shows what it's doing. The idea here is that it makes more of a humbucker tone from a single coil sound. The S one of the earliest EMG pickups, and it's still in production too: http://www.emgpickups.com/products/index/47/7/1 This is the model with ceramic magnets and is the "brighter" pickup in the EMG Strat line. Good stuff and lots of options these days if you want to make a change! Depending on what kinds of sounds you like, you might consider changing one to an SA or SAV (these are warmer alnico magnet pickups, and the SAV has polepiece magnets). Of course, there's an amazing variety of boutique passive pickups out there these days too. David Fung | ||
| pace
Senior Member Username: pace Post Number: 799 Registered: 4-2004 |
And of course, there's always Alembic Activators ;) The one thing to consider, if you did go the passive route, is that the single coil router template on these guitars excludes the 'v' wedge on the bridge/treble side of the coil~ most passive pups make use of this space to terminate the leads of the coil. | ||
| pace
Senior Member Username: pace Post Number: 800 Registered: 4-2004 |
almost forgot....  | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 412 Registered: 9-2004 |
Very Nice!! It came with the fixed bridge? | ||
| bluplirst
Intermediate Member Username: bluplirst Post Number: 135 Registered: 12-2004 |
Modulus Love!  | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1111 Registered: 10-2006 |
Oh my, that 12er is sweet! Love that cross-hatched maple. Tell us more (in a separate thread if you won't to do that egregious a highjack). Peter | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1112 Registered: 10-2006 |
Double post (Message edited by cozmik_cowboy on December 01, 2011) | ||
| pace
Senior Member Username: pace Post Number: 802 Registered: 4-2004 |
Dave, the hardtail bridge is stock, with the exception of graphite saddles. The neck has the traditional strat headstock, but the original owner swapped out the Grovers for Sperzel tuners. Dan, Im happy to see that the 12 string went to a club member. That is such an amazing custom piece! | ||
| dfung60
Senior Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 524 Registered: 5-2002 |
Here's my 1988 Modulus 12-string.  It's got a bit of an interesting story. This guitar was built for Paul Kantner, but they made an error on the order and routed for two humbuckers instead of a single coil at the neck and a humbucker at the bridge. You can buy EMGs that have single coil pickup guts inside a humbucker casing, but this was more about playing space between the pickups, so they built another one for him. It's a really thick cocobolo top with a maple accent layer and mahogany body. Before anybody asks - no, there's not a giant knob sticking out of the middle of the neck, that's the guitar stand that it's sitting on! This one has an unusual neck pickup, a "Geoff Gould special" custom made by EMG. It's got two coils, but just one magnet (one air coil). It sounds really cool, with sort of an "airy" tone, not like anything else. Works really well with the 12-string. The other pickup is a stock EMG-85. The bridge was an old Stars Guitars bridge and the tailpiece was custom cut out of a graphite plate:  It's a really neat sounding guitar. The bridge pickup is all rock, the neck pickup is sort of acoustic like, and with both pickups on it's got an unexpected jangly tone. It takes forever to tune a 12-string Rickenbacker because tuning one string throws everything else out out. With the Modulus, the neck is so stable that no string affects the others when tuning. I live close to the old Modulus factory when it was in San Francisco, so I got a call one afternoon from Geoff asking if I could bring this guitar up for Steve Miller to try out. He loved the sound and hated the weight of the guitar (he has a shoulder problem where he prefers very light guitars). It's also had a capsule review in Guitar Player magazine as well. David Fung | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 415 Registered: 9-2004 |
Very pretty guitars with some serious Alembic vibe. I have to post my 12 string. Made in the Kausga factory, neck-through, great tone, not too heavy and balances well. Labeled "Frontier". You know where the style came from!  | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 4990 Registered: 7-2004 |
Had to jump on the 12 string bandwagon. Here's mine, "Big Irv":  Bill, tgo |
