Epiphone SG Junior - Revisted

The Epiphone SG Junior is up and running, after finding all the necessary missing screws and what not.

It Plays…The God’s of Guitar Music at work again.

I twinked the neck, after years of no strings and neglect, it needed it, Truss Rod Stuff..

I have yet to set the intonation on it, my son is still playing around with it.  Jake ended up filing the frets, (he’s quite good at that, go figure) New input Jack, you don’t want to know that story.

I am thinking of adding magnets (Stewart MacDonald) to spice it up the generic pickup and a monster is born.  A side note to magnets, you know all those old hard drives that you are not sure what to do with that came out of old junk computers.. there are two powerful magnets buried within those bad boys.  I just gutted about 8 hard drives that were laying around and am going to start the process of testing those out. Stay tuned…

Remember, one man’s junk is another man’s gold.. I am that other man.

Squire P Bass - Holds a precious gift

Off the wall and out of the box guitar modifications always present a challenge. This latest one really proved to get my artistic juices flowing.

My son’s friend Kyle (A Bass Player) presented this latest challenge, his grandfather had passed away and left him with an old Zippo lighter a gift that he treasures and is quite nostalgic to him.

Kyle wanted it mounted in his Squire P Bass, we brainstormed together and thought of different ways to display his grandfather’s gift.

Originally the idea was to rout a small pocket in the body and make a plexi-glass cover.  We just couldn’t find the right spot.

After 1/2 an hour of “What about here? What about this?” it was if grandpa slapped us in the head with a golden 2 x 4.  The Guitar Gods up there working their magic I suppose.

I turned to Kyle and said “What about turning the Zippo sideways, just below the neck, make it look like a small humbucking pick?  We both agreed - “Cool”  That was working with and listening to the customer.  Now it was time to make the dream a reality.

I started by making the cut out in the pick guard for the Zippo/Humbucker, using a scribe to outline the

Zippo, I drilled small holes for my coping saw.  After making the cut out in the pick guard, I reinstalled it on the body of the Squire P Bass, so that I could scribe the outline for the body rout.

Using my router and a straight flute bit, I won’t bore you with the small details, like removing the neck and cutting the wire’s..etc..etc..

Rout was made, and I glued the Zippo/Humbucker in with “Duco Cement”

Good Stuff - Started putting it back to gether, getting to the bridge, yeap, that came off too.  I noticed the screws were a sloppy fit.

(Some Dowel Rods and Glue) Sloppy no more.

Needless to say, Kyle was ecstatic about the results.

Moral of the story - no matter how much you think you know everything, and us guitar tech’s often think we do, listen to the customer’s wishes, and something will come of it when you analyze what is wanted and what needs to happen to get it done.

Epiphone SG Junior after Curfew

My son came home a few minutes after curfew, do we ground him? Any normal parent would, but wow..he walked in with is 10.00 curfew breaker… an Black Epiphone SG Junior in need of repair.

The input jack was ripped out, etc..etc..etc… it looked like Cat Scratch Fever all over again from way back.  But it had a gig bag, with parts ta boot! A gig bag that I believe it never laid rest in.

I started out tightening loose screws, while inspecting this after curfew special guitar.  I tightened the neck screws, 4 screw bolt on.  You can only imagine how trashed the jack was and it has been replaced, looked like a tin roof, with plenty of cat action and no rain to wash away the stain.

I did not like the standard tuners, so I went into my arsenal and replaced them with a pair of Grizzly 3 to a side tuners.  (They may be Gotah Tuners, but..I am not sure, the package and directions have since hit the recycle bin)  The P-90 pickups had been quite abused in it’s previous life, that’s life before Bucks Guitar Modifications.

I found two stripped out pole pieces in the P-90 Dog Ear Pick Up, I JB Welded the hole and re-tapped them.  My son was in charge of the re-wiring of the input jack, god almighty at six foot 4 and not wanting to play for the Chicago Bears, he best find a niche.. I am getting him to follow in my footsteps, other than playing football, as my wife would wish a box seat at Soldiers Field.. not happening sweetie pie.. His response to me..

“I gotta start something pops, before you get to senile to teach me.. ”

Story will continue as the Epiphone SG Junior after Curfew is still on the bench.

Fender Squire Bullit

A lesson is approaching here in free thinking, so take off those thinking caps, and find your creative juices..

A friend of mine Jack Lukas from Eleven Eleven - now rehearsing in Chicago brought me a Squire Bullit, with a metal pick guard two single coils disguised as Humbuckers to have a little work done.

He wanted a tremolo arm to be installed, a single coil pickup in the neck position and a a Humbucker in the bridge… impossible?

The Squire body is thinner than a strat, (tremolo was going to be a challenge.) I started figuring and thought to myself, no way.

He told me to go for it.

I cut the tremolo to fit the paper thin body of the Squire Bullit, I placed a Jackon Humbucker in the body, a Jackson Single Coil Pickup in the neck.  I did end up having to call Jackson Tech Support, I wired a Jackson 5 way switch in the mix and walla, a monster was born.

