ORDERING

Is your online ordering server secure?

Absolutely. All orders are encrypted using SSL (secure socket layer). Once you begin the "checkout" process you can verify this by observing that the URL begins with https, rather than just http.

Which credit cards to you accept?

Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

Do you accept PayPal?

Yes. When you place an order on our website, there is a PayPal option on the last page of the checkout process where you choose the payment type.

What is your order minimum?

$25.

Can I order over the telephone?

Sure thing, but we are a small shop and nobody mans the phones all day. If you get a recording, just leave a message and we will call you back.

Do you offer any kind of warranty?

PREWIRED ASSEMBLIES:

• We are so confident in the quality of our workmanship, we will stand by the wiring on our Prewired Assemblies for as long as you own it, provided the electronics remain unaltered. The warrantee applies to the original owner and is non-transferable.
• The actual pickups are warranted by the manufacturer (for example Lindy Fralin covers his pickups for a 10 year period).

CUSTOM GUITARS:

• Rothstein Guitars will provide a FREE annual setup (truss rod, intonation, action etc.) for a period of two years. The customer is responsible for all shipping costs.
• You new guitar is warranted to be free from defects for a period of two years from the date of purchase. The warrantee applies to the original owner and is non-transferable.
• This warranty does not cover:
  • Normal wear and tear including damage to the finish.
  • Any instrument that has been altered or modified in anyway (except by Rothstein Guitars)
  • Subjective issues relating to tone
  • Any instrument subject to extreme temperatures or humidity

What is your refund / exchange policy?

PREWIRED ASSEMBLIES:

Pre-wired assemblies cannot be returned for a refund since the parts cannot be sold as new. However, we are willing to swap the pickup out for a nominal fee.

PRE-BUILT GUITARS:

A 72 hour "try before you buy" policy applies to all "pre-built" guitars. If you purchase one of our "pre-built" custom guitars, then play it for 3 solid days. If you determine that it is not for you for whatever reason, then ship it back to us for a full refund (less shipping).

CUSTOM ORDERED GUITARS:

The same 72 hour "try before you buy" applies here, however the initial deposit is non-refundable.

EVERYTHING ELSE:

For products other than prewired assemblies and custom guitars, the following policies apply:

Refunds: We have a 15-day refund policy. This applies only to "as-new" merchandise in it's original packaging. All returns are subject to a 15% restocking charge.

Exchanges: We will exchange your as-new, unaltered merchandise in it's original packaging dollar-for-dollar for new merchandise. There is no service charge, but you will need to pay all shipping costs.

Will you wire up a Strat pickguard for me using my pickups?

Yes, but be aware there will be a wiring fee. Rememer, if you purchase the pickups through us, the wiring fee is waived.

Please understand,we primarily sell prewired assemblies with pickups. When a customer purchases a set of pickups from us, we make a small profit on the set of pickups, therefore we have the flexibility of passing the savings onto our customers by completely waiving our wiring fee.

if we take the pickups out of the equation, we would be working for nothing and I'm sure you can appreciate this wouldn't be a very healthy situation.

Our wiring fee ranges between $40 and $75 depending on the specific configuration requested. Submit your specs via email and we'll get back to you with a quote.

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SHIPPING

What shipping method do you use?

For orders placed in the USA you can choose between USPS Priority Mail with delivery confirmation, and Express Mail. Any order containing pickups (including prewired assemblies) will be shipped with insurance so a signature is required.

How much will shipping cost (USA)?

We use the following price table to determine shipping costs when placing an order. Note: This is for USA shipping only. For international shipping, see the section below.

USA - PRIORITY MAIL SHIPPING RATES (USPS)
ORDER TOTAL	SHIPPING COST
$.01 - $60.00	$6.50
$60.01 - $120.00	$8
$120.01 - $200.00	$10
$200.01 - $300.00	$12
$300.01 - $400.00	$13
$400.01 - $500.00	$14
$500.01 - $600.00	$15
$600.01 ++	$16

 

USA - EXPRESS MAIL SHIPPING RATES (USPS)
ORDER TOTAL	SHIPPING COST
$.01 - $400.00	$20
$400.01 - $500.00	$22
$500.01 ++	$25

When will you ship my order?

Most orders that don't require any soldering will ship within 1-2 business days. Prewired assemblies will ship between 1 and 3 weeks from the date your order was submitted. Prewired components such as midrange controls, varitone controls etc. will generally ship within 1 wek.

Do you ship internationally?

Yes (via USPS Global Express and Global Priority Mail), but we reserve the right to refuse to process certain international orders based on a perceived risk. We will contact you if we have questions about your order. We will not ship to the following countries without extensive investigation and personal contact by telephone.

