PRS Hot Rodded Project!

I have been fascinated by PRS guitars for quite some time. Probably since the early 90's when they really exploded. I mean didn't it seem like every pro player had a PRS (and a SLO100! lol) in their arsenal?! It always seemed to me like Paul, the man, took the Gibson Les Paul concept and made improvements, to the point that it was then a completely unique guitar. Basically the PRS' are Les Paul in structure; set in mahogany neck, mahogany body, with a maple arched top. It doesn't get much more LP than that. However, Paul made 24 fret necks, used more ergonomic neck shapes, like the wide-thin and of course, the stunning book matched 10 tops! Not to mention the stainless steel vintage trems, and locking tuners w/proprietary nut that actually stayed in tune!! Lastly, the body shape, which is also more ergonomic, easy to play and just plain sexier and slinkier, than a 12 lb. LP! Paul really took the best features of the LP and the strat, and made his own love child! lol

Anyway, I digress. Fast forward to 2002 or so, and I saw a Journey concert and Neal Schon was using PRS guitars. Only, as usual, Neal's looked nothing like the production models! His had Floyd Rose bridges on them, Grover Tuners and sustainers built in! To be clear, I am not a huge Neal Schon fan-boy. I am a real fan of Neals vision of a cool guitar. It should have a Floyd, it should have a set neck, the best hardware available, and it should have two humbuckers. I share the same vision. So for the past 15 years I have been very passively searching for the right PRS guitar to meet my needs. No way was I going to spend $3-4K on a new PRS 24. I thought about a bolt-on, but decided that cheaping out was not the way to go. My father recently started playing guitar and he had a decent MIM Fender Strat. Well, he is a huge Santana fan and just a few weeks ago he blew my mind and bought himself a brand new (leftover) Santana model. He brought it over and let me put it throught its paces. Needless to say, I was hooked. The guitar played great, and sounded even better. The trem also impressed, and stayed in tune. This was just the push I needed, and I amped up my search.

I decided that I wanted the traditional PRS shape and headstock, not the Santana's more symmetrical shape and (honestly) blob shaped headstock. It didn't take long before I found the perfect candidate, on eBay. There is a huge reseller on eBay, who essentially parts out guitars. Selling necks, bodies, and parts, presumably for a profit. Recently even parting out and selling higher end guitars, like real USA Les Pauls and PRS's. He has one of the new S2 PRS guitars for sale, and it matches all my specs. Meaning it is the 24 fret tremelo model, finished in a nice McCarty tobacco burst. Even better, it is brand new, and selling for roughly half the price of a completed guitar. So I pulled the trigger. I mean, this is a perfect USA PRS, no hardware, which I would have junked anyway and no case, nothing else to jack up the price.

I don't want to get too in depth, but I feel an explanation of the S2 series is in order, here. The S2 series is PRS recent foray into less expensive, US built guitars. It falls nicely in between the Korean made SE line, and their top of the line or 'Core' models. The interesting thing is how PRS is building these guitars, and then selling them for 1/2 price or less of their Core models. For starters, they use smaller pieces of wood for the necks. A Core PRS neck is made from a huge 12/4 (roughly 4x4) single piece of mahogany. The S2 uses a much thinner piece of wood, roughly a third of the size, with a traditional glued on headstock, with a scarf joint. Funny thing here is, we all know how much stronger and more stable a glued on scarf joint is, compared to a one-piece neck?! Next, the bodies are the same, mahogany, with a maple cap. Of course, you do not get a 10 top on the S2, more like a 5 top! lol.  In addition, the arch top carve on the S2 is completely CNC shaped. The Core models are shaped largely by hand, with the little divots for the controls etc. Curiously, the cavity covers, which are identical, are not recessed on the S2 line. The paint processes are also different. On the Core line they use the latest technology water based paints. On the S2 line, they reverted to the less expensive poly finishes, used by PRS into the late 90's. Curiously again, a lot of purists prefer the old finishes and the sound of the previous generation PRS, to the new ones?! Lastly, and here is the killer, is the hardware. PRS really cheaped out on the S2 lines hardware. They use the trem unit off of the Korean SE models. They use locking tuners, that look the same, but are Asian made, with no screw tabs on the back. The pickups are also 'PRS Designed' units, which are supposed to be Asian made exact reproductions of their Core model pickups, Oh yeah, it goes without saying the S2's don't come with a case, just a good quality gig bag. So those are the big money differences in the guitars. However the S2's are built in Maryland, use the same woods, fingerboards, frets, all the structure and bones, where it counts they are all the same.

