To Overhaul or Not

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I went ahead and did most of the mods anyway- gutted it and gave it a thorough buffing/polishing using a pad that attaches to a power drill. Added new p'ups, new 500K pot, new toggle switch, new-ish Schaller Lic'd Floyd, new Floyd Rose R3 nut, FR brass big block and noiseless springs. The Dimarzios (Liquifire/Crunch Lab) are surprisingly good. The bridge p'up needs to be adjusted to sit a little higher/closer to the strings. Because it's a direct mount, this is going to require a little work. The last pieces to the puzzle involve filling and spot touching the blade switch slot and holes, and the frets which are passable but really should be crowned, leveled and polished and maybe even one replaced. This is outside my skill sets and I frankly don't want to invest much if any more money in this since it's not gonna be a keeper. While it sounds and plays great, the neck is not to my liking. C'est la Vie.

[Number Of The Priest]

I read this thread with great interest because I recently acquired a red Charvel Model 1 that I realized has "lemon" aspects to it. As I gradually work on it, I constantly weigh the advantages and disadvantages of keeping versus unloading it. It's going to be sunk money either way, but the experience I'm gaining in working on the guitar is valuable to me. As an amateur tinkerer, my mindset is that every basket case guitar has something to teach me. There are no mistakes, only opportunities to learn.

Did you install the pickups in the "reverse" configuration? John Petrucci puts the Crunch Lab in the bridge and the LiquiFire in the neck. (EDIT: Never mind, I'm following your thread on Facebook. )

I actually really like the look you've got going because, with its black body, maple board, and green DiMarzios, it really reminds me of my Charvel Model 1C which is my favorite bolt-on.

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I read this thread with great interest because I recently acquired a red Charvel Model 1 that I realized has "lemon" aspects to it. As I gradually work on it, I constantly weigh the advantages and disadvantages of keeping versus unloading it. It's going to be sunk money either way, but the experience I'm gaining in working on the guitar is valuable to me. As an amateur tinkerer, my mindset is that every basket case guitar has something to teach me. There are no mistakes, only opportunities to learn.

Did you install the pickups in the "reverse" configuration? John Petrucci puts the Crunch Lab in the bridge and the LiquiFire in the neck. (EDIT: Never mind, I'm following your thread on Facebook. )

I actually really like the look you've got going because, with its black body, maple board, and green DiMarzios, it really reminds me of my Charvel Model 1C which is my favorite bolt-on.

Excellent perspective, dude! I'm applying that same mindset to this project. I've even toyed with the notion of trying my hand at crowning/leveling but I'm drawing the line at pulling the fret(s) I mean, this may not be a keeper but it's still a perfectly good ax and would make someone else happy to have it. No point in trashing it just gain some bench skill sets. As you already have discovered I did reverse the install and have corrected it.

That model 1C is sweet! I take it those came stock with the Fender-style fulcrum point trems?

[Number Of The Priest]

Man that looks great. Shame about the worn frets and not being fully compatible with the neck. I completely understand about not wanting to potentially ruin an alright guitar. I keep finding excuses to put off learning/practicing soldering until I get a cheaper/worse guitar to be my sacrificial goat.

There are quite a few Model 1 variants, but the only one I know that didn't come equipped with a fulcrum trem was the Model 1AF which had a Floyd and locking nut. I deck the trem on the Model 1C since I have plenty of Floyd-equipped guitars to do proper trem work. I'll likely do the same on the problematic red Model 1.

Funny how in Post #8, you said you prefer Duncans, yet you chose the John Petrucci DiMarzios.

So what's the story behind the purchase of this Dinky Rev and then discovering that it needed all that work? In case you wanted to commiserate or laugh at my expense, my red Model 1 lemon journey is elsewhere on the JCF: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/150...er-cheap-deal)

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Man that looks great.

Funny how in Post #8, you said you prefer Duncans, yet you chose the John Petrucci DiMarzios.

So what's the story behind the purchase of this Dinky Rev and then discovering that it needed all that work? In case you wanted to commiserate or laugh at my expense, my red Model 1 lemon journey is elsewhere on the JCF: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/150...er-cheap-deal)

For the most part I do prefer Duncans. I've played a few Dimarzios that sounded pretty damned good, most recently, the Gravity Storm in a Jem I tried sounded good. But for the most part, I am still a SD type. I have been wanting to expand my horizons sonically and decided with this one, I would take a chance. I liked the write up on the CrunchLab/Liquifire set so I figured, WTF. Give it a shot! So far, it seems a good choice in both aesthetics and in sound.

As to the DK Rev- it was being offered by this guy Tyler Speer on FB and it looked good and was pretty cheap. Came to find out (not surprisingly) that Tyler Speer (now you've all been warned) didn't really know what he was talking about. At all. I don't mean that as an insult- he just wasn't very knowledgeable and didn't realize the guitar had some issues. More so than he copped to in his post. Believe me, I've sent numerous PM's to explain just how off he really was. Anyway, short of getting into a big cyber shouting match with him and possibly trying to start legal proceedings to get my $$ back, I just figured I'd work with it. I'm still a little bit salty about it but I can turn this into a positive. If I get the frets leveled, it should be pretty badass.

[Number Of The Priest]

DiMarzio does excellent product descriptions, much better than the Duncan website in my opinion. Considering the Music Man John Petrucci model has a basswood body like your Dinky Rev, I can see how your choice of pickups pair well with that guitar.

I've seen Tyler Speer posting but didn't know about his dubiousness, feigning innocence, etc. Thanks for the warning. Similar situation with the local seller of my red Model 1 lemon. Join me in raising an angered fist at the snakes of this world.

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I'm there, pal. I'm there.