Doing up a cheap guitar - waste of money?

KelvinS1965

Even better if you can do that work for yourself. I bought a new Tusq nut for my Epiphone LP as the original one (18 years old approx) was worn/cut too deep and rattled on open strings. In the end I asked the same guy who is refinishing my old JV Strat to fit it and set it all up; I would have paid for a fret job, but he insisted it didn't need it other than one slightly high fret which he sorted out. He also tweaked the new bridge I'd fitted (since the original one had sagged in the middle). It plays so much better now (and the sustain seems much longer than before too; probably the new bridge) and for only £30 it wasn't worth the risk of me risking making a mess of changing the nut.

I have since replaced all the electrics with a decent kit using CTS pots since soldering used to be part of my day job it didn't phase me. This has stopped all the crackles and pops due to the old worn switch.pots and jack socket. Perhaps placebo but I'm sure it sounds clearer too (I fitted 'orange drop' 0.022uf capacitors which may be a different value to the Epiphone originals but I can't decipher the rating on the old ones).

I have a friend's Gibson LP to compare it to and it's surprising how similar it plays, though his sounds brighter (I may change the pick ups for some Classic 57/57  Gibson ones).

All the above cost just over £100 on an 18 year old guitar that I think cost me about £280 when new. Maybe a new £380 guitar would play as well, but I'd be surprised. Even if I spend another £150 on pick ups I'm still only in new Epiphone territory in total money spent. Of course having owned it for so long I'm rather attached to it, so it's not really a question of finances; given what I spent earlier this year on MK speakers I could have bought a new Gibson, but I'm happy with what I've done upgrading the LP and my cheap Squier Telecaster too.

The only fly in the ointment is that I'm currently off work with a trapped nerve in my back and the LP is too heavy to play at the moment. However, here is a gratuitous picture of it:

KungFuPro

Currently doing up my first partscaster, I think this thread planted a seed, only reason I kept it was the amount of money and time I initally spent on it. Gotoh tuners, Schaller bridge, can't remember the pickup make but they weren't cheap, 3 wire shielded single coils, 7.9k, 7.8k & 8.3k! hotter than most PAF humbuckers.

Neck was from a Hondo strat copy, made the body myself from a mahogany piece and 2 maple sides. All freehand, no templates which is probably why it never turned out that well. I originally installed a Schaller wraparound bridge but the action was terrible so I filled the holes and installed a hardtail (still didn't play well).

My luthiery skills have somewhat improved in the last few years, only a hobby but I've got quite good at it. Recently gave it a fret level and I've just routed out a cavity for a vintage trem, pretty confident it will play nicely once it's all set up.

Another reason I kept it was the custom paint job. I wanted Metallica's Creeping Death artwork but the guy said it would cost £500  (hard part is making all the templates for airbrushing). As he was already halfway through a job for an exhibition (and had all the templates made up) he said he'd do the same design if he could use my guitar as part of the exhibition too, in the end I paid £60. It doesn't photograph very well but it has a metallic blue layer which 'moves' depending on where the light hits it, pretty cool effect under the right lighting.

Still not happy with the botched job I done doweling the wraparound holes (hey, it was 16 years ago), I thought about installing a floyd rose which would cover the left black circle but it would mean more work at the nut.

KungFuPro

Don't want to take any customers away from Petebobkat business, but I would recommend any guitarist to buy a few beaters from ebay, gumtree, carboots, etc... and practise stuff like setting them up, etc... if it goes wrong you can always bin it then.

It's good fun but also addictive (Edit:: and a gateway to making your own guitars, I missed that out!). Last year I made a tele template for a one-piece mahogany blank, tested it on a pine/walnut strip blank I quickly knocked out and it turned out to be a really nice player. Not a looker but it has great sustain, a nice weight and feels great to play, the mahogany blank will be put to better use once I finish my iroko/poplar/walnut pointy.

KelvinS1965

I finally got round to re-wiring my cheap Affinity Telecaster tonight; I already had the new Fender pots and TBX tone kit, so it was just a matter of looking up the diagram on line then swapping it out. I had to open out the holes in the control plate for the slightly larger pot shafts, but it was a straight forward enough job.

The crackles from the volume control have gone and it's smoother and easier to control too. The TBX tone control seems to add some extra variation too, so that was worth whatever I paid many years ago (it was intended for my Strat, but I've decided to leave that as close to standard as I can). I'm going to add a 4 way switch next (and replace some other wiring I spotted with proper screened cable too) to add the option of both pick ups in series (as well as the standard parallel option).

Non of these mods are very expensive (especially as I've DIY'd) but I think they've been worthwhile even on a cheap guitar. I confess I did fit a set of Fender original vintage pick ups to it about 8 years ago, which basically cost as much again as the guitar, but even so it only owes me around £220.

KungFuPro

Had a similar problem myself on the partscaster I'm doing up, the old pots were 7mm holes, newer pots I bought are 10mm wide, didn't even think to check the diameter. Also, the old pickup selector switch was an odd ~33mm between mounting holes, I had to file into one of the old screw holes to make the new one fit. A bit messy, but not noticeable when it's on the bridge pickup.
                                                                               


                                                                                 

I mistakenly wired up my humbuckers on my homemade tele so the middle position is out of phase, not a proper magnet switch like a Peter Green mod, but it does give a great quacky sound like a half-cocked wah pedal. I rarely use the middle position anyway and with a coil tapping switch it gives a really different sound, like a wah pedal pressed fully down.
                                                                                 

Around 4.30 in this vid you can hear the sound I'm on about

hyperfish

Very talented playing there and great tones throughout.

KungFuPro

Thanks man, positive feedback is always encouraging. Seen this video of Gary Moore the other day,
                                That's the kind of playing I'm aspiring to. Hi-gain or clean, both sound amazing. Love that rhythm/lead jamming style. Surprised to see jazz comping, that's something I'm trying to learn at the moment.

JohnS37

I have had thirty or forty guitars over the years, including vintage 60s Gibsons and Fenders, and the  nicest players have been cheap ones that were professionally set up.  So my advice is to either keep the LP and have it set up, or buy another cheap guitar, maybe a 335 copy or whatever you fancy, and spend your money on getting that set up.  A good valve amp helps too!

Kailash

there were a few threads on people that had done guitars up

My DIY Guitar Project

there was another longer one iirc, if you have a dig around

JohnS37

I have worked on quite a few 'bargain' cheap guitars over the years.  I still have several of them, including the two pictured here.  The one on the left was the cheapest of all - £4.32 off eBay!  I did a lot of work on it and didn't spend a single penny!  It staqrted as a home-made effort that I bought on eBay from someone local, so no carriage charge.  It looked like a P-Bass body with a Strat neck, and Epiphone humbuckers.  The body weighed a ton, and had already had some weight taken out (a circle cut out at the bottom, which looks quite good), so I routed out a chamber along the top side and glued a thin plywood plate over the hole, painting the whole thing over (left-over spray car paint).

The electrics had been wired with 2.5m2 T&E mains house-wiring cable!  I replaced this with normal wire.  The pickups are severely microphonic, but I love the echoey sound this produces.  I coud fill them with wax, but it has such a great sound I won't ever do that.

The other is my 5-string bass, which started out as a loaded 4-string bass body with no neck.  I bought a cheap (6 string) strat neck and converted it.  The scale is a bit short, and it's not the most comfrtable layer, but amazingly it records really well DI.

There's a strange satisfaction in doing this stuff, especially if the result is good - woud definitely recommend giving it a try!