Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2008 8:55 am |
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I finally got something I've wanted for a long while and oddly had never owned, although I've had just about every other model - a long-scale Fender 400. As some know, I have a short-scale 400 that is set up with Sneaky Pete's B6 copedent, two pickups, spring changes...a real monster of a player that was built with a lot of help from Sneaky (through email and his wonderful daughter Anita), Fred Shannon, RussTkac, Ed Bierly, Gerald Pierce and a bunch of others (pardon me for forgetting names!).
It's a great guitar, but I wanted to eventually do the same thing to a long-scale like Sneaky played. I have a long-scale 1000 with one neck set up that way, and it works great...but it's unfortunately just way too heavy for my back back to handle (even setting it up is tough).
So Gerald had this one sitting around, I had some electronics goodies he wanted...voila, another Fender-club swap. Serial # 01081 is now my latest "victim".
It's blonde, with weird barely-readable writing on the top...looks like various songlists and stuff. It's almost spooky, so I'm not going to rub it out! Set up with 8 pedals in the 2-9 positions (Gerald's preference) but I'll set it up normally if the cables are the right length. There's stock bridge and nut, but Gerald included a homebrew roller bridge that looks fine, and II have a spare roller nut (it apparently had one at one time - the fretboard is cut short and the mounting holes are there).
It has a few extra holes drilled here and there, but this is going to be a heavily modified guitar so vintage perfection is not what I was looking for. It also has two 4-cable main pulleys instead of one larger one...which is actually better, as the smaller pulleys spin much more freely. I'll need to use a single boat pulley or something similar for one knee lever cable (the right knee will be a RKR, and the cable runs toward the peghead, around a pulley and to the changer - I've tried a direct-pull RKL and it doesn't work as well...which apparently Sneaky also discovered, since is set up the same way).
It has one stock pickup - I'll be adding either one (or two, if I trim the last couple frets off the fretboard) Stringmaster pickups OR a monster 400 pickup that's been modified with TWO more rows of magnets and two extra poles (making it a 10-string pickup, but Fender-sized...except deeper). The weird pickup I don't think is from an 800 or 2000 as I've never seen one with the Jazzmaster-type pickup; only the later short-scale Jaguar type. One magnet is missing, but I've tested it and it works fine with no noticeable difference from the missing pole. Then I need to do some routing/drilling for both the pickup(s) and rout some wood under the control area to make room for a Tele or Strat-type switch (depending on how many pickups I use and how I decide to wire them).
I'll use Shobud barrel tuners as a way to get a double-lower on the first string and a double raise on #4. Those with a $.49 steel angle bracket as a stop work perfectly - some folks thought the steel angles were not strong enough when I built the first one, but they are solid as a rock. Darned barrel tuners are hard to find and expensive, though - I have one (thanks Russ!!) but still will eventually need another...I'll borrow one (along with the knee levers) from one of the other guitars for now.
Misc. pics of the "raw materials":
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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 30 Mar 2008 11:13 am
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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