UPDATE: Exploratory Surgery (MIJ Tat Content)

HarrySeven

This evening, I thought I’d take a look at the neck fracture on the tired MIJ Columbus LP which turned up last week...

After heating seized screws in order to remove the neck and machine heads, etc, I carefully teased apart/peeled away the cracked paint/fractured wood and found this:

https://i.imgur.com/5FPaQga.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XtaRus1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/SmPduk6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Rbit83k.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8wzGCJ9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Lxu3Eed.jpg

What isn’t necessarily evident from the photographs is the fact that as the wood was revealed, something else became apparent - at some point, it looks like someone fed oil down the truss rod cavity

The inevitable side effect is of course that the wood of the neck has become impregnated...  

robgilmo

I thought that was a stash long forgotten.

ICBM

HarrySeven said:

What isn’t necessarily evident from the photographs is the fact that as the wood was revealed, something else became apparent - at some point, it looks like someone fed oil down the truss rod cavity

The inevitable side effect is of course that the wood of the neck has become impregnated...  

That should make it more or less self-lighting, I would have thought.

HarrySeven

ICBM said:

That should make it more or less self-lighting, I would have thought.

Indeed.

I’d best not strike a match near it later then.

HarrySeven

@ICBM - self-conflagratory properties aside, I can’t see any way to satisfactorily resolve this, short of:

a. Forcibly removing the headstock along the current break, sanding off a length of finish and attempting the use of acetone (or similar) to remove as much of the impregnation as possible, or...

b. Remove the finish in order to ascertain where the impregnation (hopefully) peters out, then cut and scarf on a new headstock, or...

c. Binning it.

guitars4you

I think I've just found your secret supplier - Not facebook or e-bay - The local council tip ???????????

HarrySeven

guitars4you said:

I think I've just found your secret supplier - Not facebook or e-bay - The local council tip ???????????

Damn! Found out!

p90fool

Worst Kinder Surprise ever. 

Funkfingers

HarrySeven said:
Binning it.

Is that neck screwed on or glued in? Maybe, bin that half of it.

robgilmo

Brake cleaner, really, out of a spray bottle, that will completely strip the oil out of it and it dries instantly. I use it all the time at work and not just for cleaning brakes.

TTony

HarrySeven said:

I carefully 

Wise move.  You don’t want to risk damaging something like that.

impmann

Now, you know I enjoy tat like you. However some things are lines in the sand and Columbus Les Paul copies are one of them. These, when new, should have had the marketing strap line of “the sound of disappointment “.

Y’see, at the age of 14, I ‘invested’ every single penny I had in the world in such a guitar. It was black, shiny and was bought new from a little music shop in Eltham, South East London that stank gently of cigar smoke. So did everything you bought from it...

On my return home, firstly I couldn’t understand why no matter how hard I pressed the strings into the neck, certain notes just would not ring out. Also why it hummed incessantly when plugged into my amp and that the three way switch seemed to select ‘off, off, crackle’. Finally the stench from said instrument made sleeping with the window open a must when in it was placed in my bedroom - and my mother wouldn’t stand for it being left anywhere else.

So, dejected, I took said guitar back to the shop the following weekend on the bus. This consumed much of a Saturday. The owner of the shop was less than enthusiastic to see me and the guitar, telling me I’d “buggered it up” adjusting it and that it would cost me further funds I didn’t have for him to put it right.

So, back home it came. It sat in the corner of the shed for a week (nobody could bear the smell) and then I took it to my local music shop in Sidcup, dear old Wing Music. Barry, the mischievous old devil who ran the place examined it and declared it “a pile of shit only fit for the bin”. That’s when I started crying.

Barry realised what had happened and that I’d sunk every penny I didn’t have into something that was crap - so he offered me a deal. He’d take the crappy Columbus and give me an Antoria Les Paul Gold top he had, I could pay him the difference each month over the next six months. A gentleman’s agreement.

So I did. I paid it off in three months and kept that Antoria for years as it was a great guitar. I also know that Barry stamped on the neck of the Columbus to ensure nobody else endured the disappointment of ownership and slung it in a bin.

The moral (s) of this story: a great music ship isn’t just a place to consume gear. And the best shops know that just pulling the most money out of your wallet isn’t going to keep you as a customer. I spent £1000s in that shop before Barry sold up and then sadly died.
The other is, I wouldn’t have a Columbus Les Paul copy one the house if you paid me. I wonder if someone stamped on this one to put it out if another child’s misery and then someone ‘rescued’ it. And perhaps that would be the best place for it.

Funkfingers

impmann said:

... tat ... ‘rescued’ 

The Seven deadly sin.

Philly_Q

HarrySeven said:

What isn’t necessarily evident from the photographs is the fact that as the wood was revealed, something else became apparent - at some point, it looks like someone fed oil down the truss rod cavity

The inevitable side effect is of course that the wood of the neck has become impregnated...  

When do you think it will hatch?

OilCityPickups

impmann said:

Now, you know I enjoy tat like you. However some things are lines in the sand and Columbus Les Paul copies are one of them. These, when new, should have had the marketing strap line of “the sound of disappointment “.

Y’see, at the age of 14, I ‘invested’ every single penny I had in the world in such a guitar. It was black, shiny and was bought new from a little music shop in Eltham, South East London that stank gently of cigar smoke. So did everything you bought from it...

On my return home, firstly I couldn’t understand why no matter how hard I pressed the strings into the neck, certain notes just would not ring out. Also why it hummed incessantly when plugged into my amp and that the three way switch seemed to select ‘off, off, crackle’. Finally the stench from said instrument made sleeping with the window open a must when in it was placed in my bedroom - and my mother wouldn’t stand for it being left anywhere else.

