Richards Guitars Blog Pages » Headway HE2

Shakin’ Stevens with the Stonebridge DS22CM acoustic guitar supplied by Richards Guitars

admin — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:23:45 +0000

Martyn Hope (Shakin Stevens guitarist) recently fell in love with Stonebridge acoustic guitars and I was proud to have assisted him with his quest for finding the perfect Stonebridge for his requirements.

He is actually a fantastic acoustic guitarist and the video doesn’t do justice to his musical talents but hey this is rock n roll and his role here is very much supporting the man himself – Shakin Stevens.

As well as plumping for a DS22 CM Martyn required a top quality pickup for the live recording and for this purpose we fitted the wonderful Headway HE2. His recording engineer was gobsmacked by the quality and both shaky and everyone who checked out Martins new acoustic were incredibly impressed.

Here is Shaky performing with Martyn Hope and the DS22 CM of course!

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Stonebridge DS22 CM & HE2 Pickup Testimonial Following Live Recorded Acoustic Performance with Shakin Stevens (You Tube Clip Coming Soon)

admin — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:06:34 +0000

I have just received a lovely letter that I thought I should share with you! The following letter and photo was from Shakin Stevens main guitarist who is currently touring (as always!) with Shaky.

After I introduced him to Stonebridge guitars he has literally fallen in love with them. My role was to supply him with a suitable Stonebridge for this specific event which would require a pickup fitting too so they could record the event for television broadcast over the Christmas holidays.

I would like to stress that when I initially begun helping Martyn I had no knowledge of his background and at no point did he ever ask or expect to receive a players discount – I think this not only shows what a lovely guy he is but also how REAL musicians are turning to Stonebridge without having to be paid to play them (unlike most hi profile bands).

Martyn tried a whole range of Stonebridge guitars and finally fell for the DS22 CM – Here is the letter I have just received over the weekend…

Hope you’re well.

Just wanted to drop you a quick note about the guitar following the trip to Denmark.

It’s the 1st time I’ve ever had so many compliments about any guitar I’ve played!!! (note – not the playing!!)

On the same bill was Suzanne Vega and her Irish guitarist Gerry Leonard. (http://www.prsguitars.com/artists/profiles/gerryleonard/index.html)

Gerry also plays with David Bowie and Rufus Wainwright as well as writing and producing in New York. Gerry was especially impressed so I’ve told him I’ll pass on info about Stonebridge. They get over to the UK reasonably frequently and I’ll try and continue to promote my enthusiasm for the guitar with them!

Martyn Hope, Shakin Stevens, Suzanne Vega & Gerry Leonard get ready for the show which included the Stonebridge DS22 CM Plus Headway HE2 supplied and fitted by Richards Guitars

Shaky LOVES the new guitar – he said he couldn’t get over how full the sound was. So I’m on to a winner with him there!

Finally, the guitar tech on the show was also really impressed. He was looking after around 20-25 guitars/ mandolins/ lap steels etc during the 3 days and he said there was something really immediately appealing about the Stonebridge – great feel and fantastic balance. I must admit when he handed the guitar having been tune through his ridiculously expensive strobe tuner it sounded SO good. He’d heard of Furch but never come across one. He was also really impressed with the Headway system.

He said a great guitar and great monitoring doesn’t need anything else!

It was a great opportunity for all to hear as the whole 12 pc band / 45 pc orchestra and 100′s of crew were all on in-ear monitors and the sound was the best I’ve ever experienced!

It wasn’t all plain saining though! I did manage to break the D and G string in the 1st song on the 1st night – that was pretty tough but in many ways focussed even more attention on the guitar – I think it was my over-enthusiam rather than anything faulty – it got everyone talking though – and probably watching even closer on the 2nd night!!

I backed of on the heavy picks I use and used a little self-control for the 2nd night. Finn, the guitar tech told me it’s not uncommon on new guitars for this to happen as the strings have yet to bite there way into the saddle. Anyway – I’m assured that the 2nd night gave them all the pictures and sound that they need for the broadcast. As soon as I have anything I’ll let you know. I made sure the headstock was right next to Shaky !!

The show will be broadcast on 18th Dec in Scandanavia (about 2 million audience) and again on Christmas Day.

Anyway – the point of this was to thank you both again for going to a lot of trouble to help make this happen for me. It’s really appreciated.

All the great comments about the guitar are well deserved and I hope it leads to a little more exposure.

As well as the UK tour in Feb’11 Shaky’s planning a lot more dates as well as TV in Germany in May and hopefully a new album in 2011.

I’ll keep you posted!