So what I got is a real, American Made PRS carcass, with no substandard Asian hardware, that I am going to replace, anyway. Seriously, my only criticisms of PRS, in general are that they fall into the 'overbuilt' category, to me. The insane tops, wood bindings, abalone inlays, all those extraneous appointments, -- I can do without. The S2 line strips all of that away. You do get the PRS signature birds, but they are plain white ivoroid, not abalone. Here are a couple of pics of my newest project guitar:

Dig the cool sunburst finish and the attractive '5' top!
Of course, if you know me, you know what I have in mind! I am going to Floyd this guitar, with a top mounted, non-recessed Floyd. In addition, I am going to put in Duncan pickups a DeMartini RTM and a Jazz model. I will also use top of the line, gold hardware, throughout. Here is a very quick mock up:

The trem is going to have to be ever so slightly recessed, due to the shallow neck angle. Likewise, the locking clamp will have to be mounted on a shim, or a shelf. Other than that, this should be a very straightforward and rockin' guitar!

Here are a couple of bonus picks of one of Neal's guitars, for sale on eBay:

1979 Fender Stratocaster

Here is my latest G.A.S. acquisition, a 1979 Fender Stratocaster. This is my first 'real' Strat. I had one of those 80's guitars that said 'STRAT' on the headstock, and many Charvel strats, of course, but this is the first, real, traditional strat. I would actually love for you guys to pick this thing apart! It is defnitely a time capsule, to the early 80's, where she was modified, and then left that way. Here is what I know; she has the original neck, body, pickups, bridge and electronics. A weird preamp with a toggle was added, along with the obvious - mirror pickguard, chrome knurled knobs, and she has the right angle Gotoh crown head tuners! The tuners are chrome, though. She has a great strat tone, huge frets, which are probably not original (?) and the trem is set up as a hardtail, screwed all the way into the body, with five springs and a lot of tension. I believe the original color to be black, but it has also been oversprayed, poorly, in black. You can see all of the crazing and cracks galore, under the crappy paint! There is black paint in all of the cavities. I thought the headstock had been messed with, but it turns out that Fender used nitro laquer on the headstocks only, as the poly clear on the rest of the guitar reacted badly and damaged the decals. So the headstocks commonly aged, differently than the rest of the guitar. Here are a few (sorry, poor quality cell phone) pics:

She is the sister to my 1981 Les Paul, Sykes tribute. This is a real 81 Paul, with original nickel hardware, that I added the chrome switch plate and pickguard to. The LP also sports Duncan pickups and a fantastic RS Guitarworks electronics package. What more do you need?!!

My Franken-Steinberger Project

I have always wanted a Steinberger. Not necessarily for its cutting edge innovation, but for the simplicity of its compact size. Meaning, I wanted a good quality travel guitar, that I could throw into its tiny gigbag and leave in my car. This way I would never be without a fully functional electric guitar. I even had some crazy ideas about secreting a Gallien Krueger 250 ML amp, under my desk, so that I could rock out at work!! lol I have literally been searching for the right Steinberger, for years. Just checking eBay from time to time, whenever I gave it some thought, never anything really serious.

