Porter Pickups Single Coil Demo Video

#0003 and #0004 Progress Pics

Here's a progress shot of #0003 and #0004. Koa tops with Abalone pearl inlayed borders.

Newest Porter Pickup Review

Nickname: downerczx (Anchorage, AK)
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 have bee working on a plan to spread the word about Porter Pickups, and it could involve YOU! We have some ideas in place that will be both rewarding for us and the people who help us. It's somewhat of a street team concept with some good ideas for spreading the word in cities that we aren't able to get to. We won't reveal too much about the plan on here, but If you are interested, please contact us at info@porterpickups.com to learn more about this.

We'll make your efforts worth your time as a thanks for helping grow the business.

Scrambling

Just found out that the lacquer company (Lawrence MCFadden) I use went out of business recently. I had to call and confirm and the lady on the phone awkwardly said "Sorry, we went out of business this week" Besides smaller builders like me, they supply some of the big guys in the business Here's a list on their website:



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 Update

Here's a few updates on some of the things we're working on in the shop:

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.

Porter Pickups Website

We've just launched the Porter Pickups Website. There's a decent amount of content on there, but not everything yet. If you'd like to see how it looks and browse around a bit, head to www.porterpickups.com and check it out.

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.

Update on #0002, other updates

#0002 is in the final stages of the finish work. The body is in the process of final sanding before buffing, and the neck needs a few more coats, but has the Porter Logo already on it. We're shooting for having this thing done by the end of the month.

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:

Back to Work

Back to work this week after some time out of town. Some cool things have been taking place the last week or so, and here's some highlights:

-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.

#0001 Pictures

Here's some shots of Porter Guitars #0001. It's one of our custom hollow models with a African Mahogany Body and a Zebrawood top. The Fretboard is Wenge with Abalone Pearl Dots and the Neck wood is Maple.