Guitar refinishing.......A word of advice....

[Bow]

You know that lipstick red, WHOA straight out of the '80's Hair Days, single humbucker with a Floyd you have? I belive the model was a Ibanez Roadster II...Yup, it looks just like mine...did....
Single bridge mounted Dimarzio Tone Zone, single volume control, Floyd Rose, whammy bar fun and a kick a$$ heavy metal/shedder tone when linked into the Zoom 9002...

I got a wild hair up my rear end and decide to strip the red finsh off and put it down to a nice, natural wood finish...
I got it done...it looks great....

BUT....

Where did all the balls go?

Man, I lost all the low end....sucks....

 

[Tom Hicks]

Its is a little known secret that guitar tone depends on the paint job.Metal flake sparkle emphasizes the highs.Transparent finishes let the minor chords really sing out.Refinished lipstick-red Roadstars are THE definition of ball-less low end.For extra bass,I dipped my D'angelico New Yorker in Glidden easy-spread Mocha Brown,Seems to work for me...
Tom

 

[Bow]

That was my next question....

Is there a heavy, clear coat I can put over the ash body with walnut stain finish to thicken it up and maybe recover some of it's low end?


Thanks Tom...

I hope i can recover it, it is my shed/whammy guitar...

 

[Stan Williams]

are you sure ?

I can't believe you lost low end by striping the finish off. You had to remove the pickups and electronics didn't you? Maybe you don't have the pickup height adjusted correctly. I've never noticed a loss in bass reponse before when removing the finish, but i have noticed a guitar come to life by doing it, more resonance.

 

[Ginzoo]

Tom Hicks,that WAS a trade secret.Now you've let the cat out of the bag.

 

[Bow]

Yup Stan......You wouldn't believe it,,,

It was like I neutered it....

It looks better, But I have adjusted the pickups, tried it on several different amps....
same thing...no balls...

I was thinking of tring a Stewart-Mcdonald "Black Cube" in it for more drive...
but it might end up with a "twangy" drive...And if I want to play with a Nashville sound, I grab my Strat!

Thanks for the help gents...If you have any ideas, please post them!

 

[Bow]

OH MY GOD!

Some one just take me out back and shoot me.....

I figured out me problem a couple weeks ago....

Some bastard sold me the wrong volume pot...

It when something like this at the local guitar store...

me..."Do you have a 500K ohm volume pot?"

Guitar store burned out sales guy..."yup...here you go..."

I didn't even think about it until I really got pissed the other day...
I looked and measure it a couple weeks ago...500K OHM? NO 500 Ohm!

Sumbitch...

I put the old pot back it and

{think a large choir singing]

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

My Rip your face off tone is back! I was soo mad at myself for not checking this before.......

I was happier than hell...my wife on the other hand.....

YEEEHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the suggestions !

 

[lkmuller]

Alright Bow! This is the most enjoyable thread I've read in months . Glad you got your tone back. I know how it feels to be stumped by something for a long time and then realize it was right in front of you all along. Play on! (this is was almost as good as the bahumbug thread sonusman started in the dragon cave!)

Lee
http://leemuller.iuma.com

 

[Bow]

Hair Bands RULE!

Thanks lkmuller!

Yup, and it couldn't have happened at a better time....

I am starting to play guitar more after a 4 year distraction...

Any way, I pickup the Japanese George Lynch [Dokken/Lynch Mob/solo]"George Lynch's Guitar Bible" instructional video last weekend....Ouch...it has been a painful weekend...that guy can stretch 2nd to 5th frets with the middle and ring fingers!

Sooo...I really needed that High Gain Hair tone from the days of real guitar playing and the Floyd Rose on that guitar...My '93 American Standard Strat can't handle them dive bombing whammy bar antics!
Thanks man!

 

[regebro]

The VOLUME pot made the difference? But isn't that set on 0 when you have full volume anyway?

Gee, this is why I hate to fiddle with analog electronics. They are WEIRD!

 

[Bow]

Yup...

The way it works, the value of the volume pot will make or break your tone...wierd but true...

Humbucking pickups have a higher internal resistance than single coils and also take a higher resistance volume pot...

 

[regebro]

With some thinking, I get it!

Its connected like this, right:

 +--------------+
 |              |
|m|            |p|
|i|            |o|<-----+
|c|            |t|      |
 |              |      out
 |              |       |
 +--------------+-------+

And since the output is plugged into a high-resistance input, it can be ignored. Therefore all the output of the mic ALWAYS gooes through all of the volume pot. The indictance of the mic coils and the pot together act like a filter, changing the tone! Ha! I get it!

Stil don't like it, though.

 

[Bow]

Yup....that is it...

That is how it hooks up.....

That thing messed me up for 2 years!