Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Afghan Dave on July 24, 2009, 05:49:24 PM
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If like me you can't help looking at all guitars you're bound to have come across some of the far-east ranges and thought...
"Man, that's CHEAP and I could pimp the HELL outta that"!!
The age old question of... "am I customising a bargain or polishing a turd".
What brands/models (other than the god-damn Yamaha Pacifica ) have you been tempted to get as a project?
Here is my current fave - the RG350M for a base price of £340! First thing everyone is thinkin' JEM? & a quick search turned these pics up immediately.
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i keep wondering about buying a P90 Vintage Goldtop Les Paul and making into into a Les Paul Deluxe. £209!!
(http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/35389_l.jpg)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Mt5lJrsWyxU/Scl4yEQhcrI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/O5ZT_AchQVA/s400/Gibson+Les+Paul+Goldtop+Deluxe.jpg)
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I don't know how good the guitar is, but that Ibanez is a nice piece of pimping.
My problem is, whenever I think I'll get, say, a cheap Strat for modding, I go "hmmm, I'd prefer that neck shape, and a 9.5" radius, and I don't really want to change the bridge...."
.... and I end up with a US model costing £900. And then I still change the bridge. :?
But going back to the original question...
What brands/models (other than the god-damn Yamaha Pacifica ) have you been tempted to get as a project?
Squier Hello Kitty.
And I guess my Japanese Epis would count as cheap project guitars too, although in fact there wasn't much wrong with them out of the box.
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I like the Vintage goldtop idea!
That could really work.
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+1 with Philly Q on the hello kitty
wonder what else people are thinking of!
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Can be either.
I've had quite a number of cheap guitars that I've 'polished'. Almost all have moved on because they were in some way flawed, not intolerably, but enough that I never played them over my good guitars.
Two remian - an RG7321 that with suitable alterations I have zero problem with and enjoy playing. However, I've played an RG321 and it was horrible. Read into that what you will. The other is an epi LP goldtop. More flawed than the Ibby, but better than any other Epi I've played and does for a guitar to have around in E.
I dont recommend epi in general though.
Best brand, on average, for upgrading, IMO, is dean. I didnt have very good luck with that personally, I got a cr@p one and a great one that I didnt agree with the feel of, but I've played several other upgraded deans that were great.
Followed by ibanez.
As always, due to variability, play the guitar youre going to buy.
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Very similar to gwEm's idea really, but I've been thinking of putting minibuckers in my LP Special to get something like this (but in a boring cherry colour):
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/pelham1.jpg)
However, I also have a pair of DiMarzio DLX P-90 sized humbuckers which could go in the same guitar. Can't decide... so it still has the Epiphone P-90s.
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Can be either.
I've had quite a number of cheap guitars that I've 'polished'. Almost all have moved on because they were in some way flawed, not intolerably, but enough that I never played them over my good guitars.
Two remian - an RG7321 that with suitable alterations I have zero problem with and enjoy playing. However, I've played an RG321 and it was horrible. Read into that what you will. The other is an epi LP goldtop. More flawed than the Ibby, but better than any other Epi I've played and does for a guitar to have around in E.
I dont recommend epi in general though.
Best brand, on average, for upgrading, IMO, is dean. I didnt have very good luck with that personally, I got a cr@p one and a great one that I didnt agree with the feel of, but I've played several other upgraded deans that were great.
Followed by ibanez.
As always, due to variability, play the guitar youre going to buy.
Kinda missing the point.... It is take your pick time.
IMHO..
All bets are off at this price point as 90% of any "major" premier brands products are probably going to be made in the same factory /production line when subcontracted to Indonesia or Korea...
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Philly that guitar is too sexy.
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Squier Classic Vibes are perfect for pimping in my opinion!
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Can be either.
I've had quite a number of cheap guitars that I've 'polished'. Almost all have moved on because they were in some way flawed, not intolerably, but enough that I never played them over my good guitars.
Two remian - an RG7321 that with suitable alterations I have zero problem with and enjoy playing. However, I've played an RG321 and it was horrible. Read into that what you will. The other is an epi LP goldtop. More flawed than the Ibby, but better than any other Epi I've played and does for a guitar to have around in E.
I dont recommend epi in general though.
Best brand, on average, for upgrading, IMO, is dean. I didnt have very good luck with that personally, I got a cr@p one and a great one that I didnt agree with the feel of, but I've played several other upgraded deans that were great.
