Have wondered about this for a time. Is there anyone out there who uses
either a "custom" built instrument, a kit-type, a pieces/parts thing, etc.?
Why I'm curious:
'Bout a year or so ago, I decided to find either a nice Epi LP, or a good
knockoff type (Burney, Wesley, etc.).
Wanted something with a bolt-on neck, something that wasn't so "precious"
that I wouldn't want to swap parts in and out, and that I wouldn't feel bad
if it got scuffed, etc. My favourite Les Pauls are the BFG models so having
a pristine-looking thing is far from my mind.
After looking for a while, I happened upon this guy who builds LP copies. He
has some kind of agreement with Gibson (Who are notorious, and to a fair
extent, understandably, about going after anything they see as copyright
infringement) and can use their "Bow-tie" headstock design, and everything
else. Don't know the particulars.
Anyway, after looking into his stuff for a bit (His actual instruments are WAY
more than I wanted to spend and were really beautiful instruments. Barring
tops that weren't "good enough", they're all translucent stained. Had no idea
what he did with the others) I contacted him and asked if he sold bodies a/o
neck separately. He said he didn't. Only sold complete instruments. I figured
"Ah well". Had a couple of other discussions with him and a bit after he mailed
me that he'd thought about and he had a body with a couple of small bird's-eyes
that he'd be willing sell me since it'd just be a "cast-off" (Whatever that meant).
He also said bodies and neck were paired together, so he'd sell me the neck as
well. AWESOME. SO, I bought them. Arrived and had EVERYTHING. Pickups,
wiring, hardware, etc. Unassembled...but all there and I wanted something that
was more of a project anyway. Beautiful top, solid mahogany body. As nice as
any LP I've seen (Two tiny bird's eyes that are barely noticeable).
Dark burgundy stain applied so the top shows the great flame top. Wasn't too
concerned with keeping the side "perfect" since I like "mucked up" stuff anyway
Did a bit of sanding in places to rough it up (More BFG-like).
SO, after getting it all together, the "Customizing" started. Sanded down the
neck to where liked it, replaced the bridge pickup (Original was nice enough.
Had a great, grittier Faces/Black Crowes-y feel) with a Rockfield Mafia (Which
was actually grittier than I expected, but I like it).
Replaced the knobs, tuners, volume pot...maybe the bridge...don't remember
what all. None was all that necessary, but ya know how it is. Like some things
better than others.
Have used it out a few times and it's been great. I do need to adjust the neck
a bit some times (From what I've read, and from experience, new necks can
take a good year to stabilize even with a lot of use).
I put a Warmoth neck on one of my strats a few years ago as a replacement,
it has different pickups, put a Floyd on for years (Since replaced), several
pickguards, etc.
Wiggus has replaced EVERYTHING on his Epi Goldtop and, the last time I played
it, it was UNBELIEVABLE.
But even those, I don't necessarily think of the same way.
After the post on GFS pickups, I went to that site and they had full kits on there.
Interesting.
I've tried to reach the guy from whom I got mine, but mail bounced back and
the site is gone.
Kits/Frankensteins/Custom home built
Kits/Frankensteins/Custom home built
DaveP.
"You must be this beautiful to ride the Quagmire."
"You must be this beautiful to ride the Quagmire."
I am modifying a Fender 20th Anniversary Squire Strat.
It has a maple neck and the guitar is nice but I like Rosewood. So I found a 20th on eBoy with a cracked body and a rosewood neck. I won for $36. I am sure the neck is worth well over that and have seen them going for up to $100 online.
I will be using the other spare parts for projects or might sell.
As soon as it arrives I am swapping it out. Also I am upgrading the pickups.
I have other full Strats but for a few bucks I think it will be fun to try to get the Squire more to my tastes. I know they are supposed to be low end Fenders but I like mine and think it is very playable, use it for practice all the time.
I think Rory Gallagher used a Squire. Fender did a Custom Shop Tribute like the SRV guitar. Original on the left.
It has a maple neck and the guitar is nice but I like Rosewood. So I found a 20th on eBoy with a cracked body and a rosewood neck. I won for $36. I am sure the neck is worth well over that and have seen them going for up to $100 online.
