Rescued Detonator Lives Again

tonepoet

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Here are before and after photos of the Detonator that had recently been parted out on eBay. Aside from the gutted body and neck, the seller did have the original tuners, so I bought them as well. As mentioned in an earlier thread, I was able to take some original parts from my white Detonator that was not all original when bought years ago. From the white guitar I took the bridge, the original DiMarzio VS-1 neck pickup and the middle, which is a DiMarzio Class of '55. The bridge DiMarzio PAF I had in my parts, as well as 2 original Detonator control knobs that were in my parts.

There were no neck screws or cover screws. Fortunately, my local ACE Hardware is the old school type where you can walk in and buy one screw out of a drawer if that's all you need. And they have a few drawers of black hardware, so I was able to buy my neck screws and black cover screws there.

Bottom line, the neck is immaculate. No dings, no fret wear. Body has a few small dings. So it was probably a seldom played guitar that had no case and got dinged being moved around in a closet or from one corner to another in a room. It's really too bad it was "parted out" as it would have been a 9 with a 10 neck if it had been left whole. As it is now, it is close to what it was meant to be.

The body is a metallic gold, but looks original. I think Grot has a gold Detonator in his collection. No price list lists gold as an optional color, but it looks like it came from the factory with that color.

Fun project. Plays and sounds great.
 

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lungimsam

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If only Strats had the sensible control setup of this Guild guitar. Nice job!!
Where’s the whang bar? Do you have one for it?
 

tonepoet

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If only Strats had the sensible control setup of this Guild guitar. Nice job!!
Where’s the whang bar? Do you have one for it?
lungimsam: I do agree that the control setup on the Detonator is more sensible than a Strat. I'd even like the volume knob a bit further away from the bridge pickup for better palm muted picking. I have 2 Strats and bypassed the volume control on both as I would hit the knob and turn the volume up and down. And, yes, I do have the whang bar for the bridge.
 

lungimsam

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I can't palm mute on the strat cuz of that knob either.
Bypassing it is a good idea since I only use the neck pup anyway.
I could just use that pup wired to the two knobs that are further away.
Never found a guitar who's tone that I liked better than a Strat on the neck pickup!
 

tonepoet

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I can't palm mute on the strat cuz of that knob either.
Bypassing it is a good idea since I only use the neck pup anyway.
I could just use that pup wired to the two knobs that are further away.
Never found a guitar who's tone that I liked better than a Strat on the neck pickup!
Yeah, I ended up bypassing the volume, making one tone control a master tone and the other tone control a "blender" for the neck and bridge so that you could select neck and bridge at the same time and blend how much of each you want. I found that handy. I tended to like the neck selected with a bit of the bridge brightness dialed in.
 

tonepoet

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Quick update on the Detonator rescue. Since the parts came with no pickups, I thought I'd try something different. With the Detonator, the single pickups have to be without a flange. These can be special ordered from DiMarzio and Duncan. But while researching single pickups without a flange, I ran across the Bartolini ACE S60-N neck and the ACE S65-S middle pickups and thought I'd try them. Not sorry I did. I installed them yesterday and played them a few hours today. Clear, articulate, glassy, sustain. Very nice pickups.

So, I'll put the pickups I had in it back into my white Detonator. I'll post an updated photo later.
 

tonepoet

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UPDATE WITH PHOTO: In keeping with the old adage "Photos or it didn't happen" here is a photo of the "rescue" Detonator with the Bartolini ACE S60-N neck and the ACE S65-S middle pickups I thought I'd try. Not sorry I did. Clear, articulate, glassy, sustain. Very nice pickups.

They are a great choice if you have a guitar whose routing won't except standard single-coil pickups with a flange.
 

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Westerly Wood

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are these kind of like Guild's version of a strat?
 

tonepoet

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are these kind of like Guild's version of a strat?
Yes, but I would describe them as more of a "Custom Shop" Strat. They have a much better trem bridge then Fender was using in '87/'88 and came standard with Sperzel locking tuners with six different shaft sizes to simulate a tilt-back head stock, which eliminated the need for "string trees". Also, they came standard with Dimarzio pickups: two VS-1 single coils and a DP-103 PAF humbucker in the bridge.

The earlier versions (I have #33 and #59) came with a 2-conductor humbucker. My later versions came with a 4-conductor humbucker and the tone control was a push/pull coil cut switch. I don't think Fender was doing that to Strats in '87/'88.

There was an option to have active EMG pickups, but I have no experience with those.

Attached is a photo of 4 of the 7 I've acquired over the years.
 

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Westerly Wood

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Yes, but I would describe them as more of a "Custom Shop" Strat. They have a much better trem bridge then Fender was using in '87/'88 and came standard with Sperzel locking tuners with six different shaft sizes to simulate a tilt-back head stock, which eliminated the need for "string trees". Also, they came standard with Dimarzio pickups: two VS-1 single coils and a DP-103 PAF humbucker in the bridge.

The earlier versions (I have #33 and #59) came with a 2-conductor humbucker. My later versions came with a 4-conductor humbucker and the tone control was a push/pull coil cut switch. I don't think Fender was doing that to Strats in '87/'88.

There was an option to have active EMG pickups, but I have no experience with those.

Attached is a photo of 4 of the 7 I've acquired over the years.
and they only made them from 1987-88?
 

GAD

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My impression was that Detonators were a way to try and get into the Super Strat thing that was so big at the time. They're great US-made guitars that often fly under the radar, but they were pretty much on the lower-end of the spectrum of Guild electrics at the time. They are one of the most traditional looking of that period's Guild but they often fly under the radar.

They didn't really break into the Super Strat thing because most of them didn't come with double-locking trems and Strat purists wouldn't touch them.

I've never known anyone who had one and didn't like it. I have one but I don't play it much because I have so many others that I like more. I would dearly love to find a Detonator II, though, because they had double locking trems.
 

tonepoet

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and they only made them from 1987-88?
Some S/N lists show them made in '84 and '85 but I recall only seeing them on Guild price lists from '87 and '88. There were apparently another 25 or so made in 1990 that may have been the "Detonator ll" model.
 
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