Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

jtougas

jtougas

New member
Okay... so, I recently purchased a body off ebay that I am 100% convinced they had misidentified... They had it as a Fender Bullet 1 from the late '80s.

I am convinced it is instead a G & L Rampage body from '87 (complete with an as-yet-unidentified SD pup of unknown condition). The neck pocket route, control pocket route and presence of a brass shielding plate, tremolo bridge routing, and slight differences in body shape point to the Rampage.

I got it for a steal, but I'm also fairly convinced that finding the rest of the parts to set this one 100% to right is folly's chase...

Update and pics tonight...
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

It has a Kahler? Is/was there a pickguard? Though I know some Bullets had trems/no pickguard, don't know of any single pickup models that look at all like a Rampage.

A Rampage doesn't have all that much hardware to attempt to locate; any old G&L square pocket neck with three bolts should fit.
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

That's just it - it does not have the Kahler. It's stamped May of '87, and should have some variant of the Leo Fender Fine Tuning locking tremolo - which I think trots past "hen's teeth" to "unicorn horn" for rarity, as it has 2 holes for ambidextrous mounting of the trem arm.

And the neck should have an ebony fingerboard.

Anybody know if the other G & L tremolos are post compatible? Also, if those of you with extensive parts bin wouldn't mind checking...
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

Agreed re: G&L Rampage. Do you have a neck that'll fit?

G&Ls DO NOT use a standard fender pocket; their neck heels extend fully under the 22nd fret with no overhang, so a Fender Strat neck will probably fit, but it won't intonate. I've heard that USACG will make necks with a G&L heel, but I've never ordered one personally.
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

jtougas said:
That's just it - it does not have the Kahler. It's stamped May of '87, and should have some variant of the Leo Fender Fine Tuning locking tremolo - which I think trots past "hen's teeth" to "unicorn horn" for rarity, as it has 2 holes for ambidextrous mounting of the trem arm.

And the neck should have an ebony fingerboard.

Anybody know if the other G & L tremolos are post compatible? Also, if those of you with extensive parts bin wouldn't mind checking...
Click to expand...

I found the ebay listing, and the trem rout appears to have been modified at some point. I'm also wondering if it's a refin with the blue showing through in places. that being the case, why not modify further for the vibrato of your choice?
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

If there were mods done, I think they were backside only - that second divot would hold the lefty trem arm mount.

I have contemplated the idea of blocking in the trem routing with maple, then routing for a Kahler, but if there's another tremolo that's post compatible (like another G & L), I would prefer to skip modding the body.

I bookmarked the USACG page the other day, and I'm currently watching a NOS neck on eBay.

ETA: Ah, I went back and looked at the close-up of the top of the trem rout. I missed that; yeah, they had something else mounted on there. Hmm.

I think the blue is from gaffer's tape holding on a strap - It's the back of the upper horn.
 
Last edited:
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

jtougas said:
If there were mods done, I think they were backside only - that second divot would hold the lefty trem arm mount.

I have contemplated the idea of blocking in the trem routing with maple, then routing for a Kahler, but if there's another tremolo that's post compatible (like another G & L), I would prefer to skip modding the body.

I bookmarked the USACG page the other day, and I'm currently watching a NOS neck on eBay.
Click to expand...

If you install a Kahler flatmount, you'll probably need to shim the neck as the rollers sit a bit higher than even a non-recessed Floyd Rose. Don't you have a Kahler on an 80s MIJ Charvel?
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

And on a BC Rich ST iii...

IIRC, Jerry Cantrell's answer was to actually inset the bridge a hair...
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

Let's see some pics, man!
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

29224629190_b770cc2d11.jpg


29224627780_1af1ca227c.jpg



For completeness, the closeup showing the tremolo mods Dystrust mentioned.

29514368305_f2a932a84e.jpg
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

My first guess is that that is no Bullet...
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

Yeah, we've pretty much settled that... though when I googled the Bullet 1, I could see where they went wrong...

This is a Fender Bullet from '87:

gvdbfbi4duqv6g8z8g9f.jpg


If there'd been a single HB variant that year, it'd look like a Rampage...


My first inclination is to get it working with the minimal outlay and change, and see what, if anything, needs to be tweaked (and hell, find out whether the body is a dud or not), then work from there.
 
Last edited:
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

Looks like a fill and re-drill on the stud mounts. The one on the bass side looks to have been moved towards the center of the body just a tad.

Wilkinson? Kahler 2-point? Fender 2-point? Pfft. Fill it in and put a hardtail top-feed on it.
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

UPDATE: Not only is the pup a JB, it is a JB*J*.
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

Looks to me like it had a G&L Dual Fulcrum Vibrato at some point. One of Leo's best designs.

Bill
 
Re: Ultimate Fix it Challenge - or Biggest White Elephant?

Doing some research, and it looks like there are some other options than USACG for the neck, but it's an odd source: Ernie Ball. Some of their necks are 2 3/16" at the heel, 22 frets, with no overhang.

Not that that's going to make it any easier to find a replacement, mind you... o_0

I've also spotted some oddballs on eBay that'd likely do the trick, but I'm uncertain as to how much of a mutt I want this thing to be. I *do* feel confident that if I decided to either a) fill the trem cavity and surface mount a Kahler, or b) just put on a Floyd and deck it, that the 'micro-tilt' feature would be able to overcome the neck angle difference.

UPDATE:
Scored a Yamaha neck off Reverb that (I *think*) has the correct heel profile: (https://reverb.com/item/728787-yamaha-rgs121-neck-w-sperzels). Oddly enough, it's even close to the right color, but (unfortunately) not ebony. On the plus side, it comes with black Sperzels.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top