Thanks

Best wishes

Martyn

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HE2 Pickup Instalation Into a Stonebridge DS 23 CR

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:45:28 +0000

Firstly the guitar as received is checked over & the current dimensions for setup are recorded. In this case there was no request for any changes, so the aim is to return the guitar to the customer with as far as possible the same playing action as it had before. In this instance the saddle was fitted backwards so this will be corrected in the final fitting.

The wonderful Stonebridge DS23 CR

The saddle is marked to give an indication of the supported depth hidden inside the bridge. If sufficient depth of saddle is available, material can be removed from it to make room for the pickup. If not, the saddle slot must be routed deeper.

Marking saddle

There wasn’t enough hidden depth in the saddle on this guitar so the slot depth must be increased. The first step is to examine the bottom of the saddle. For the pickup to work properly, both the bottom of the saddle & the bottom of the saddle slot must be flat & smooth. In this case the saddle was not flat or square, it also had a shim beneath it. The depth of the saddle at its highest point was measured & recorded.

Checking saddle to make sure it is 100% flat - which it wasn't

After the saddle had been corrected for flatness its depth was checked again. The increase in the depth of the slot could then be reduced by the change in depth of the saddle & the thickness of the shim.

Now the saddle is flat

The corners of the saddle are chamfered to allow it to float up & down better. This helps the function of the pickup

The guitar is set up in the assembly fixture; the guitar top is set parallel to the base. All the clamping devices are faced with cork to eliminate the risk of damage to the guitars finish.

DS23 CR sitting safely in its assembly fixture

The router table is located on pillars attached to the fixture base. It has protective pads underneath that contact the guitar top; these tie the router table to the guitar without causing damage. When the slot is being cut, any movement of the guitar relative to the router table is disastrous. The fence along which the edge of the router base will run is set using the gauge shown. The two pins locate in the existing slot & the edge of the gauge can then be used to align the fence. The gauge also confirms that the sides of the slot are square to the router table. Ultimately this is checked when the router cutter is lowered into the slot for the initial depth setting.

Router table in place

The gauge is also used to measure the depth of the slot before routing. At this point it is useful to check that the router table top is parallel to the bottom of the existing saddle slot.

The slot depth is carefully increased in small increments until the previously calculated measurement is reached. The travel of the router is limited by end stops clamped to the table as shown.

The slot is now flat, smooth & at the correct depth.

After removing the router table, the dust is carefully cleared from the area to avoid damage to the guitars lacquered finish.

The hole for the pickup to enter the saddle slot is drilled at an angle to the guitar top. This is to lessen the risk of damaging the pickup by bending it too severely. The hole being drilled here is slightly undersize.

It is then opened up by hand. This lessens the possibility of splintering the guitar on the inside.

The jack socket is fitted through a hole drilled through the end block; usually at the same centre as an existing strap button. In this case the strap button was retained by an expanding locator in a fairly large hole. It was therefore only necessary to slightly enlarge this hole to get the socket to fit.

The pickup is passed through its hole into the saddle slot. It runs the full length of the channel. When the saddle is refitted and the guitar restrung it will bend slightly to sit flat in the bottom of the slot.

The battery holding pouch is located on a solid part of the guitar that does not resonate or contribute to the sound. Here a block housing the adjustable end of the truss-rod sits below the fingerboard; this is an ideal location. Ordinarily the heel block might be used.

The next task is to tidy up the cables inside the guitar. These are taped to non resonant areas, (braces, linings etc) so that they are less likely to be pulled or damaged when the strings need changing. It is important not to tie the power lead up to such an extent that it becomes impossible to change the battery!

The guitar is then restrung & measured to check that the correct dimensions have been achieved. Fine adjustment of the saddle may be necessary following this installation, particularly if the saddle slot was poorly finished initially or the saddle was not flat. The saddle on this guitar was installed the correct way round at this point; hopefully this will improve the intonation! The action was found to be almost exactly as it had been prior to the installation, the guitar plays beautifully.

Pickup instalations of this nature are priced depending on the work inolved but should be in the region of £120

We offer FREE instalation for all Stonebridge /HE2 Pickups when purchased together.

Please call 01789 26 33 33 for further details.

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D_Mead Playing a Fylde Falstaff

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:40:59 +0000

D_Mead, otherwise known as David Mead has a wonderful video I want to share with you.

Guess what pickup he is using!!! The Headway HE2! If you don’t know the relevance of this I have been raving about this pickup for a few years now and it goes into all my wonderful Stonebridge guitars.

Thanks to David for the video and you may be able to track him down at the forum under his screen name “D_Mead” if you want to chat to him. If you like what you have heard, let him know or you can visit his website

If you are a member of the Guitars.co.uk forum and want to share your passion for guitar with me and everyone who visits, please just email me your YouTube link along with your screen name and I will get you here too!

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