Charvel 275 Deluxe-Pickup and bridge question

[wolfynic]

Hi All,
I'm brand new to Charvel guitars (owned lots of other brands), and my first buy is a 1990 (I think) 275 deluxe off Ebay for 160GBP (just over 300USD), including quality case.
I've got a few questions that I hope you can help me out with..

1. Is it possible to change the saddles on the Schaller trem to locking ones? At the moment the guitar's only single locking, which is ok but i'm thinking of looking into getting it double locked. If it is possible, can anyone suggest somwwhereto buy the saddles? Preferably in the Uk.

2. I'm really not happy with the sound from this guitar. It has a single coil charvell at the neck (which is fine) but has two more at the bridge which are angled. At first I though it had been modded, then put back to original but done wrong as there's some terrible soldering in there, but after looking at this forum, i see a few people aren't happy with theirs either.
I really can't get a decent distorted sound out of them, and this guitar doesn't really look the part for Jazz eh? so I want to put a normal humbucker in. The problem is that the body routing follows around the outline of the two single coils. Looks like I'm gonna have to chissel the middle bit away to take the humbucker. Anyone out there done this already? Any tips? Also, I'll have to change the switch to a three way won't I?

Here's some pics:

Bridge:

Body shot:

Full shot:


Other than these little moans, I'm really happy with my charvel, and can see myself buying another in the future, there's so many different looks to choose from!


Anyway,

Cheers.

[maxboost]

i had one of these non-locking trems in my 275dlx.
I bought what was supposed to be a Schaller made Jackson logoed trem of Ebay but, it turned out to be one of the cheaper Schaller copy Jackson logoed trem. Cheap metal, small spring block etc. So I took the locking saddles of the it and put it on the 275 trem. It works great. Everything is top quality on the Schaller but those non locking saddles didn't stay in tune as well. so, you could buy one of those cheap schaller copy trems and use the locking saddles from it.

Mine was a different year and had a normal angled humbucking route. But I think you could cut an outline through the finish with a sharp knife so you don't chip it, when you enlarge it with router bit on a Dremel (motor) tool. But you may need a larger pickup ring to cover the hole. you can get them from fretsonthenet.com . the owner is member here. Sorry I can't remember his JCF name. is it Budman?

[wolfynic]

Thanks for the reply and advice Maxboost.

I've taken chisel to guitar!! I'm actually very happy with it. I was planning on using a pickup ring (you were right about needing a non standard one). But tried firstly to do a neat enough job to just screw the humbucker directly to the bottom of the cavity to do away for the need of a ring. A tricky thing to get right on a black guitar (or any guitar really), but it's done, and i'm very happy with the results.
I've got a pickup ready to go in. I've changed the five way switch to a three way Fender to give me:

1. Humbucker
2. Coil tap
3. Neck single coil.

My tastes of sounds are quite simple, so those pickup selections are plenty for me.

I'll probably be assembling the guitar this weekend. I've taken plenty of photo's, so I might just upload a few on here to maybe help anyone else who may want to do this mod too.

Cheers.

[Jackson-Charvel]

Would like pics to see your handiwork as I too have a Fusion Special? that has this arrangement and want a standard slanted humbucker instead of 2 singles.

[wolfynic]

No problem.
Because I've done the cutting and painting of the pickup cavity, i'll post those photo's first, (hopefully tonight) and i'll take some shots of the guitar with pickup fitted as soon as it's done.

[nhspike]

Welcome wolfynic!

Very interested in seeing the handiwork over here as well!

[wolfynic]

Finished result..

Ok, so i've finished most of the work on my 275, and i've taken photo's.
The pickup that's in the picture's probably wont be a permanent fixture in this guitar, but for now it does a decent job of illustrating what it'll finally look like.

1. First of all I used a very sharp knife and a steel rule to score lines accross the pointed part of the cavity section, then, using a Dremel tool with a circular saw style blade, I down vertically down as far as I could. I then cut that section of wood horizontaly lots of times, untill i hit the bottom of the cavity. That makes it much easier to chisel. Then using a very sharp chiselcut down to the bottom of the cavity.



2. I then used a rotory sanding bit on the Dremel to smooth out the side walls, followed by a finger wrapped in finer sand paper.




3. I then masked and primed the area with filler primer.




4. Then found that I needed to file some material off each 'dog ear' of the pickup base, a two minute job... no worries.




5. Then after lots of poncing about trying to get the paint to take properly to the top edges of the cavity, I applied the clear coats.




6. Here's the finished edge...




.... and the finished guitar....





I'm interested to know what people think of this, so feel free to comment.

Cheers.

[DonP]

Looks like you did a great job.

You can be proud of the fact that you rescued what most people consider a dog from death row, and gave it a second chance at life.

[jrnic]

Wow....awesome job, really! Those cuts you made look perfect. After your paintjob, I don't think you really need a pickup ring. Looks great. I would try a nice HOT pickup like a DiMarzio X2N in there. With the bars instead of pickup screws, you won't have to worry about lining up the poles to the strings. Not to mention that the X2N will melt your earwax when cranking it!!!

Good luck with it!

[maxboost]

Nice work! Maybe i should try a chisel too. I agree wuth jrnic, you don't need pup ring.

A 275DLX brought me to jcfonline board too. Of course with the usual,"What model of Charvel did I just buy" first post. LOL. A couple months ago I put a 1 piece maple neck I refreted (1st time) with Stainless frets on it and put TELE Pickups in it-well I already got a bunch of 'metal guitars' Now I got a tele sounding guitar with a Locking Floyd LOL

You did a Brilliant job, Cheers...EH !

[wolfynic]

Thanks for all the comments lads. It's nice to get feedback on any work you do isn't it? I've got quite a heavily modded Gibson Les Paul Gem, which i'm considering routing and fitting humbuckers to. Still just thinking at the moment though...

Cheers!

[nhspike]

Wow wolf.
Perfect job.
Most impressive indeed.

[wolfynic]

Could anyone please confirm that to make my Charvel, single lock floyd rose (pictured above) into a double lock setup, the sadles on this Ebay item would work?
I think they will, but not quite sure.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jackson-Charvel-JT-500-Tremolo-Bridge-RR-Randy-Rhoads_W0QQitemZ250254512695QQihZ015QQcategoryZ41407QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em122#ShippingPayment

Thanks.

[nhspike]

I would look for the real Schaller ones my self.
These may work, but the metal is cheaper.
I've recently had one break while tightening the string block.

[jimmer_21]

Man, I had one of those way back then! Got rid of it specifically for the reasons you "reworked" it. Great job!! I could only dream of having the patience, wherewithall and skill to pull it off! Congrats..