Too many pickups for me to deal with and I'm more interested in a non strat body style. Cool project, just not my cup of tea. Already have 2 strat style guitars, been looking at les paul types. Pair of humbuckers is all I need...or single coil if I happen onto a tele project...I've done a few project guitars over the years, and a ton of repairs.
My favorite is a Harmony Bobkat made in 1966. $2 at a yard sale, another $10 for parts and strings...needed 3 grommets on the tuner pegs, I eventually replaced the tuners, one had a bent knob stem. Bridge sits on a wood strip that was split, had to glue and clamp that, everything grungy from sitting in a closet for 30 years. Sprayed the pots with some contact cleaner, they still work today, original 1966 electronics...rubber stamped inside the pickguard Apr 1, 1966. I'll have to dig up a picture, don't have one handy.
This guitar -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-Harmony-B ... SwVCpcN3qmThat one is in better condition than mine, it has a lot of dings in the finish, but plays good. Been thinking about selling it, never use it any more...
I've been thinking about one myself, I have a nice Epiphone FT130 acoustic neck with zero fret, body is toast. I tried to fix it a few years ago, worked for about a month and went to hell in a handbasket again. Also have a decent pair of humbuckers, thinking about a rectangular or wedge body cut out from a chunk of wood, no knobs (I use a volume pedal) and set up mostly for slide. Haven't fully decided about knobs, but I don't really need them, volume pedal takes on that job, but I would still need a capacitor somewhere. The FT 130 is the same guitar I learned to play lead on. Bridge is adjustable, neck is nice and not too fat (problem with many acoustics) so I put electric strings on it and pressed on.
Also just got through fixing one I bought a couple of months ago. Ibanez AG 75 hollowbody. Got it at a resale shop, no hardware installed, just tuners. Some of the rest was in a box, had to order a new bridge, volume and tone knobs, washers and nuts for the pots and jack, pickup rings, finally a pair of pickups. Due to string height, the pickups I had were too weak, couldn't get them close enough no matter what, still not as loud onstage as my other guitars. Not sure how the new pickups will do yet...fun trying to fish wires and pots into a hollowbody through the pickup holes...ground wire was fun too...
Anyway, it's put together and operational again. I talked to the guy for a while, looked around a bit and told him I'd come back in a few days after payday. I didn't have the $50 he wanted, had to wait 3 or 4 days. Just before I left he handed it to me with box of some parts, and said he'd rather give it a good home than worry about the money...
So I have it back into working condition now. Here is a picture of the finished guitar with new pickups, installed those 2 or 3 days ago. Still checking it out plugged into the old 74 Fender Champ, the amp in the background is the Fender Pro Jr I just fried...as in look for another amp...When I got it, the guitar had nothing but the tuners and nut installed...
but hey, can't beat the price...
Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 5:37 pm
