Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Poto Shoot for #002 today
We've begun work on #006 and Our first acoustic guitar as well.
Look for more updates in the next few weeks.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
New Overdrive Humbucker Sound Clips
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Customer Design Guitar Progress Shots
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Newest Porter Pickup Reviews
Set Type: Tele Set with Additional Middle Strat Pickup
"I have the Nashville Deluxe Tele which has a bridge and neck position tele pickups and a strat middle pickup. I always loved the way this guitar played, but was never sold on it's sound. The stock Tes-Mex Single Coil pickups gave the guitar a generic sound - There was nothing special about it. I knew this guitar's unique setup was capable of so much more. I had Brian make me a set of pickups to fit this guitar, and the difference is clearly apparent. With the stock pickups - the sound was weak and brittle and lack the twang teles are famous for. The Porter Pickups delivered a full bodied sound capable of broad tonal range. They deliver a punchy twang sound, and crystally chimey clean, a full bodied distortion. This guitar is a very useful guitar that is capable of alot of different tones. Highly recommended!!!!,,Specs:All Vintage Wiring: Neck-Tele- 5.6k, Middle-Strat-5.86k, Bridge-Tele Bridge-6.2k."
Porter Smooth Humbucker
"This pickup lives up to it's name - it delivers a very smooth sound. I use this pickup to play mellow, atmoshperic cleans layered with with delay. They deliver a eerie, hauntingly beautiful clean or a crisp cutting clean depending how you set your amp and your volume and tone knobs. I have also had a friend play jazz and blues throughout this pickup, and it sounded amazing. This pickup was made for jazz and blues!! ,,Specs: 4 conductor Wiring: Neck-Smooth-7.5k"
Porter Classic Humbucker
"This Pickup delvers amazing overdriven tone. I have a custom amp built to the specs of a 60's Vox AC-30, and these pickups really showcase the ability of this amp. When the amp is cranked, the sound is sheer glory tone - as Brian and I like to put it - Face melting tone!!! When playing chords, you can hear each individual note ring out clearly. The stock pickups were muddy in the lows and the mids. If you are looking for a pickup that delivers great vintage overdriven tones - this is the pickup for you!,,Specs:4 conductor Wiring: Bridge-Classic-8.0k"
Read More Reviews or Buy These Pickups Here
Friday, September 25, 2009
Newest Porter Pickups Review
"I tossed these overdrive pickups in my Firebird. I was blown away by the clarity and attitude. It cut through well, but wasn't overly distorted. For me, honestly, distortion is sometimes the wrong word to use. I like the aggressiveness of this pickup, but it is somehow clear at the same time. I think it's simply because it just sounds RIGHT. It's mean and loud, but it's a mature sound. it gives a good amp, a proper signal. It improved the forwardness of my sound a lot too, and with out the brittle sound you usually get from cheap "distortion" pickups. Sweeeeet.Thanks!"
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Newest Porter Pickup Reviews
Pickup: Porter Classic Humbucker
Position: Bridge
Comments: "This is a GREAT bridge pickup. I ordered mine w/ a 9.2k resistance, and it can growl and still retain a vintage tone. I ordered this w/ a Smooth neck, and together they are heaven."
Name: D.J. (Lewisville, TX)
Pickup: Porter Smooth Humbucker
Position: Neck
Comments: "This is hands down the best neck humbucker I've ever used. The sound is three-dimensional- very fat and round. You'll be playing blues and jazz licks all day in this position."
Visit the Porter Pickups Website
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Progress Shot on #0003

Here's a quick progress shot of #0003.It will have a triple p90 pickup configuration on a Honduran mahogany body with a Brazilian ebony center stripe and a highly figures kos top with abalone pearl trim. We did the pickup holes, angled neck pocket and bridge mounting holes yesterday. Here's a progress shot:
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Newest Porter Pickup Review
Pickup Model: Porter Overdrive Humbucker
Position: Bridge
Comments: I replaced the stock "d****n designed" humbucker on my Jackson bridge pickup. Previously, my tone was muddy and sweep arpeggios were very messy sounding. After installing the Porter pickup, I noticed that my notes were more clear and individually articulate. The tone was very good. The pickup seems to have a little more mids and lows than heavy and highs. I've enjoyed my playing much more with this pickup. I hope to replace the neck one someday as well with a Porter pickup!
Buy the Porter Overdrive Humbucker Online at Porterpickups.com

