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Upgrade Plastics Comparision Thread

AlexVDL

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Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
Out of frustration I stained my dimarzio rings again. I sanded them back to white and started all over. Now I have the retrovibes I can compare the color much better. I noticed that with the stewmac vintage amber stain the rings get too yellow. It needs more brown. Maybe a brown stain works better on white plastics.

Anyways I used some brown shoe polish this time. Now the color comes pretty close. I just can't get it exactly, but it's good enough. I guess I'll have to apply some clear finish before I install the rings, because the shoe polish will wear off pretty quick as stated earlier by others.

Here's the stained Dimarzio rings compared to a set of allparts rings. The allparts are very pink:

ring1.jpg



Here's the Dimarzio's compared to the Retrovibes:

ring2.jpg

ring3.jpg

ring4.jpg
 

czarivan

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2007
Messages
325
anyone have pics of the VC pickup rings from RS? on the site, they look pretty yellow'd. Same story with the pickguard.
 

AlexVDL

Member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
Wow those vintage cream ones look great and they're cheap as hell. Damnit.. don't we have a Japanese forum member who could order a bunch for us :peace2


Anyways, I got it sorted with Montreux, what a great company to deal with!
 

Red Baron

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Jul 14, 2004
Messages
6,774
I recently bought some plastic (pickguard and switch ring) from a local supplier.
These parts are very light cream coloured and fit Historic's - and are very inexpensive, only cost me $17 for the guard and switch ring... I'm not sure if they're the same as the ones carried by Allparts, but he did tell me that he buy's his parts from a different Japanese supplier.

He also told me that they carry inexpensive ivory coloured mounting rings, he's going to order some in for me to check out, so I'll post some pics here when I get them... I'm hoping they are tall like Historic rings.
 

timsmcm

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Joined
Jun 7, 2003
Messages
750
Red Baron can you give us some contact info for the local supplier that you are talking about
 

PixelBurst

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Apr 11, 2002
Messages
4,094
Vintage Clone shouldn't crack, just as DMC shouldn't crack, as their mold injection points are different.

If the rings are the right color, relatively inexpensive, but crack, IMO= big deal... it's 10x's better then pink, uncracked rings.

YMMV

The VC neck pickup ring cracked on my 2004 R9. I guess all rings can crack.
 

AlexVDL

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May 29, 2003
Messages
267
there was a set of VC rings on ebay germany with a cracked neck pickup ring, so I guess the do crack. Also right in the middle.
 

2002standardmat

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Oct 19, 2002
Messages
1,152
Both my retrovibe and my VC M69 rings cracked, but the VC's have been repaired with super gloop and have been good ever since......

Touch wood.
 

AlexVDL

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Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
WOW the people at Montreux are super!! After writing about the cracked rings, today I received a brand new aged set plus an aged jackplate as a gift. What a great company and a great service, thank you Yuichiro!

montreux.jpg



What do you guys think? My '94 classic is going to be refinished in nitro anyways and I don't want the rings to crack again, so should I flatten the top curve to 50's specs and still bend the rings over the top or should I keep the deep curve and pre radius the bottom of the rings?
 
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Red Baron

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Jul 14, 2004
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6,774
Do these Montreux rings have a flat bottom (like the Dimarzio's) that require bending to fit the contour of the guitar?
 

Mainah

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Jul 9, 2004
Messages
1,083
I was under the impression that some were moulded to fit the shape of a contoured top, aren't the stock Gibson Historic ones like this?

Nope. The stock Historic parts are completely flat on the bottom. I believe that's also true of the vintage M-69 rings as well.
 

Red Baron

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Jul 14, 2004
Messages
6,774
Wow... there's always new stuff to be learnt here :) ...so I guess they hold their curved shape after they've been fixed to a guitar for a while, also explains to me why some crack along the top edge. :salude

The reason I thought they were moulded to shape is because I remember reading that somebody had bought Dimarzio rings and had to shape the bottoms to suit the contour of a Les Paul, so I automatically assumed those rings were different from the norm.
 

AlexVDL

Member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
Got a piece of pickguard material from www.basvandenbroek.com. It's a supplier for guitar parts in Europe.

This stuff is made by Boston, the same manufacturer who makes cables and strings and stands etc.

The color is great, exactly the same as my montreux jackplate. It's real cream without any pink. A little darker than my montreux rings (aged dimarzio rings in the pic), and a tad lighter than my stewmac pokerchip. You can see the difference in color between the pickguard and the pinkish binding at the end of my neck.

Can't wait to cut a pickguard from it.

Does anyone have a full drawing (either cad or pdf or something) of a historic or other accurate pickguard? I just need the outline. I will have to adjust the pickup spacing to my own guitar.

pgmaterial.jpg


plastic.jpg


cream.jpg
 
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BIG Dave

Active member
Joined
Aug 18, 2001
Messages
2,421
Has anyone here managed to buy Angel parts online from Japan - if so, from where?

* I have a set of Angel rings sitting in the drawer unused as they are too short.

* I currently have a set of Vintage Clone rings on my R8. No cracking after 3 months...
 
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