Cyclone

Spent Sunday morning with something different, but not entirely. Jaguars & Jazzmasters are predominantly Fender's offset darlings, other models get sidelined for being second fiddle or too estranged (eg. Meteora). The model you see here is the Cyclone. The Cyclone was discontinued in 2006 / 2007 & reappeared in the Japanese end of Fender quite recently. I lost track when that happened... The Cyclone sports a 24.75" scale length so it sits in between the Jaguar & the Jazzmaster.

I dislike the M / Wave-type default string retainer; it sits too low on the headstock. Will always make it a point to replace them with this rounded version. Fender experts told me this is necessary to keep the strings in place at the nut when you whammy. Since I don't whammy, it made perfect sense.

Beez installed these SDs yesterday: Scooped (N) / JB (bridge). Anyway, these are excess pickups that I didn't know I own, really. I'm not into white pickups, was wondering why I have this trembucker version lying around. I recall buying the middle Scooped single coil, not the neck model. Still wondering why I have it to begin with.

I have a fresh set of 9 - 42 in this guitar as an experiment. I'm tuned to fourths, getting a feel for the high E / B strings before making further changes. First impressions - it's necessary to have thin strings for this tuning approach for the aforementioned E / B but the rest of the strings feel floppy. Looking forward to try the 9.5 - 44 instead.

Green P (3)

Body was sanded down & ready for a re-finish. I did not sand down the default finish entirely. If it's down to bare wood, the open pores require some filling up which would mean an extra step of re-finishing. The idea here is to sand down enough top layer for the new coat of paint to latch on to. This is not a pro-level paint job, it's a get-by effort by some excessive hobbyist.

All done. Opted for a mild metallic flake finish this time. Two layers of paint + overnight drying before a final layer of lacquer overcoat. Air dried for a few hours before leaving it in the sun to supplement the curing process. After many re-finishing attempts throughout the years, I found out that lacquered tops cure faster than non-lacquered tops after some sunning. Also, some spray can formula do not require in-between sanding to manifest a good colour spread, this is an example. 

To be continued...

Green P (2)

This guitar features a direct to body pickup mount. One of the screws was severely rounded so removing it with a screw driver is impossible. This is one way of removing it - to break the screw head by using a drill. Once its broken, the pickup could be removed first. We then use a pair of pliers to extract the screw out like a rotten tooth. Folks, once screws show signs of wear / rounding off, please make efforts to replace them, otherwise, removing these dysfunctional bits become arduous / expensive.

To be continued... 

That time of the year

It's darn difficult to be merry at this time of the year with issues on my mind; employment, finances, health... the list goes on. Went round the malls the last couple of days or so to soak in the atmosphere but it's just not working. In any case, wishing everyone a good time today catching up with friends & loved ones.

Green P

I've shelved this project for some time already: 1) I'm in no mood to revive any instruments that require extensive attention 2) I'm trying to avoid using spray paint in the mean time as it causes unrest at home due to its odour.

I just got bored & depressed lately so this is a good distraction. With reference to the pic above, sometimes, we shouldn't trust a seller's fret life assessment too much because his ultimate objective is to sell away something he dislikes in the mean time. Sugar-coating some wear or damages might happen. The seller told me this guitar has a good 90% fret life left in it but in reality, I would only give it a 75% rating. So many uneven frets & some areas were manifesting dents which were not disclosed to begin with.

Spent quite some time today levelling, dressing & re-crowning some frets. I skipped the afternoon coffee break along the way just to attend to this. Let's see if it's a worthy endeavour.

To be continued...

JS-Duncans

Nothing fancy, an entry-level Jackson JS11. I'm re-visiting my preference for 22 frets.

Since I have these two lying around, they go into the JS11 giving it a much deserved voicing for heavy / intense music. The Alnico II Pro sounds surprisingly good in this guitar considering it's not one of my favourite Seymour Duncan neck models. I prefer the '59 or Jazz for some dynamic responses. I was expecting a Slash-esque tones but since I don't have a Slash set up to begin with, things turned out pleasant. The tones from this one are at least meeting my expectations. The Dimebucker is something I'm used to hearing & it's a welcomed inclusion here.