I will be using the other spare parts for projects or might sell.
As soon as it arrives I am swapping it out. Also I am upgrading the pickups.
I have other full Strats but for a few bucks I think it will be fun to try to get the Squire more to my tastes. I know they are supposed to be low end Fenders but I like mine and think it is very playable, use it for practice all the time.
I think Rory Gallagher used a Squire. Fender did a Custom Shop Tribute like the SRV guitar. Original on the left.
I just picked up a Rickenbacker copy, to which I plan to do some major surgery to. I have a real 4003, but its worth too much money to mess around with.
I've always loved the way it sounds, but just don't like playing live with it do to the sharp edge of the binding around the body. So I'm thinking of getting some contours put on the copy and staining it something weird. I'm tossing around the idea of the dragonburst finish warmoth does. Which is a transparent yellow to green sunburst.
I've always loved the way it sounds, but just don't like playing live with it do to the sharp edge of the binding around the body. So I'm thinking of getting some contours put on the copy and staining it something weird. I'm tossing around the idea of the dragonburst finish warmoth does. Which is a transparent yellow to green sunburst.
Stand back, I like to rock out.
-
bassist_25
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6815
- Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2002 2:22 am
- Location: Indiana
Being a Carvin guy, I always think about trying one of their bolt-on bass kits. I'm confident that I could get the electronics installed, particuarly with help from my father. I'm worried about the finishing/staining process. That could turn out really cool or really bad.
I've seen some quite impressive Warmoth stuff.
I've seen some quite impressive Warmoth stuff.
"He's the electric horseman, you better back off!" - old sKool making a reference to the culturally relevant 1979 film.
I don't have too many basses that I haven't messed with! My biggest mutt is a lefty Warmoth ash Jazz body. Since it's a lefty body played righty, I had to do a bit of wood work to extend what is now the lower cutaway to allow access to a few more frets. The body was originally trans orange, but whoever clear coated it didn't use enough hardener, so it never fully cured. I stripped it down and attempted my own Ceruse finish ala FBass and Roscoe:
It didn't quite turn out like these because I used a water based stain and the white glaze mixed with it left a gray color. So now it's just black w/ some visible (natural colored) grain. I also recessed a Kahler fixed bridge to it. I added white EMG Js. And I put an unlined Moses graphite fretless neck on it. I also put a Strat style jack on the back to get the cord away from my arm. And I made hemispherical wooden knobs (stained to match) to lessen the chance of my arm turning them accidentally while playing. They didn't do the trick, so now I have slider pots to replace the stock rotary pots, but I first need to fashion a new control plate. I'll try to get some of the latest pics of this mutt! It's my stealthy 'Vader' bass.
Here's what it looked like shortly after after I got it but after swapping the original lefty birdseye maple neck for a Jap Fender Power Jazz neck.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c154/ ... J%20Lefty/
I'm also refinishing an '84 Gibson Explorer Shadow bass, but I'm keeping everything else stock.
I finally got a set of Lane Poor YAM6 pickups for my Yamaha TRB-6P & replaced the Bartolinis which the previous owner used to replace the stock p/ups.
And to top off my Spector USA BOB-4, I threw on some Willis style tuner buttons and will be installing a Kahler trem soon. (You got me hankering one in the worst way again Rob!)
My next project will be built around a chrome 6 string Kahler bass trem I recently picked up!
It didn't quite turn out like these because I used a water based stain and the white glaze mixed with it left a gray color. So now it's just black w/ some visible (natural colored) grain. I also recessed a Kahler fixed bridge to it. I added white EMG Js. And I put an unlined Moses graphite fretless neck on it. I also put a Strat style jack on the back to get the cord away from my arm. And I made hemispherical wooden knobs (stained to match) to lessen the chance of my arm turning them accidentally while playing. They didn't do the trick, so now I have slider pots to replace the stock rotary pots, but I first need to fashion a new control plate. I'll try to get some of the latest pics of this mutt! It's my stealthy 'Vader' bass.
Here's what it looked like shortly after after I got it but after swapping the original lefty birdseye maple neck for a Jap Fender Power Jazz neck.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c154/ ... J%20Lefty/
I'm also refinishing an '84 Gibson Explorer Shadow bass, but I'm keeping everything else stock.