I knew that I was not looking to spend a lot. That ruled out the original Newburgh, New York produced models. If you are lucky enough to find one of those, it will most likely need a full mechanical, if not aesthetic restoration. Good restored examples of the GL Model (small, paddle style) start around $4K!! I know, I know you can find them cheaper on eBay, but on those $2K+ 'bargains', the TransTrem will not function properly, without the costly, full restoration. This is not a crap-shoot, 100% of the early Steinies require this mechanical restoration.

So I resigned myself to one of the overseas produced models, figuring that I can always upgrade the pickups and hardware, my standard m.o. The Spirit line looked promising, with the R (rock) fulcrum trem, and EMG Select pickups. Until I actually played one! The small GL style body shape is not comfortable to play! There is simply not enough guitar there, for you to rest your arm on, so your arm has to 'float', uncomfortably, above the guitar, for as long as you can hold it there. The patented Steinberger flip out leg rest or 'kickstand' does allow for the guitar to comfortably rest, on your leg, so at least the seated position is accounted for? In addition, all of the Spirit guitars come with the hum-single-hum pickup configuration, which I cannot stand. Its not that I don't appreciate the sounds and switching options, its just a matter of space. That many pickups takes up all of the 'picking space' between the strings and the face of the guitar. I like a single hum or dual hum configuration, which leaves me adequate space between the strings and the guitar, to dig in, with my pick. Between the pickups, where all of those sweet natural harmonics live! I was not interested in the GM (modified strat shape) series, as that seemed to defeat the purpose of a small, portable travel guitar.

Then just a few years ago, Steinberger introduced the Synapse line! They seemed to perfectly match my needs! The body is a slightly enlarged 'arrow' style, specifically shaped to accommodate the players resting arm! The Synapse line is the new top-of-the-line for Steinberger, even though they are built in Korea. They feature neck-through construction, a composite neck, maple, with a graphite 'U' channel, boxing the truss rod and a phenolic fingerboard, with a zero fret, instead of a nut. In addition these guitars come equipped with real EMG pickups, and a new headpiece, which allows for the use of the standard Steinberger double ball strings, as well as standard single ball end strings! There is some sort of locking clamp, mounted past the traditional string ball slots -- cool! So all of the original Steinberger technology, wrapped up in a $850 package?! Not exactly...

Across the entire Synapse line, there isn't a single guitar offered with a Steinberger Tremelo??! WTF!! OK, I understand no TransTrem, those things go for over $1K, if you can even find one. But no non-transposing S-Trem? No inexpensive R trem?? What gives? Disappointed, I once again put the idea of my perfect travel guitar on the back burner. I did have the idea about routing a Synapse for a trem, but in total that would be well over $1K, way more than I was willing to spend for a simple, travel guitar. I did check eBay from time to time, looking for a project guitar, parts, really anything. Finally, a couple of months ago, I find a Synapse 'carcass' with no hardware whatsoever for the ridiculous Buy It Now of........................................$45!!!!!

There has got to be a catch? Of course, there is. This guitar is stamped 'used' and the serial # has been partially removed, at the factory. Fancy way of saying 'factory 2nd'. The only flaw, having kept this guitar from being built is that the truss-rod is 'maxed out'. Meaning there is no adjustment left, but the ad clearly states that the neck is straight (which is a good thing!). These necks are extremely stiff, and stable due to the graphite reinforcing. So I am thinking that a straight, and stable neck, will either remain more or less straight, or it will bend into a bit of relief, with the addition of the strings tension. I figure for $45, plus $30 shipping, it is totally worth the risk. Hell, I can always actually use it as a boat oar, if it won't work as a guitar! lol Here is how the guitar comes to me:

   

