13963 replies to this topic

[the Wozz]

Ranger, that's a good lookin' guitar! get it set up right, and you'll probably dig it more.

BACK TO THE BASS THREAD FOR MEEEE

[John MFer]

NGD It plays terribly, needs to be cleaned and set up. But it's in great shape otherwise, so I think I'm on the winning end of this trade.



I'm wishing I had brought it to work with me so I could change strings and set action and intonation over my lunch break. Haven't decided what I'll do with it yet, but I'm considering one or more of the following:

1) Route the bridge pickup out to fit a full size JM pickup. I already have a router template so this wouldn't be too difficult. Route for the upper control cavity as well and convert it to a "real" Jazzmaster.

2) Refinish it. Never been a fan of three tone sunburst, and the glue joint lines are unsightly on this body (at least it's evenly split into thirds but it's pretty obvious where the seams are).

3) Give it a good set up, clean it, and leave it alone. Try to do one of those craigslist trading games in which you only trade for items of greater value. I just traded a $200 guitar for a $350 guitar, so why not keep going?

4) Convert it to a baritone. I'm sure I could get good money for the neck that's on it.

Sweet! Short of a tort guard instead of a black one, that's pretty much what my old Jazzmaster looked like in 1999 or so (before it was blue). What did you trade for it again? I like option #4, plus maybe somehow add a coil split feature to the humbucker.

[Ranger-X]

Hah, nice! I wasn't a fan of the look of the HB/JM combo when these came out, but it's growing on me. I traded an Epiphone SG with those Mean 90s that I used brasso and scotch bright pads on to make "brushed nickel" covers. It was a great guitar, but I hardly played it anymore. Anyway if I keep the JM and keep the HB in the bridge, I will probably replace it with a Bluesbucker, so then I'd coil tap for sure. (Edit: Just read about how those Bluesbuckers aren't typical humbuckers like I thought. They only have one "hot" coil so splitting would be pointless. Not sure what I'd do, then.)

[John MFer]

Yeah, Bluesbuckers are great pickups, a lot like a P-92 only much cheaper. They do come with 4 wire for splitting and stuff. I hooked all that up just for grins on the Mira and there was an extremely tiny difference in tone between the split/full sounds. So, if anything it would be a good pickup for that guitar since there aren't any split electronics in it at this point, and the single coil character suits the Jazzmaster nicely.

[Wyatt Riot]

I finished the upgrades on my main SG: brown/red celluloid tortoiseshell pickguard with cream spots that match the body paint exactly (I hadn't planned it that way but it's a nice bonus), Bare Knuckle Warpig (Alnico V) pickups, GraphTech ResoMax bridge, CTS 550k audio taper pots and Jensen PIO capacitors (0.022μfd bridge and 0.015μfd neck), and (of course) copper tape shielding in the cavity. I've been applying lemon oil to the fretboard quite liberally, and it's darkened to a nice near-ebony.

I went with reverse wiring, so the bridge volume and tone are on top and the neck on the bottom, and likewise rotated the rhythm/treble ring so that it's "upside down" along with the volume/tone knobs. It's a night and day difference: the highs are higher, the lows are (much) lower, but there's a lot more clarity as well, so when rolling off the tone or adding more gain it doesn't turn to mud.

And the obligatory photo (click to embiggen):

[VikingGuitar]

Soooooo my 7 string has to be replaced. Ibanez fucked up during the assembly and put the bridge about half an inch forward of where it should go. The bridge eclipses the string holes so much that I could barely pull the old ones out to restring. Also, I cannot get it intoned for the life of me. Even moving the saddles all the way back, there's still almost a half a fret difference between open and 24th fret. Luckily, the retailer is replacing it for me. Anyone else ever heard of this? It's a first for me. Kind of surprising for Ibanez. I'd always held them as the pinnacle of quality.

[Big Jilm]

I've never seen the bridge in the wrong place on an Ibanez. I've seen cheaper "off brand" ones with the problem, though. Don't buy a Kona Les Paul copy.

[LordMachino]

I'm pretty sure every modern Ibanez except for the J-Customs are all CNC'd.

[John MFer]

I just played guitar for about an hour. With a newborn baby, I didn't play for about two weeks straight. Now my fingers hurt.

It was nice to get back to it. I started with some guitar cardio scales which led to riff writing that turned into something nice that I hope I remember later. Everyone is sleeping right now and I don't have a good way to record it set up.

[MichaelTheCrow]

I'm experimenting with drop G tuning on my 7 string Ibanez, trying to get the heaviest sound possible, somewhat satisfied with the rhythm tone and production, though something seems off. Wonder if I should invest in some new pickups, though the ones that come with my prestige model are fairly decent it's not designed for the djenty tones I'm after.

