Custom Texas Wrangler on the way to Cali

[John Williams]

This Texas beauty arrived this morning via the big brown truck.She was custom ordered through Joyful Noise Music,and is being sent to Jon Fine in sunny Vallejo California.Three tone sunburst,Flamed maple neck with rosewood board,white mother of pearl pickup covers,Tortoise pickguard,and looks that kill!Everybody join me in welcoming Jon to the family,as this is his first Robin,and I'll venture to guess that he'll be getting more once he gets a feel of this thing.Welcome aboard Jon,and enjoy.http://robinlovers.com/discus/messages/6/1660.jpg

[George H]

Now that's a sweet looking axe. I like the pup configuration. Welcome to the club Jon from a
newbie as well.

George H

[Jon Fine]

WOW! This thing is too cool!! I can't wait to get my hands on it. A big thumbs-up to all at Robin (hi, Dave!) and John Williams at Joyful Noise for great service and a killer deal. I expect it to arrive early next week, and after I've done a few gigs with it I'll post a review on Harmony Central. Thanks for the welcome, y'all!

Jon F

[Johnny Kennedy]

Welcome Jon Fine,
That is an extremely "Fine" instrument and I have also purchased my Robins at Joyful Noise Music.You can't go wrong with John Williams & Joyful Noise Music.

[Jon Fine]

Well, it's here--I got home from my guitar teaching gig today and there she was. Looks even better in person than in the photo. The setup needs a little tweaking, as you might expect after traveling from Houston to Vallejo, CA via Middlefield, Ohio!
It sounds REAL good--fatter than my Tele (and that's in single-coil mode) and the dual-coil sounds still have plenty of definition. I think I'll get a "bridge+neck or all three" switch installed, but that's about the only thing she's lacking!
Jon Fine

[John Williams]

Glad to be of assistance Jon.Thanks for your support.Told ya you'd love it!

[Smitty]

Hi Jon,

I'm planning to rewire my TX Wrangler (of course, with me that means sometime between last month and 2007) ...I played one at the factory that had an extra switch to bring in the bridge pu no matter what... I'm considering foregoing the mid/bridge position for a neck/bridge position, because then I've got all the combinations of the neck/bridge with the tapped coils on each pu. I think Greg also suggested an option of changing the push/pulls to make both coil tap on one knob and activate bridge on the other (or something...)

Anyway, plenty of options to consider. Enjoy!

Smitty

[Burnsy]

I always thought the "Brent Mason" method would be ideal for the Wrangler and Ranger. That would be a 3-way switch and 3 knobs.

The three way switch gives neck, neck+bridge, and bridge.

The first knob is a master volume.

The second knob is a volume knob that controls the middle pickup.

The third knob is a tone knob.

This way, you have the possibility of all pickup combinations, and you can use that middle pickup to take the edge of the bridge pickup in small increments, or add a little bit of quack to the neck pickup.

[Jon Fine]

I have a Strat wired the way Burnsy describes--it works great, but there's enough room on a Strat pickguard for three pots and a switch, as opposed to a Tele plate. I used to have an EMG setup in one of my Teles, with a 3-knob configuration, and there wasn't enough room between the knobs to allow volume rolls. So I think I'll go with a mini-toggle between the vol. and tone pots to add the bridge pickup to the neck or the neck & middle pickups. Works fine on my Tele--and I can't wait to hear how the "all three" setting will sound with those Twangbuckers. I'll let y'all know how it all turns out.
Jon Fine

[Jon Fine]

Well, I got the TX Wrangler back out of the shop. The factory setup was too low, with too straight a neck and pickups too high. After a truss rod tweak and a new nut, the action is fine--no more buzzes and a lot more sustain. (Note to Robin--you don't need to Super-Glue the nut in-- the slot is good and tight--but the old nut had to be drilled out! A drop of regular glue should work.) I also had an "add neck pickup" switch installed, and let me tell ya, the neck-and-bridge setting is killer, and the "all-three" combo is even better--especially with the neck pickup in single-coil mode. Full and sweet and twangy all at once--very nice. After lowering the neck pickup, I was able to eliminate most of the pull on the low "E" string.
I hope the setup issues were a fluke--I have a feeling the setup was maybe rushed a bit to get the guitar out to me--and then there were all the climate changes it went through in shipment. Oh,well--all's well that ends well!

Jon Fine