frenchie
Member
I`ve had my JV-52 for three months now, and I`m a tinkerer at heart. I love the tone of this guitar, and it is so versatile, strums like a big zingy jumbo, lead lines are clean and precise, and it fingerpicks like an F-30.
But changes have been made. First up I swapped out the Micarta? saddle with a nice piece of bone. Next up, I replaced the plastic bridge and end pins with Ebony ones. This had the added advantage of making the guitar a little warmer, with a bit more zing in the treble strings. Then I polished up the guitar to more of a gloss finish with T-cut, elbow grease, and polish.
Next up I had a custom TRC made ALA Bonnie Raitt style, by Philadelphia luthier tools. They did a very good job too. I have also changed out the gold kidney bean tuner buttons for some nice Ebony ones.
Now all of the above changes (Except the gloss finish) are easily reversible, and I have, all the original parts.
But now I am toying with doing something a little more drastic! I have made a second pickguard (There will be gasps from many, I`m sure!) from ABS the right thickness, which I plan to mount using 3M super 77, (suitable for Nitro finishes) apparently you can vary it`s bonding power, by how long you leave the sprayed guard before mounting. I would obviously gloss nitro the guard before doing this. Here is a photo to give a rough idea of how it would look. Ideally I`d like one of those removable pickguards, but they only seem to be available in clear, unless some one knows otherwise.
Opinions welcome. As I say, I am still in two minds about doing this.
Steve.
But changes have been made. First up I swapped out the Micarta? saddle with a nice piece of bone. Next up, I replaced the plastic bridge and end pins with Ebony ones. This had the added advantage of making the guitar a little warmer, with a bit more zing in the treble strings. Then I polished up the guitar to more of a gloss finish with T-cut, elbow grease, and polish.
Next up I had a custom TRC made ALA Bonnie Raitt style, by Philadelphia luthier tools. They did a very good job too. I have also changed out the gold kidney bean tuner buttons for some nice Ebony ones.
Now all of the above changes (Except the gloss finish) are easily reversible, and I have, all the original parts.
But now I am toying with doing something a little more drastic! I have made a second pickguard (There will be gasps from many, I`m sure!) from ABS the right thickness, which I plan to mount using 3M super 77, (suitable for Nitro finishes) apparently you can vary it`s bonding power, by how long you leave the sprayed guard before mounting. I would obviously gloss nitro the guard before doing this. Here is a photo to give a rough idea of how it would look. Ideally I`d like one of those removable pickguards, but they only seem to be available in clear, unless some one knows otherwise.
Opinions welcome. As I say, I am still in two minds about doing this.
Steve.
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