When To Leave Things Alone

Some guitars just have that personality that you cannot help but notice.  This Olympic White MIM Fender Strat sat at the Guitar Center in Covina probably as the least noticed of all the used electrics.  It was missing two knobs, the fretboard was filthy and worn and the pickguard was dirty and scratched.  On the other side of that equation, people pay top dollar for relic'd strats so why was this only selling for $225?

When I plugged it in, I knew it had a strong sound.  Played "State of Love and Grace" and it roared.  Played "Prayer of The Refugee" and the fretboard is fast.  Did I need another strat? No.  Did I need "this" strat? Yes.  And it came in Olympic White.
When I finally got it after a week hold (California State Law), I was on the fence whether to clean it up and replace the missing volume and tone knobs with matching ones.  After a day of deliberation, I finally decided to leave it alone with the exception of adding a couple mismatching knobs.  Now, the guitar has such a distinct personality that it easily is my favorite MIM strat.  Sometimes, leaving things alone is the best action to take.

EMG HZ Pickups

I bought the used Fender Jaguar bass for my son from CL and it looked relatively new.  The protective plastic on the pick guard had not been removed and for $275, it was what I was looking for.  However, within a week, he realized that his Shecter bass -- which had active EMG pickups sounded way better across the entire range.  We ended up going to Guitar Center auditioning various pickups and EMG is definitely the sound he was looking for.  Only problem is the Jaguar is not built for active pickups so the choices were limited at best.

He eventually settled for the EMG HZ passive pickups for PJ bass configuration which Amazon carried for about $100.  The actual swapout only took about 30 minutes and did not require removal of the pickguard -- just the potentiometer plate which is on a separate chrome bezel.  The fit is perfect and the sound has the presence that the kid is looking for.

Still not sure what to do with the stock pickups (below).  They are typical of the electronics that are on guitars manufactured in the Far East -- fully functional but lack the gain and dynamic range of the EMGs.  This little exercise did reminds me of what I've always known about electric guitars -- the quality of the sound is only as good as the pickups installed.  Overall, EMGs are more than a third of what I paid for the instrument.

Fender Jaguar Blacktop

This is one of two guitars I bought at Best Buy when they were closing out their music department.  I've seen this Fender Blacktop Jaguar with 2 humbucker pickups at the Duarte store hanging up on the wall (about 10 feet above ground) for the past couple years.  I didn't even bother trying to play it because the $499 tag was just a lot more than what I was willing to pay for an HH Jaguar.  Until last week, when I visited the store three times to look at what deals were available.  I ended up paying half the street price which is easily still a hundred below typical asking prices on Craigslist.

This is also my first black guitar and it was definitely a challenge photographing it as dust, smudges and fingerprints show up really nice.  The HH combination almost makes it sound non-Fender like.  Perfect for long solos or overdriven power chords, this Jag has everything but twang -- which is just fine.  I have a whole wall of twangy axes if that's what I wanted.

The shorter 24-inch scale makes chord transitions in the first five fret super fast.  The downside is solos at 15 and above are not as clean because of the closer fretwires.  The other feature I like about this is the fixed bridge -- not a big tremolo fan so this suits me just fine.  The guitar came setup with 9 and it feels a bit light given the shorter scale as well.  I'll leave it with the factory strings until I decided to change them -- at which, I will try the next higher gauge.

The guitar is made in Mexico but has all the quality features of Japanese Jags.  I played it 2 hours the first night I took it home and the light strings and lighter weight body effectively eliminated any fatique from playing the instrument.  Overall, the guitar is definitely worth the price I paid for it.

Representing Guitar Producing Nations

I finally hung all my red guitars in the studio and only after putting them up, did I realize that each one of them is made in a different country.  From left to right: Yamaha SC300T (Taiwan), Fender Mustang Pawn Shop Special (Mexico), Italia Maranello (South Korea), Peavey Falcon (USA).  One red short of a flush.  What's missing?  A red Japanese-made guitar.

1993 Fender Precision Bass (Post-Restoration)

Not much to say other than this bass had the good bones that I had originally suspected.  Fully functional and tuned.  About the only thing I wasn't able to fix cosmetically was the broken off pickup housing.  The epoxy I used to put it back together is holding but there is a small crack (see last photo collage, upper left) that show.  The pickup works perfectly.  Also, the tone pot is a bit noisy so if and when I replace that, I might upgrade the pickups as well.  We'll see.

This bass plays just fine.  Not as perfect as one made in Corona, California but it meets my needs.  It had stayed in tune after a day of playing and plugged in, it has enough of the mid-range I'm looking for.  Also, at some point, I might try flat-wound strings but that'll be a while.

