The Dialtone Pickups that I WILL install!

I have an embarrassing confession to make. I’ve owned a set of Dialtone Pickups since the end of the 2015 Winter NAMM and I have still not installed them. I’m lame. I embarrass myself. It’s not because I’m not keen and it’s not because I don’t want to install the pickups. No, it’s because of this stupid thing I’d only ever really read about up until February—the real world. I have to now say, I don’t like it.

I mention this because the real world is stopping me from doing the things I am truly interested in. For example, it was through my favourite online realms that I first discovered the beauty that is NAMM. I’d never heard of it until several years ago when Twitter went crazy one January. My Twitter feed was full of guitar porn. I was in virtual heaven. Many years later, I discovered Dialtone Pickups—once again thanks to Twitter on account of its awesomeness—and my fascination with pickup innovation began.

I became super-keen on the Dialtone Pickups. Super keen is like keen, but it wears a cape and is unrecognisable without glasses. I became so super-keen that I pre-paid for a set of pickups, got invited to join the Dialtone Pickups team at the 2015 Winter NAMM in Anaheim, assisted with some of their graphic design work and blogged about them like a madman. Fast forward to the week I returned to Australia after NAMM and this real world nonsense took a hold of my life like a NAMM attendee receiving free promotional gear. Trust me, that’s a grip you won’t break.

Like I said … I’m lame. But sometime soon—I hope—that all changes. Why? Because I just posted this article letting people know I have some awesome pickups to install. I better pull that finger out that I hear so much about.

Before I get into the details on what guitar my Dialtone Pickups are going into—because my initial plans have changed since learning more about the Dialtone Pickups—let me show you what I received. Image gallery!

Black and sexy pickups. What’s not to love?! Nothing is the only acceptable answer. Dialtone Pickups is absolutely winning the packaging game by the way. I love the personal touches that go into these pickups. All hand made in the USA (which even appeals to me as an Australian).

Once I’d unpacked the pickups, I did take a look at the instructions on the official Dialtone Pickups Support page. That’s an impressive little—it’s not little—support page. So much information. It was so helpful that I nearly got the connections right on the first try by myself. I mention that because I am not a handy man.

Examples:

Mrs Scarebear: “Can you fix that leaking tap?”
Scarebear: “I failed that day of plumbing school.”

Mrs Scarebear: “Can you take a look at the fluid levels in the car engine?”
Scarebear: “Oh I would, but I don’t have my mechanic overalls with me.”

Mrs Scarebear: “Can you hang that picture on the wall?”
Scarebear: “They taught that on the only day I couldn’t attend Handyman 101.”

You get my point. I’m lame. Still, I almost worked out the Dialtone Pickups system first go. I managed to get sound out of them (I connected everything outside of my guitar initially for testing purposes). I managed to not have wires left over. The incredibly helpful folks at Dialtone Pickups informed me what I’d mixed up though and at that stage I decided “maybe I should let a professional do this just in case.”

That’s when the real world kicked in again. Time slipped away like an elusive Marlin. I hear they’re difficult to catch. I don’t know, I suck at fishing too.

Now I find myself in the situation I am currently in—no installed pickups … still.

Suck it up Buttercup! Find some time and pay someone to install these pickups or find the time to dedicate to nothing else but getting this installation done and installed correctly (by myself) in my Kramer Pacer. Yes, that’s the guitar I’ve decided I will install these awesome pickups into. Why? Why not I say.

Actually the reason why is because the Kramer Pacer has the right setup for the Dialtone Pickups configuration I am looking for—Volume, Gain, Gain. Oh it will be perfect. Well, it will be as soon as I pull that finger out that I mentioned before. I better do it soon. That finger seems to have been where it shouldn’t have been for ages now!

Stay tuned. I have to do this soon. If I don’t you’ll know I just got lamer.