The Great Ongoing Guitar Thread

Cafe Society
4164

Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and other music manufacturers are sponsoring a 3 year no interest program until Sept 8. Sam Ash, Sweetwater and many other retailers are promoting it. There’s a long long list of manufacturers here. Anything on the list is eligible for this 3 year deal.

$699 is the minimum sale. It’s a good chance to get an instrument or gear at a no interest deal. Sweetwater lists the payment. Like this $800 Egnater Rebel-30 MKII 30-Watt Tube Head is 22 bucks a month.

I decided to get a bucket list guitar. One that I thought might require saving for a couple years to purchase. I seriously considered a Fender American Standard Tele. But after looking at it and comparing to my PRS S2 Mira there just wasn’t that big of a difference. I wanted to play something that would have a totally different feel and sound. That’s the whole point of owning a different instrument.

So, I looked at Gibson. First the ES-339 Memphis semi-hollow with 2 humbuckers. Then the ES-390 Memphis hollow body with P-90’s. Both have the smaller body more similar to a standard electric like a Fender or PRS. I’d heard so many great things about the MHS P-90 single coils. The hollow body only weights 5 lbs 7 oz. A big plus for my back issues. The semi-hollow was 7 lbs 6 oz and a few hundred bucks cheaper.

Finally went for the ES-390. 3 years of payments but I’ll set them up to auto-pay. I figured the price might go up if I waited 2 years to save the money. Why not grab it now since there’s no interest. This gives me two electrics and three acoustics. That’s it for me. There won’t be anymore more instruments.

I’ll post pictures Sunday or Monday after I get it unpacked.

4165

I can’t wait get this guitar unpacked and start playing. :smiley: I’ve seen so many guys playing Gibsons. Bobby Bare is playing one here. I think that’s a full size ES? Anyone know how to recognize the model?


I didn’t want a Electric the same size as my acoustics. LOL that’s a bit extreme for me. I’m glad Gibson offers the ES in a smaller body.

4166

My parents gave my girlfriend an acoustic guitar for her birthday, but the tuning mechanism is broken. Specifically, one tooth on the gear on the mechanism for the G is too short, and doesn’t mesh with the worm once it gets to a certain amount of tension, and as a result it can’t get any higher than a pitch well below what the G is supposed to sound like.

Would it be possible for one of us to simply replace the gear? Are replacements available? Are we likely to render the thing unplayable (or more unplayable than it is now)? Would this be an expensive fix if she takes it somewhere?

4167

If the tuner is open-geared: is it individual or part of a 3-on-a-side single plate? What make is the guitar? Is the tuner branded in any way?

Bottom line is that you should be able to do it yourself or get it done pretty easily and cheaply, unless there is something non-standard about the guitar or the tuner.

You should just be able to take it to a local shop and they could help you ID what replacement to get. Or you can just go to Stewart MacDonald online: http://www.stewmac.com/?gclid=CK7Z1taxvccCFdSQHwodf80Gsg

You just need to be sure you are getting the right replacement, which is why I would recommend taking it to a shop.

Good luck!

4168

Replacement parts are available out there, but finding the exact one for your tuner might take some looking. If you can find the parts, and have some mechanical aptitude, it’s usually not very hard.

My advice would be to find a local repair shop. Most of the ones I’ve been to have an organizer that’s filled with old spare parts stripped off of guitars. In my experience, the most they’ll charge you for parts from this bin is a buck or so, and it’s usually free. If you’re having them do it, I can’t see it costing much more than $10-$20. If you have them re-string it and set it up, that’s usually another $75 or so.
aceplace57, that’s a pretty baby. I love the nickel p/u covers and hardware. I hear ya about the big-bodied electrics. I’m a little guy, and even an ES-335 is a lot of box for me to get my arms around. I don’t think the bigger box contributes much to the sound of an electric, even if hollow guitars usually have a distinctly different sound from semi hollows and solids. I’d like to hear that 390 through a Dual Showman. I bet it screams and thumps.

I’m not a model expert, but it looks like Bobby Bare is playing an ES-150.
I may have found a replacement SG, but it’s been modified a lot, and being sold on the internet. It’s got about $700 worth of modifications, and I think I don’t have any “ewwww” problems with any of them. But it’s got Thorn GT-90 staple top pickups, which I don’t have any experience with. They’re not the same design as a P-90, but they’re still a single coil with a large magnet. I’m pretty sure I could sell them, get some nice replacement P-90s and make a profit, but I’m also lazy. Anyone have an opinion on the GT-90s?

4169

I got started this weekend building a case for my guitars. I keep my guitars in their cases except for one cheap one that I leave out for daily use.

Found this example onlineand copied it.

Super easy and cheap to make. I bought a sheet of cabinet grade Oak at Home Depot for $50. They have a panel saw that makes really accurate cuts. It only requires 4 cuts.

  1. cut sheet in half
  2. measure 16 inches off each factory edge cut twice
    that will give you three 16 inch wide panels for the sides and shelf
  3. I had one extra 16 inch panel cut off the other half

giving 4 panels and a 32 inch x 4 ft back. The Home Depot guy let me do my own measuring and mark. His panel saw did a great job.