1993 Fender Precision Bass (Pre-Restoration)

This is a Fender P-Bass that is made in Korea (denoted by the serial number beginning with "CN").  I got this bass from some kid who advertised on Craigslist and it did not come with any strings.  From my internet research, the 3 in the serial number denotes the date of manufacture, around 1993 that is -- which puts this guitar at 20 years old.

It comes with Schaller tuners on the matte finish headstock.  The bass was in a pretty ratty condition as evidenced in the photos below.  But I recognized that this bass has some pretty good bones and most of the stuff are cosmetic in nature that I can fix up with some simple cleaning.

What's a used guitar without a sticker right?  The pickguard is in excellent shape and the oxidized screws give it some character.  During the restoration process, I will keep the original screws but definitely will remove the sticker.  The pickup (closest to neck) housing is cracked and busted so I needed to work some magic with epoxy to piece it back together.

The bridge is in good shape with no rust, just dust.  This was the fairly easy to clean but I had to undo the five screws that hold it so I can check the grounding wire.  Obviously, the springs to preload the string saddles are in good condition as well.

Underneath the volume and tone knobs were small pieces of the original pickguard plastic covering.  I had to clean remove the pots and output jack anyway so I can wash the pickguard thoroughly.  I some point, I will need to replace the pots, as the volume one has some noise when turning it up or down.

There are hardly any deep scratches on this 20-year old cream body.  In fact, after cleaning it, the body is somewhat flawless.  Again, I had to look past all this when I decided to buy the guitar.  And finally, to really give it an aged look, I buffed the body with chrome polish -- which easily removed these surface-only scratches.

Next post...photos of the restored instrument.

The Art of Relic (Fender 50s Reissue Stratocaster)

The more I think about the concept of relic-ing a new guitar, the more I find human behavior strange -- including mine.  Why are we obsessed with the vintage, the old and worn?  Is it because anything that is worn has a more personal feel to it?  Warmth, a personal connection to some past.  Whereas the new feels cold and detached.  That used guitar in the pawn shop may have played thousands of songs. If only there was a way to audition a used instrument before I buy it.  This 50s Reissue Fender Stratocaster did not have much of a history when I bought it off some kid in La Puente.  One small nick in the sunburst body is all.  The fretboard was perfect.  Too perfect for my taste.

Enter the Art of Relic.  For about a week now, I have vowed to make this guitar worthy of its 50s pedigree.  I haven't put it in a case, hang it nor even cared where I set it down.  Next to the fireplace, on the kitchen counter, on top of the pile on the desk.  Call it accelerated aging.  Bumped it a few times.  Didn't care.  But most importantly, I had played it every day for the entire time.  I even put the original pickguard back, the one with a couple small screw holes the previous owner had done, the one I had temporarily replaced with a new pearloid one.

This guitar had also somewhat been a little more frustrating than most other Strats I've owned simply because the truss rod adjustment is at the neck heel.  I take pride in being able to setup my own guitars but the sweet spot on this one had proven elusive.  I've had to loosen the pickguard to get full access to the adjustment screw.

And finally, the finish on this Strat body is so durable, aging it will take a little more than I initially anticipated.  From the above picture, one can almost see the thick lacquer coat (see tremolo spring cavity photo).  So what seems like a 1-mm thick protective coat works really well.  I've bumped it against some sharp objects (screws, keys, etc) and all it got was some very minor scratches.  At the very least, the high-gloss finish is becoming more matte after a week's effort.

Three Fenders and A Talman

I used to have a couple paintings hanging on this wall in the studio but when I got the Lake Placid blue Tele, I decided that I have enough guitars to make a nice installation.  The 3 Fenders (from left to right) are my Telecaster, Stratocaster, Marauder with the Ibanez Talman and the recognizable Bigsby tremolo.

Sage Green and Aspen Green

There's the famous Seafoam Green -- also known as Surf Green but as these two guitars show, not all greens are the same.  Sage Green Metallic Fender Stratocaster on the left and Aspen Green Gretsch G5420T hollowbody right show the differences.  In person, the Sage Green strat is actually more subtle compared to the Lake Placid blue guitars I have.  Without adequate lighting, I mistake one for the other.  The Aspen Green hollowbody, however is a very mild finish, giving the hollowbody an illusion that it is even lighter than it actually is.  Which green?  All green.

Sage Green Fender Stratocaster

Not all green guitars are surf green.  This particular Fender Strat is a sage green metallic with a maple neck.  That combination of color + neck makes for one beautiful guitar.  I bought this one used off Craigslist and has a couple nicks and some fret wear -- which is exactly how a used guitar should be.  That way, I'm not too worried about getting is all scratched up and just leave it in the case most of the time.  Not this one, though.  From the serial number, it is a 2004 model made in Mexico.

