Blanton preparing to fly again

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 30 Nov 2019 12:54 am

Not to worry about hacking up a D,10somewhere around 1977 Jerry Blanton built an SD-10 4&4 with 2 pickups for me,I've sold this guitar, bought it back,gave it to a friend who wanted to learn, repo'd it,gave it to my late friend Harold Schmidt in Eagle River Alaska he had a few years on it and got pretty good after be couldn't play 6 string anymore due to arthritis. After Smitty passed last April his widow insisted that I take the guitar back, so I did,Jon Light has been helping put it back in fighting shape, Had some others helping out which is greatly appreciated, Justin Griffith, Ross Shafer,Kevin Quick, Larry Allen...soon!

Justin Griffith · Post by **Justin Griffith** » 2 Dec 2019 5:10 am

Iâ€™m glad I could help. Iâ€™m really glad you are saving the guitar!

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 2 Dec 2019 9:42 am

Trying to find an idea for wiring and controls when I install the 2nd pickup in that cavity, I realized that the simple, natural, non-invasive solution is to convert the volume & tone pots (both AB 500K) to parallel volume pots, as long as Stu's ok with losing the tone control.
They'll be somewhat interactive but full on/off, respectively, should give the same result as an A/B/Y switch, with no new holes.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 2 Dec 2019 9:54 am

Jon Light wrote:Trying to find an idea for wiring and controls when I install the 2nd pickup in that cavity, I realized that the simple, natural, non-invasive solution is to convert the volume & tone pots (both AB 500K) to parallel volume pots, as long as Stu's ok with losing the tone control.
They'll be somewhat interactive but full on/off, respectively, should give the same result as an A/B/Y switch, with no new holes.

You could try the CTS dual concentric pots:

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 2 Dec 2019 10:06 am

Jon,I have an external tone box that fits on all of my guitars so that ain't no Problemo!

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 2 Dec 2019 10:07 am

It definitely was a thought, Jack. I have a prejudice against them for no good reason. And there's something about these big honking knobs that you can just swipe with the side of your hand that makes the idea of dual volume pots appealing. But if Stu wants to keep the tone, the concentrics are a great solution.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 2 Dec 2019 10:07 am

Stu Schulman wrote:Jon,I have an external tone box that fits on all of my guitars so that ain't no Problemo!

Righto!

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 2 Dec 2019 10:07 am

Justin,I thank you a million times!

Tommy Detamore · Post by **Tommy Detamore** » 2 Dec 2019 11:04 am

Stu, is this the same guitar that you showed me in Charlie Holman's garage in 1978 or so? Seems like we were talking about a trade for a PP I had at the time.

George McLellan · Post by **George McLellan** » 2 Dec 2019 11:13 am

Stu, will you be playing this one on your set next month in Mesa? See you there, BTW, what day will you be playing?

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 2 Dec 2019 11:20 am

Is that Lake Placid Blue? Were metallic finishes common on Blantons? There's a guy in my area with a D-12 Blanton (every time I look at it, my back hurts). If I remember correctly, it's metallic green.

Justin Griffith · Post by **Justin Griffith** » 2 Dec 2019 11:21 am

Stu Schulman wrote:Justin,I thank you a million times!

Glad to help. Weâ€™re all in this together.

Justin Griffith · Post by **Justin Griffith** » 2 Dec 2019 11:23 am

Jack Hanson wrote:Is that Lake Placid Blue? Were metallic finishes common on Blantons? There's a guy in my area with a D-12 Blanton (every time I look at it, my back hurts). If I remember correctly, it's metallic green.

Iâ€™ve seen a bunch of green ones.

Mine is natural. I havenâ€™t seen any others. Iâ€™m sure they are out there.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 2 Dec 2019 11:47 am

Interesting, well built guitars. I learned something about these a few years back while researching an old volume pedal which turned out to be built by Jerry Blanton.

Innovative design. I sold it to someone here. Maybe Justin.