I also bought 4 strips of 3/4 inch cabinet edge molding to cover the plywood edges.
Total cost for everything (wood, molding, screws, stain, Urethane, sandpaper) was about $115

Mine will be very much like the photo except I added a storage area at the bottom. I did that by just adding a shelf 12 inches from the bottom. I have some plastic boxes filled with strings, cables, and other small gear to store there.

I learned to finish cabinets from a carpenter 20 years ago. Use Sherwin William Oil wiping stain, sanding sealer, and Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane. The trick is to sand with 80 grit and 100 grit then stain. Apply sanding sealer. Lightly sand with fine 150 grit. Then apply the Urethane

I got started sanding after I brought home the wood this morning. Hope to get it stained next weekend. Maybe assembled by the end of the month.

4170

Ditto on a smaller body on the Gibson. I could never take to a 335.

As for the staple top pickups, I had an original Alnico V staple top in my old Les Paul. Looking up the Thorn, they aren’t quite the same; they appear to be a beefed up P-90 with different pole pieces vs. an actual staple top. I loved that pickup in the neck position - clean it had a liquid-clear bell tone; in the middle position I have never played Stones Open G stuff and felt better.

If the GT90’s are a good example of P-90’s, then what’s not to love? As I have discussed many times on this board, sorry if we have had this exchange: you like twiddling your on-board knobs? If you don’t twiddle your knobs with them, you miss everything. On the bridge, for a rock rhythm, put the V at ~8 or 9 and the T trying rolling down to as low as 4 or 5. Thick-but-not humbucker. Or Clapton’s Woman tone with the tone rolled off (the Alnico actually sounded best at about 1). I play them with the V at 10 maybe 5% of the time for screaming leads and other chaotic mayhem.

Also - some P-90’s squeal. I read online about stuffing a piece of foam rubber - I got a hunk from a fabric/furniture store and cut a piece about the size of a Matchbox box and dropped it into the cavity before mounting the pickup through the foam. Worked like a charm.

4171

Thanks for the advice on the staple tops. The Thorns really look to be neither P-90s or staple tops, but a creation of their own (the pole pieces are the magnets, for example). Since they’re neither fish nor fowl, and the guitar has things that I’m pretty sure I’d want to change out besides the pickups (such as a compensated nut), I’m going to keep shopping. There are cheaper SGs out there with the stock pickups, which is what I actually want.

I’ve got 2 genuine P-90’s, and one imitation. I love them. I don’t usually twiddle knobs on guitars while I’m playing them, but the guitars that share a P-90 with another pickup do get twiddled at the start of playing. One is the Goya with the weird tone circuit. Since both of the tone knobs only work on the P-90, and it sounds muddy with them both on 10, I usually adjust them until it sounds “right”. The Tele copy usually gets a little tone roll off. The SG jr. seems to always sound best with both on 10. It’s a dirt bike that just wants to scream along. I think we’ve talked tone before, and I think I like more hydrazine in my tone than you usually do. I’ve never owned an all P-90, two pickup guitar; so I’m not sure what I’d do with the knobs.

4172

Cool; all sounds good. Keep us posted.

4173

You asked for it, you got it. Toyota.
I bought an SG on the internet, it was absolutely the right price: five bills, free shipping, with case.

It began life (I think) as a faded cherry red 2014 SGJ. #68039 off the line that year, but it’s been modified. Since the body is routed for humbuckers, it doesn’t actually have P-90’s. It has P-94’s (Gibson’s version of a P-90 that fits in a humbucker rout). The previous owner also added a pick guard, replaced the circuit board with point-to point wiring, then apparently played the hell out of it for a year or so. The upper curve of the lower bout is heavily polished, and dented up from a watch or heavy bracelet. The neck is already pink with spots of bare maple from wear.

It has an SG-ish neck, but it’s a teensy bit thick compared to what I’d expected. I’d describe it as a thin Les Paul neck. On my first day with the guitar, I thought I was probably going to trade it away – or keep the pickups, buy any SG with a neck closer to a 60’s slim taper, and swap them out. But after a day or so of playing this guitar, I wonder if Gibson didn’t save me from myself. That neck is great, it may become my favorite. It seems more comfortable for me to play for a long time than the Goya, which basically has a 60’s slim taper profile.

The P-94’s are BRIGHT. Not harsh at all, but with more sizzle than the 2 actual P-90’s that I have. Through distortion and with the tone knobs on 10, it sounds like an 80’s shredder guitar . If you flip it to the bridge pickup and turn the tone down to 8, it’s a dead-on imitation of my wife’s SG Jr. with the tone on 10. The neck pickup has less bass than the P-90 that I have in the Goya. I don’t know if that’s because the pickup in that guitar is about an inch further from the bridge, or if it’s due to the tone controls of the Goya. Any advice on getting more boom out of that pickup would be appreciated.

The only bad thing about it is: the previous owner apparently bought cologne by the 50 gallon drum, and bathed themselves in it daily. The guitar smells like a whorehouse, and the case is just as bad. It’s already faded noticeably – but whew, it was stanky the first day. Any advice on getting rid of that smell without stripping the finish would be super duper appreciated. As it is, I have to change my shirt after playing the guitar.