So, dejected, I took said guitar back to the shop the following weekend on the bus. This consumed much of a Saturday. The owner of the shop was less than enthusiastic to see me and the guitar, telling me I’d “buggered it up” adjusting it and that it would cost me further funds I didn’t have for him to put it right.

So, back home it came. It sat in the corner of the shed for a week (nobody could bear the smell) and then I took it to my local music shop in Sidcup, dear old Wing Music. Barry, the mischievous old devil who ran the place examined it and declared it “a pile of shit only fit for the bin”. That’s when I started crying.

Barry realised what had happened and that I’d sunk every penny I didn’t have into something that was crap - so he offered me a deal. He’d take the crappy Columbus and give me an Antoria Les Paul Gold top he had, I could pay him the difference each month over the next six months. A gentleman’s agreement.

So I did. I paid it off in three months and kept that Antoria for years as it was a great guitar. I also know that Barry stamped on the neck of the Columbus to ensure nobody else endured the disappointment of ownership and slung it in a bin.

The moral (s) of this story: a great music ship isn’t just a place to consume gear. And the best shops know that just pulling the most money out of your wallet isn’t going to keep you as a customer. I spent £1000s in that shop before Barry sold up and then sadly died.
The other is, I wouldn’t have a Columbus Les Paul copy one the house if you paid me. I wonder if someone stamped on this one to put it out if another child’s misery and then someone ‘rescued’ it. And perhaps that would be the best place for it.

I had a (sunburst) Antoria LP as my first giggable guitar ... and I have fond memories of it. In fact wish I hadn't sold it (especially as I'd put DiMarzio Super Distortions in it). Like you, my memories of Columbus were less than happy: my mother had a Freeman's catalogue, and ordered a Columbus LP for me when I was about 14, along with a F.A.L amplifier. Both were such shite when they turned up that they were sent straight back!  Shortly after I pooled all my christmas and birthday money and bought the Antoria ... and shortly after that ... a JTM45

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:
F.A.L amplifier ... such shite ... sent straight back! 

Even Harry Seven draws the line at F.A.L. 

HarrySeven

Funkfingers said:

OilCityPickups said:
F.A.L amplifier ... such shite ... sent straight back! 

Even Harry Seven draws the line at F.A.L. 

Does he?!!

ICBM

HarrySeven said:

@ICBM - self-conflagratory properties aside, I can’t see any way to satisfactorily resolve this, short of:

a. Forcibly removing the headstock along the current break, sanding off a length of finish and attempting the use of acetone (or similar) to remove as much of the impregnation as possible, or...

b. Remove the finish in order to ascertain where the impregnation (hopefully) peters out, then cut and scarf on a new headstock, or...

c. Binning it.

c. ... at least the neck. Even by your optimistic standards and my love of salvaging cheap tat, this one really is just firewood.

I do actually quite like Columbuses (Columbi?), but even then I'd say only about half the ones I've come across are really economical or even sensible to make into properly playable and functional guitars.

OilCityPickups said:

Like you, my memories of Columbus were less than happy: my mother had a Freeman's catalogue, and ordered a Columbus LP for me when I was about 14, along with a F.A.L amplifier. Both were such shite when they turned up that they were sent straight back!

I was given a broken FAL Kestrel head a couple of years ago - to my surprise, it was not only easy to get working, it resisted all attempts to kill it by thrashing the living daylights out of it, and actually sounded very good with everything just turned up full - one sound only, but a fantastic glam-rock fuzztone. I sold it for a hundred quid...!

HarrySeven

ICBM said:

c. ... at least the neck. Even by your optimistic standards and my love of salvaging cheap tat, this one really is just firewood.

I do actually quite like Columbuses (Columbi?), but even then I'd say only about half the ones I've come across are really economical or even sensible to make into properly playable and functional guitars.

I was given a broken FAL Kestrel head a couple of years ago - to my surprise, it was not only easy to get working, it resisted all attempts to kill it by thrashing the living daylights out of it, and actually sounded very good with everything just turned up full - one sound only, but a fantastic glam-rock fuzztone. I sold it for a hundred quid...!

Yup - with you on the neck issue. So...a cheap MIJ neck is required!

Re. FAL - my first amp/guitar was a FAL Super Minstrel (10W SS combo with Tremolo) and a Kay K32 (natural finish, hardtail solid wood (pancake) Strat copy). They may still be about somewhere.

Jalapeno

HarrySeven said:

ICBM said:

c. ... at least the neck. Even by your optimistic standards and my love of salvaging cheap tat, this one really is just firewood.

I do actually quite like Columbuses (Columbi?), but even then I'd say only about half the ones I've come across are really economical or even sensible to make into properly playable and functional guitars.

I was given a broken FAL Kestrel head a couple of years ago - to my surprise, it was not only easy to get working, it resisted all attempts to kill it by thrashing the living daylights out of it, and actually sounded very good with everything just turned up full - one sound only, but a fantastic glam-rock fuzztone. I sold it for a hundred quid...!

Yup - with you on the neck issue. So...a cheap MIJ neck is required!

Re. FAL - my first amp/guitar was a FAL Super Minstrel (10W SS combo with Tremolo) and a Kay K32 (natural finish, hardtail solid wood (pancake) Strat copy). They may still be about somewhere.

Mine was a FAL 50w 4 channel PA (ex mate's disco !)

Jalapeno

Oh, and a steam cleaner might shift some of the oil