Ball&Chain
Active member
Here is the story on this guitar. This, like the guitar I built earlier started from a bout with nostalgia.
I mentioned in that thread a certain bright red Charvel guitar with a floyd that I sold in the early 90’s and to this day wish I hadn’t. The main reason I sold it was I had just purchased a black Gibby Les Paul and was really starting to dislike all the pains a floyed presents, especially considering that I am anything but a whammy bar user.
Well, I still had the guy’s number who I sold it to and I was pretty sure he hasn’t touched it much in the years he had it, so I gave him a call and asked him if he still had it and would sell it back to me. At first he seemed really open to the idea and said he’d call me when he was available for me to check it out. No call several days later, so I called him again and this time he was very unsure about selling it, but he’d call me if he changed his mind. Two weeks later and no call.
On to ebay.
I lost 4 guitars to snipers then came accross this guitar with a BIN Price. The pictures were beautiful and the ad said excellent condition and 100% ready to play, so I pulled the trigger.
I emailed the guy the next day because I didn’t even think to ask ahead of time if it came with the bar, which it didn’t, so I placed an order with stew-mac and one arrived 2 days later.
I got the guitar about 5 days after the auction and the main thing I noticed was that it needed some cleaning up and the strings were very old and 2 of them were basically hinging by threads. I noticed that the bar I had purchased for it and the thread bushing on the guitar were defiantly not a match, but stew-mac includes the who assembly with their bars so a replacement of the bushing and I was in business. Then I took apart the floyd and cleaned it up then cleaned up the fretboard, reassembled the floyd and set the tension on it. First thing I noticed after getting it to pitch was that the action was still very high and I knew there would not be enough adjustment available. I then sighted down the neck and sure enough it was bowed pretty good.
I called a tech I know that has a shop some distance away and had no luck getting a hold of him for the next couple days. I have done truss rod adjustments on several occasions before to my other guitars but never on one this severe, but I decided to take the job on myself. I followed a procedure of make an adjustment of just under ¼ turn and let the neck settle for a few minutes. Tune the guitar to pitch and let sit for at least two hours. Check the relief again and go back to step one. It took about 6 adjustments over 2 days time, with that last 3 making all the difference in the world. I now finally have the neck with a very slight relief.
The body of the guitar is in near flawless condition. I replaced the stock Jackson pickup in the bridge with a JB SH-4. The neck is a lot thinner and a bit wider than any of my other guitars. That is exactly what I was looking for. I spent a few hours with it today and got to plug it in for the first time since getting it Monday. The neck is really nice fast playable. I have the action set to my standard 2mm above the frets without buzz.
I still don’t think I will ever purchase another guitar through ebay ever again. I think I ended up very lucky on this one.
Here are some pics.
I mentioned in that thread a certain bright red Charvel guitar with a floyd that I sold in the early 90’s and to this day wish I hadn’t. The main reason I sold it was I had just purchased a black Gibby Les Paul and was really starting to dislike all the pains a floyed presents, especially considering that I am anything but a whammy bar user.
Well, I still had the guy’s number who I sold it to and I was pretty sure he hasn’t touched it much in the years he had it, so I gave him a call and asked him if he still had it and would sell it back to me. At first he seemed really open to the idea and said he’d call me when he was available for me to check it out. No call several days later, so I called him again and this time he was very unsure about selling it, but he’d call me if he changed his mind. Two weeks later and no call.
On to ebay.
I lost 4 guitars to snipers then came accross this guitar with a BIN Price. The pictures were beautiful and the ad said excellent condition and 100% ready to play, so I pulled the trigger.
I emailed the guy the next day because I didn’t even think to ask ahead of time if it came with the bar, which it didn’t, so I placed an order with stew-mac and one arrived 2 days later.
I got the guitar about 5 days after the auction and the main thing I noticed was that it needed some cleaning up and the strings were very old and 2 of them were basically hinging by threads. I noticed that the bar I had purchased for it and the thread bushing on the guitar were defiantly not a match, but stew-mac includes the who assembly with their bars so a replacement of the bushing and I was in business. Then I took apart the floyd and cleaned it up then cleaned up the fretboard, reassembled the floyd and set the tension on it. First thing I noticed after getting it to pitch was that the action was still very high and I knew there would not be enough adjustment available. I then sighted down the neck and sure enough it was bowed pretty good.
I called a tech I know that has a shop some distance away and had no luck getting a hold of him for the next couple days. I have done truss rod adjustments on several occasions before to my other guitars but never on one this severe, but I decided to take the job on myself. I followed a procedure of make an adjustment of just under ¼ turn and let the neck settle for a few minutes. Tune the guitar to pitch and let sit for at least two hours. Check the relief again and go back to step one. It took about 6 adjustments over 2 days time, with that last 3 making all the difference in the world. I now finally have the neck with a very slight relief.
The body of the guitar is in near flawless condition. I replaced the stock Jackson pickup in the bridge with a JB SH-4. The neck is a lot thinner and a bit wider than any of my other guitars. That is exactly what I was looking for. I spent a few hours with it today and got to plug it in for the first time since getting it Monday. The neck is really nice fast playable. I have the action set to my standard 2mm above the frets without buzz.
I still don’t think I will ever purchase another guitar through ebay ever again. I think I ended up very lucky on this one.
Here are some pics.
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