For the combined sum of £24, I have picked up a couple of guitars in need of some TLC from a charity shop.
Squire strat. Someone has put a bright red pickguard on it, but I guess at the time of doing so they messed up the electronics. At first there was no output at all. The output jack was shorting, which was an easy spot. I was delighted that this was such an easy fix, plugged in and then realised that I only had sound in switch positions 1 and 5. This was less of an easy fix. In the end I more or less rewired the whole guitar. The previous owner must have more or less guessed where the wires went! Out with the soldering iron and some spare wire, and 2 hours later I have a perfectly working strat.
I hate the red scratch plate - plus the screw holes do not all align, so even if I liked the colur a new one is needed. White would seem a bit boring, but what colour do you think would work with this?
It playes really well. A couple of scractes and dents, but genuine. A little bit of fret wear on the first 2 or 3 frets, but plenty of life left.
Next up is an Epi Les Paul Special. I think someone has had a go at relicing it, so it's not looking great. One of the pups is half fallen in. There are 2 saddles / saddle screws missing. I have fixed the pickup with some spare screws and a spare sping that I had lying around.
A whole new saddle seems a bit unnessary seeing as the only thing missing is a 2 of the screws and saddle pins. Is there anywhere that will sell me such a minor thing?
Not plugged the Epi in yet, but thankfully the wiring looks untouched!
Pics to follow
Comments
only joking mate nice score ,whenever i go past my charity shop its silver tvs with a 4ft back end for £30 or a settee with a kebab still stuffed down the side and numerous dodgy stains
I'm always on the look out for charity shop/car boot sales for cheap guitar gear. Please let us know how these two shape up after a bit of TLC.
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
Nice instrument for a learner or a very budget-challenged guitarist!
On to the Les Paul. I'm waiting for new saddle parts to fix this. Unless anyone has any bright ideas, I don't think that there is much I can do to fix or minimise the bad relicing attempt by its previous owner. Certainly it's not worth spending a huge amount of time doing so considering just how low budget a guitar it was to start with.
Since then I've seen a few but haven't bothered.
https://imgur.com/a/P1xcX0b
Here it is anyway, for anyone who is interested.
Pickup covers and control knobs ought to be off-white but there is no law preventing you from having black plastic parts.
The Sung-il vibrato is hampered by its skinny cast zinc sustain block. In the interests of tuning stability, most owners fasten the bridge down against the body.