GEAR REVIEW
• Upgrades Tone Quality
• Easy to Install
KEY FEATURES
• Affordably Priced
FIESTA PICKUPS TEXAS TUMBLEWEED PICKUPS IN A 920D CUSTOM LOADED PICKGUARD | Mitch Bohannon
Have you ever had an electric guitar that felt great but sounded terrible ? How many guitars have you gone through before you found the “ right one ?” If you ’ ve read my articles before , you know that I ’ ve bought and sold more guitars than I can remember . I ’ ve got a big collage photo of most of the ones I have enjoyed hanging above my desk .
One thing I had never really tried until a couple of years ago is swapping out pickups for aftermarket upgrades in an electric . Well , unless you count the time back in the early ‘ 80s , in Junior High , I had a Velvet Hammer II installed into a Barth electric guitar that I had bought at a garage sale when I was seven for $ 3.00 . Two years ago , my son , Sam , and I both bought Fender telecasters . I bought an American Standard and my son got an MIM ( made in Mexico ) with a very similar setup to mine . From the start , Sam had his eye on some designer label pickups . We ordered and installed the pickups and the guitar really sounded great . Within a short time , Sam got a job leading worship and was not playing electric any longer and he sold that guitar to invest more in his acoustic setup .
Fast forward to a few weeks ago . Sam was given an MIM 60 th Anniversary Telecaster that had a number of issues . The guitar looked and felt great but had serious jack and electronic problems . When the jack would stop making noise , it was evident that the tone control made little to no effect and the overall tone was unimpressive . Rather than just getting rid of a guitar that really felt good , I ordered a setup from the folks at 920D Custom in Arkansas .
They sell individual components as well as loaded pick guards . I got a 920D Custom pickguard loaded with Texas Tumbleweeds from Fiesta Pickups . This was a super easy install and what a difference it made !
The 920D Custom loaded pickguard was setup with Texas Tumbleweed pickups made by Fiesta . They also build setups with pickups from other popular brands ( TV Jones , Seymour Duncan , Lace , DiMarzio , etc .). Out of the box , it was a cinch to install . Everything lined up with the tele and wires were cut to length and ready to solder . For my install , I did make one mistake by not soldering the correct ground wire to the volume pot and it was buzzing as soon as I plugged in . Once I had the correct wire soldered , the guitar was crystal clear !
The tone is now pure tele and equal to that of a much higher-level guitar . There is plenty of twang and power in the bridge pickup and with tone-control , the neck pickup warms up nicely . I tried to show in the video how each of the pickups sound with tone all the way up and then rolled off . All was recorded through Studio One 4 Professional with Ampire set to a Blackface Twin-- set pretty clean with all EQ on 5 . I added a Tube Driver and Delay pedal at the end of the video . Obviously , your setup will sound different , but this is the best taste of this setup that I could give you .
Overall , I am stoked with this 920D Custom setup . The build is solid and attention to detail is top notch . I would say , check out what 920D Custom has to offer and give your guitar new life with the help of a custom loaded pick guard . The setup I installed sells for $ 139.00
$ 139.00 920dcustom . com