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Taking a piece of crap and making it sing


Evster2012

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Specimin Number One:

1988 Telecaster.

Mods: Gotoh tuners, Allparts bridge and electronics, tone knob removed, stock slider pickup switch replaced with Gibson-type three-way toggle and relocated to former hole for tone knob, cheesy Tele jack replaced with four-screw Les Paul-type jack plate, mirror pickguard, Seymore Duncan 1/4lb Tele pickup in neck position, Seymore Duncan Hot Rails pickup in bridge position, large woodscrews replace strap buttons, string tree removed in favor of winding string down the post, Jerry Garcia hand sticker stopping paint peel, paint done in Ford autoshop in Mustang Blue.

Finally got it to serve me. You do what you gotta do! :lol:

And people here ask me for advice! :o:lol:

EvTele.jpg

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Oh hi Evster! :wave: Nice job!

My restoration is very puny, compared to yours hahaha. Long ago, (long ago) when I was a teenager, I inherited my elder sister's banged up old classical guitar. The action sucked and the strings were yuck, no sound, no lustre, visually, too. So, I trudged to the local musician's store and got some new nylon strings--the silver colored wound bass strings and the clear trebles. These new strings had the balls @ the end so it was easy to install. Anyways, it sounded much better afterward! Much cleaner sound! What a difference! :) Then I learned some good ol' Joni, Judy (Collins) and Peter, Paul & Mary songs. No Zeppelin yet, at that point, unfortunately, 'cept a little Stairway, just intro. ;)

The action still sucked tho' and I got blisters on my fingers. :D

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Ah yes mods one of my favorite things to talk about. Some of the best guitars I've owned or had the pleasure of playing were somewhat inexpensive guitars I spent time making exactly what I wanted. Funny thing is I later sold those guitars to purchase more expensive instruments I didn't appreciate as much. Oh well live and learn.

Specimen one, which I don't have pictures of at work, was a 2003 Mexican made 50's Classic Tele, white body maple neck. Basically I wanted to make it as close to a 52 RI as possible but kind of went a little of track. I gutted it keeping only the body, neck, neck plate and screws and I kept the original vintage style tuners.

pickups-Fender TX specials for Tele

new Fender US 52 RI control plate

4 way switchcraft switch, 4 way switching on a Tele is a very cool thing

CTS pots

vintage style cloth push back wiring

paper and oil cap

Fender 52 RI black pick guard

custom Tele bridge with Danny Gatton cut away of bottom lip

brass compensated saddles

switchcraft jack

tusq nut

and I did the usual stuff I do to every guitar I have. Fret level and crown, polish, end dress etc.

That was a badass Tele. Did similar mods to a MIM 69 Tele Thinline RI and a 70's Classic Strat that were equally badass. All three are no longer with me. Sold those to buy two new Thin Skin 62 RI's, a Tele and a Strat, when those came out. Sold those too.

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Here's a good one for this thread.

Epi Valve Junior. Not a bad amp but a great amp with some fixin'.

Bought new in 2007, tore it apart the week I bought it.

BitMo Trio kit- The Duo Tone/Fat Boost Control and the 3 way Voicing/Gain Switch.

Hammond OPT

stand by switch

JJ Tubes

additional 8 ohm out for powering two 110 cabs

used some auto touch up paint to paint the face silver

removed Epi logo and replaced with Devil logo snapped off of a Cadillac Deville :D

DSC01002.jpg

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Before and after of my SA 240

BrownGuitarbeforepickups.jpg

Stock single coil's

BrownGuitarafterpick-ups2.jpg

Now with Gibson style shielded humbucker at the bridge and a unshielded (over wound) duel coil in the center, single coil (extra hot) at the neck.

I still have to ether redo the finish on the body or I think I may just add a large pick guard on the back. I messed up the top a bit. I didn't use a guide when I first started routing out the hole for the bigger duel coil with a Dremel tool.

I also put in a new All Part's 5 way switch, it does have a bit more sustain when I run it just on the shielded (bridge) Gibson pick up and the other two are better sounding as well.

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Here's a good one for this thread.

Epi Valve Junior. Not a bad amp but a great amp with some fixin'.

Bought new in 2007, tore it apart the week I bought it.

BitMo Trio kit- The Duo Tone/Fat Boost Control and the 3 way Voicing/Gain Switch.

Hammond OPT

stand by switch

JJ Tubes

additional 8 ohm out for powering two 110 cabs

used some auto touch up paint to paint the face silver

removed Epi logo and replaced with Devil logo snapped off of a Cadillac Deville :D

DSC01002.jpg

Awesome!

I have the same stack.

m9u8fm.jpg

Cheers, mate!

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I've owned two different Micro Stack's over the years, the first one was an original Black cloth (maybe from the early 1990's?). The 2nd one was a few years newer and had a Salt and Pepper cloth. The first one was 12 watt's and it had a line out (I think). The 2nd one was 15 watt's and had a CD in-put, the speaker's where likely the same 10"s.

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  • 1 month later...

I would change anything crappy that ruins the sound,but the player always plays a great role at the resulting sound!!!The guitar/amp setup that the player chooses has some standard sounds/tones,but the fingers will modify them in different ways :D

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I would change anything crappy that ruins the sound,but the player always plays a great role at the resulting sound!!!The guitar/amp setup that the player chooses has some standard sounds/tones,but the fingers will modify them in different ways :D

I hear ya! Every time I take one of my guitar's up to the guitar shop in town the guy there (I've known him for decade's) pick's it up and start's playing like a pro and, "I just strummed!!" <_<

He's a good old boy and has helped me lot's with thing's so I don't let it get me uptight at all.

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  • 2 months later...

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