[Wyatt Riot]

This may sound odd, but I'm looking for something to fill the place of a pickup selector switch. Not necessarily another switch, although an interesting switch might do. The short version of the story is that I'm modding a Telecaster Deluxe 72 to have 2 volume, 1 tone, and a Gibson-style 3-way switch in place of the second tone switch. (It's a MIM reissue, by the way, not an original.) That leaves vacant the place where the 3-way switch would normally go. I'm getting a new pickguard made and the hole is optional, so nothing has to go there, but I figured I'd throw in some ornamentation or something. I'm currently thinking about gluing in a "lucky" coin I've got, but that's just an idea at this point. I also thought that a non-functioning light switch would be humorous, but I'm thinking that would be far too large. And it would get in the way, since I tend to knock the switch around while playing (which is the main reason that I'm doing this mod in the first place). Anyways, ideas? Or just think this is a stupid idea?

[Big Jilm]

This may sound odd, but I'm looking for something to fill the place of a pickup selector switch. Not necessarily another switch, although an interesting switch might do. The short version of the story is that I'm modding a Telecaster Deluxe 72 to have 2 volume, 1 tone, and a Gibson-style 3-way switch in place of the second tone switch. (It's a MIM reissue, by the way, not an original.) That leaves vacant the place where the 3-way switch would normally go. I'm getting a new pickguard made and the hole is optional, so nothing has to go there, but I figured I'd throw in some ornamentation or something. I'm currently thinking about gluing in a "lucky" coin I've got, but that's just an idea at this point. I also thought that a non-functioning light switch would be humorous, but I'm thinking that would be far too large. And it would get in the way, since I tend to knock the switch around while playing (which is the main reason that I'm doing this mod in the first place). Anyways, ideas? Or just think this is a stupid idea?

Are you getting the pickguard made locally or are you paying way too much for a Warmoth or Pickguard Heaven? I can do a pickguard for $5 to $10 less than those places. Mine look better, too. As far as things to stuff in a hole, I'd leave it blank but if you really like the idea of something you could put a Fender style amp pilot light jewel. You could even rig it up with a battery to come on when you plug in the guitar.

[Wyatt Riot]

Are you getting the pickguard made locally or are you paying way too much for a Warmoth or Pickguard Heaven? I can do a pickguard for $5 to $10 less than those places. Mine look better, too. As far as things to stuff in a hole, I'd leave it blank but if you really like the idea of something you could put a Fender style amp pilot light jewel. You could even rig it up with a battery to come on when you plug in the guitar.

I went with Terrapin Guitars for my SG pickguard because the screw holes lined up perfectly and they do custom jobs right in the order form. They also have quality celluloid and vinyl tortoise shell material, whereas some of the other places use the cheap printed stuff. A friend of mine actually works at a full-service printer/engraver/embosser/etc. and he can do pickguards, but the stuff they use is printed. I'm looking at tortoise shell again (this time red vinyl instead of brown/red celluloid) and standard humbuckers instead of Fender Wide Range, so I was planning on sticking with Terrapin. But if you could beat them in price and quality, I'd rather give you my money.

The light jewel is along the lines of what I was thinking. I'd considered something that lights up, but that seems like a whole lot of work and I don't want to be taking off the pickguard every time I need to change a battery!

[Zio Oxview]

Put more jewels on it so that you'll have to take thwe guard off less. Dummy.

For your batterys.

[Big Jilm]

Are you getting the pickguard made locally or are you paying way too much for a Warmoth or Pickguard Heaven? I can do a pickguard for $5 to $10 less than those places. Mine look better, too. As far as things to stuff in a hole, I'd leave it blank but if you really like the idea of something you could put a Fender style amp pilot light jewel. You could even rig it up with a battery to come on when you plug in the guitar.

I went with Terrapin Guitars for my SG pickguard because the screw holes lined up perfectly and they do custom jobs right in the order form. They also have quality celluloid and vinyl tortoise shell material, whereas some of the other places use the cheap printed stuff. A friend of mine actually works at a full-service printer/engraver/embosser/etc. and he can do pickguards, but the stuff they use is printed. I'm looking at tortoise shell again (this time red vinyl instead of brown/red celluloid) and standard humbuckers instead of Fender Wide Range, so I was planning on sticking with Terrapin. But if you could beat them in price and quality, I'd rather give you my money.

The light jewel is along the lines of what I was thinking. I'd considered something that lights up, but that seems like a whole lot of work and I don't want to be taking off the pickguard every time I need to change a battery!

You could probably get a year out of a 9V battery just running an LED.
I have that same printed red and brown vinyl tortoise material that Terrapin has. I can ship to you for $56 (just under Terrapin's base price).