At the repairers




I took my acoustic to the repairers yesterday.

The decision was to leave the classical with it's "battle scar" as the colour is largely in the tint of the laquer on the front and the wood beneath is very pale, he was concerned that trying to patch it will just leave it looking worse and at best simply a noticeable fix of it. Now it's been there a week or so to be honest it is less bothering me than it did at first. Anyway he is going to replace the tuners on it as they've been playing up a bit... still the old girl is about 33 this year so to be fair she's done bloody well.

Also he is fitting the replacement tuners to my PRS so that it has puka PRS locking tuners back on it. Excellent!

I also talked to him about my Peter Cook bass, on which the active electrics don't work, and my old home built "NunoStrat". I'll take them in next week for him to look at as well - although he makes his own instruments to order so last night I was pondering giving up on poor old NunoStrat - which can trace it's genus back about 30 years nearly now as it's never sounded right. Maybe I should ask him to make me a custom strat-a-like with the following spec...

Ash body - possibly in black, maybe blue... hmm Gillingham blue with the club crest on the champher... maybe not that'll decrease it's resale value too much... :-)
Maple neck - rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets - medium jumbo (a la Gibson), a flat radius, at least 10" possibly 12"... maybe a conical graduated one.
Locking tuners
Modern 2 point fulrum trem, either the current Fender one or a suitable type from Wilkinson or similar.
Pickups.. Hmm now, either two full size humbuckers, poss Semour Duncans with a single coil in the mid pos... or maybe single coil sized humbuckers like those used by Dave Murray lately... esp if they can be coil taped for more standard Strat sounds. Standard vol and two tone layout - a la modern practice, i.e. tone on the bridge p/up not bypassed.
Schaller strap locks. All h/w chrome

Watch this space...

Photos show the guitars mentioned, the classical is on the right beside my Yamaha LL11, the Peter Cook bass sits with it's 6 string sibling and NunoStrat is shown in it's current guize with Swineshead pickups and stupid 12s when I thought I'd get into down tuned metal...

Comments

  1. Candy's daily Dandy16 April 2009 at 17:56

    Those are some nice git-tars you got there...

    I am having the best time watching my son play his Fender Strat. He has had 5 lessons now and I cannot believe the music he is making. By that I mean the sounds of the chords he is playing and learning.
    I have also learned that boys love their Guitars with a fierce passion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater16 April 2009 at 21:08

    Who's Peter Cook? Who's Dave Murray? Is the Nuno guitar in reference to Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme? Probably not.

    Wow. Thought I knew a lot about music, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Furtheron17 April 2009 at 08:35

    @Dr Ken - Peter Cook was a luthier (guitar builder) based in West London in the 1970s and 80s, he also had a shop that still exists although Peter long since departed from the improverished life of the music industry.

    Dave Murray - lead guitarist with Iron Maiden.

    The Nuno guitar is a ref to Nuno Bettencourt - well spotted. However the guitar predates him, originally my inspiration was Allan Holdsworth about the time he was in UK when he used a modified Strat with two humbuckers. Since it has an open wood finish, i.e. the neck is simply oil and polish which was like Nuno's similar two humbucker fitted guitar when I refinished the body with the stain it now has I named it the NunoStrat... no one has got that one so quickly before... you are a genius sir.

    @Candy - oh yes we love our guitars with a passion others simply don't understand.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JohnJayJay17 April 2009 at 09:44

    Looking at your photos of various guitars, I am reminded I STILL lust for the old Ibanez MC940(?) fretless bass from the early 80s. Sigh. Also, I am impressed that you would dare BBQ on your fair isle, as I would think rain is ALWAYS a possibility!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Aunt Jackie20 April 2009 at 03:04

    Nice collection you have going on... Richie is working on his, he has a 74 Gibson SG, a Stratocaster (Hwy 1), A pretty nice PRS, and a sweet acoustic.

    too lazy to switch accounts... Aunt Jackie

    ReplyDelete

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