Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
- Thread starter epi
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RorySquier
Well-known member
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
I can't wait to see how this Washburn project works out.
I have a few high end guitars, but I also have an assortment of the lower end guitars as well. I'm working on a few guitar projects...mainly Squier Strats and it's the most rewarding experience transforming a cheap guitar into one hell of a playing machine. It can be done and you don't need to spend the big bucks to get the right results. I've had other commitments so my guitar projects have been temporarily put on the shelf. This forum is a great place for getting ideas and even some help. I was recommended here to this forum from another member who had also done a guitar project from a not-so-expensive guitar. Other members on here helped her out with a set of pick-ups which I thought was cool.:14: Just recently another member was giving out free pickups for Christmas...that's pretty awesome! Maybe the OP will encounter the same generosity. I hope your project goes well. Here's some words of inspiration from EVH who's a self-described tone-chaser. His partscaster was something special to him and so likewise your Washburn.:bigok:
I can't wait to see how this Washburn project works out.
I have a few high end guitars, but I also have an assortment of the lower end guitars as well. I'm working on a few guitar projects...mainly Squier Strats and it's the most rewarding experience transforming a cheap guitar into one hell of a playing machine. It can be done and you don't need to spend the big bucks to get the right results. I've had other commitments so my guitar projects have been temporarily put on the shelf. This forum is a great place for getting ideas and even some help. I was recommended here to this forum from another member who had also done a guitar project from a not-so-expensive guitar. Other members on here helped her out with a set of pick-ups which I thought was cool.:14: Just recently another member was giving out free pickups for Christmas...that's pretty awesome! Maybe the OP will encounter the same generosity. I hope your project goes well. Here's some words of inspiration from EVH who's a self-described tone-chaser. His partscaster was something special to him and so likewise your Washburn.:bigok:
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RorySquier
Well-known member
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
Here's the second part of the video.
Here's the second part of the video.
RorySquier
Well-known member
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
And here's the final part of the video featuring Chip Ellis who is a guitar builder for Fender Musical Instruments & he explains the EVH Frankenstein guitar replica.
And here's the final part of the video featuring Chip Ellis who is a guitar builder for Fender Musical Instruments & he explains the EVH Frankenstein guitar replica.
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TheLivingDead
Dawn Of The Shred
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
Go wild, man. Don't hold back.
Keep us updated!
Go wild, man. Don't hold back.
Keep us updated!
EDX
New member
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
a very good idea for the neck and that will give to it a very smooth and insane fast playability even with sweaty hands is to polish it with candle wax, just sand-paper the neck like normalli for a re-finish, but instead of paint or lacquer take a wihte candle and rub it across all the neck till the neck ends basically filled with it, take a sheet of bond paper and start to rub the neck, the goal is to get the neck feels smooth, at some point it will feel sticky but is normal, the result would be an increadible speed neck, i had done this to my axe and it plays very fast ans smooth even when i'm sweating like a pig on the summer
a very good idea for the neck and that will give to it a very smooth and insane fast playability even with sweaty hands is to polish it with candle wax, just sand-paper the neck like normalli for a re-finish, but instead of paint or lacquer take a wihte candle and rub it across all the neck till the neck ends basically filled with it, take a sheet of bond paper and start to rub the neck, the goal is to get the neck feels smooth, at some point it will feel sticky but is normal, the result would be an increadible speed neck, i had done this to my axe and it plays very fast ans smooth even when i'm sweating like a pig on the summer
epi
New member
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
Ok guys I am back at this! I took a break for school and to wait for better weather, which both are now good.
I am still deciding what to paint it. I just want to do a solid color, I was thinking themed of a 80s shred guitar like a fluorescent green or something like that. I am putting my Seymour Duncan Blackouts in it.
Ok guys I am back at this! I took a break for school and to wait for better weather, which both are now good.
I am still deciding what to paint it. I just want to do a solid color, I was thinking themed of a 80s shred guitar like a fluorescent green or something like that. I am putting my Seymour Duncan Blackouts in it.
Jocelyn
New member
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
Agreeed...
The best way to make a cheap guitar awesome is plenty of wicked cool stickers.
