HNSGD... Gift from my son
- Thread starter syscokid
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Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
There's a lot more good in that guitar than there could've been. It could've been a beautiful woodwork project, but it's also a great guitar by the sound of things - the choice of good quality neck certainly helped a lot. Its pickup rings are more of a design issue, so, nothing to worry about, but the only 'issue' is the bridge then. (I wouldn't be surprised if you put a bone nut in at some stage).
The weight and the pickups must give a pretty different sound to what you're used to, so all your amps are new again! :dood:
Greg, if ya want to swap out the pup rings for real wooden ones, I’ve bought a bunch of this guy’s products. Good craftsmanship.
OP
syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
Good suggestion, thanks! Maybe a pair of non-tapered Indian rosewood pup rings...Greg, if ya want to swap out the pup rings for real wooden ones, I’ve bought a bunch of this guy’s products. Good craftsmanship.
.
OP
syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
Yes it does...
OP
syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
Having tapered mounting rings doesn't make sense to me because the plane of the neck and strings, just like a Strat or Tele, are parallel to the body. Those pups should not be angled, due to tapered rings. A pair of non-tapered metal black rings are coming from Stewmac. A pair of wooden rings from Guilford Guitars is still on the "maybe" list.Those tapered rings are slanting toward each other.
But an easy enough fix.
Anyways, I've been doing some heavy noodling on this beast. Now that this guitar has a setup that I'm comfortable with, it really is a joy to play. Still getting used to these active pickups, and really liking them, too.
Yesterday, I also ordered from Stewmac the Schaller top-loading hardtail bridge to hopefully and successfully replace the (Stewmac) Golden Age Top Loading Hardtail bridge. There's not many choices out there for these types of bridges. Besides the Golden Age and the Schaller, the only other option I could find was the Kahler. This one is a bit pricey at $220+, plus my previous experience with this particular model many years ago left me unimpressed: A couple of the roller saddles were far from being perfectly round... they had the wobbles! And too many slopping-moving parts. I couldn't care less about those fine tuners, too. The Schaller appears to be a better mousetrap, and at about $80. We'll see...
I haven't ruled out a Stetsbar as suggested by Thatbastarddon. But I'm not a whammy or spring vibrato type of user. And, I would really like to see and demo one in person. Perhaps the local guitar shop has a guitar with a Stetsbar that I can fondle with.
OP
syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
Since my last post on this thread, I have acquired some parts to personalize this guitar to my liking: A new hardtail top-loading bridge: Schaller 3D-6 (Stewmac). A pair of non-tapered metal mounting rings (Stewmac). A set of Q-Parts chrome knobs with black acrylic inlays at the dome of the knobs (Ebay; arkansasmusicworks). A set of black tuning buttons for the Gotoh tuners (Ebay; guitarhey).
And now, the Funderbird looks like this:
I think these are made by Gotoh, and they are metal:
The slotted screw on the treble side of the bridge is a cam that tightens or releases side pressure onto the saddles:
Original cheapy bridge on the left. The open rectangular shim is provided with the Schaller bridge in case the bridge needs to be elevated a bit more:
The $73 Schaller bridge is way superior in every way to the original bridge, that can also be found at Stewmac for $26.
Slapped on a set of Gibson Vintage Reissue (pure nickel wound) strings, and all is beautiful in Syscokidland. Guitar is so much fun and inspiring to play on. Yesterday, I noodled on the Funderbird for about 2 hours straight till my fingertips started to break down... if you know what I mean.
And now, the Funderbird looks like this:
I think these are made by Gotoh, and they are metal:
The slotted screw on the treble side of the bridge is a cam that tightens or releases side pressure onto the saddles:
Original cheapy bridge on the left. The open rectangular shim is provided with the Schaller bridge in case the bridge needs to be elevated a bit more:
The $73 Schaller bridge is way superior in every way to the original bridge, that can also be found at Stewmac for $26.
Slapped on a set of Gibson Vintage Reissue (pure nickel wound) strings, and all is beautiful in Syscokidland. Guitar is so much fun and inspiring to play on. Yesterday, I noodled on the Funderbird for about 2 hours straight till my fingertips started to break down... if you know what I mean.
Looks to be a keeper at this point to me
Amazing axe!!! I’m sure it’s bringing the joy!
OP
syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
Even nicer yet, another hardtail top-loading bridge I was looking at was another German-made product: the ABM 3250. The best USA price I could find was at $120. But these seem to be all out of stock in this country. I thought about waiting, or even order from the UK and spend more on shipping. But one major advantage or useful feature that the Schaller has over the ABM, is those roller saddles that can be adjusted for string spacing and location... which came in real handy because the Funderbird's pickup cavity routes and neck were not precisely in proper alignment.
ABM 3250 in chrome:
