Have a guitar? Why not show us!Music

[F1 fan]

My les paul is getting a bit of a makeover soon. The bridge is completely tarnished due to a combination of years of gigging and my highly acidic skin. I looked at all the replacement options and ended up going with the callaham abr-1 with Nashville conversion studs. I'm finally going to install the pick guard as I do believe les Pauls look better with, but haven't been able to bring myself to drill the two holes into my guitar. Going to buy some 500k pots and a couple of nice capacitors (still undecided as to which capacitors i should go for). The frets are going to be redressed and a bone but will be installed. I'm also thinking of going with a custom wound set of PAF replicas. In addition to the above, I'll replace the pickup rings with a more vintage accurate set and I'll install volume and tone knob pointers.

All in all, a bit of a makeover. The only essential work is replacing the bridge and nut and redressing the frets, but I know I'll be happy with all the small changes too. I have a friend who is a luthier and he also makes some fantastic pickups, so I'm looking forward to experimenting with those. I'll post a few before and after pics. In the next month or so.

 

[chevyisthebest]

this is my epiphone limited edition I think its pretty nice.u tell me wat u think of it!

 

[Slash]

God I want a Lado Earth 2004 with the Silver Light Blue sunburst SO BAD


The one I want is the 2nd and 3rd image.

http://jklado.com/guitars/earth-line/2004-bl-t

 

[Slash]

Interesting story here and need help making a decision.


So years ago in about 2006-2007 I bought a First Act AL222 as something to toy around on with my main guitar was getting retro-fitted with EMG pickups that I got free of charge from a friend. Now before you even continue readin, yes I know First Act makes el-cheapo guitars. That's not the point I'm getting at here. I paid around $100 for it when it was new. Kept it in real nice shape, keeping up on general maintenance and whatnot. Ended up selling it for much needed money. It changed hands a few times and now it's made it's way back to me, in a lot worse shape than I left it. I ended up getting it back for free.

For those who don't know, it's nothing special. Comes with dual standard humbuckers, volume and tone knobs, 3 way pickup selector switch and die-cast tuning knobs that suprisingly enough turn very smoothly. It's gone up in price, I've seen this model go from $150-$350 now.

First off. Someone stripped it of all the electronics. No idea where they are. Not a clue. I did managed to get bac one chrome piece that went around one of the pickups and the volume knob. The tuning knobs are still intact, and the fixed bridge is still there and in great shape, both are. Heres the problem with it. The wood is very very strong and sturdy, but someone tried to paint it red with spray paint and never sanded off the old finish, and then never finished painting it red. And they did a half-assed job trying to, at least start mimicing Eddie Van Halens strat. Theres a few small dents in the neck and body, nothing a little sanding would't take care of. Heres the kicker. Instead of taking the tuning knobs off to at least attempt to paint the headstock, the colored over the white paint in sharpie marker!!!! lollolol I didn't even get the pickguard back either XD. The nice thing is, a good sanding wouldn't have a problem cleaning this thing up. New electronics, at least for what I want, aren't real expensive and more than likely I can get the body work done for very cheap at the schools body shop. One of the things I was tossing around was ether doing quad single coil pickups or 2 single coils up front then a humbucker in the back. Not sure though. Just to be diffrerent I suppose.

Besides the cheap paint job and the missing hardware that is obviously replaceable, and the bad paint job that can get fixed, it's in very solid shape. Very durable. It's definitely taken a beating and I'm really surprised that theres hardly any dents on it. My question is, is it worth putting say $50 in it or soand customizing it, even though it was technically a "First Act" guitar that I bought really cheap way back when? Paint isn't expensive at my school and I was thinking either a polyurethane finish or clear coat with a solid black paint job until I can afford a new guitar again. I mean without the electronics it's just a name right?

 

[Slash]

Talked to the person today, said more than likely I can get it repainted and sealed for free!!! That means I'll probably get some sweet custom airbrushing done on it. At most now that's going into it is $50.

EDIT:

Confirmed on the paint, jsut go to wait for them to get some room.


What do you guys reccommend for electronics, it needs pretty much everything. Volume, tone, pickups etc unless I can find out what happened to the orginal P-90 and other one that was on it. I need to keep this very cheap but still decently sounding.

 

[Omnis]

There she is. Lefty FM Blue Agile AL-2000 B-stock. Best <$200 guitar I've ever seen.

That little ding on the left there is what knocked almost $100 off the price. Made it almost half price. Ridiculous.

I'm happy with it and I haven't even played it yet. Would buy another just to decorate my house.

 

[SpeedyishOlly]

Here's mine, not my pic but exactly the same guitar, schecter hellraiser c1 special

 

[F1 fan]

My les paul is getting a bit of a makeover soon. The bridge is completely tarnished due to a combination of years of gigging and my highly acidic skin. I looked at all the replacement options and ended up going with the callaham abr-1 with Nashville conversion studs. I'm finally going to install the pick guard as I do believe les Pauls look better with, but haven't been able to bring myself to drill the two holes into my guitar. Going to buy some 500k pots and a couple of nice capacitors (still undecided as to which capacitors i should go for). The frets are going to be redressed and a bone but will be installed. I'm also thinking of going with a custom wound set of PAF replicas. In addition to the above, I'll replace the pickup rings with a more vintage accurate set and I'll install volume and tone knob pointers.