60th Anniversary Fender Telecaster

I think a Fender guitar made in Mexico in the last 5 years is better than any Fender guitar made in the US 15 years ago.  This Lake Placid Blue Telecaster is proof that US-Mexican relations had been good in the area of collaborative guitar manufacturing.  Any blue guitar is worth looking at so when I saw this used 2011 Tele on Craigslist, I knew it would be a short courtship.  The neck plate on the back states the year of manufacture -- which is 60 years since the introduction of this Fender product in 1951.  Couple the Lake Placid Blue with a fast maple neck and I'm sold.

The third selling feature (of all Teles) is the fact that it doesn't have a tremolo bridge.  I hardly use the whammy bar on all my Strats and quite frankly, I find it visually cluttered.  The pearloid pickguard does add an air of elegance to this piece of functional sculpture.

Fender Modern Player Marauder

This is the second guitar I ever bought online. I saw a similar guitar but in black at the the Guitar Center in Rancho Cucamonga but they didn't have the Lake Placid Blue color that I was looking for.  Amazon.com to the rescue.  The guitar's main feature that I was interested in was the triple-bucker pickup (bridge) and the interesting combination of sounds I can get out of it.  The neck pickup is effectively a Jazzmaster pickup.

This guitar is made in China and the headstock is relatively simple.  A Fender label.  No model number.  The guitar shipped with a really decent setup. After all, any guitar purchased in the internet has that added burden of being playable off the box -- otherwise, the buyer will have this tendency to just send it back.

This in the only made in China guitar in my collection and it had earned its way to sit alongside my Americans, Japanese and Mexican axes.  The pearloid pickguard and the jazz bass knobs are definitely  nice touches and complement the Lake Placid Blue finish, which by the way is flawless.   Doing some research, the Marauder was initially attached to a Fender from the 60s and I suppose only time will tell if Fender continues this product line.

60th Anniversary Stratocaster

If there ever is an argument for getting a guitar for it's color, this is it.  This 2006 Fender Strat has a Blizzard Pearl finish as its top selling feature.  The other is that it is a 60th Diamond Anniversary guitar (1946-2006) as evidenced in the neck plate and a little "60" button at the back of the headstock.

This guitar, made in Mexico plays as good as any American Strat I have in my possession but I believe it had a bit of water damage when I got it (used, obviously).  I had to clean out the maple fretboard, which seems to have dried brown stains (coffee?) in some of the wood grain around the fretwire.  The tremolo bridge also has some rusting in it but that's what adds to the character of the guitar, right?

Burgundy Mist Stratocaster

This is the first electric guitar I ever got.  Back in 1997, I decided I wanted a Fender Stratocaster and Guitar Center had this beautiful American-made beauty in Burgundy Mist with matching painted headstock.  The paint has a bit of metallic feature as shown in the headstock logo below.  It had the other requirement I wanted, which was a maple neck. Maple necks just age into this really warm, soft, yellow tint after 15 years. This guitar doesn't get played outside the house for it is probably my most priced electric guitar.

As seen above, the finish on the neck is starting to peel from years of use.  I remember having to pay an extra $100 for this nice molded case (below) with a Fender headstock pressed on it.  At the time, this was the best guitar that I could afford and this one will probably get passed on to one of my kids or grandkids at some point.

Tom Delonge Stratocaster

This is the first Tom Delonge Stratocaster I got sometime in 2011.  As with most of my guitars lately, it was a Craigslist buy and is in mint condition.  The Delonge strat is identifiable by 3 obvious things -- a single volume knob, a single humbucker pickup (Seymour Duncan Invader) and an oversized 70s headstock.  The Delonge's come in a couple other colors and I'm definitely in the hunt for a blue one.  The SD Invader pickups really shred and is just excellent for fast rhythm runs.  The Tom Delonge nameplate in the back is also a nice touch.  Not sure about the age of the guitar but I'm guess this was made around 2001.

Seafoam Green Stratocaster

I built this hapa-haole-caster a while back.  The body came from a Tom Delonge Strat (from Craigslist, where else) in gorgeous seafoam green.  I kept the Seymour Duncan Invader pickup for the bridge but added two Tex-Mex single coils to make my very first HSS strat.  The oversized headstock is also very distinctive and I opted for the volume-only knob configuration.  The pearl pickguard was from Warmoth.  This is probably the one electric that gets the most play around the house. Original Delonge Strat was made in Mexico.