Pickup Reps Needed
We'll make your efforts worth your time as a thanks for helping grow the business.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Scrambling
On top of the regular lacquer I buy from them, I also got about 80% of my finishing products including sealer and grain filler. I ended up finding another brand of lacquer yesterday, that i'll give a try, and hopefully I can find a good mix of the other things I need.
Some people seem to think that they will reorganize or sell their recipes to another company. They have been in business since 1885, but i'm wondering how much this new economy has affected them as well. Less people who buy even the big brand name guitars, creates an issue for sales of the lacquer. Even for a guy like me, to have the big companies selling a lot makes it possible for them to stay in business and for me to be able to only buy small quantities.
We're now looking for the vintage type nitro lacquer that lets the wood of the guitar breathe. No plastic finishes.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday Update
Acoustics
I've been working on designing the sound hole rings for my acoustics, and i'm pretty close to the final design that i'll use. It will be a two ring rosette. It will be an inner inlaid ring with BlackWHITEBLACK pattern. The outer ring with have an abalone pearl ring surrounded by black ad white trim. I'm saving the abalone i have to use in a guitar, so i'll have pictures of that up soon.
The side bending has been giving me some issues, and i'm still troubleshooting that process. I need to have the wood at a certain temperature and my temperature reader was giving me different readings, causing the wood to burn on one occasion and not get hot enough to bend on another. I've went through 4 sides already, so i'm hoping to find a solution to my temperature issues soon, before i really get using the expensive woods.
Electrics
#0002 is in the booth with some final build coats of lacquer on it. It's very close to being done with the lacquer coats, on both the neck and the body. From there, it will need to sit for a few weeks and then it's buffing and assembly.
#0003 needs some prototype work done on the neck angle. It will have a hipshot baby grand bridge on it. Here's a shot of the bridge that's going on it:

#0004 will be a 12 string electric, so we are working on doing a prototype Porter neck to see if everything lines up.
More updates soon.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Porter Pickups Website
We'll have the official announcement on the site launch in the August newsletter. Sign up on either PorterGuitars.com or PorterPickups.com to get the newsletter.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Update on #0002, other updates
We've also been working towards the acoustic development some more. Right now, we're planning out the rosette and i've been carving the braces on the first acoustic prototype. It's starting to sound good with the taptones, but there's still a bit more brace carving to go. We hope to have more of the acoustics taking shape very soon.
#0003 and #0004 are starting to take shape as well. #0004 is going to be a 12 string, so we are working on some mock setups to make sure our alignment is going to work.
Here's some progress shots of #0003 and #0004:

Sunday, August 09, 2009
Back to Work
-Release of #0001 (Pictures Below from photo shoot)
-Porter Pickups Sponsors Music Festival in Minnesota
-Placement of First Porter Pickups in a music Store. (More coming soon on that)
What's coming up? We're working on the release of our Single Coil Pickups. If you're not signed up for the email list on www.porterguitars.com, you might want to! We are offering a discount on the pickups and some of our guitar models, only available through the email.
Monday, August 03, 2009
#0001 Pictures
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Side Bending Adventures
Monday, July 27, 2009
Busy Month, and some cool announcements
We're also planning things like the release of Porterpickups.com as it's own site as well as the release of the pictures from the first photo shoot of #0001. There's a lot for us to get done this month and a lot of new and exciting things for you.
The neck for #0002 is in the spray booth right now, and we're starting the lacquer process for it. We're shooting for a mid august completion of #0002, so stay tuned!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
#0001 Getting Closer
We'll have a full blog about #0001 once it's done. Keep checking back for more information.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Single Coil Video Shoot Update
Look for the big launch of the single coils sometime in mid august. We'll have the new video out, the new Porterpickups.com website and some killer deals on the single coils, as well as a deal on our humbuckers.
Stay tuned!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Single Coil Video Shoot
Make sure you sign up up for the email list for the specific announcement of the single coil release date. Sign up here
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Hear Porter Pickups in Action
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Single Coil Pickup Development
The plan is to wind a few more demo sets and send them to some players to make sure we're good to go. I'm hoping to offer the single coils for sale on the website as things progress a little further. We're also planing a video shoot for youtube to feature the Porter Single coil in action. Look for that sometime late this month or a few weeks into august. I think you'll like what you hear.
In addition to that, we have to get the model names and the plan is to release one or two models initially. Early price estimates are around $55 per single coil. We'll send out an announcement about the release on our nestletter. Don't forget to sign up for it at The Website
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Side Bender is Here

