Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
Hey All,
I've been thinking of doing it for a long time, and finally did it : A DeArmond X135 came along at the right price, and I bought it.
It looks like this, only in pretty nice tobacco sunburst :
I get more and more paranoid about taking my vintage X175's on airplanes, and as a couple of years ago I got a minty pair of vintage Franz pickups off Ebay, I got to thinking I could turn one of those DeArmond guitars into my "travel X175".
The guitar has almost exactly the same dimensions as my '62 X175, same scale, and a nice neck angle/bridge height that'll work great with a Bigsby. It plays suprisingly well, and the fretwork is pretty nice for the price point. The nut needs a little work.
I'm putting the two Franz single coils on it, a nickle tune-o-matic, a Bigsby B-6, four CTS 500K pots and four bakelite stove knobs I still have, and a switchcraft three-way switch. I'll also make a nice 50's styled rounded pickguard for it when I have the patience.
I'll keep you all posted on this thread about my progress, in the meantime, here's a very grainy pic I took with my PC's webcam of me and the guitar with the original pickup, pickguard, and pots already stripped, and the new TOM saddle in place :
I've been thinking of doing it for a long time, and finally did it : A DeArmond X135 came along at the right price, and I bought it.
It looks like this, only in pretty nice tobacco sunburst :
I get more and more paranoid about taking my vintage X175's on airplanes, and as a couple of years ago I got a minty pair of vintage Franz pickups off Ebay, I got to thinking I could turn one of those DeArmond guitars into my "travel X175".
The guitar has almost exactly the same dimensions as my '62 X175, same scale, and a nice neck angle/bridge height that'll work great with a Bigsby. It plays suprisingly well, and the fretwork is pretty nice for the price point. The nut needs a little work.
I'm putting the two Franz single coils on it, a nickle tune-o-matic, a Bigsby B-6, four CTS 500K pots and four bakelite stove knobs I still have, and a switchcraft three-way switch. I'll also make a nice 50's styled rounded pickguard for it when I have the patience.
I'll keep you all posted on this thread about my progress, in the meantime, here's a very grainy pic I took with my PC's webcam of me and the guitar with the original pickup, pickguard, and pots already stripped, and the new TOM saddle in place :