[johnnyguitar]

Ive got a Pro Jet sitting in a case that plays great but I haven't found the right pickup for it yet. The stock mini buckers we not my cup of tea so went to some GFS NYII 's and that was better but I still found my Tele sounded better so there it sat....
I had a 5122 that I put TV Classics in but I found I still gravitated to the single of the Tele ....
So I guess I'm asking which pickup has more snap to it, the Dyna , the Dearmond or the Dearmond 2K?
Thanks for any help

[araT]

I vote Dyna or T-Armond

[johnnyguitar]

I got a set of Dyna's off fleabay and now looking at wiring and pot options. I read 500k pots are used but wired to the wiper with a resistor?
Is there a schematic available for this?

Cheers

[johnnyguitar]

The Gretsch Dyna's are in and holy crap, what a sound. Definitely what I was searching for, very powerful and clear....lots of chime but seem to handle gain nicely...to me this is what a Gretsch should be

I have it set up one Vol(500k), one Tone(500k) with a .22 oil in paper cap & a 3 way switch. Definitely not lacking high end on the bridge pup( I'm riding the tone control a fair bit). Not really a problem as I'm used to that with the Tele anyway but I'm still curious about this resistor and I can't seem to find any info on it??

Also there is a little bit of microphonics happening at high volumes, nothing I can't control but I'm wondering if shielding the cavities would help this as well?

I'll post some pics tomorrow

Thanks for any help

[HHudson]

Sounds very cool, would love to see pics!

When you say Dynas, I'm assuming below you mean the Gretech RI Dynasonics with the long pole pieces which are loaded into retainers below the case with springs, e.g. similar to the pictures below (the first is a 60's Dyna probably from a Guild and a T'Armond bobbin, the second a pic from the web of a Gretsch RI Dyna).

Shielding the cavities could reduce hum some (the case covers on the RIs are also not grounded, which a lot of people do), but I don't think it will help with the microphonics.

If they are squealing a bit, that's usually due to a bit of play in the coil or case. If I remember correctly (from reading, I have an old Dyna and T'Armonds, but no RIs), the Gretsch RI Dyna bobbin is spot glued to the case and often can come a bit loose, might want to check that. I've seen pics where some people have also fed rubber bands around the pole pieces as well to stop vibrations.

According to this post,
http://www.gretsch-talk.com/forum/pi...hows-guts.html
the RIs are potted, you could try *warming* them (not too much!!) with a hair drier (keep it a bout a foot away from the PU) to help the wax rebond a bit... I do this on PUs after swapping magnets etc., but lacking a RI, never on a Gretsch Dyna. The DeArmond short magnet pole piece "2000s" (no visible springs below the case bottom, which came on the g512x series) I have are also wax potted, so the same should work for them. Don't know about the short metal pole piece/bar magnet "2Ks" (the Gretsch/DeArmond naming scheme is absolutely mind boggling for this family of pickups, Gretsch at various times swapped the names around as well, making it even more confusing).

On my old Dyna, one of the pole magnets below was not properly secure in the magnet/spring retainer at the bottom and was causing various problems, a dab of nail polish cured it.

[tartanphantom]

As HHudson said, with Dynasonics microphonic squeal is often due to the actual polepiece actuator mechanism, not the coil itself. With so many mechanical parts, these pickups are more subject to microphonic feedback than other pickups due to internal parts vibrations. A common remedy is to wind rubber bands tightly around the springs and actuator posts... of course, only after you have set your pole height to your tastes.

[Lizardkinged]

I might have even used a .047 cap with them I ususally use the .022's for humbuckers to keep them alive, and the .047 to dull down singles a tad and that still didnt even work with my dearmonds as those are BRIGHT.

[johnnyguitar]

Thanks guys, lots of good info there. These are indeed the Gretsch reissues with the springs and pole pieces protruding below the pup. I have grounded the covers and once I get the pole pieces set I'll try the rubber band trick too. I think the ground wire that goes to the bridge came loose, so I'll make a list and go at it when I get a new Bigsby b7 for it
I told myself if these pups don't do it for me I'm selling it...and if they do I'll put a B7 on it!

[Belectromatic]

My 5125 has Dearmonds that are completely sealed @ the back. No springs in sight, just a housing that says Dearmond.

To me they sound awesome, but is TS looking for a Gretsch that sounds like a tele, or what?

[johnnyguitar]

Originally Posted by Belectromatic

My 5125 has Dearmonds that are completely sealed @ the back. No springs in sight, just a housing that says Dearmond.

To me they sound awesome, but is TS looking for a Gretsch that sounds like a tele, or what?