Let me tell you, this guitar is perfect! It is 100% mint, as new condition! Not a spec of hardware in sight, save for the lone bridge ground wire. Every single hole for all of the hardware has also been pre-drilled. Even the volume and tone knobs have are countersunk for the nut and washer! Again, I figure for $45, I can route this thing for a Steinberger tremelo!! That is now the master plan. I find a source for brand new R trems, on eBay, Headless USA. The owner, Don Greenwald is a really cool guy, and is the source for Steinberger guitars, restorations and parts. I end up trading a brand new, complete Floyd Rose chrome, straight up for one of his R trems. I only had $100 into the Floyd, he gets $179 for the trems. Here is a link to Don's outstanding site, check out the Steinberger parts section, to see the basic R trem. http://www.headlessusa.com/

As you can see from the pics, my brand new Synapse comes with a very shallow 1/4" depth route, for the standard, fixed Steinberger bridge. Again, the fixed bridge is the only bridge available, on all Synapse guitars! I need the route to look like this:

This last pic shows the proper route, best.

The main, larger section of the trem route is 1/2" deep. The lower section, for the Steinberger spring assembly is 1 1/4" deep. The good news is that the overall footprint is identical, from the hard tail to the trem. So after lots and lots of careful measuring and marking, I prepare to attack my new Synapse carcass. I use a combination of a radial arm saw (yes I actually used this to rough in the spring cavity!) an actual Craftsmen router, and a dremel tool, I get the trem cavity to the shape it needs to be. There was tons of trial and error, fitting the trem, then making the cavity larger, a tiny bit at a time. I used the tried and true method of sneaking up on the shape I wanted, since once you remove the wood, you can't go back!! I must say the route came out great! Sorry no pics, but it looks just like the one above,except my spring cavity goes all the way to the front of the route, and there is a slight recess, for my R -trems locking feature. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the R-trem has a nifty little locking mechanism, that turns it into a functioning hardtail! Cool! Mine is also painted black. As hard as I tried, I did end up with one kind of noticeable (to me) little chip, on the edge of the route. :(   Of course, I taped off all of the edges, but it still chipped a tiny bit, anyways. 

This pic shows a complete, factory Synapse input jack. Kind of neat, but look at all of that wood, underneath the hardtail bridge!

So in comparing the pics; I finally figured out why no Synapse guitar comes with a trem! If you look at the original pics of my Synapse carcass, you will see that the input jack, is contained in this large cavity, to the center, rear of the guitar. This is a great idea, as it allows for the guitar plug and cable to be very unobtrusive, and routes it, directly to the electronics cavity. You can also see that a rather large chunk of wood had been removed, from the guitar body, to facilitate this cavity. Turns out that the input cavity and the necessary trem route occupy some of the same space, within the guitars body! So when I routed the deep 1 1/4" spring channel, I ate through, into the input cavity. Not a lot, but enough. Here's what I can't figure out: Wouldn't nearly every single guitar player give up this neat little input cavity deal, to have a functioning tremelo? I know that I sure would!! The now modified input cavity is actually a blessing in disguise, as the Synapse specific input plate is not available from the Steinberger (Gibson-Epiphone) parts department! So I was going to have to modify the input jack, anyways. Available parts from an authorized Epiphone dealer, heretofore referred to generically as 'Gibson' is a whole other story, here goes:

On the Steinberger website, it shows a nice, comprehensive list of available Synapse parts! Nearly everything is offered, except the maple wood/composite neck bodies, which I already have! So, apparently you can't order parts on the website. All they have is an 800 number to call. I do so, and eventually get to speak with a live person, at Gibson. He abruptly tells me that parts can only be ordered through an authorized Epiphone dealer, and to try Sam Ash or Guitar Center etc. I do a bit of quick internet checking, and find one horror story after another, about how all the 'new' Steinbergers are now 'orphans' and how you can't get parts from Gibson. Also lots of information about just how awful Gibson is to deal with. I did try Don at Headless USA, but he has had the same horrible luck, dealing with Gibson, and just says to me "good luck, getting parts from Gibson is an impossible horror show!" (paraphrasing!) So I try Musician's Friend, with no luck. I try Guitar Center, and they say that they will email me back in a day or so, with availability of parts, and if they will even be able to place the special order etc.

