The Telecaster who wanted to be a Jazzmaster

guitarz.blogspot.com

Il like this Squier Telecaster hybridized with Fender Jazzmaster pickups and tremelo (plus a Mustang bridge), it's simple, honest, the previous holes and cavities have been left how they were, probably because aesthetics was not an issue. the tone pot has been replaced by the jack output, something I appreciate since I have little use for tone pot and favor front jack, much handier when you have the proper cable... I'd be curious to hear this one!

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Jim Davies' electrified 5-string acoustic

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Jim Davies, bassist with Small Machine writes:

I sometimes comment on the Guitar Blog and I thought I'd send in this - your comment on the Burns/Hayman guitar, "I've always liked acoustics that have obviously been electrified with pickups and control knobs on show for all to see" spurred me into photographing and videoing one of my own guitars for submission for your blog.

The attached photos are of an old acoustic that has been "modified" over the years by me, The original guitar was sunburst, made in Eastern Europe model with a white scratchplate, trapeze type tailpiece and no bridge (or strings). Over the years different paint finishes and hardware have been added to the guitar, including a pickup from a Japanese Telecaster copy (wired straight to a jack) and homemade bridge, scratchplate and soundholes. I keep it in an open-E tuning based on the "Keith Richards" open G, so it only needs 5 strings. The strings come out of the big bridge straight onto the wood - there is no saddle - which lends the guitar a sitar-type quality.

I made a YouTube video so that you can hear what it sounds like amplified and acoustically too.

I used to think that perhaps I had gone too far with the things I had done to the guitar, but a few years ago I found an unmodified version of the same guitar in a charity shop. I bought it, got it home, put new machine heads on and strung it with new strings and realised why I had gone to such lengths to change the original; it sounded awful! Attached also is a cameraphone photo of the two together [inset, above].

Regards
Jim Davies

Hey Jim, great stuff. Thanks for sharing it with us. I guess this is the same kind of do it yourself ethos as displayed by cigar box guitar builders. I'm reminded also of Seasick Steve, who besides playing his "3-string trance wonder" also often riffs upon a beaten-up old parlour guitar with a Teisco pickup screwed into the top - and it sounds fantastic.

Oh, and on an unrelated note, I'd just like to point out that yesterday we exceeded one million page hits - which is nice. Remember, there were no other guitar blogs when I started this one. I'm just pleased that so many people seem to like it, bearing in mind that I originally started it only so as to keep track with guitar-related items I'd found when surfing the web.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Squier Strat modded for stereo

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Wow, just look at this great confusion of pickups, knobs, switches and THREE output jacks! I'll let the eBay seller tell you about it:

Middle pick-up on Strat has been replaced by 2 slanted Fender pick-ups, one covers the 3 bass strings and one covers the 3 treble strings. Fuller sound as 6 coils cover 3 strings. [I think he means 6 "pole pieces" - GLW] The signals are then fed out through 2 separate volume controls to 2 jacks - one going to the left amp and one to the right giving a fantastic stereo sound. Each jack can of course, have its own effects foot pedal like reverb, chorus or octave box etc. Special offer - on one Fender Stratocaster Squier (as opposed to Mexican) - $745 + $45 shipping. Will build to your own specifications [...]

Normal Strat pick-up coming from 3rd jack.

This can be used for normal Strat playing with volume, tone and switching between the neck and bridge humbucker. Playing the 2 together is not a feature found on normal Strats as they are usually combined with the middle pick-up. You can of course have a third amp for surround sound.

Once you hear the amazing sound you'll never want to play a mono guitar again (unless it's a Martin). If you are not happy please send it back as we really don't want to sell it. The guitar has been modified to professional standards by the Guitar Guru of Toronto, who has finely tuned the action and fantastic sound.

Hey, I'm sure it works beautifully, and would be a great guitar for recording with. But all those switches look a bit much, and can you imagine try to play that at a gig with three cables coming out of it?

Thanks to Caleb who spotted this one on eBay.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

modified Eko 500 V4 Gold

guitarz.blogspot.com

Just another Italian vintage guitar you will say.
But look closer, this Eko 500 V4 Gold (or Champagne) has been upgraded from its regular 4 pickups to 5, with 5 knobs and 6 switches - enough to pilot a small plane (and you can see that this was done in Germany, since the modifier carefully indicated ein/aus on each switches to be sure that the player would not make a mistake).

I'm so used to read on forums about people putting new high-tech high-end pickups from revered brands (that cost the price of my last guitar) on deluxe guitars that I'm curious about what's behind this vintage upgrading: what did the central single coil pickup bring to this guitar?).

(BTW, for those you want to know, I tried my new old Musima Eterna on a good Marshall amp, it confirms that the clear sound is nice and rich and the distorted sound very blur, and the output level is twice the one of my Jaguar HH - that is probably related so I have to change this, have to figure how).

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Heavily Modified Unknown Guitar

Recently I asked my friend Philo what was his trick to play guitar with a bow, something I know he does frequently. It's been a few years since I met him and saw him on stage, so I forgot his "secret", and I understood when he sent me this picture and a detailed description.

So he rebuilt a guitar to make this hybrid: he carved a bridge inspired by cello's, just wider and shorter, raised the tail piece with a block of wood, changed the inclination of the neck, unfretted the fingerboard, moved the neck pickup and put a piezzo at the bridge. From the pic it seems that this guitar had also a little bit sawed off but I don't know if it was part of this process! He mixes bass and guitar strings and created his own open tuning.

The mod looks a little bit rough, but Philo is a musician and not a fetishist, so once he has the sound (and the sound he has!), how it looks doesn't matter (I hope I was so free minded!). Philo is a French guitar improviser, a hero of the shade haunting the impro noise free jazz French scene for two decades, he's also an excellent photographer dedicated to impro, who shot the greatest musicians and dancers in a very personal way, and - nobody's perfect - a clown. And he's my friend, though it's been years since last time we had a good dueling guitar concert together.

(I didn't put any effort into identifying the guitar, it's not so important, but I'm sure that someone will and tell it in the comments).

Bertram