Well, you could have a point. I love the sound of a Tele. I don't want that out of this guitar though. It has Tele qualities but being semi hollow and a different scale it has it's own sound.
Makes me happy after trying 4 different pickups, I was thinking I may as well sell it and get another Tele.
Had the original mini buckers, GFS NYII's, P90's and finally the Dyna's.
I like to play one guitar at a gig and need to be able to get alot out of it. These pups are special for sure

I had them up a little high and lowered them(1/4" bridge) and a little more neck as I read others had and they settled in so to speak. I'm going to play it a while before I start changing caps or possibly a 250k volume pot.
One thing to note, when I got them the neck was 8.2k and the bridge 7.8k. They were loose in the housings so I swapped them and put the hotter one in the bridge casing. I wonder if it's normal to have the neck hotter, or if they just put whatever pup in at the factory?

[johnnyguitar]

Thought I would post some findings, don't know if it's of intrest to anyone but here goes anyway....

I have spent the last 3 days( in spare time) trying different combinations of pots, treble bleeds , resistors to change pots values to find the best setup for a Projet( 1 vol , 1 tone) with Dynasonic pickups.
It seems 500k pots are recommended for these pups and that is where I started. My issues with them were they were very bright with volume on 10 but Turned to mud almost instantly, I initially thought it was a bad pot so I soldered in another 500k vol pot only to find it behave the same. From there I started messing with a treble bleed circuit with various values of caps and resistors in series and parallel. Finally settling on a 1000pf cap and 180k resistor in series. This solved the mud issue but at the loss of some bottom end as i turned the pot down and it didn't seem to react well with different levels of gain. While reading about different treble bleed circuits I learned you can lower a pots value by putting a resistor across the 2 outer lugs. I tried this and found it sounded much better sooo.....after two days of fighting with the 500k pots I pulled it all out and wired it up with 250k pots, standard fashion, no friggin treble bleed. Beautiful sound from fat punchy cleans to stacking a couple of overdrives after it.

I found buried in a post on another forum by some guy who seemed to know what he was talking about that a 250k pot has a more gradual taper than a 500k. After 3 days of trial and error I can confirm this. I can now adjust my volume, gain and tone without having everything turn to mud. I wanted to share this as I had not heard of it before. I was also surprised at how subtle the difference is between 250 & 500k. I was afraid the 250k's would be too dark but they just seemed to warm it up a bit and allow full use of the dial.

Last to note is I think I understand why 500k pots are recommended for these pickups. They are used on pro line Gretsch's almost exclusively which come with 3 volume and 1 tone pot all adding their resistance to the signal. Four 500k pots is the same load as two 250k pots

I hope someone found this interesting, I've certainly learned alot... Including my soldering skills!

Cheers

[6stings]

Nice work JG!

[HHudson]

Looks great johnnyguitar! I take you'll be getting that b7 then

[johnnyguitar]

Gigged with the Dyna's tonight. They sounded fantastic
Had a few tuning issues, a new nut is in order. Other than that I'm very happy with her

[6stings]

Originally Posted by johnnyguitar

Gigged with the Dyna's tonight. They sounded fantastic
Had a few tuning issues, a new nut is in order. Other than that I'm very happy with her

So, 250 pots, no treble bleed? I'll try that in my next Dyna mod.

[johnnyguitar]

Well, I can't leave anything alone. The back of the guitar is stripped and tung oiled. The neck is so much better without all that plastic, it's probably me but it sounds more resonant too. I found a satin laquer a while ago so I wet sanded the top & headstock and applied 3 coats of the satin to it, it turned out very nice
So all said and done;
Gretsch DynaSonic pickups, pots & wiring
Custom Setzer pick guard & headstock logo
Grover imperial tuners
Aluminum Compton
Bigsby B70( I did the offshore one to fit the Chet arm I drilled out for the B50
Strip all the poly, stain & tung oil back, satin(flat) finish the front

I have a Fender LSR nut on the way and that will be it!

I'm a hopeless tinkerer, always have been so though I'm sure I would never get my money back out of this thing I've learned alot and come up with a one of a kind, great playing(and sounding) guitar

[David Gurr]

Awesome Jet!

[The Marlin]

I just got my Fender JA90 tele back from the shop. Hot P90's out, and T-Armond in. Used orange drop caps, and 1 meg pots.

Dear lord, this thing sounds amazing. Only had a quick twang on it, got some work to do, but it's a keeper.

Anyone wanna buy my Gretsch Historic G3155? My Tele just replaced it!

Marlin

[johnnyguitar]

Originally Posted by The Marlin

I just got my Fender JA90 tele back from the shop. Hot P90's out, and T-Armond in. Used orange drop caps, and 1 meg pots

Marlin

Forgive my ignorance but are T -Armonds TV Jones answer to the Dyna Sonic?
If so I bet they do sound incredible, judging by what I can get out of the Gretsch Dyna's. However 1 meg pots in a Tele no less, you are a brave man!
I've never tried 1 meg pots....not sure I'd want to after dealing with treble bleeds, wiring mods and anything I could think of to get rid of the mud when you roll down a 500k puppy. No, 250k and I can make all my adjustments bu

[johnnyguitar]

Damn phone!
Anyway glad you got it right for you