Hello

[road.kill]

Hi, I'm road.kill on all the usual forums and now here, too. Probably a little-known fact, but I'm one of the few women-folk. K-Bizzle may remember me as the H-C forumite who purchased a Korg Pandora from him many moons ago. I love guitar, and am happy being an eternal novice. Thanks for opening this forum.

[soundgardener75]

Oh hey there, women are welcomed here as well! Glad you joined us!

[jamminjohn]

Howdy Ma'am. What guitar do ya play?

[road.kill]

Hi, thank you all for the welcomes, and thanks for asking. This is almost embarrassing for someone who's not an accomplished player, but I absolutely love gear. I currently have an Epiphone SG-400, an Ibanez AEG10NE acoustic-electric classical, an Epiphone '56 Goldtop LP, a little beater 3/4-sized acoustic, and a '65 Kalamazoo. I had to rebuild that from vintage and repro parts, as I was only able to save the body and neck from the guy who was parting it out, but it was kind of a labor of love. Best chance on my budget at the time to own a guitar from the year I was born. The SG is pretty much my every day guitar. It's kind of weird and unusual because it's the bright red Pirates of the Caribbean edition, I think from the third film. Its looks are loud and childish and I love it. (It's also light as a feather compared to the LP!).

[soundgardener75]

Did you do any pickup upgrades on your G400? I love them, I have one with Gibsons (P-94R and Burstbucker 3) and the other with P-Rails. The latter is a broken headstock project that I have to fully finish, got all the necessary parts, just a setup with a new nut, hopefully a Graph Tech Tusq.

[Elessar [Sly]]

Mae Govannen!

[road.kill]

Did you do any pickup upgrades on your G400? I love them, I have one with Gibsons (P-94R and Burstbucker 3) and the other with P-Rails. The latter is a broken headstock project that I have to fully finish, got all the necessary parts, just a setup with a new nut, hopefully a Graph Tech Tusq.

I've thought about it, the '59/JB combo seems to be popular for that guitar. I kind of forgot about it after I got the LP because, with its P90's, that made a nice variety of sound between the two guitars. If I ever got the bug I'd probably do the 59/JB combo or something like what you described. I do like the idea of something like a P90 in the bridge, I assume that's what the P-94 can do?

Since the SG is a special edition-type paint job I'd been hesitant to do anything at all to it. One thing I finally did though, after owning it several years, is give the neck sort of a shredder makeover. My first guitar, in about 2007, was an old Ibanez thing (probably early 90's) with all the requisite pointiness and Floyd Rosiness. I loved it for the slim neck, and really wanted the SG to be like that. I stripped the heavy paint off the SG's neck and thinned and flattened it a bit with a multitool, then did this refinish thing I read about on some forum. It involves steel wool and gunstock oil and some other kind of paste, I forget now what it's called. I love it, it looks good, it's a lot slicker than when it was painted, and it's as thin and flat as a shredder. I patterned the look of the neck, the way the paint looks worn off, after the way Jimmy Page's guitar necks look in a couple scenes of "It Might Get Loud."

A broken headstock project is interesting. I've enjoyed messing around with guitars and I'm a fairly good, albeit slow, woodworker. I've painted, routed, learned to solder, messed around with pickups, whathaveya, just because guitars are as much fun to work on as play. I've never had the chance to try a broken headstock (sheared clean off?), but I'd be excited to find a yardsale special or curbside special to try that.

[road.kill]

Mae Govannen!

Le suilon!