For the “pics or it didn’t happen” crowd: here’s a shot of it next to it’s ancestor, and a shot of the FrankenGoya.

4174

Looks like fun! For more bass, have you tried putting the pickup a bit closer to the strings? And if the pickups are super bright, have you tried rolling off the tone to 4 or so to see if the lows are there, but covered up by the bright highs?

4175

That’s a sweet guitar. I’ve played a couple of SG’s and loved the way they felt. Alas, after all those years of playing the blues on Strats, muscle memory has taken over, and my bends on a Gibson are AFU. I guess it’s something that could be overcome with patience, but I’ve only got so much time.

Remember that archtop that Ibanez built for Joe Pass? Nobody liked it - it was just too bright, the result of placing the pickup about an inch and a half further toward the bridge than on his 175. So yeah, an inch probably would make a difference you could hear, but whether that accounts for all the difference you’re hearing is anybody’s guess.

Definitely try The Wordman’s idea (a good rule of thumb generally), and if you want to get carried away, you could even raise just the bass side and leave the treble side down.

Another thing you could do is to replace the volume pot with something half as heavy. If you’ve presently got a 500K in there, a 250 should let more deeps out.

Do you use naphtha to clean your axes? Dan Erlewine does, so I do. And if that doesn’t get you there, you could try an open box of baking soda inside the case with the SG, maybe. Though you seem to appreciate that it’ll gas out on it’s own, eventually.

That’s all I got, Scab. Incidentally, fine work by you in the GARBOAT thread. :slight_smile:

4176

Get asolid air freshener like this. Pick whatever scent you like. The odor killer seems to leave the least amount of lingering scent. Vanilla might be another good choice.

open air freshener about an inch. place in guitar case. latch. come back in a couple days. Worked for me when I bought a guitar from a former smoker. I swear he must have kept a pack of cigarettes in his guitar case.

you’ll have to leave your guitar on a stand for a couple days. maybe that will help air it out too?

4177

Agreed. I stepped back when I realized where it was going.

4178

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. There’s no room to raise the pickup. That was my first thought upon playing it. When I got the screwdriver out, I was able to get about a 1/4 turn in before there was no room.

Turning down the tone knob didn’t bring any more boom. In fact, when I tested it this morning, I noticed, “the tone knob! It does nothing!”. I popped the control cover off, and the loose wire was easy to spot and fix. Now, even with the tone knob up, it sounds a lot closer to what I expected. It grinds and booms in the right way now, and turning down the knob gets it close to the Goya. Due to pickup placement and the odd tone controls on the Goya, (that P-90 is kind of wired to two 500K tone pots), I can’t expect them to sound exactly the same.

So, now it only has the odor. I figured just about any solvent would strip a lacquer finish, but after checking around, EtF is right. It seems that naptha is safe. I’ll hit it this afternoon.

I originally thought that covering that scent with another would be crazy, since I don’t like the smell of perfumes. But now that the cologne is giving way to a body odor smell, I’m thinking it less crazy. A guitar that smelled like vanilla wouldn’t be that bad, by comparison. If the naptha doesn’t get rid of all the smells, I’ll move onto that tactic. The case will certainly get the Odor Killer if it doesn’t air out in a couple of days.

Thanks, folks. Several times in that exchange, I wondered, “I am just being the guy on the internet who can’t let something go?” And maybe I was, but it’s nice to know I’m not universally despised for it.

4179

Bought a used acoustic Yamaha FG-160 at a garage sale today for $75 - from what I can see online it looks like a I got a pretty good deal. It’s in pretty good condition, to my untrained eyes (a couple of minor blemishes on the top left side of the body), and sounds very good to me. Any things I should be thinking about in terms of keeping an older acoustic (serial number indicates in was made in 1974) in good shape?

4180

Howdy folks!

I’m about to take my BC Rich Warbeast Trace in for some work (switching from 10/52s to 13/56s) and I want to replace the tuning pegs to something beefier and with a better precision build (less slop, in other words). Any suggestions or recommendations?

If it matters, this guitar’s tuning is CFBbEbGC.

4181

Stormcrow - congrats! Guitars like to be treated like humans: similar temperatures and humidity levels. If it has survived this long, just keep going more of that. Otherwise, investing in a set-up by a guitar tech is always a smart move with a new-to-you guitar. Check the neck relief, action, intonation, etc., along with functionality of tuners/ability to stay in tune. Often $50 - $75 - a worthwhile investment given the deal you got!

Bo - no clue. First thought is pretty basic: I would say any high-ratio, sealed-gear brand with a good rep, e.g., Schaller, Gotoh, Grover, etc. I don’t play such low, heavy gauges. Not sure if they put different demands on tuners.

4182

Gotoh 510s are the best available. Kind of spendy, though. I have a set on one of my guitars and they’re easily the best tuners I’ve ever used, but really they’re overkill. Any decent set will do.

4183

Thanks, guys! At least now I have a place to start my research before I go in to talk to the luthier.

I also new volume pot if anyone wants to chime in on that.