Thinline T-Style P90 - Time to make it a player!

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Placeholder - pics and first impressions to follow. Sorry to be a tease...

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  • Hurry up, it's almost been an hour!!!
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  • MegiiMegii Frets: 1670
    :-w
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  • MegiiMegii Frets: 1670
    :!!
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  • MegiiMegii Frets: 1670
    :-\"
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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    edited February 2015
    Right, here we go. Sorry guys, I had a lesson.

    First impressions are good, but it's not without it's issues. Here are a couple of pics to start:

    Unboxing

    image

    Unboxed

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    It's been used, certainly, but it's in good condition finish-wise. There a very light scratch on the top, but it'll probably polish out and I can't photograph it anyway. The neck's been off it though. Know how I can tell?

    image

    I dunno what tool was used to remove the neck screws, but I'm going to guess it was a hammer, or maybe an angle grinder. It wasn't a fucking screwdriver, that's for sure. 

    Job 1 - Replace the screws and see why the neck was taken off in the first place.

    It needs a set up too, the nut especially needs attention. I've got some bone nuts for strat necks so I'll see if one of those will fit before I buy anything else. It's struggling to hold tune but I'm going to give the strings time to stretch before I think about replacing the tuners. I've got a set that came off a Squier neck lying round so I'll try those first, but I'll probably end up buying new at some point. 

    The Wilkinson pups actually sound pretty good, and it's not noisy at all. I'm not sure about the cream covers, so I need to think about swapping either the covers or the pups.

    There's a big lump of wood running through the middle that is visible through the f-holes, and it's only partially painted and is probably another reason why it's b-stock. I want to take care of it, and the best way I think will be to mask off the guitar and spray matt black through the f-holes with a rattle can. The centre block also means I can seriously think about fitting a Bigsby, although that would leave the through-body string holes visible and unused. Still thinking about that one.

    For the £80 it cost me after I'd used my vouchers I can't complain, but there's work to do to bring it up to standard. I'll get it set up as best I can over the next couple of days and reassess. 



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  • enteeentee Frets: 93
    that's a pretty guitar mate - looked at this myself when the challenge was first announced.  looking forward to seeing how it goes...
    Vox 24, Variax 700, Epiphone Dot Studio (Cats Whiskers pups, custom inlay, custom pickguard), Gretsch 5238T (P90s/B3), Gibson Les Paul Zoot (rainbow), Gretsch 5135 PS, 'Graick' G2312TVR, BarileleBo (electric baritone ukulele G6199).
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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    It does look pretty, you're right there mate. Here's a couple more pics, I really like the back and the abalone fret markers:

    imageimage


    And here's inside the f-hole and where the action is currently sitting:

    imageimage

    It'll come good and be a player though.

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  • MegiiMegii Frets: 1670
    Cheers for the pics Hobbio - the rosewood fingerboard looks like decent wood, and actually the body wood too. I was trying to see how many pieces make up the body (i.e. at the back) and it looks like it might even be just 2 to me? I can't decide if I'd want to change the cream pickup covers or not myself - might look a bit too dark with black, on the other hand, it might be really classy looking. The action is easily fixed of course. Shame about the limb bolts - I actually suspect it was just some numbskull pissing about, and there was no need to remove the neck at all. Easily sorted for a couple of quid though, and really a lot of guitar for £80 surely. Do you detect much semi-acoustic character to the tone?
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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    I think if I change the covers I'll go for chrome rather than black, as I agree it'll probably look too dark. I think the body is 2 piece, but to be honest I didn't examine it that closely!

    It sounds every bit as good unplugged as my Epi 339. For the money I paid it's a good 'un, and I bought it fully expecting to have to spend some time on the set up. 

    The neck screws being chewed like that is irritating, but it'll prompt me to order a set (and a switch!) for the StaggCaster at the same time so I might actually get that project completed too :D

    I'm tempted to get a new neck plate engraved or etched with something to commemorate the challenge, and that headstock might yet end up getting reshaped, veneered and dyed to match the body too. It's a modding challenge, after all!

    And it'll take a Bigsby, or at least a cheap knock off copy. I've read here recently that the copies are pretty good, have a longer string post and the lo-cost option sort of suits the theme of the thread. This is very much a maybe though.

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  • MegiiMegii Frets: 1670
    Chrome pickup covers - yes, absolutely! why didn't I think of that, like it. The headstock mod could be cool also. I'm not convinced by the Bigsby idea - might be a tricky one, given the bridge unit that is currently fitted? But I could be wrong... :D
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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    Yeah, the Bigsby is very much up in the air mate but I've had GAS for a Bigsby-equipped tele ever since my failed attempt to buy a Squier Cabronita.

    I'll probably end up fitting one to my other tele project instead to be honest.

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  • Looking forward to seeing how this progresses , I fancied picking one of these up myself and giving it a few mods
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  • This looks a beauty, @hobbio :) You must promise to do some sound clips when it's all sorted!
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  • I fell in love with this the first time I ever saw it's face! She's gorgeous. I really am wondering. How do you improve it? It's a bute.
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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    edited February 2015
    So, I've had a chance to reassess the guitar now and I've identified the main issues that I need to fix to get it playing properly. I'll address these before I consider any mods.

    1 - There's a buzz on the high e that's there whether or not the string is fretted.

    2 - There's a few high frets, or at least high spots on some frets.

    3 - The nut needs attention.

    The first thing I'll do is get a set of my usual D'Addario 10's on it and see if the e string buzz is due to a shit string. If that doesn't fix it then the problem is either in the frets, the nut or the break angle from the nut to the tuner. Even with a string tree it doesn't seem right to me, so I might see if a shorter spacer helps here.

    I'm debating whether to do a full fret job on it or just knock back the high frets. There's only a couple that my rocker has highlighted, and they're not too bad really, but the fact that I'm finding the odd high spot on an otherwise fine fret means I'm probably better off just levelling the lot of them. I've got the tools to do it, so I may as well use them. I've got to do a fret job on my StaggCaster project too so I'll do them both at the same time.

    I want to replace the nut, and I have some pre-slotted bone strat nuts to hand so if one of those fits I'll do it. I don't have proper nut files though, just a cheapo multi tool for making minor adjustments, so I'll play that one by ear. I've never replaced a nut before!

    Once I've got it set up right and playing properly I'll decide exactly what mods I'm going to make. I'll warn you all now that this project will be quite a slow burner!

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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    Oh, and I think it's a 3 piece back too.

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  • Sounds like you got a bit of work on your hands there. I'm sure it'll be awesome once you got the frets levelled etc. Are you changing that beautiful finish?
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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    @JudasVigilante I think it would be a crime to refinish it :)

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  • @hobbio Me too. Is it as good in real life as it is in the photos lead one to believe? Looks gorgeous to me.
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  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    It's nicer in the flesh than in my pics mate.

    Just a quick update, I want to get on this (and my kit build!) but my house is currently in the process of being completely rewired so there's literally nowhere to work on it that isn't full of things already.

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