| If you're going the major overhaul route, and you say the guitar
is worth a great deal to you, then chances are you'll have to swing for
a lot more than just p-ups, bridge, pots, and swithes. Lets just say,
you should swing for a lot more....sounds to me like you want to invest
some bucks in making your guitar play and sound right.
1. you probably need a g&p or fret job.
2. you might need new machines.
3. pickups......is the guitar a hollow body, semi hollow body, or solid
body? Go to a few stores, check out various types of guitars with
various pickup [configurations, styles, etc...] Try to match them to
the best of your ability to your own guitar. Keep in mind some of the
pickups you choose could be too powerful for your guitar. In your
case, after you mentioning that your guitar was mega-low profile,
maybe all you need are a couple of good el-cheapo pickups.
4. bridge....again match your guitar to something you feel is similar
and choose a bridge accordingly.
5. re-wire......keep it simple, you probably want to do a little
research on capacitors and you should change the output jack.
6. clean that baby up, plug it in, and presto.....a big difference
[hopefully]....but keep in mind you just took away the guitars
originality.
It may be cheaper, easier to buy a new guitar to your liking. And then
again, this project could be a lot of fun. But I sincerely suggest
that if your buying pickups, a bridge, and re-wiring a guitar.....
seriously consider a fret job and new tuning machines!
Let me know what you do.....
Rick
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| Thanks, Rick. I like your comment about el cheapo pickups, cheapskate
that I am! Can you recommend any particular brand?
BTW, the frets are OK, but maybe will need attention later. One thing I
won't be changing is the machines (they are Schallers), as this guitar
can take serious abuse without going out of tune.
It's a solid body guitar, fairly small - not dissimilar in shape to the
solid-bodied Rickenbaker i.e. It has a longish, funny-shaped top horn.
At the moment, it plays right, but doesn't sound right (it's a bit thin
and lacking definition) which is why I want to go down the new pickups
route. The new bridge is a secondary consideration, as it does the job
but just doesn't look too nice.
Cheers,
Bob
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| You're Welcome......Yeah, I'm a skate too!
Frets are ok on a 20 year old geetar? You must be a light player.
I usually gorilla my guitars thats why I ask.
Schallers---now you're talking.
Weird headstock----now you're talking----like a Goya Rangemaster?
Solid Body similar to Rickenbacker......sound like a Paul Barth body
style. Similar to Magnatone, similar to Mosrite.....sounds cool!
Bigsby?
What's wrong with the bridge? Is it just ugmo! If it works well
maybe you should leave it. Otherwise get something with rollers.
Nut.....Bone? If plastic---change to bone, brass and all of that other
happy stuff is negative.
Pickups.......cheap....yeah try Maxon pickups....made in the 60s in
Japan....I know where to get brand new [never been used ones] that
belonged to the famous Microfrets guitar company. They sound good to
me, and they're humbuckers. My friend has them so I don't know just
how much they are but I'm sure they are inexpensive.
Let me know what you do.
thanks,
Rick
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| Frets are OK because basically I play acoustic and bass. my current
band is the first I have played electric guitar in, so overall I
haven't used the guitar a lot. Although it's about 20 years old, I've
only had it about 10, and although the frets are slightly worn they
seem to be no worse than when I got it; they're OK now, but will need
doing in about another 10 years, probably. It's the top horn of the
body that is long like a Rick (it looks more unbalanced than a Mosrite,
though), the headstock is dead square like a Martin acoustic,
three-on-a-side.
The bridge is one of those that consists of one saddle per pair of
strings, with a screw for adjusting intonation passing through the
roller, and a smaller screw for adjusting string height. The main
reason I'd like to change the bridge is that the rollers have a thread.
The strings have to rest in the trough of the thread, which means the
string spacing is very slightly out. I'm not too worried about the nut
(which is plastic) as this guitar comes complete with zero-fret at no
extra cost.
Thanks for the recommendation on pickups.
cheers,
Bob
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