guitar refurb weekend

[hippietim]

It was a nice weekend so I decided to clean out the garage and make room to do some work on guitars.

Project 1:

My PRS Santana III has never sounded right to me. The Santana III pickups are weak and thin. I had a set of Dragon II's that I had tried in another guitar but I didn't care for them for other reasons - so I didn't bother trying them in the Santana III. The other day I was in my favorite little music store and they had the new Seymour Duncan Phat Cat's. The Phat Cat's are basically humbucker sized P-90's. I popped those suckers in the Santana III and the guitar sprang to life! These pickups live up to there name. They are ballsy and articulate. Santana III pickups are destined for Ebay [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] .

Project 2:

My baritone Tele was driving me nuts. It had Fender vintage noiseless pickups. They were muddy as hell with the baritone tuning. So I popped in a set of Rio Grande Tall Boys. They sound awesome - all of the Tele bite I was looking for in a baritone!

Project 3:

The Flamecaster. The neck it came with sucked. I put a Kramer of some sort on it that sucked less. Today I put a Charvel neck on it that's very cool.

Updated pics: http://www.hackolutions.com/gear/cur...mer/flamer.htm

Project 4:

I've had a GMW neck for my MIDI Strat for a couple weeks. Today I finally drilled everything and put it together and put in new pickups. It's not setup yet but at least I'm making progress.

Updated pics: http://www.hackolutions.com/gear/pro...rmidistrat.htm

[Newc]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

Sweet! [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

I got some stuff done as well - I've had a Warmoth Baritone Conversion neck on a Charvel Model 375 body sitting in the closet, waiting to be finished. I put some tuners on the head (had to make the tuner holes a little bigger), put a Duncan Distortion in the bridge, Hot Rails in the neck, and an OFR (no lock nut), and strung it up with 10s. No pics yet - gotta get around to updating those [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Also I got in a DX6 for about $100 off Ebay [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
But it needed a setup, and I didn't have (or couldn't find) a set of Metric Allens, so I had to go get some. Anyhoo, the action's not super low like a USA, but it's better than it was. Also the truss rod nut was totally loose, and the neck kinda bowed forward, so I got that straight.

Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3715874219

- 24 frets, v-trem, and 3 Duncan Designed "Lil/Jr" pickups (look like JB Jrs and Lil 59s), and they actually kick ass for both clean and Metal. I got this one cuz a maintenance guy at work was telling me he wanted to learn to play, but didn't know anything about em. He was leaning towards Ibenhad, but I told him Jacksons were better [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
It was only $100, so maybe he'll take advantage of the savings [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Anyhoo, I also tried using a Stain Marker on the board of my Explorer to make it darker - it was REAAAAALY light rosewood that Ken ebonized, but it's starting to lighten a bit. Anyhoo, all I could find was Minwax stain pens for Red Mahogany and Dark Walnut - I figured I'd mix the two and get ebony (or just black, which is fine). I put on a helluva lot and it was tacky for 3 days, so I went over it lightly with some sandpaper and it lightened up a bit but it's a dark reddish brown [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I need to go over it again to fill in the streaks.

Newc

[jgcable]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

I built up a 1987 BC Rich ST-3 with factory grafitti graphics. Fret polish, fretboard recondition, locknut shim, Floyd set up and a custom made jack plate. She plays like a monster now.

[Jerry From Ghana]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

nice place, exquisite coffee table

[Newc]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

Yeah, nice place Tim [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Hey, waitaminnit - ain't you in Washington St? Shouldn't it be raining? [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/poke.gif[/img]

Newc

[hippietim]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

Originally posted by Newc:
I got some stuff done as well - I've had a Warmoth Baritone Conversion neck on a Charvel Model 375 body sitting in the closet, waiting to be finished. I put some tuners on the head (had to make the tuner holes a little bigger), put a Duncan Distortion in the bridge, Hot Rails in the neck, and an OFR (no lock nut), and strung it up with 10s. No pics yet - gotta get around to updating those [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">10s?!?!?!? On a baritone? What are you tuning it to? I normally play 9s but my baritone has 14s. I use these (cuz I got them really cheap [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ):

http://www.danelectro.com/strings1.htm

I tune to low A.

[Newc]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

I'm either in B or C - was tuning by ear (acoustically, no less) to my Concert V bass [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
It's got an OFR so I didn't wanna bust the saddles by using anything higher than 10s [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Newc

[hippietim]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

those must be floppy strings...

[DeathDaily]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

Originally posted by hippietim:
I use these (cuz I got them really cheap [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ):

http://www.danelectro.com/strings1.htm

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do you know anywhere I could get some of these on the internet? I've never seen those in any store.

[hippietim]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

I got mine out of one of those barrels of junk at Guitar Center - they were like 3 bucks a set - I bought all 5 or 6 sets they had.

Here's where you can get sets though:
http://bigcitystrings.com/baritone.htm

[Newc]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

Originally posted by hippietim:
those must be floppy strings...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not at all.

Newc

[Newc]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

Here's the Baritone:



[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Newc

[peabuddy]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

call me an ignorant bass player( and don't fucking correct my spelling ron j/k) but what is the difference/ purpose of a baritone?

[Newc]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

Same low-end as a 7-string without the bother of buying an entirely new/different axe, then swapping the crapass trem/pickups for the good stuff (which for 7-string stuff, it's hard to find USA-made hardware for low/used prices) [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Newc

[hippietim]

Re: guitar refurb weekend

you forgot to call him an ignorant bass player. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]