MODIFYING THE HELL OUT OF A HOLLOW BODY TO GET WHAT YOU WANT

Am I nuts here???

Or do others also CRAVE for a BLACK (nitro) FULL DEPTH HOLLOW BODY with BIBSBY and SINGLE COILS (P90 or dearmond/dynasonics) ? (I wanted a black Guild X 160 but can't find one in Europe...)

I'm actually daydreaming about MODIFYING the hell out of current production models...

Picture a GUILD X150 or a GIBSON ES 165 HERB ELLIS in BLACK...

you add a BIGSBY B6... (i would prefer the duane eddy one with the thicker handle) NOT THAT DIFFICULT...
keep the bridge or change it... i would prefer a BIGSBY BRIDGE...

CAN YOU IMAGINE SOMEONE (my tech for example) cutting two pichup cavities, a toggle cavitie and a volume- and tonepotcavity in the untouched top of a brand new herb ellis...
(after removing the pickguard with volume pot and floating pup)

OR throwing out the humbucher in an X150, cutting a second cavity for a bridge pup, drilling a hole for a toggle...

after a that drilling, cutting and screwing in both cases a new, fitting pickguard would have to be made with some sort of material... (maybe a clear, see-through pickguard like some gretsches have?)

WOULD IT BE COMPLETELY INSANE to buy a black herb ellis and let a good tech TURN IT INTO A BLACK ES 295?

or do you guys know other options... i'm open to any suggestions...

ALSO...
what about quality of those new Gibsons?
i know Guilds coming from the corona plant aren't what the Rhode island Guilds used to be...


please... someone... help me... and tell me all about your big modifications??? (maybe you found/find yourself in my shoes... nobody made/makes what you want(ed)...)


THX!

well, if i'm not mistaken, one of our members did exactly that w/his black herb ellis, 2xP90's, bigsby, & it looked f'n great. i'm sure it sounded great too, so, no, i don't think it's nuts to think about doing that. look at walter, now, admittedly, he's using a much less expensive guitar as the platform for modification, but because there is a lack of quality, P90 equipped hollowbodies out there, we do what we can to get the sounds in our heads. i installed some phat cats in my x150d (mostly cause i got them for a steal, otherwise i woulda waited on some lollars). anyway, do what you need to to make the sounds you wanna hear, after all, they're only tools.

btw: my corona made x150d is as nice as any 90's rhode island guild i ever played, don't sell 'em short.

Hey bob, can you give us a review of those Duncan Phat Cats?

I've toyed with the idea of the Kent Armstrong P90 humbucker retrofits for my X-150D.

sure thing, don. one of the first things i noticed after installation was a more pleasant top end. the bridge position didn't seem as strident, & as i told a friend of mine, i finally had a reason to use that position. the neck position really accels at both a warm, bright sound & a dark, woody tone (w/tone switch rolled back). together, they're humbucking, and you can get some really interesting sounds that way. one bummer, they are single conductor wired, like an old gibson, and because the cover is not removable, flipping magnets is kind of a pain, so, no out of phase, t-bone sound.

i don't really have much to compare them to, although i did have another hollowbody (agile, 17"x3.5", 25.5" scale) w/kent armstrong p90's at one point. in my opinion, the phat cats sound better, now whether that's because of the magnets (alnico II's vs. ceramics in the ka's), the guitar (c'mon, a guild, or an agile?!?), or because i paid more for the guild + phat cats, i dunno. i will say this, the guild before was a nice sounding guitar that never cut through w/the 18 piece big band i was in. it sounded much better than my grestch w/filter'trons, but it didn't have the "it" thing. the agile cut through better...now w/the phat cats, i have the bite, i have the woody, throw your coat over the amp sound, and i have twang, & on & on.

overall, i'm happy, although if i fell into some real p-90's (or franz pups), i'd feel compelled to route out some wood to make 'em fit.

i hope that's what you were looking for.

Like Bobgoblin says, I modified a DeArmond guitar, and I'm actually suprised at how nice it turned out. It can't touch my vintage Guilds, but it sure is nice in its own right.