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 2 Dec 2019 12:46 pm

Jack Hanson wrote:Is that Lake Placid Blue? Were metallic finishes common on Blantons? There's a guy in my area with a D-12 Blanton (every time I look at it, my back hurts). If I remember correctly, it's metallic green.

I had a black D12. Great sounding guitar! And very nicely designed and built too.
But in the case it weighed just about exactly 100 pounds...

Dave

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 3 Dec 2019 12:27 am

Tommy,No that was a blueburst D-10 8+4,this was the guitar built after that one Don Richmond owns that guitar in New Mexico.This guitar started out refrigerator white,Larry Allen refinished it metallic blue,While buffing the keyhead it flew out of Larry's hand and broke of the #3 roller nut,so about this time I had met Ross Shafer at the Phoenixic steel guitar show,I sent him the keyhead and he welded some aluminum on it and made it brand new"Im a big fan of Ross's.hopefully the second pickup will arrive today ?we got a bunch of snow in the Catskills and I'll bring it to Jon Light's place,It's a heavy guitar but I love it.George not sure of what time or day that I'm playing yet,but I will be in touch,look forward to hanging.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 3 Dec 2019 7:23 am

Jack Hanson wrote:There's a guy in my area with a D-12 Blanton (every time I look at it, my back hurts). If I remember correctly, it's metallic green.

Stu Schulman wrote:Tommy,No that was a blueburst D-10 8+4,this was the guitar built after that one Don Richmond owns that guitar in New Mexico.

It could very well be that my memory is incorrect, and the guitar I remember as a green D-12 was actually a blue D-10, as it does indeed belong to Don Richmond. It's possible that it faded from blue to green over the years; I have a couple greenish Gibson lap steels that were originally blue. It's also entirely possible that Don has more than one Blanton. I'll ask him next time I run into him.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 3 Dec 2019 7:34 am

Jack,I haven't met Don yet,His brother Jim is a good friend.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 3 Dec 2019 8:13 am

The Richmond brothers all grew up in Alamosa, CO, where their dad was a professor of vocal music at Adams State University. Don played in a few different outfits based out of Taos in years past, but is presently back in Colorado, operating Howlin' Dog Studio just outside of Alamosa.

https://donrichmond.com/

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 3 Dec 2019 11:27 am

Jack,I went to Dinner with Jim,and his wife,and son in Anchorage after my stroke in 2011he sent me some Richmond Brother CD's great stuff.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 3 Dec 2019 11:29 am

Kevin Quick sent me a Lawrence pickup that I will bring to John Light tomorrow,getting closer.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 9 Dec 2019 10:32 am

Jon installed the Bill Lawrence guitar that Kevin Quick sent, sounds good,Guitar is almost ready!!
I forgot to thank George"Boards"Piburn for his knowledge!!

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 9 Dec 2019 10:45 am

It was fun to realize that the Blanton does not take a Narrow Mount pickup. Or a Wide Mount pickup. It takes a No Mount pickup. So I had to rig something. Came out pretty ok.

Meanwhile, I am totally infatuated with the continuously adjustable bellcranks. Whether Ross Shafer was inspired by these or arrived at the idea spontaneously (great minds thinking alike) matters not.

This is a sweet sounding & playing guitar.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 9 Dec 2019 11:09 am

Anxious to hear sound clips Stu.

Fine engineering and craftsman work mounting the pickup there Jon.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 9 Dec 2019 11:27 am

Thanks Jerry. I don't have the chops or know-how that I wish I had, by a long shot. But I enjoy finding solutions to problems that get the job done. I can't adequately express my admiration for the top shelf machinists in our community.

The second pickup, in my opinion, falls somewhere between being a hole filler and having useful sonic applications. In my experimentations when I made my 2 pickup rig a few years ago I found that you just don't know where you'll get the most tonal benefit until you move #2 around a bit. IMO these two pups are too close together to get that much versatility. But you can dial in some interesting tones.

The pedals on this guitar! The feel is so light yet so, so responsive. There is some genius involved in the engineering of the physics. It's not just power steering. You can really feel what you are doing but the touch is so light.