Ok ok, I admit, the Pedals Forum has been a bit of the Rhys show recently, andddd I might've spent like 700-800 dollars on gear recently, annnddd this guitar is another 500 bucks. But it _is_ 500 bucks.
Been looking out for one of these, they don't usually come up for less than 700 and they are far away so add lower 48 shipping on. This one is in North Hollywood, and the guy gonna accept 450 for it. I've got a D'Angelico LP that I don't get on with too good, that can get sold sometime to cover the cost because it mainly collects dust.
Updates as they happen here on the Radio Rhys: Gear Hour!
I don't like the neck position it's way too dark but the bridge position is nice and the neck is nice and the build quality is good. It's a big mahogany boi and, you guessed it, sounds a lot like an SG crossed with a Les Paul.
There are some sharp edges on the fret board and the action was stupid when I got it, it's obviously been a non-players nice practice guitar for a while. Gonna find a good place in LA to get a proper set up.
Definite keeper even if it needs a bit of love, gonna throw some nicer pickups in there and fix whatever is going on with that neck p'up surround! I'm thinking something fairly Vintage Hot. Now I get to buy pickups yayyyyy.
So I dropped the action on it by many millimeters, it was super duper high and nasty to play. Now, with a fresh set on and a bit more set up it's a bit more revealing, I think I can probably get it down a lot further but I think I'll also keep it as it is for the next few weeks then take it somewhere and get it fixed up a bit.
Fretboard is very sharp, the neck pickup surround is crushed by the neck? I don't really understand because the guitar feels stock so is that how this model is... lol?
This I'm assuming from the person selling to me, the crappiness of the neck pickup, the overall aging of the hardware and the general condition it was in stunk of "sat next to a desk or couch and never played" because the tuning was wacky and it had the telltale liquid stands around the neck pocket of "someone split beer on the guitar then gave it a fair wipe down but, like whatever, put it back on the stand" because it's very noticable if you are actually playing it not if you are just holding it facing you.
So general list of next moves:
1) Get a new pickup surround and a dremel, then cut out the top so there's not all this plastic squish mess
2) New pickups, I'll get someone to do that for me because I suck at electronics and I think I want Fishman again, my strat is very nice and the humbuckers they do have two 3-way togglys not just a push/pull so that sounds fairly worthwhile 250 bucks to spend if I can get a Hot LP/SG sound and more jazzy sorta deal going on from one guitar
3) Also get the tech to do a fret crown, roll the board, I'm guessing this was a cheaper model but dang from like 4-11 fret it's very sharp and very linear
I think at this point I will have spent another 400 bucks totaling 850 for a really good Mahogany guitar with some character. Not sure if I've got the most screaming deal now that it's put in that light. Fishmans 250 a set, 35 * 2 + 100 dollars for the rewire, 75 bucks for the setup (going by the local guitar tech's prices). Maybe they'll do me a deal with rewire and pickups...
Like I say not a completely crazy deal - was really hoping to love it straight out of the gate. It (and I'm not coping here) still seems like a worthwhile buy because of the quality of the neck/build and the overall mojo. Maybe I should've held out for a more premium entry in their line-up? I would've paid a similar sort of price and maybe had to have made similar upgrades, who could tell I guess.
I also really like the red it's like a big fuck you to Gibson lol, there are some really attractive burst out there and a gold top model which is fucking awesome looking, so maybe I pick up another and see how they compare whenever the time comes up.
Interesting you say that about the neck pickup, my old Yamaha SG200 (which I was extremely stupid to sell) is perhaps the only guitar I've owned where I've liked the sound of the neck pickup.
It might just be broken tbth, it sounds like it's got a massive cap over it, think: Jimi's Red House bass part, which was played on an old semi-hollow with the tone rolled all the way off. It's very dark and not really in a pleasant way. The bridge pickup is ok. It does PAF things but it doesn't evoke joy.
It's very loud acoustically, I don't know if you experienced that with yours? I playing a strat unplugged and then playing the SG unplugged it's way louder, so I have high hopes that it's going to sound great given a bit of love.
Also I want to put Zebra open coils into this? I think that would look fucking rad? I also can't tell if it would be an abomination... I'm trying to search the net for some inspiration...
Also also, I think maybe those covered black buckers with the exposed pole pieces might also look good?
I'm super conflicted about both of these thoughts because normally I'd say they're both fucking sacrilege options and one should just stick with black open pole or go with classic chrome.
I feel like I'm always saying this on here (but people keep ignoring me, so I'll keep at it):
Get some P-rails. And then get some of the hipshot mounting rings. Faffy, but so many good sounds:
Excellent PAF with both coils in parallel
Excellent P-90
Very good hot/compressed/squished PAF with coils in series
Not all that brilliant "strat" that might sound cool through the right fuzz pedal at some point.
I found a pair of Fishman Open Core Humbuckers in all black near my work for 170, apparently fresh. I know there is a V1 and V2 different between them so I'll have to do a bit of a check when I get them because the single coil sound does sound better than just getting a high cut feature. 170 bucks is very solid either way, Voice 1 and 2 apparently doesn't differ between models and that's all I really care about.
I do love the suggestion of P-Rails! Considering that my blue Jazzmaster is taking a while because I suck at wiring and can't seem to force myself to do it (literally I did like 20 hours of really therapeutic sanding and body work, then broke up with my girl and haven't done a lick of work on that guitar since - 1 year and counting, good work Rhys!!!), might get this guitar shop to stick a set in that Jazzmaster pickguard so I've got some tonal variety in the squad and finally finish that damn build
P-90s and humbucker tones in an SG makes more sense to me than in a Jazzmaster, but that could be cool.
Plus, it's the hipshot pickup rings that really make the pickups. I suppose there's no shortage of space for individual switches on a Jazzmaster, but that's a whole other job.
