The .:: SINGLECOIL Guitars ::. updated version of what became the world´s first factory-produced electric guitar back in 1950, immortalized on countless records. How many things do you know that are still built the same way as in 1950 ? This guitar is without any question one of it ! But there is still room for improvements regarding tuning accuracy, comfortability and tone so the Orange County Special combines all the classic attributes with modern approach. More tonal flexibility to cover a wider range of musical styles was one of the main goals, but without destroying the optical appearance we all know and love.

If you want to find out more about the concept behind this guitar and its wiring, please read my column about it on Premier Guitar here and here.

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Here are the main specs of the Orange County Special guitar:

body:
– two piece ash or alder body, highly figured
– locally harvested, selected thermo-treated tone wood
– opaque, super-hard and ultrathin satin finish
– highly contoured for maximum playing comfort
– string through body design
– no finish at the contact points in the neck pocket
– super-tight fit neck pocket

neck:
– maple neck with double truss rod, highly figured with plum fingerboard
– locally harvested, selected thermo-treated tone wood
– 12″ radius
– 21 frets (Dunlop 6140) hardened and high polished
– three-dimensional headstock, body matching color
– vintage amber finished
– truss rod accessible from the headstock
– vintage white dots on the fretboard and side dots
– hand shaped bone nut
– Kluson 6L vintage tuners
– two roller string trees
– no finish at the contact points at the heel
– 10´s nickel plated TWANGTONE strings

hardware:
– Kluson 6L vintage tuner
– hand shaped bone nut
– two roller string trees
– four-hole metal neck plate
– string though body ferrules
– two locking-ready strap pins
– rectangular metal output jack plate
– hand shaped celluloid pickguard
– Willkinson metal bridge with three compensated saddles
– metal control plate
– wooden knobs for the two controls

electronics:
– custom made T-style bridge and P-90 neck pickup
– mil.grade pots with 60:40 audio taper
– treble loss free master volume control
– mil.grade 4-way pickup selector switch
– mil.grade 2-way toggle switch
– mil.grade, extra strong output jack
– mil.spec silver-/teflon wire for maximum transparency
– selected NOS tone caps
– shielded wire for all output connections

wiring:
The mil.grade 4-way pickup selector switch is wired to provide all possible combinations out of the two pickups: bridge pickup alone / both pickups together in parallel / neck pickup alone / both pickups together in series. The mil.grade 2-way toggle switch provides a true-bypass setting, routing the pickup or pickup combination you choose with the 4-way pickup selector switch directly to the output jack, bypassing all controls. All this options together with the treble loss free volume control and the very effective and even tone control will provide a galore of different possible tones to cover a wide range of musical styles. While the bridge pickup provides all the classic twang and spank, the P-90 neck pickup sounds warm, full and bluesy.