I finally got a set of Lane Poor YAM6 pickups for my Yamaha TRB-6P & replaced the Bartolinis which the previous owner used to replace the stock p/ups.
And to top off my Spector USA BOB-4, I threw on some Willis style tuner buttons and will be installing a Kahler trem soon. (You got me hankering one in the worst way again Rob!)
My next project will be built around a chrome 6 string Kahler bass trem I recently picked up!
.
All kinetic, no potential.
.
All kinetic, no potential.
.
I also made (assembled) a guitar for my bro. I wanted to combine some of my brother's influences in one guitar. I ended up w/ the Vai-Halen-Petrucci-Satch.
I found a guy on eBay years ago that made CNC'd Jem style bodies (w/ the Lion's Claw Floyd route!). I knew I wanted a transparent and textured finish so I had him make me one in Ash. These bodies were meant for Japanese Ibanez necks, but I could only find a Korean neck in all maple (like Eddy's). So I had to machine down the sides of the heel a bit. So the 'Vai' comes from the Ibanez Jem body shape.
The 'Van Halen' comes from the front & side paint scheme, the maple board, and the hob glob of p/ups. Mike Z at Music Emporium did an amazing job of wiring an active EMG 81 and a passive Dimarzio zebra from a MM Axis w/out a significant volume difference when switching between the two. And to be a bit more like Eddy, I left out the middle single coil, which my brother never used at the time anyway. He also set this up with the lowest action I've ever seen on a stringed instrument, all w/ zero buzz. I also had to do some wood work and hide the 9V for the EMG in the jack cavity since there wasn't room in the control cavity.
The 'Petrucci' comes from the back Picasso paint scheme and the upper arm contour. I requested that the arm contour be left blank when I bought the body because I wanted to do the inverse style arm contour found on Petrucci's MM signatures.
The 'Satch' comes in the form of one of Joe's signature skull cartoon straps!
I also used recessed strap locks and matching control cavity covers. (I had to use Oak veneer, but you can't tell too much that it's not true Ash!) It's hard to tell in the pics, but the red stain shows the grain fairly well and I purposely sanded by hand instead of using a block. This was to remove more of the grain leaving a textured finish. Overall, the finish was amateur, but it plays and sounds great. Here's pics:
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c154/ ... -Petrucci/
(The 1st 4 pics are his guitar. The other pics were the inspiration for it.)
I found a guy on eBay years ago that made CNC'd Jem style bodies (w/ the Lion's Claw Floyd route!). I knew I wanted a transparent and textured finish so I had him make me one in Ash. These bodies were meant for Japanese Ibanez necks, but I could only find a Korean neck in all maple (like Eddy's). So I had to machine down the sides of the heel a bit. So the 'Vai' comes from the Ibanez Jem body shape.
The 'Van Halen' comes from the front & side paint scheme, the maple board, and the hob glob of p/ups. Mike Z at Music Emporium did an amazing job of wiring an active EMG 81 and a passive Dimarzio zebra from a MM Axis w/out a significant volume difference when switching between the two. And to be a bit more like Eddy, I left out the middle single coil, which my brother never used at the time anyway. He also set this up with the lowest action I've ever seen on a stringed instrument, all w/ zero buzz. I also had to do some wood work and hide the 9V for the EMG in the jack cavity since there wasn't room in the control cavity.
The 'Petrucci' comes from the back Picasso paint scheme and the upper arm contour. I requested that the arm contour be left blank when I bought the body because I wanted to do the inverse style arm contour found on Petrucci's MM signatures.
The 'Satch' comes in the form of one of Joe's signature skull cartoon straps!
I also used recessed strap locks and matching control cavity covers. (I had to use Oak veneer, but you can't tell too much that it's not true Ash!) It's hard to tell in the pics, but the red stain shows the grain fairly well and I purposely sanded by hand instead of using a block. This was to remove more of the grain leaving a textured finish. Overall, the finish was amateur, but it plays and sounds great. Here's pics:
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c154/ ... -Petrucci/
(The 1st 4 pics are his guitar. The other pics were the inspiration for it.)
.
All kinetic, no potential.
.
All kinetic, no potential.
.