Followed by ibanez.
As always, due to variability, play the guitar youre going to buy.
Kinda missing the point.... It is take your pick time.
IMHO..
All bets are off at this price point as 90% of any "major" premier brands products are probably going to be made in the same factory /production line when subcontracted to Indonesia or Korea...
Oh, you mean just to pretty up. Okey dokey. Never been interested in that.
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I pimped the hell out of a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster.
I'm also very tempted to pimp out a cheap hollow body.
I did one some time ago and sold it.
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/5273/phpdlulredeanpsychobill.jpg)
List of mods:
plugged the volume and tone knob holes;
single master volume in the lower horn;
Painted it lime gold;
installed sound posts;
pinned the bridge base;
chrome roll-o-matic bridge;
chrome Grover Super Rotomatics;
replaced B700 for a chrome B60 Bigsby;
Black GFS Hot Nashville pickups in raised rings;
graphite nut.
I think that was it.
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Squier Classic Vibes are perfect for pimping in my opinion!
I've been looking at those Tele's...
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Squier Classic Vibes are perfect for pimping in my opinion!
+1
I think i'll be turning my Tele into an esquire preeeeetty soon...
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Shamelessly showing off:
Link to my modded Classic Vibe: http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17525.0 (http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17525.0)
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Columbus Series 2 Telecaster copy (1970s Japanese I think) with a broken neck (picked up for £18.).
I've fixed the neck with some decent filler (it wasn't snapped but it looked like it was going to split down the middle if I upgraded the strings.
Due to a lack of funds I need to put it to the side.
Things that need doing:
Good tuners
New bridge
New pots
New knobs
Pickup rewind
Possible fret job
It is a nice playing guitar and, at its horrible condition upon purchase, I would have put it on par with a pacifica or a midrange squire.
Hopefully my mods will make it comparable to a modern Mexican or even Japanese Fender model at the very least.
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Oh, well I still have an anonymous RG model in the garage, a Dean Baby V and I suppose my RG08LTD but I just love it.
I'd love to buy a Stratocaster and pimp that.
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I still want to get a cheap strat at some point, for Yngwie-ing.
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I have a Richwood Explorer that cost me 105 quid off of Ebay. I replaced all the metalwork, electrics and pickups (Warpig & MQ), and now it sounds great. I also picked up a Raven Park West PRS Hollowbody clone which I did the same thing to (except this one got a set of AII Mules), and again it worked out great.
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Fenix are good and cheap and ideal for pimping. They're well built and they weigh an absolute tonne.
I had a nasty Vantage which I hollowed out into a thinline strat. A squire got turned into a cigar box guitar and I still have an old Ibanez Firebird clone which I'm 50/50 on whether to do up myself or just pass it on.
Got various other guitar fiddly bits in the shed, necks I've reshapped, bodies in various stages of slow death etc.
Depends what you're trying to do to it, are you just going to mod it gentle or are you thinking of breaking out a router and a drill? If it's just for an experiment/learning then the cheaper the better as there's more things to fix.
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I have a Richwood Explorer that cost me 105 quid off of Ebay.
Co-incidentally, I have a Richwood Double Cut that I got from eBay. I've actually de-pimped it by removing the VHIIs that it came with (they are destined for a Kawai!), and I'll try to sell it on shortly. With the VHIIs installed it was a great playing and incredible sounding guitar - I really was surprised and tempted to keep it (except I would have been shot). It was a match for some of the far-more-expensive guitars loitering around my music room. Apparently, it was Korean made, so I guess that might explain the basic quality.
Since de-pimping it, I've still been impressed with the quality and playability of the basic guitar. Properly set up with a great low action, no buzz and a decent easy-to-play neck. It's a bit bling with the gold hardware and all the inlays, but amazing for the money!
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Im looking for a cheap Squier Strat to do what Sonny Landreth has done to his. Drop a Tele bridge and pickup in, and set it up for slide.
Mind you I do some pretty drastic things to Teles anyway (see avatar)
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a year ago i bought two cheap ibbies, the cheapest being an RGR321. swapped pickups with a set of Pigs, changed circuitry and nut. and now it sounds great. and it's the kind of axe i can use live without too many problems... all for a starting price of 270€! (plus more than that to modify it...)
and it's very beautiful.
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Shamelessly showing off:
Link to my modded Classic Vibe: http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17525.0 (http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17525.0)
ooohhh i REALLY like that!!!