Every time Jack plays the Squire Bullit with the modifications, people ask.. what is that?

I modified the tremolo block to fit the thin body of the Squire Bullit, it does have the Stratocaster Style tuners and stays in tune.  The five way switch gives it a very unique sound.  Catch him live and see what I am talking about.

Eleven Eleven out of Chicago

Junk Guitars & Garage Sales

Garage Sale Specials & Junk Guitars - buy those old junk guitars, use them for parts, its amazing what you will find.

New vintage pickups are pickups that are faded and sweet sounding.  Check out Lindy Fralin and his pickups.  You will see what I am talking about.

Let nature take it’s course and reap the benefits, if you can find some old DeArmond pickups, OMG! Change the caps in the tone circuit, you can’t make a mistake.  It’s all personally what sounds good to you.

Stay tuned for my re-vamp of a “10.00″… no..”15.00″ -”and my dad will work on your other guitars for free” deal that my son made one of his buddies for a Epiphone SG Junior - pictures will be taken

Caps on Guitar Circuits

Don’t be afraid to play, double valves, cut them in half “play” it is all what sounds good to you!

Remember Guitar Makers go middle of the road, IMO, they convince you that is what you want.

Be bold, find your own sound, let you, tell you, what you like.  There is no wrong or right, just what works for you.

Grizzly Telecaster Kits - Build it they will play

Grizzly Telecaster Kits -  yeah that’s me in all my glory there, after I put together my son’s Tele Kit we bought from Grizzly.

The standard kit is 129.00, and I have to say, pretty cool for the cash.  A lot of the pre-cut parts are just a hair off, but for an old guitar hacker like me, it’s okay, I like the challenge of making it work.

Remember in the back of your tune driven mind, you are making a 500.00 plus guitar for a fraction of the cost. It only takes minor tweaking, but you need the tools to do it, it’s not a paint by numbers thing.  You will feel like you are really building a guitar.  The instruction book is very helpful, if you can get past the man thing, and read the directions.  Don’t be afraid to think outside the box on this one.

The last kit that I bought, yeah, I forked out more to buy another one, gotta make mine better than the Gentle Giant that lives upstairs, it had a lot of flaws, something to really sink your teeth in.  A thinking man’s kit.

I had to shave the neck to fit, the pick guard needed some tweaking, the input jack hole not the right size, a hackers dream so to say,  where your creative juices find no bounds, stop bitching just dooo-it.  It’s your guitar, make it what you want to is how I approached it.

The string through bridge mount bridge is very cool, the pick ups are okay.  Add some magnets and walla, mega tele - Grizzly, call me, I’d be glad to help!

Don’t be afraid of this value, it will bring out the best in you, great kit for the thinking man.  They sell an abundance of tools to help on your quest to be a “guitar making god”

If your unsure and have some questions, feel free to email me, or if your interested in a custom made kit but don’t have the know how - email me.

buck at bucksguitarmodifications.com

Gibson Explorer and Jackson Humbuckers

Several years back, I received a challenge from a young heavy metal guitarist, Eric from a band local Chicago band called “Blizzard”, this was a black Gibson Explorer and he wanted two Jackson Humbuckers installed in it.

The problem being Jackson’s are larger than the original pickup (body route)! After several times of “I don’t think it will work”, I knuckled down and went to the task at hand.

My router was a blazing, and Gibson body wood was flying all over the basement. The idea finally came full circle.

Jackson pick ups are very cool, and their support staff was very helpful. With wiring and the like, I have since lost my contact with Jackson pickups. If anyone has one, do share. Well worth the search (Holy Grail Stuff)

I have done two guitars with Jackson pick ups and my clients loved them, they said “one of kind guitars” I will share more on the Bullit I modified later….

Gibson’s collection of unique, collector model guitars

Ibanez Roadstar Guitar

Here is an interesting story, being the guitar tech and looking for a new challenge, I visited
Guitar Center
to purchase a Floyd Rose Trem on sale for 99.00. Guess what?

I got to the store and they were all sold out. On my way out the door, I walked past two Ibanez Road Star Guitars for 159.00 each, they had a Floyd Style Trem (Pro Rocker), I played each one of them, no vibe, out of tune, bad…

I couldn’t be denied the Floyd, so I bought one anyhow, just to have the Trem to work on, and I did work on it. I recessed the Trem Route, so I could go up like Steve Vai.

A DiMarzio Pro 151 soon went in the bridge pickup, followed by a Jackson Single Coil in the neck spot.

A push pull pot and various toggles, it became “My Almost” favorite guitar in the Band - Future History

Epiphone Dot Guitar Modification

I purchased a Korean made Dot, it really was a nice guitar, yet it had somewhat of a blah tone to it.  I decided I would try putting in 2 Seymour Duncan Seth Lover Humbuckers.  Along with a Gotoh ABR Bridge and WALLA, I could say.. almost a 335.

I moved the selector switch and the volume pot, so I could do volume swells easier.!!

This is one of my favorite guitars to play.

Remember the sound that Eric Clapton had when he was with Cream? Sound was mostly a 335, regardless of what the media showed you!