I think (hope?) I've bottomed out my desire for guitars. What I have, more than covers what I need (although I still check out for sale guitars like an idiot). All my guitars are (finally) well setup, so I'm in maintenance mode now (strings, frets and setups). How I got here has been "interesting". A few guitars played well from day one. Others needed major setup/parts replacement/modifications to address issues or enhance performance.
1974 Fender Stratocaster (purchased in 1978):
I purchased my long time dream of getting a white Strat. At the time I thought a 1974 Strat was just like Jimi's. I was to learn there there were many differences: 3 bolt neck, poly finish, thinner neck width, etc. In addition I was a heavy guitar, Didn't sound like a traditional Strat (which I thought was a good thing) and it wouldn't stay in tune. and it is heavy. I nearly routed it for humbuckers, brass nut but fortunately only installed Schaller tuners before giving up playing for 20 years.
- Schaller Tuners: A good option but the guitar probably only needed a good setup. I thought so little of the original tuners that I left them with the luthier :(
- Re-fret and PLEK: I bought a few guitars when I got back into playing. I was getting some work done at guitar setup place and they said the frets need replacement so I got a re-fret and PLEK. The guitar played great.
- Fender '70s re-issue tuners: I then decided to return the guitar to standard trim. I thought re-issue tuners were exact copies of originals. Wrong and the guy that installed them butchered the enlarging the tuner holes. Fortunately, the tuner bushings covered his handy work.
- Fender 67-75 vintage tuners: I was disappointed with the re-issue tuners so sourced some originals. I also need some enlarged bushing to cover enlarged tuner holes.
Lots of lessons here but I didn't know any better at the time. Removing one string tree improved tuning stability and grey bottom Strat pickups are lower output and brighter. Not a bad thing as increase amp volume usually warms the output.
1965 Fender XII purchased in 2006
- No alterations
2004 Gibson Hummingbird purchased in 2006
- Lowered bridge
2007 Gibson '59 Les Paul Standard Re-issue purchased in 2009
The '59 Sunburst is most sought vintage guitar(thanks Eric). It's not the most expensive or rarest but has a history can't be beat. I couldn't afford a real '59 so bought the next best thing. It's close with Gibson strangely claiming that every new year gets closer... Experts can tell it's not the real deal. Nevertheless it's a well made guitar using many of the original '50s techniques and more select materials, albeit with some modern steps like CNC routing. Out of the box it play well but I didn't like the sound:
- Pots & Caps: were noisy. I could have returned it for warranty but would loose the guitar while being services and unsure of whether the original Gibson components pots would be replaced or just cleaned. I decided to replace all the electrics with a pre-wired kit from 'RS Guitarworks'.
- 50s wiring: Strangely, a '59 re-issue used '60s wiring. I implemented '50s wiring when I installed the RS Guitarworks kit.
- Control pointers (Thumb bleeders): I used less sharp pointers. The installed pointers were literally thumb-shredders.
- Control knobs: Like many Gibson guitars the knobs were cracked internally from installation.
- Faber Bridge: This re-issue included a wired ABR-1 bridge. Not correct for '59 and it buzzed when playing acoustically. I'd been thinking about getting a new bridge for many years. The Faber has a good reputation and the saddles a pre-cut.
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| Pre-wired Les Paul upgrade kit |
2009 Gibson '61 SG Custom Re-issue purchased in 2011
This guitar has required more work than any other in my collection. It's great now but has taken 13 years for everything to be addressed, especially tuning instability (vibrola) and more tones out of three pickups.
- Bridge: Original ABR-1, then Tone pros then back to ABR-1 with and finally a Faber which is by far the most stable and sonically pleasing:
- Saddles: Original, TUSQ, new brass saddles and now Faber;
- Neck Binding: gaps between the frets and binding nibs. Common problem. Not an issue on the bass side but the high E would catch on the treble side. Luthier somehow moulded the binding to the frets without a gap. No more problems.
- Vibrola: The geometry of the original Vibrola base spring angled the strings towards the break with no break angle. The strings were nearly flat from the spring over the bridge to the nut. The loose tension and improper tension across the bridge lead to poor tuning stability.
- 3rd Pickup: I'm not a big fan of the original wiring. Gibson should have done more with three pickups (a la Stratocaster). As described here I went through a few designs before settling on the current setup. In retrospect, I'm just not a fan of the three pickup Gibson.
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| Original Wiring |
Original wiring wasn't great. Current setup below.
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| Current wiring diagram |
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| Current Wiring |
2010 Gibson ES 335 '60 Re-issue purchased in 2011
- Control Knobs: Just cosmetics. Replaced the gold reflectors with black reflectors. Matches the pick guard. Now with gold bonnet knobs, matching the spec of some earlier 1960 ES-335s.
2012 Gibson SG Standard '61 purchased in 2013
- No alterations: Always plays well.
2005 Fender ’64 Jazz Bass Relic purchased in 2015
- No alterations: Probably should restring it one of these days.
2015 Fender '62 Stratocaster Relic purchased in 2015
- Fret levelling: fretting out around the 15 fret.
2014 Fender '54 Stratocaster NOS purchased in 2017
- Repaired broken volume knob. The ABS plastic used in the early '50s and today (when Fender use the same plastic on re-issues), is brittle.
2008 Fender Stratocaster HBS-1 Relic purchased in 2017
This guitar is a relic'ed relic. Looks like it has had a hard life gigging in Perth.
- Screws: Lots of screws are burred or rusted. Previous owner must have been a very heavy handed with maintenance and playing.
- Replaced original with bone nut: The nut was cracked. Again heavy handed/clumsy previous owner.
- Frets: Needs to be re-fretted. Lots of wear.
2019 Fender ’65 Telecaster Custom Aged purchased in 2019
- No alterations: the control knob keeps falling off. Common Telecaster issue. Fitted new control knob.
1970 Fender Stratocaster purchased in 2020
The original vintage frets were small to start with and with a subsequent re-dressing played like a fretless wonder. Not good for bending so:
- Re-fret
- Bridge setup
- Neck Angle
2023 Gibson '57 Les Paul Custom Reissue VOS purchased in 2024
- No alterations: Early days but everything works well so no though of replacing anything.