I've slowly been collecting the jigs and tools needed to get the acoustics started. I just got the side bender in last week, and hope to start bending some wood in the next week or so. I'll probably put up a blog on the bending process as well.
This side bender is a great way to bend the sides of an acoustic guitar. Traditionally, it was by a heated pipe. I've tried this method a few times, and had ok results, but decided this method would be the best. The side bender is a jig that clamps the wood down to a form that is half the shape of your guitar. It has a waist clamp, and other clamps held by springs to help the bending. The heat for the bend is provided by a very thin silicone blanket which heats the sides, while two metal slats are surrounding the blanket and the sides to hold in the heat. Once we get the sides ready, i'll have a blog about bending the wood.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Thoughts on Rosewood
Another type of rosewood is Bolivian Rosewood. It's also known as Pao Ferro. It's been used quite a bit on guitars for both fretboards and the back and sides of acoustics. Tonally it's said to be somewhere in between Indian Rosewood and Maple, and it's actually heavier than Indian Rosewood.
Here's a shot of the color comparisons between Bolivian Rosewood and Indian Rosewood. Bolivian Rosewood is on the Left.

Thursday, July 02, 2009
New Porter Pickups Logo
Newest Porter Pickup Reviews
Nickname: CC (Millington, TN)
Pickup Model: Porter Classic Humbucker
Position: Neck
Comments: "I installed the pickup in a customized Telecaster matched with a Seymour Duncan Little '59 and WHOO... The tone was AMAZING! It cuts through the mix perfectly and with the simple turn of the Tone knob you can get any sound you want out of it. I love my new Porter Pickup and can't wait to get another! If you don't have one i recommend getting one!"
Nickname: ACI (Memphis, TN)
Pickup Model: Porter Classic Humbucker
Position: Neck
Comments: Just installed this pickup and have fallen in love! This pickup has managed as to catch the warm vintage but with add modern accents. I can't wait to get a second pickup for the bridge! I put it in my Gibson SG running through a Fender Bassman blackface. GREAT TONE!!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
#0001 Nearing Completion
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Some thoughts on hand wound pickups
Many of the larger guitar pickup makers as well as builders are winding pickups with machine guided wire. The end result is consistent windings and a repeatable process without as much labor. What they get is a good sounding pickup and some savings on labor costs. It seems to be a win win for those larger companies, but why are lot of these modern pickups not as popular as the older ones?
Back when many of the companies were getting started, all pickups were wound by hand. This does not mean they were wrapped by hand, but the wire was guided by hand as the pickup bobbin was spun on some type of device (Usually similar to a sewing machine motor) with a counter attached to keep track of the turns. Some people think there is not much difference from using a vintage of modern type winder vs a machine guided one. I happen to think there is.
Most vintage pickups are highly sought after not just because of their age, but because of their tone. People are always looking for the right recipe for that vintage tone and some have gotten really close. The materials used in the pickup do make a difference in the tone. you can't go wrong using the same types of wire, magnets and bobbin material as the old pickups were made with. That's a great start! I think the winding technique is very crucial to the tone of the old pickups that are so popular.
In the case of hand wound pickups (often called Scatter-Wound) the layers of the coil are shaped by the hand of the winder. Each maker may have one go to winding pattern, or several different ones that could be based on models they sell. Since it's guided by hand, the turns of the coil might be the same from pickup to pickup, but there will most likely be differences in the winding patterns. The hand winding pickup maker can use this to his/her advantage. After the winding pattern is determined, the pickup can be tested to see what kind of tones it gets. Changing the winding pattern might result in some newer definition more clarity or more bass. This is probably why you see so many different models of pickups out there. It's also why smaller pickup makers can offer such specific pickups to meet picky players demands.
At Porter Pickups, we've been developing our own winding patterns and have been seeing some good results. Our customers are noticing too. The goal with winding our own pickups is to make sure the guitars sound as good as possible, and at the same time making the Pickups available for individual sale for use in guitars other than Porter's. We'll continue to refine and develop new models and our winding process to make sure the tones our pickups produce are just what the player wants.
We'll be winding the first few sets of single coils this month, and sending them to some people to demo before we release them for sale. We're looking forward to adding the Porter single coil pickups to our lineup of hand wound Humbuckers and P90's.
More details on the specific release of Single Coils soon. We're also hoping to launch Porterpickups.com as it's own seperate site sometime in July. Right now, it's located within the main Porterguitars.com site.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
In the Shop this week.
I'm still recovering from a sprained ankle. I'm entering my third week of it being sprained and it;s slowly getting better. Mowed the lawn yesterday and finally got some shop time in friday. I was able to initial some inlays into a the rosewood fretboard for #0002, and spray a few coats of laquer on #0002 and the neck for #001. Pictures coming soon! Were' going to shoot for more this week, but we'll see how the pain is holing up. We had a person come by and check out the shop friday, and it was great to have them come out. I enjoy meeting players and interested customers in our process and also just the chance to talk shop.
This week ahead will hopefully involve more shop time and a lot of new tool purchases. We're about to begin on the tooling and jigs for #0005, which will be an acoustic guitar. We'll also have more about this soon. Over the next few weeks, a lot of tools and jigs will be coming in, as well as some more parts and woods for #0003 and #0004.
Stay tuned for more pictures this week.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
New P90 Pickup Review