Which international shipping methods do you use ?

If shipping to Canada, you may select between either USPS Global Priority, or Global Express mail. If shipping to any other country besides USA and Canda and the order is > $100 then we will ship only via Global Express, but If the order is < $100 you can use either Global Priority or Global Express. Global express is more expensive, but it is the only shipping method which provides for both tracking and insurance.

Can you claim my package has a lower value than it really does?

Sorry, we cannot do this since this is illegal.

How much will shipping cost (International)?

We use the following price table to determine shipping costs when placing an order.

CANADA - GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL SHIPPING RATES (USPS)
ORDER TOTAL	SHIPPING COST
$.01 - $120.00	$17
$120.01 - $300.00	$20
$300.01 - $400.00	$21
$400.01 ++	$22

 

CANADA - GLOBAL EXPRESS MAIL SHIPPING RATES (USPS)
ORDER TOTAL	SHIPPING COST
$.01 - $200.00	$25
$200.01 - $400.00	$26
$400.01 ++	$30

 

INTERNATIONAL (non-Canada) GLOBAL PRIORITY SHIPPING RATES (USPS)
ORDER TOTAL	SHIPPING COST
$.01 - $100.00	$22
$100.01 - $250.00	$27
$250.01 - $350.00	$31
$350.01 ++	$35

 

INTERNATIONAL (non-Canada) GLOBAL EXPRESS SHIPPING RATES (USPS)
ORDER TOTAL	SHIPPING COST
$.01 - $350.00	$35
$350.01 - $450.00	$37
$450.01 - $550.00	$39
$550.01 ++	$42

 

PASSIVE MIDRANGE CONTROLS

Do your passive midrange controls require any routing to my guitar.

No!


What is this business about a center detent and custom taper?

When we first started offering this we had numerous requests for a version with a center detent for the neutral center position. Since we had so many requests we contacted CTS Corporation and had a custom version of this pot manufactured specifically for us. Since we decided to go through the expense of placing a custom order, we also tested out various tapers and found a perfect hybrid between audio and linear which worked the best for this mod.


Does this require a battery?

No! This is totally passive.


Will it work with humbuckers?

We don't recommend this for any high output pickups including very hot single coils as well as humbuckers. The 0-5 part (mid-cut) works equally well on humbuckers or single coils, however the 5-10 part will not be very effective on humbuckers since they already have plenty of mids.


Does it really "boost" mids without active electronics?

No, we have never claimed this to be a passive boost. That is just plain silly. A boost can only be accomplished via active electronics (as in our Fat Tuesday Midrange Presence control). That being said, the effect from 5-10 is still quite useful. We are really dealing with adding two additional tonal variations here. You can very much think of this mod as being a 3 position varitone. Turning the knob clockwise from 5 to 10 will make things sound slightly thicker with a bit more of a snotty midrange honk to it. The effect is greater on non-overwound pickups. Turning the knob counterclockwise from 5 to 0 will scoop out mids for a more hollow tone which I find appropriate for clean funky rhythms.

How does it work?

The cap and resistor are wired in series. As you know, caps lets treble through easier than low frequencies. The inductor does the opposite by allowing low frequencies to pass through easier than treble. Lets say the cap allows frequencies over 1000 Hz to pass, and the inductor allows frequencies under 200 Hz to pass. When the 2 are combined in series they act as a kind of midrange filter.


For example, lets say you want a filter to center around perhaps 650 hz. The formula for the LC network is:




where L = inductance, F is frequency, C is capacitance (in Farads) and pi is approx 3.14159. So, if we arbitrarily start with a .033 uf cap (note: this is an arbitrary value and NOT the cap that we use), we would need to convert that measurement from uf (microfards) to actual Farads and we would get .00000033 farads. So if we plug that into the equation above you get:

L = 1 / (2 * 3.14 * 650) squared * .00000033

Then L = 1 / 0.550427837 = 1.81676858

So in this hypthetical example, you will need an 1.8 henry inductor.

If you start with a bigger cap (lets say .047) then you would need a smaller value inductor (around 1.2 henry), so you can see there are many ways to arrive at a good filter. Aside from the math, you always have to use your ears to see what actually sounds good too!

I would like to learn how to make my own passive midrange control, can you point me in the right direction?


This mod is referred to as an "LC Network" where "L" stands for inductance and "C" for capacitance. As far as guitar applications are concerned, circuits similar to this have been used quite a bit over the past 30 years and are fairly well documented. Here are a couple of books I recommend on the topic:

Guitar Electronics for Musicians (Brosnac), from the 1970's

Great Tube Amp and Guitar Mods (Thompson) 1995