So as almost a last ditch effort I contact Dave's Guitar, in Wisconsin, as they are supposed to be the 2nd largest Gibson dealer in the U.S. , next to Musician's Friend/Guitar Center, presumably. They have a great guy, an actual contact person, in the parts dept. and he quickly gets back to me with prices and availability for Steinberger parts! I needed: the proprietary Synapse headpiece, the cavity cover plate, the strap button extension arm, the correct Steiny knobs, and the battery cover. I had alternative plans of cutting down the headpiece area, to accept the old style, which is readily available on eBay, cutting my own cavity cover out of pickguard material, and buying a battery cover off of eBay, just as contingencies. Brian, from Dave's Guitar calls me back, and says that he can only get 3 parts, and as luck would have it, the only parts on my list that are available are the ones that are 'must have'! The headpiece, the cavity cover, and the strap pin/extension. I have the parts within a week, even! Gibson did screw up and send me a headpiece for a 5 string bass, but I had the correct 6 string piece, and a drop ship tag for the return, within another week. Not to defend Gibson, but there were no part #'s on any of the parts I received? Whatever. I find the correct battery compartment on eBay (from China, go figure), pickup up a used set of EMG's and all pots and wiring etc. for $100!! BTW, the new Steinberger parts cost me $126 including shipping. I also pickup us a new Synapse gig-bag, and the fold out Steinberger leg-rest kickstand, from the same place the guitar came from for another $75. So I am into this guitar, including all shipping charges for only $475!!

The only thing left to do is the final assembly, which goes very smoothly. I do find that the Asian Steinbergers have a tendency to use the smallest, thinnest screws, barely capable of doing the job. Every part that I bought, the R-trem, the kickstand, the strap button extension; they all come with screws! Great, but half of them are too small and useless, in my opinion. Most of these were replaced from my Schaller screw assortment, with much better results. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, that last little bit of customization! Since the Synapse input jack was never an available part, I will have to rig up my own. Remember, I also routed into the input cavity, slightly with the trem route. I simply taped over the hole, with electrical tape, for a bit of shielding, since it will never show. I used a modded strat cup, which angles the input jack, and allowed me to screw it to the body, and to the cavity cover.

I know this pic is a bit fuzzy, but you can see the strat cup, and also  the trem spring channel route.

Here you can see the stainless torx screw and captured nut I used to mount the strat input jack to the cavity cover. It worked really slick! The torx scew and captured nut are extra parts from my BMW Motorcycle!

Check out how well the cavity cover fits! I assume that there was a running change, at the factory, making the cavity route slightly larger, not matching up with the available parts. I may still cut my own cover, but this cover, not fitting just right, kind of 'fits' in with my Franken-Steiny theme! Plus I drilled two new holes, and the large one for the captured nut!

Here is the trem installed. You can see that chip, to the front of the rout. I did touch it up with black paint, but I will always know it is there!

I used traditional mounting rings on the EMG pickups. They look better, and function better than wood-mounted pickups. Check out the placement of the bridge pickup. Steinberger has been putting them, in this forward position - 'the sweet spot' since the beginning! I did have to cut the neck pickup ring, as the pickup is mounted, flush up against the neck. I never bought into that ridiculous myth that pickups mounted directly to the wood body sound better! Pure crap! Thanks to EVH for not having a mounting ring on hand, and nailing his pickup to guitars body!! lol

A full body shot, with my leather Steinberger strap. Last pic is my Franken-Steiny with my GK 250 ML -- the ultimate in a compact electric guitar and amp rig!