We're excited for the newest Porter Pickups that were released last month. We've just got the first review in from a local band member who's really enjoyed the tone! Here's what he had to say:
"I believe this was Brian's first P-90 wind and I must say he nailed it. This pickup has the standard wind(about 9k).I threw this into the bridge position of a
Read more Reviews here.
Want your own Porter Pickups for your Axe? Mention you saw this blog and email us at info@porterguitars.com and get free shipping on your next pickup order.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
#0003 Curly Koa Guitar With Abalone Inlay
These guitars each feature a custom body shape we designed. Here's the beginnings of the progress of the guitars.

Friday, June 12, 2009
Porter Pickups Latest Reveiw

Here's the latest review of one of our Porter Classic Humbuckers. It was custom wound for the neck position of the customers Telecaster:
"I installed the pickup in a customized Telecaster matched with a Seymour Duncan Little '59 and WHOO... The tone was AMAZING! It cuts through the mix perfectly and with the simple turn of the Tone knob you can get any sound you want out of it. I love my new Porter Pickup and can't wait to get another! If you don't have one i recommend getting one!"
Want to read more reviews? Check out the reviews page for more!
We're also hoping to spread the word on Porter Pickups through some pretty exciting ways. We'll keep you updated on that, but can't give it away yet!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Injured, and more updates!
Meanwhile, the shop sits and collects dust.
I've been able to work on some marketing and networking type things, while trying to chase after my 11 month old. He thinks daddy is playing with him when I hop after him.
The last update was about acoustic guitars. We are going to begin working on acoustic guitars very soon, and the first order just came in this week. We'll try and continually update the process of getting the first Porter Acoustic made. I'm looking forward to diving into the process and for the new build challenge. We'll probably release an acoustic model later this year, if all goes well in the initial development of it.
We've also begun the launch of some more marketing for Porter Pickups. We're looking for people to demo the pickups and for artists to play them who will help spread the word.
BP
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Acoustics Coming soon
Friday, June 05, 2009
Death of the Local Music Shop
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence as larger instrument retailers continue to grow and expand. They have better buying power, and offer the lowest prices. Driving around town yesterday, I noticed a local music store with their "Going Out of Business" sale. It was sad and frustrating. They were a store with higher quality instruments and had people who knew what they were talking about and treated you right. Just recently another Local Store was announcing that they might have to close their doors. They have since been above water, but it's hard to tell how far.
When rumors of local stores possible closings came out, there was a wave of support. People organized benefit concerts, tried to stop in more, and told their friends to go support. All these things to try and save something that many took for granted, or ignored so they could save a few $$. The support was great, but you had to wonder "Where was the support before?"
As more big box stores go in and even a popular electronic company starts selling gear, the smaller stores seem to get run out of town. The stores with knowledgeable sales people, gear that hasn't had "Stairway" played on it 5,697 times, and better customer relations are now being threatened by a larger store with 300 black guitars and minimum wage employees.
Apparently, i'm not the only one who's seen the effect of larger stores on the local music shops.
Chances are you can find killer deals at your local stores. They don't ave the buying power that the larger stores have, but they will be able to work with you and might even know you by name the next time you come in. The only way to keep them in business is to give them your business.
It's sad to see the cool local music stores go under. These are the type of stores that I will hope to have as dealers in the near future for my guitars. I hope they continue to come up with new and innovative methods for staying competitive, and that customers realize their value in the communities they live in.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
3 Tone Hand Stained Sunburst

Here's the finish going on #0002. It's patterned after the old vintage mandolin finishes. It's got a quilted maple top with grain enhancement and three different stains blended by hand to get a good color transition. It's in the booth right now with a few coats of sealer on it. Watch for a future blog about how we did the sunburst.
This is an example of one of our Elite Models. Prices start at $2,300 for elite models and they are available with a wide range of finish options, woods, and hardware colors.
www.porterguitars.com
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Porter Pickups, and Guitar Update
www.porterpickups.com
It's been a while since i've used this specific blog, but we're starting it back up again. Look for things like:
1. Customer Guitars in Progress
2. How we build Porter Guitars
3. Other featured items.
Just found us on this blog? Porter Guitars is a custom builder of electric guitars and hand wound pickups. We believe in making things by hand, and that with careful attention to detail and a wide range of customer options, we can provide a truly custom guitar for our customers.
Look for more blogs coming soon.
Brian










