Spudman
February 29th, 2008, 05:23 PM
This was found on the Dolphin Street web site (which is a great site by the way)
Some tips to turn an OK inexpensive guitar into a trusty gig worthy champ.
Rickwie J Sorenstien said...
I played a $200 made in Mexico Strat in the movie "TRIBUTE".
I also toured with platinum recording artist "XYZ" using only 2 Jackson imports, neither of which cost over $250.
I own 11 Squires, none of which I paid more than 120 dollars for. I modified them on the cheap and they play better than any of my USA's (which cost $800 min). Most of these mods will work for any guitar this style, and some didn't cost a dime. Here's what I did.
1) Remove the neck and carefully remove any paint in the neck pocket. This will improve string/sound energy transference between the neck and body, resulting in better sound and sustain. For some of the git's I used paint stripper. On others I went a step further(see mod 2).
2) ONLY if you have a 2 POST BRIDGE- Cut a 1/2 - 1 degree angle in the neck pocket. This forces you to raise the bridge putting the strings higher off the body of the guitar, therefor your right hand will not have to be flat and parallel at the wrist. (I find this much more comfortable) It also provides you with more 'pull up' room on the whammy bar.
3) Flatten the sustain block and bridge plate mating surfaces. If you take your bridge out and hold it up to a light you will most likely see gaps between these two surfaces. Remove the sustain block and run it across a sharpening stone, file, or a piece of sand paper spray-glued to something flat (thick glass works well) or if you have access a low speed belt sander with fine sanding belt. Do the same for the mounting plate. Work slowly, checking the mating surfaces periodically till you can no longer see the light coming through. This will further enhance string energy transference, resulting in better sound and sustain.
4) One or the other, or both of the following:
a) Replace the medium fret wire with jumbo or super jumbo. Large frets provide easier bending.
b) Scallop the fret board. I wouldn't recommend scooping out huge valleys between the frets, but a little filing down makes a dramatic difference and costs nothing compared to a fret job. Just be sure to put two layers of masking tape over the frets before you even go near the board with a file.
5) Replace the plastic nut with ANYTHING decent. I started with pre-cut graphite, bone, or micarta, for a couple bucks each. Finally I found 1/8 inch brass and learned to cut my own.
6)Slick up your frets. Tape off the board (and front pickup), use 000 steel wool. This is usually enough, but for truly over the top slippery follow up with Meguire's (yes, the same stuff you use on your Harley) step1 Paint Cleaner, Meguire's #9, and finally #7, then dry-buff with a old tee shirt or dollar store microfiber rag.
7) Do a KILLER setup. Sounds like a no-brainer, but it is the single most effective no-money mod. You can find volumes on this on the web. My particular setup has worked on every axe I've ever done, but the details would take another whole page to describe.
So to re-cap the final cost for 11 guitars modified:
1) $0 - $5 depending on paint stripper or sandpaper.
2) $0 if you own a router or are REALLY good with a chisel.
3) $0 - $1 dollar store sharpening stone,file or sandpaper.
4) $0 - $15 for a few decent round and 1/2 round files from Harbor Freight, and/or sandpaper wrapped around different sized magic markers. $70 - $80 for StewMac or Dunlop fret wire is enough to do all 11 guitars if you go that route.
5) $3 - $8 ea for precut nuts or $12 for enough brass to screw up about 30 nuts while learning how to perfect them.
6) $0 - $1 dollar store steel wool if you don't all ready have it. $0 - $35 if you don't all ready have fret polish and decide to try Meguire's.
7) $0 - $5 a few allen wrenches(came with guitar), screwdrivers($1 Harbor Freight), feeler gauges($3.50 Harbor Freight), a tuner (or a really good ear) and maybe a decent straight edge is all you need for a killer setup.
TOTAL COST FOR 11 ***-KICKING GUITARS: $0 - $130 or about $0 - $11 per axe.
There are also a few no-money tone mods you could try, but I have found that once the axe feels really sweet in the hands of the player the best part of the tone goes straight from the soul of the artist to the hearts of the listeners.
