Talman Lipstick Tubes

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Author Message   Craigjc (Craigjc) Posted on Tuesday, December 31, 2002 - 2:03 pm:    Any opinions on the lipstick tube pickups used on Talman guitars? Are all years of production and/or models created equal? How do they compare to other single coil pickups?   Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Tuesday, December 31, 2002 - 9:40 pm:    Craig, The "Sky" lipstick tube pickups used in the Talmans were designed by Kent Armstrong. They sound terrific! Well, if you like lipsticks, which I do! To my ear, they have a brighter/ringing/more-twangy sound than a typical single coil. Think Surf-Rock. Like Fender Jag/Jazzmaster. Ever play a Danelectro with lipsticks? The Talman has more body to the tone. (IMHO) Cheers Steve   Craigjc (Craigjc) Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2003 - 10:27 am:    Thanks, Steve. I've always wanted to put lipstick tubes in a guitar, but I didn't want to permanently modify the guitar. I started building a body a few years ago and thought I might use lipstich tubes in that. The problem was that lipstick tube reissues are usually hard to find and some manufactuters (Chandler) had a really inconsistent product. It's great to hear that the Sky pickups are so nice. I almost bought a Talman in a music store late last year. The neck made me think twice...it had more of a "U" shape feel than the slim "C" shape I'm so addicted to. Now I may have to rethink that judgement...especially if I found one of those 1995 TC630s in that GAA (?) sunburst finish. Is that real wood laminate over the resonocast body?   Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2003 - 7:06 pm:    I've got the catalogs out again... The Talman series shows up in the '94 through '98 books. The '94-'95 models are Resoncast bodies. '96-'98 they used Alder, Ash, Agatis, or Basswood, depending on the model. There is no indication of how they did the flame/wood-grained tops on the Resoncast bodies. Maybe "Photo-Flame"? There's no definition given for the GAA finish color. The neck is described as "Talman" with the '97 & '98 TC740 & TC825 having a multi-radius fretboard. The Talman necks feel very similar to my Roadstar necks. I can't find any dimensions for either right now. I seem to remember that the Roadstars have a 20mm thickness at the 1st fret. Danelectro offers their pickups as seperate items. Check out http://www.danelectro.com Cheers Steve   Craigjc (Craigjc) Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 7:30 am:    Thanks for the info, Steve. Although the Talman I played had a neck which appeared to be similar to a Roadstar, it was a but chunkier in an unusual way. Ever play am aluminun neck Kramer? Kind of squared as opposed to a rounded-"V" style. I didn't know that the new Dan-o guitars used Sky pickups. If that's the case, they're available from Stewart MacDonald in original and "Strat" sizes. Cool. Gonna start another topic about the body materials. You got me curious about Resoncast vs. real wood. I'd be interested to see anyone's opinion about the two (was there a good reason Ibanez switched to wood?)   Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 12:57 pm:    Craig, I know what you're getting at on the neck shape. It'a fatter, right under the edge of the fretboard, as opposed to tapering inward immediately. Dano doesn't use the Sky pickups (as far as I know). Sorry if I gave that impression. I just knew that they were a source for lipsticks. Ya got me on the Resoncast thing. Perhaps they felt the sales would be better with a more traditional material. Guitar players are so stubborn when it comes to change! Cheers Steve   Craigjc (Craigjc) Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 11:46 am:    Just finished the upgrade of my Talman. This was a multi-tiered upgrade...functional (installed Gotoh/Wilkinson tremolo with trem-setter), cosmetic (hand made a black pickguard), and tonal (rewired using my "Mega Strat" wiring). It's all personal preference, but I feel that everything I've done has improved the guitar as a player, especially the wiring. Lipstick tubes are cool sounding pickups (we all know that) but the ability to use 2 pickups in series is amazing. Similar to doing this to a stock Roadstar (or Strat), the tone of 2 single coil pickups in series is fatter and louder, but especially with the lipsticks it retains that single coil bite. What a great tone !! The lead and middle pickups in series is easily the most balanced tone this guitar has ever had. My Talman is now competing with my RS505 for the role of #1 player in my collection (my RS505 also sports this custom wiring).   Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 4:42 pm:    Very cool, Craig. Isn't it neat to have a choice of 2 or more "#1" guitars? Cheers Steve   Craigjc (Craigjc) Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2003 - 7:24 am:    Yeah, Steve, it's great. In a way I'm lucky in that all of my Ibanezes feel and sound a bit different from each other, each of which makes me play differently. So even if #3 or #4 get jealous, they get their turn when I play a type of music they're better suited for. The most important thing is the name on the headstock...if it doesn't say "Ibanez", I either paid too much or it'll make a nice lamp.

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