My Yamaha Project

[bigoldron]

As I posted on "Other Guitars" forum, I'm going to upgrade the Yamaha Pacifica 112 I just got. She was very dirty and grimy, with rust on the bridge, funk on neck, a little corrosion on the frets, and scratchy pots. I didn't think I was going to have any time to work on her until next week, but I have managed to find some time to begin the process of making this baby sing.

So far, I've managed to strip her down and clean her good. I've found that Murphy's Oil Soap and a toothbrush will do a good job of generally cleaning the rosewood fretboard. After getting most of the crud off, I took some 0000 steel wool and lightly went over the fretboard and frets to get the rest of the funk and corrosion off. There are some grooves in the frets, but overall, they're not too bad. Apparently, this guitar got played A LOT.

I've started lining the pickup & electronics cavity with copper tape, but I've got to wait on a sheet of copper foil to come in so that I can finish that part and start putting her back together. I metered the original pups and they were N-2.75, M-2.75 & B-12.76. The GFS Texas Specials I've got read N-5.36, M-5.38 & N-9.48. The Yamaha has an HSS layout, but I've got SSS GFS pups. I had hoped the tortoiseshell pickguard I had would fit, but it's not even close, so I'll have to stay with the Yamaha pickguard and the HSS layout. The humbucker is a fairly high output (12.76) and sounded pretty good when I tried her out, so I'm planning on keeping it and swapping the other 2 pups for the GFS's. The pots also need swapping, so when I get my foil in and can finish lining the cavity and the pickguard and I wind this part up.

I went ahead and swapped out the stock bridge/trem out with the one I got from GFS that has the large solid steel block. It barely cleared the back cover, so I ground off just a tiny bit. This should help with the sustain and overall tone, so I'm excited about this. The bridge was a dead-on drop-in, with no grinding or adjustments, so that was nice!

Anyway, I'll try to keep you guys posted as to the progress and I'll try to get some pics of the process posted. I'm thinking/hoping this baby will be a keeper. (Or, as strum defined "keeper" - at least a month or two :D ) Wish me luck guys!

[peachhead]

Good luck- I'm very interested to see how this works out!

[sunvalleylaw]

Looking forward to seeing your project progress. Sounds great so far!

[Algonquin]

Murphy's Oil Soap and a toothbrush does a great job doesn't it! I have to say, there's nothing like cleaning up and adjusting a guitar to make it feel your own. Pride of ownership!... Good job :AOK:

[Cottonwood King]

Nice! I really need to keep up with this and learn what you did, guitar maintenance is something that I really need to learn how to do. Keep us updated!

[bigoldron]

A really strange thing happened. I got almost through with the upgrades. The trem block/bridge is really nice. The body cavity's been lined with copper foil. I put the middle and neck GFS pickups on the Yamaha pickguard along with good Alpha 500k audio pot for the volume and a CTS 250k audio pot for the tone. I used the stock Yamaha humbucker and when I got everything wired up, I had good sounds on positions 1,3,4 & 5. BUT, when I switched to position 2, the sound was REALLY thin and the volume was a LOT lower than any other setting. I had originally went with another CTS 250k pot for the volume and a better 5 way switch. I thought maybe it was one of those 2, so I put the Alpha 500k pot and the original 5 way switch in and no change.

So, the only thing I could figure out was that the Yammie humbucker didn't like the GFS pups, so I put the original Yammie pups back in and it works fine. I don't understand what's going on here. Can anybody clue me in? I really wanted to use the GFS's, because otherwise, they're gathering dust. The factory pups aren't too bad. I haven't played with it enough to tell for sure, 'cause I just got it back together. :confused:

Anyway, I've made a couple of pics during the process and I will try to get them posted soon. As crappy as I am at playing, I might make some clips. I'm a little intimidated sharing my so-called playing, especially after hearing some of you guys, so when (if) I get some posted, please go easy. :o

[markb]

It sounds like the Yammy pickup is out of electrical phase with the GFSs. Try reversing the wires on the humbucker or both singles if that's easier. Seymour Duncans and Fenders do this too as I found out when I finished wiring my MIM strat.

[bigoldron]

It sounds like the Yammy pickup is out of electrical phase with the GFSs. Try reversing the wires on the humbucker or both singles if that's easier. Seymour Duncans and Fenders do this too as I found out when I finished wiring my MIM strat.

I tried putting the GFS's back in and reversed the humbucker. When I did this, I got no sound from the humbucker on either position 1 or 2. The GFS's worked fine on 3, 4 & 5. They sound better than the factory stock ones, so for right now, I'm leaving them in. I switched the hb back the right way and got sound on 1, but 2 still sounds very tinny and weak.

I think I'll email Jay at GuitarFetish and see what he recommends. Surely, they've done setups similar to this. It'll probably take getting another hb from them. Anybody else got any ideas?

OR, Plan B: Does anybody have a Yamaha SSS white pickguard? Supposedly a 303 fits, but I want to think that any of the EG series would probably fit as well. That way, I can use the entire set of Texas Specials like I wanted to do to start with.

Thanks for any help guys!

[mrmudcat]

Hey go pick out a bucker from G.F. and shoot me a pm ive got you covered since we are buds and I dont want to see your wifey ill!!;) :whatever:

[bigoldron]

PM sent.

[bigoldron]

Muddie, check your email.

[bigoldron]

Here's some of the pictures I promised on the Yamaha upgrade:

Closeup of the neck after I cleaned it, steel wooled it and treated it with mineral oil.
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd81/bigoldron/Yamaha004.jpg

The GFS tremolo/block kit. (It was an easy direct drop-in!)
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd81/bigoldron/Yamaha007.jpg

The finished cavity - copper foil courtesy of Monte Allums and StewMac.
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd81/bigoldron/Yamaha013.jpg

And the back of the pickguard:
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd81/bigoldron/Yamaha015.jpg

That shot shows the factory humbucker and the GFS Texas Specials in the middle and neck positions. It has an Alpha 500k audio pot at the volume and a CTS 250k audio pot for the tone and a cheap orange .22 cap. I'm expecting a replacement humbucker any day now, plus I may go with a 500k tone pot as it seems to be a little dull. I wired it as per the article in Premier Guitar aka Tele style and grounded everything as per guitarnuts.com. So, she's fairly quiet when she's supposed to be.

I'll post more pics as the progress moves forward.