Incidentally, these '$100 Squires' are not used as my 'pretty good back-up guitars' anymore. My $1000 USA's are.
Some tips to turn an OK inexpensive guitar into a trusty gig worthy champ.
Rickwie J Sorenstien said...
I played a $200 made in Mexico Strat in the movie "TRIBUTE".
I also toured with platinum recording artist "XYZ" using only 2 Jackson imports, neither of which cost over $250.
I own 11 Squires, none of which I paid more than 120 dollars for. I modified them on the cheap and they play better than any of my USA's (which cost $800 min). Most of these mods will work for any guitar this style, and some didn't cost a dime. Here's what I did.
1) Remove the neck and carefully remove any paint in the neck pocket. This will improve string/sound energy transference between the neck and body, resulting in better sound and sustain. For some of the git's I used paint stripper. On others I went a step further(see mod 2).
2) ONLY if you have a 2 POST BRIDGE- Cut a 1/2 - 1 degree angle in the neck pocket. This forces you to raise the bridge putting the strings higher off the body of the guitar, therefor your right hand will not have to be flat and parallel at the wrist. (I find this much more comfortable) It also provides you with more 'pull up' room on the whammy bar.
3) Flatten the sustain block and bridge plate mating surfaces. If you take your bridge out and hold it up to a light you will most likely see gaps between these two surfaces. Remove the sustain block and run it across a sharpening stone, file, or a piece of sand paper spray-glued to something flat (thick glass works well) or if you have access a low speed belt sander with fine sanding belt. Do the same for the mounting plate. Work slowly, checking the mating surfaces periodically till you can no longer see the light coming through. This will further enhance string energy transference, resulting in better sound and sustain.
4) One or the other, or both of the following:
a) Replace the medium fret wire with jumbo or super jumbo. Large frets provide easier bending.
b) Scallop the fret board. I wouldn't recommend scooping out huge valleys between the frets, but a little filing down makes a dramatic difference and costs nothing compared to a fret job. Just be sure to put two layers of masking tape over the frets before you even go near the board with a file.
5) Replace the plastic nut with ANYTHING decent. I started with pre-cut graphite, bone, or micarta, for a couple bucks each. Finally I found 1/8 inch brass and learned to cut my own.
6)Slick up your frets. Tape off the board (and front pickup), use 000 steel wool. This is usually enough, but for truly over the top slippery follow up with Meguire's (yes, the same stuff you use on your Harley) step1 Paint Cleaner, Meguire's #9, and finally #7, then dry-buff with a old tee shirt or dollar store microfiber rag.
7) Do a KILLER setup. Sounds like a no-brainer, but it is the single most effective no-money mod. You can find volumes on this on the web. My particular setup has worked on every axe I've ever done, but the details would take another whole page to describe.
So to re-cap the final cost for 11 guitars modified:
1) $0 - $5 depending on paint stripper or sandpaper.
2) $0 if you own a router or are REALLY good with a chisel.
3) $0 - $1 dollar store sharpening stone,file or sandpaper.
4) $0 - $15 for a few decent round and 1/2 round files from Harbor Freight, and/or sandpaper wrapped around different sized magic markers. $70 - $80 for StewMac or Dunlop fret wire is enough to do all 11 guitars if you go that route.
5) $3 - $8 ea for precut nuts or $12 for enough brass to screw up about 30 nuts while learning how to perfect them.
6) $0 - $1 dollar store steel wool if you don't all ready have it. $0 - $35 if you don't all ready have fret polish and decide to try Meguire's.
7) $0 - $5 a few allen wrenches(came with guitar), screwdrivers($1 Harbor Freight), feeler gauges($3.50 Harbor Freight), a tuner (or a really good ear) and maybe a decent straight edge is all you need for a killer setup.
TOTAL COST FOR 11 ***-KICKING GUITARS: $0 - $130 or about $0 - $11 per axe.
There are also a few no-money tone mods you could try, but I have found that once the axe feels really sweet in the hands of the player the best part of the tone goes straight from the soul of the artist to the hearts of the listeners.
Incidentally, these '$100 Squires' are not used as my 'pretty good back-up guitars' anymore. My $1000 USA's are.