NGD coming next week and a question.

[Josh W.]

I’ve got this 2002 CE22 coming. Got a solid deal.
Whoever had it ditched the factory pickups for a Will Boggs Heaven/Hell set. Does anybody know anything about these? I was looking at either picking up the PRS metal set or going with a Tremonti set and offloading these but I don’t know much about them. From what I’ve gathered the guy did solid work and then scammed people out of money. I’ve seen some that had been up for ~$400 but I have no idea if that’s a legit price or if they’ve even gone up. There don’t seem to be any for sale anywhere.

Looks like I’m gonna need to grab some lamp shade knobs and strap buttons. The previous owner had also put a button in the neck heel and changed out the button on the body. I’m not sure what’s going on with the saddles either. I’ll have to check that out some more when it gets here.

 

[shimmilou]

Great looking guitar, love the purple! Congrats

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Love the colour. Would be interested to know what the pickups sound like when it arrives.

Congratulations!

 

[Tosca]

Cool color. Is that a fade finish or just the lighting? I’ve never seen a fade finish on a CE....great guitars, enjoy!

 

[Josh W.]

Cool color. Is that a fade finish or just the lighting? I’ve never seen a fade finish on a CE....great guitars, enjoy!

I think it’s just purple but I’ll have to wait to see when it arrives.

 

[alantig]

I'd get the guitar and play it for a while before doing a swap. No idea about those pickups, but like any pickups, they may be great for you, or they may be trash for you. But w/no experience w/them, I wouldn't prejudge them.

 

[Tony M.]

What Alan said.

 

[Josh W.]

I'd get the guitar and play it for a while before doing a swap. No idea about those pickups, but like any pickups, they may be great for you, or they may be trash for you. But w/no experience w/them, I wouldn't prejudge them.

Very true. I definitely want to give them a shot before I deal with soldering and all that mess. I’ve definitely read good things.

 

[bodia]

Dig it! Very cool color. If you're going to end up swapping pickups, I give two big thumbs up for the \m/ pickups

 

[dogrocketp]

The color is just beautiful. I would have bought it for that alone. At first glance, those look like the dreaded tone sucking graphtech saddles. I bought a CE 24 6 years ago, and those were the first thing to go. I did give them a fair shot...…...about 20 minutes was all it took.

 

[Josh W.]

The color is just beautiful. I would have bought it for that alone. At first glance, those look like the dreaded tone sucking graphtech saddles. I bought a CE 24 6 years ago, and those were the first thing to go. I did give them a fair shot...…...about 20 minutes was all it took.

I’m usually not a big purple guy, but this one caught my eye. Struck as very similar to the one being refinished in the other thread.


We’ll see about the saddles. That’s at least something I can replace myself. Gonna have to hit the low hanging fruit first though.

 

[Josh W.]

It arrived pretty quick. Got it Saturday. Swapped out the black speed knobs for some Amber lamp shades that I got for my blue PRS and didn't end up liking on that one. I'm looking at grabbing some flame maple or cream pickup rings and possible replacing the switch. It feels a little odd.

Whoever switched it over from the old five way rotary they used to do also put in a push/push switch instead of a push/pull like they use in their current models so that may go as well.

The Will Boggs pickups sound solid. Definitely hotter than the 85/15s. Not sure I'm entirely sold on them just yet though. If they do end up getting replaced, the timing will likely be somewhat dependent on how much I'm able to get for them. Sounds like the main issue is if they were built early on in this dude's time making pickups, they'll be desirable. If not , there's a chance they're hot garbage. That whole deal is just a weird story.

Overall I'm really enjoying it. It's got the bumps and bruises you'd expect from a 19 year old guitar, but nothing over the top. The strings seem like they're looser in the same tuning even though it's the same scale length as my CE24.

 

[Josh W.]

Here it is with my 2020 CE24:

 

[bodia]

Nice! Dig that color.