Agreeed...
dominus
King Midas to Cheap Guitars
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
Measure the width of the heel, and verify that it's 25.5" scale length. (Should be. You could even take the neck and make sure the frets align with one of your RGs.) You'd probably find that a Jackson or BC Rich neck would fit, as long as it's 24 frets with an overhang. (Ibanez won't work, and ESP/LTD necks have a sculpted heel so they may not either.) I've seen some maple Jackson clone necks go for $100ish new. (A DK2M neck usually sells for about $200!)
Do note that you'd have a small gap on the body where the truss rod adjuster is on the Washburn neck.
Measure the width of the heel, and verify that it's 25.5" scale length. (Should be. You could even take the neck and make sure the frets align with one of your RGs.) You'd probably find that a Jackson or BC Rich neck would fit, as long as it's 24 frets with an overhang. (Ibanez won't work, and ESP/LTD necks have a sculpted heel so they may not either.) I've seen some maple Jackson clone necks go for $100ish new. (A DK2M neck usually sells for about $200!)
Do note that you'd have a small gap on the body where the truss rod adjuster is on the Washburn neck.
I am doing primer next week so pics of that soon. I am looking for ideas Aceman.. Guitar should be done in 2 weeks. Pictures are coming!Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
If not already mentioned:
Get a cheap double sided wood radius tool (to make your fretboard round on top or fairly flat and all points in between) from stewart mcdonald or lmii, it is usually 8" long and had anywhere from a 9'/12/ radius to a 16/20' radius. the flatter the radius, the easier it is to bend notes and not have them "fret out" or buzz. some like old teles and strats had very round radius-like 7.5, they would really buzz on a bended note, Clapton must have had his action really high when he started as his original I don't believe had any fret or fret board modifications. The normal is now 9.5 on fenders to 12' on a gibson. Many have "compound" fretboards, meaning they get flatter as you go higher on the fret board.
I like a 20" radius (pretty flat) so I can keep my strings fairly low and still not "buzz out" when I bend a note really high from one fret. Think Albert King. Or Stevie Ray Vaughn for that matter. Jeff Beck's tech says his fretboard has been re-done so often it is close to a 12" or Gibson radius at this point. I think he said Beck's neck started off at a 9.5. Then you gotta smooth the sides. Don't worry, I am a backyard luthier and certainly no pro. I learn stuff cause I have to. Just letting you know-I'm 61 and I picked it up along the way -so can you. Only you have a great source of info in these forums. The only forum I had on the road when I was 18 was a screwdriver and a drill w/a dash of imagination.
I still come here for stuff I should already know and these are some smart folks.
Steve Buffington- hey - it will be a LOT of fun doing this stuff yourself!
If not already mentioned:
Get a cheap double sided wood radius tool (to make your fretboard round on top or fairly flat and all points in between) from stewart mcdonald or lmii, it is usually 8" long and had anywhere from a 9'/12/ radius to a 16/20' radius. the flatter the radius, the easier it is to bend notes and not have them "fret out" or buzz. some like old teles and strats had very round radius-like 7.5, they would really buzz on a bended note, Clapton must have had his action really high when he started as his original I don't believe had any fret or fret board modifications. The normal is now 9.5 on fenders to 12' on a gibson. Many have "compound" fretboards, meaning they get flatter as you go higher on the fret board.
I like a 20" radius (pretty flat) so I can keep my strings fairly low and still not "buzz out" when I bend a note really high from one fret. Think Albert King. Or Stevie Ray Vaughn for that matter. Jeff Beck's tech says his fretboard has been re-done so often it is close to a 12" or Gibson radius at this point. I think he said Beck's neck started off at a 9.5. Then you gotta smooth the sides. Don't worry, I am a backyard luthier and certainly no pro. I learn stuff cause I have to. Just letting you know-I'm 61 and I picked it up along the way -so can you. Only you have a great source of info in these forums. The only forum I had on the road when I was 18 was a screwdriver and a drill w/a dash of imagination.
I still come here for stuff I should already know and these are some smart folks.
Steve Buffington- hey - it will be a LOT of fun doing this stuff yourself!
epi
New member
Re: Making my cheap guitar AWESOME!
Uh I can't change the radius on a done neck already, can I? Lol I don't know.
Uh I can't change the radius on a done neck already, can I? Lol I don't know.