 This guitar plays very well. The actions isn't super low, but it isn't high, either. Reminds me of a typical bolt-on Fender strat, in the action/set-up department. The neck did give, a bit, as I thought it would, with the added string tension. I did use 9-46 gauge D'Addario strings, the hybrid set, with lower top strings, for even more added tenstion. It doesn't have what I would consider 'normal' relief, but there is enough, with no fretting out, the guitar sounds, over the entire fingerboard, and bends, outtasite, with ease. I really like the matte finish! I wasn't sure how I would like it, but it is very comfortable, to rest your arm on, and when your palm rests on the face of the guitar, for certain runs. The trem works great, and it locks, if you prefer a hardtail! I would describe the 'feel' of the trem as not as stiff and positive as a Floyd Rose, but not as loose and wiggly as a Kahler, a happy in-between medium. Overall, I am very happy with the results! 

       

Mathias JABS Explorer Reproduction

Anyway, on to my latest project; an accurate replica of Mathias Jabs 1978 Explorer! I was able to pick up a 2000's era Explorer off of EvilBay, for a song. Apparently the 1st owner had a few stickers on the back, and some kind of porn actress' autograph, covered with clear tape. Anyways, the guys girlfriend wants the autograph gone, and goes after it with nail polish remover! Not good. It kind of 'melted' the paint and discolored/lightened it up. I guess that acetone has some kind of weird chemical reaction with laquer. Whatever, that is why I got it cheap. It was already finished in Vintage White, so that was a bonus. My goal was to build an Explorer, exactly like Jabs. Nothing like those really crappy Gibson production models from the 80's! Those things were all wrong! Most of them had nickel silver hardware, black headstocks, no pickguards, no covered pickups, incorrect control layout etc etc. Here is what I started with:

So I get this guitar, and I don't really have super high expectations. So I plug it in, and WOW, I am amazed at the crunchy tone goodness! When you think of what a Gibson should sound like, this one does. I had thoughts about swapping out the pickups, but the stockers sound killer. Matter of fact, the bridge pickup sounds so good, I may consider it (500T) for some of my other Metal Guitars! I had forgotten how good the Gibson pickups sound, I guess I have just gotten away from them, over the years, it has been all Seymour Duncan, since forever ago. 1st thing, I strip the guitar, and prep it for the stripes. The graphic looks simple, but it is not. The stripes go over the sides of the body at right angles, meaning that they are wider on the edges, and exactly symmetrical on the back. The layout was not easy, but I got the stripes, applied in tape, to where I wanted them. Then I put fine-line tape on the taped stripes edges, and removed the tape, for paint. Just a tad of light sanding the striped area, and it was good to go. I used good quality (Stew-Mac) guitar laquer. I also painted the headstock white, while I was at it, since stock it was black. The white doesn't match 100%, because The Gibson laquer has faded nicely, due to the clear coat applied, as is customary with Gibson's finishes. The white will look the same color, eventually, as it fades, I am hoping. The previous owner was also a smoker, so that greatly sped up the beautiful yellowing/aging process! Thanks!! I used a Gold gibson decal applique, since I painted over the pearl inlay. No problems here, with a decal applied directly over the legit Gibson logo. The stripes came out great, and the rest of the project was just simple, straight up hardware swapping. All gold hardware, and gold covers/pole piece screws for the p'ups. BTW, you can't just flip around a bridge cover, for the neck pickup. The spacing is different! Ask me how I know....!! I took just a couple of liberties, by using the TP6 fine-tuning tailpiece, and the Kahler style locking clamp. These can easily be reversed, and I need the fine tuners, since I am so used to playing with the Floyd Rose bridge - brutal! The only other 'deviation' that I made was to use amber speed knobs. Jabs had traditional gold colored knobs, but his appeared very dark, probably due to age, smoke etc. So the amber knobs look a bit better, even if they aren't accurate. I also modded the controls to Volume-Master Tone-Volume, which is how I like it. Finally a coat of black dye to the ebony board, for the finishing touch. Nice surprise to find that only the white Explorers come with ebony boards, which I greatly prefer?! Thanks for reading through another novel! On to the pics:

Hope you all like it!