All in all, a bit of a makeover. The only essential work is replacing the bridge and nut and redressing the frets, but I know I'll be happy with all the small changes too. I have a friend who is a luthier and he also makes some fantastic pickups, so I'm looking forward to experimenting with those. I'll post a few before and after pics. In the next month or so.

So a bit of an update. The wiring has been done and the new bridge has been installed. The frets require a polish and then it will be setup. It should be finished in the next few days. In the mean time, here is a picture my friend sent me a few days ago.

I wish I could take pictures like that.

Here is the bridge that came off the guitar. It's a very heavily tarnished nashville bridge. It has been replaced with a Callaham ABR-1. Looking forward seeing it finished.

 

[Slash]

Looking good dude!

 

[Bigbazz]

Didn't know where to post this so gonna post it here. Not exactly promoting this song (yet) but I like to see what people think on a small scale!

This is a self recorded demo of one of the songs on my bands up-coming album. Guitar wise it's a Strat into a Cornford Hellcat!

https://soundcloud.com/bluelightride/blue-light-ride-define-freedom


Let me know what you think!

 

[Omnis]

Hey F1 Fan, why not use a roller bridge?

Also, great job on the song there, Bigbazz.

 

[F1 fan]

Hey F1 Fan, why not use a roller bridge?

I thought about it when considering replacements for the green meanie (as I like to call it). I considered everything from a direct replacement Nashville Tom to the callaham ABR-1. The callaham is generally thought of as one of, if not the best abr-1 on the market. They even offer conversion bridge posts as a Nashville Tom and an abr-1 require different posts.

Another reason is the vintage correct look. An abr-1 just looks cooler IMO. Lastly, a friend of mine who builds truly excellent guitars considers them to be the best on the market. They aren't cheap (as a matter of fact, my first two guitars were cheaper than the bridge), but my guitar needed a new bridge and I decided the extra cash was worth it. We'll know for sure when I go to pick the guitar up in a few days.

 

[Omnis]

So I'm at the Mack house listening to this guy rip it on an electric resonator guitar. DO WANT.

 

[Slash]

I've heard those before. They sound fantastic, especially in person.

 

[F1 fan]

Well I got my guitar back a few days ago. All I can say is "wow". It's been my number one guitar for almost 9 years but had become a little neglected. The frets were desperately in need of dressing, the bridge had tarnished heavily and it was in need of a good setup. That's where my friend came in. His name is Barnaby and he's been gaining quite a following in the guitar and hand tools community. Among those following his work are Roman Rist and Freddy Gabrsek, two of the biggest names in the electric guitar building world. As you can imagine, his work is nothing less than spectacular.

In addition to redressing the frets and installing the new bridge, the wiring has been completely redone. We used two custom cts A500k pots for the volume controls and two bourns A500k push/pull pots for the tone controls. The crappy ceramic caps were replaced with .22 Vitamin paper in oil caps. 50's style wiring too. The pickups were re-wired for four conductor wiring and the push/pulls function as a coil tap. The control cavity was re carved to accomodate regular shaft pots and reshielded. In addition to the above, there were a few small cosmetic changes. The pickguard and the volume and tone knob pointers were installed. I would have done the last two myself but I don't have any tools.

The end result is incredible. I have owned a number of Les Pauls over the years but I've always kept the bridge and wiring stock. Having heard the difference myself, I will make the same changes to any Les Pauls I own in the future. The guitar sustains longer, is louder acoustically and the volume and tone controls are much more versatile than before. I'm truly astounded.

Here are a few pictures. Sorry for the crappy iCult phone images. I don't own a camera.

 

[Slash]

That is gorgeous. Beautiful work.

 

[Slash]

$100 saved up so far for a new guitar. Going to keep going until I can afford something really nice. Then it will be time to start saving for a new amp and better all around equipment. Can anyone point me to a Lado Earth styled Explorer? The closest thing I could find was the LTD EX-50. As long as it's not over the top expensive, I'd like too keep it under $300.


EDIT:


Budget up around $450. Any suggestions?

 

[Solo]

Well having gotten rather bored at this time in the evening I decide to do a bit of digging into the history of my guitar, A 20th Anniversary Squire Jagmaster. Unfortunately I found it is one of the Chinese 2002 standard series reissue with the 25.5 inch 21 fret maple neck and alder wood body as I had expected it to be. Although it is at least in an original and slightly rarer colour scheme being candy apple red with a black scratch plate.

Still love it and one of the nicest guitars I've played on to date despite not being the most expensive, and others have said that too.

 

[gorsad]

$100 saved up so far for a new guitar. Going to keep going until I can afford something really nice. Then it will be time to start saving for a new amp and better all around equipment. Can anyone point me to a Lado Earth styled Explorer? The closest thing I could find was the LTD EX-50. As long as it's not over the top expensive, I'd like too keep it under $300.


EDIT:


Budget up around $450. Any suggestions?

