Just Maintainin'!

So yeah, I'm still maintainin'...

I mentioned working on the SE trem and nut for a bit and I still plan to (need to) do more maintainin' on this guitar.



You can (kinda) see I swapped the stock SE saddles for some Core saddles and while I was at it I miraculously found all the brass saddle screws. The result is I'm diggin' it a little more, but it's also making me realize how much more work I need to do on just the trem to get this guitar outta the case and into my hands more often.

I've talked about how I think the SE trem is a nice sounding unit (especially in my SE Orianthi) but I gotta cut the trem arm down. The arm on these has too much "height" where it bottoms out in the block before it gets to the comfort zone provided by my Mann/MilCom and Core trems.

I debate modifying the trem bushing to accept a Core arm like I did on my Orianthi, but then that's like another $35... I also have the issue of the ball-ends getting stuck in the block, which isn't too big of a deal when changing strings, but I know that's what is contributing to the minor problems of the trem not coming back in tune all of the time. I need to figure out a way to polish or bore out the string holes in the block and make 'em a tiny bit larger. Of course I could just snag one of those MannMade brass blocks.. but that's another $100.

So I'm left with a bit of a conundrum: $35 for a trem arm, $100 for a block, and if I didn't have those saddles around that would've been another $80-100... Sh!t... MannMade trems are sounding like a downright-no-brainer-bargain right about now! However, I will press on just for the fun of it.
 
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sergiodeblanc said:
I think about, I do... but then I look at the price of a NOS MannMade trem and can't help but to think that would be a better investment. :D
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It would be. If I ever get that second neck and the custom necks plates I'm waiting on, you may be able to check it out for yourself.
 
Yeah, so I've been cheating on this SECU24 with everything in the house. I was never the biggest Custom fan and I guess it's a testament to how close to the real thing SE's can be... IDK. Major surgery may be required once the world thaws out around here.
 
sergiodeblanc said:
Yeah, so I've been cheating on this SECU24 with everything in the house. I was never the biggest Custom fan and I guess it's a testament to how close to the real thing SE's can be... IDK. Major surgery may be required once the world thaws out around here.
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Slut!
 
Well I'm still hatin' on the SECU24, so nothings changed there...

But I split a knob on one of my favorite PRS of all time: My SE Orianthi. I must've used a plain ol' SE speed knob on the rotary shaft so it was sitting unplayed for a while. All that changed today when I checked the mail and saw that my new fancy-pants knobs had arrived. I lucked out and got 'em off of eBay for less than $15 used.



It's not a NGD or anything but, hey! Sometimes just maintainin' is exciting enough!
 
sergiodeblanc said:
Well I'm still hatin' on the SECU24, so nothings changed there...

But I split a knob on one of my favorite PRS of all time: My SE Orianthi. I must've used a plain ol' SE speed knob on the rotary shaft so it was sitting unplayed for a while. All that changed today when I checked the mail and saw that my new fancy-pants knobs had arrived. I lucked out and got 'em off of eBay for less than $15 used.



It's not a NGD or anything but, hey! Sometimes just maintainin' is exciting enough!
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Crank it up b!tch' an throw down! It's Modified Monday, plus a Strawberry Moon. Howl 'til hookers show up! Boo-yah for the strap on madness...
 
The Fight said:
I love how brand new knobs and Mby some pickup rings can make that old guitar feel new.
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Me too. It helps keep the GAS at bay at times.

LSchefman said:
I think it's awesome that you actually know how to do all this stuff. Every time I tried to mod one of my guitars in the past, I screwed it up. :(
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Believe me, I've flat out ruined guitars before on my journey to "kinda knowing what I'm doing".

Like my very first guitar, a Kawai Silvertone. I wanted a Les Paul, so I took it apart and tried to build a body for it outta scrap wood from the garage. I was 13 yrs old.:confused:

My first amp wasn't loud enough for band practice... So I took apart my bitchin' Gorilla amp and built a new cabinet for it and added two speakers from my parents Fisher home stereo. I had no clue about wattage or anything and thought that two speakers would be, you know, louder. o_O

Then there was the time in high school where my freshly divorced mother bought me a Charvel Fusion with three single coils (two of 'em ganged together at the bridge) that I wanted based purely on looks. I took it to band practice, decided it needed a humbucker, came home hours later, and started carving it out with a flathead screwdriver. The look of terror on that poor woman face... I successfully completed the mod only to destroy the guitar a couple years later when I tried scalloping the fretboard (freehand) with a dremel and the sanding wheel attachment. :oops:

A couple of months ago I was drunkenly perusing Craigslist and saw an ESP M1 "Custom Build" for sale... My heart sank when I immediately recognized it as one of my old guitars that I had stripped, stained, and modded when I was like, 17 years old. Dude was asking $700 for a guitar I had essentially ruined with all the skill and materials of one of those 1980's A-Team montages.


It's not completely my fault though.. I wasn't raised poor, but I was left alone a lot and my parents didn't buy me everything I wanted. My first bike was my sisters hand-me-down girls bike with a piece of electrical conduit to turn it into a "boys" bike. Summers with my depression-era grandparents were spent alone in the basement with power tools and bandaids, and my mom refinished every piece of furniture and wood flooring in the house herself. Come to think of it, I never once saw a repairman come over to our house growing up either. I suppose it's a learned trait.
 
OMG that story is so crazy but it makes sense. Haha I love the part about the bike!
How many Sergio modded guitars are there? I think I've seen one or two
 
sergiodeblanc said:
Like my very first guitar, a Kawai Silvertone. I wanted a Les Paul, so I took it apart and tried to build a body for it outta scrap wood from the garage. I was 13 yrs old.:confused:

My first amp wasn't loud enough for band practice... So I took apart my bitchin' Gorilla amp and built a new cabinet for it and added two speakers from my parents Fisher home stereo. I had no clue about wattage or anything and thought that two speakers would be, you know, louder. o_O
Click to expand...
My first bass got carved in the hope of being able to play it with a bow. The bow get part worked out, but I could only get the outside strings into the pickups.

I pulled my first amp out of the combo and stuck it in a home made box. I tossed the speakers and the cabinet and made my own speaker box - shown in the ugly thread previously.
 
veinbuster said:
My first bass got carved in the hope of being able to play it with a bow. The bow get part worked out, but I could only get the outside strings into the pickups.

I pulled my first amp out of the combo and stuck it in a home made box. I tossed the speakers and the cabinet and made my own speaker box - shown in the ugly thread previously.
Click to expand...

Were the inside strings too far away from the pickups or something?

I saw the cab. They always seem like good ideas at the time, don't they? :p
 
sergiodeblanc said:
Were the inside strings too far away from the pickups or something?

I saw the cab. They always seem like good ideas at the time, don't they? :p
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Yes. To get the angle to play with a bow the strings ended up too far from the poles of the pickups. Today I might be able to fit in the two piece pickups used on some basses, but I didn't see anything like that until after I trashed the bass.

They are good ideas...just sometimes the skills aren't quite up to it. The projects were always fun. I also built a piano that wasn't a complete failure for the two octaves that I thought might be enough.
 
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