TL/DR - This time, Obsidian Wire didn't quite deliver. wrong guard, mixed plastics, and the bridge pickup had something wrong with it and was also microphonic. This added $85 to my overall purchase cost. I have *no* doubt in my mind that Obsidian Wire would have made this right. But it was a Saturday and I wanted to play my new guitar!
The review:
I was honestly really excited about this product. Overall it fell a little short. I love Obsidian Wire's units for my guitars. I found out about them because one of their units was installed in a Tele I picked up. I have them in 4 guitars now.
Time to receive and Communication: Excellent over all, especially coming from New Zealand!
Presentation: Meh. A bunch of packing bubble wrap, wrapped around the pickguard, tossed along with a sticker, and a little baggie that held the prewired output jack into a plain white box. No instructions. I get it, but given the cost and the hype, In my head I had envisioned something nicer based on the packaging and presentation for the other products I've gotten from Obsidian Wire.
The Obsidian Wire unit: It's great! - 5 way switching with a Schaller made CRL type switch, solderless, nice big axial cap for the tone, treble bleed switch, CTS pots, Bridge and middle on T2, neck on T1, and a push/pull for activating the neck. It's the Obsidian Wire quality we know and love.
The Pickguard: Meh. Felt thin, 3 ply (!), and was warped. Nothing a hairdryer couldn't fix. But why a 3 ply on a Pompeii?
Plastics: Meh again. No switch tip, three different colors were visible between the pickups and the knobs. Yes I checked for the tip everywhere. The DHL bag, the bubble wrap, the box, and even the floor.
Wiring: Great job here! It's hard to mess this up when it's the Obsidian Wire solderless right? Included prewired output jack was a very nice touch. These are all cloth covered wire pickups, jack had PVC coated wires. Who will see or know? Just me. Maybe they were out of cloth pre-wired ones. I had a Puretone jack waiting for this build, I'll save this one for a rainy day or a fix.
The Pickups: Man this was the part I was excited for! The good - The Tonerider Pure Vintage pickups in the neck and bridge delivered. The bridge however was harsh, thin, and nasally. No real bass response through any of my amps. After some troubleshooting and swapping of pickups, there was clearly there is something wrong with this poor guy and he was microphonic to boot! But it was Saturday and I wanted play my new guitar! I called my local GC who happened to be able to sell me an new SSL-5 and also had the fender plastics in Antique White! After 45 minutes and also $85 lighter in the wallet, I was back home and installing the SSL-5 along with now matching plastics into the guard. Put the neck back on, tuned up, and everything was right with the world!