Well, a ESP LTD EX-360 is $599 new, you might be able to find one of those used. It looks like a really nice guitar and seems to be liked by the general public. The only other Explorer shaped guitars I can think of in that price range is the Dean ZERO Dave Mustaine Angel of Death ($499 new) and the Epiphone Goth 1958 Explorer ($399 new). Though I've probably missed on a few other good guitars.

 

[Marbles]

I got this one about a month ago for 310$: A vintage 1987 Japanese Squire Stratocaster! sorry for the quality:

The strings are backwards because I am a lefty.

It sounds absolutely amazing! With the 10-gauge Dean-Markely Yngwie Malmsteen strings that i put on it, it feels and sounds like a dream ! I got it for a good price, too: most of the ones online go for 410! The only problems with an inverted strat is that the tone knob and other controls tend to get in the way of my arm, making the tone knob roll to zero, due to my arm rubbing against it and pushing it back. Plus, not only do i need to install another nut for the strap, but a part of the body sort of gets in the way of the 21st, 20th, and 19th frets, which makes me have to put my hand in an awkward position in order to reach them. Besides that, it plays great, and I absolutely love it !

 

[Omnis]

Isn't your intonation all wonky with it set up like that? That's how my acoustic is.

 

[Marbles]

Ya, the mechanics at the shop had to make a lot of adjustments to the Strat before I bought it, to accommodate the switching of the strings. Took them hours . It was worth it in the end, though

 

[Mic_Col]

My sympathy goes out to you, it's got to be difficult being a left handed guy playing guitar. I've been into stores and you see very little range of guitars built for left handed players.

And then you've got the option to do what you're doing playing a righty with strings switched over, then your arm is pressing/moving the knobs.

 

[Marbles]

You're perfectly right about the lack of lefty gear. Don't even get me started on vintage gear! While it's pretty difficult to find normal vintage gear, lefty vintage gear is next to impossible to find! even lefty guitars from the 90's are a pain to find .

Plus, inverting a guitar isn't as simple as it sounds. You can't just switch the strings, fix the intonation on any guitar, deal with the knobs being in the way and call it a day. There is only a really small number of guitars that won't sit on your lap uncomfortably or look downright stupid upside down, mainly the more boringly-styled ones, like the Strat and Les Paul. This completely shot down my chances of getting a Jackson Kelly; the guitar I would stare at for hours on end ever since I was little, simply because of the wicked body shape. I don't even have to try out the guitar to know that it will feel like a knife stuck in my leg :hurt:. I got screwed over by The Dave Mustaine Signature VMNT Series too: the only one available for lefties is the the most expensive one in the lineup, costing more than 1000$ ! In a nutshell, although it has it's benefits, I HATE BEING A LEFTY

 

[Saf1]

Bought my Squier used for £50 ($76) some years ago, strangely it doesn't have any serial number or ANYTHING written on it apart from Squier. Guy selling it seemed trustworthy (and the condition was great), have any of you had experience with this?

 

[ItsAllAboutWins]

Just seen this thread, although I don't have pics of my guitars handy, I have a '98 Epiphone Les Paul Plus cherry burst, a 2012 Morgan Monroe MV-45 acoustic and a Hondo something or other from 1996. All 3 are left handed and the Hondo is the only one that doesn't get played. Not because it sounds bad, but because it was my first guitar I had, that my mother bought me when I was 16 and she passed away in 05. The Morgan Monroe has sentimental value as well, it was the same model my best friend had before he lost his battle with cancer on Jan 3rd of '12.

Finding a left handed guitar is a pain and they are generally more expensive than their right handed brethren. My wife has a 96 or 97 American Strat that she never plays but refuses to let me reverse the strings lol I will try and get some pictures up.

 

[Marbles]

I never really understood why a guitar's lefty counterpart is much more expensive than the original. It would make sense if it was raised by 50$ at the very most, but why does switching the strings around, drilling the knob for the strap on the other side, and making the initial settings a little different raise the price by 200$?

 

[ItsAllAboutWins]

I never really understood why a guitar's lefty counterpart is much more expensive than the original. It would make sense if it was raised by 50$ at the very most, but why does switching the strings around, drilling the knob for the strap on the other side, and making the initial settings a little different raise the price by 200$?

Because some guitars you can't just flip it around like that. They have to order all new parts to make a guitar lefty and it costs them money. Since there aren't as many lefty as righty people ordering guitars they have to up the pride to justify the parts they had to buy to make the lefty.

 

[Slash]

Bought my Squier used for £50 ($76) some years ago, strangely it doesn't have any serial number or ANYTHING written on it apart from Squier. Guy selling it seemed trustworthy (and the condition was great), have any of you had experience with this?

I have a guitar with no serial on it either...and when I got it I had a hunch it hax never been taken apart either.

 

[Tom]

Bought my Squier used for £50 ($76) some years ago, strangely it doesn't have any serial number or ANYTHING written on it apart from Squier. Guy selling it seemed trustworthy (and the condition was great), have any of you had experience with this?

Sounds like a typical Partscaster, made from different parts of Stratocasters.