Rediscovered an old axe. This ever happen to you?

USMC_Trev

USMC_Trev

Axe-Master
I‘ve had this Steinberger Spirit for about 12-13 years. I bought it to take on employment because it’s about the size of a cricket bat. I yanked out the original pickups and put some passive EMG’s in it and put it in the case. The deployment never happened and it basically got ignored for the Luke, the Clapton, the JEM, and so on…
I don’t know, maybe the fact that it‘s had a decade to dry out, but I just picked it up tonight and put it on the FM3 with my lightly modified Later Eddie patch and… magic. It’s a cheap guitar that I expected would be half destroyed by multiple trips to the sandbox, but it just sustained really well and played very smoothly. It wasn’t what I remembered it to be at all. I did have it set up a few years ago but didn’t play it much when it came out of the shop. It basically felt the same then as I remembered it from the day I bought it - clunky and awkward. This time around, though, it felt completely different In a really good way.

Has that ever happened to you? Pick up an instrument that you’d basically written off to find its way better somehow? Just figured out too late how smokin hot the girl next door always was?
 
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happens to me all the time. Some guys have a specific set of specs they want on every guitar... "and that's o.k."! I have love affairs with a guitars that are completely different every few weeks. there are some that are always "go to" for certain things... my jem for shred, a vintage style thinline tele for swamp-stomp... but then I pick up a strat and remember "the spank". I pull down my hamer ss, fall in love again, restring it and play early billy idol for 3 weeks. I believe it was virginia wolfe who said "each guitar has it's place".
 
USMC_Trev said:
I‘ve had this Steinberger Spirit for about 12-13 years. I bought it to take on employment because it’s about the size of a cricket bat. I yanked out the original pickups and put some passive EMG’s in it and put it in the case. The deployment never happened and it basically got ignored it for the Luke, the Clapton, the JEM, and so on…
I don’t know, maybe the fact that it‘s had a decade to dry out, but I just picked it up tonight and put it on the FM3 with my lightly modified Later Eddie patch and… magic. It’s a cheap guitar that I expected would be half destroyed by multiple trips to the sandbox, but it just sustained really well and played very smoothly. It wasn’t what I remembered it to be at all. I did have it set up a few years ago but didn’t play it much when it came out of the shop. It basically felt the same then as I remembered it from the day I bought it - clunky and awkward. This time around, though, it felt completely different In a really good way.

Has that ever happened to you? Pick up an instrument that you’d basically written off to find its way better somehow? Just figured out too late how smokin hot the girl next door always was?
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That's a cool guitar. I've been on the lookout for a good travel electric. When I was deploying I picked up a collapsible classical guitar from Wright Guitars (a Soloette).
 
USMC_Trev said:
I‘ve had this Steinberger Spirit for about 12-13 years. I bought it to take on employment because it’s about the size of a cricket bat. I yanked out the original pickups and put some passive EMG’s in it and put it in the case. The deployment never happened and it basically got ignored for the Luke, the Clapton, the JEM, and so on…
I don’t know, maybe the fact that it‘s had a decade to dry out, but I just picked it up tonight and put it on the FM3 with my lightly modified Later Eddie patch and… magic. It’s a cheap guitar that I expected would be half destroyed by multiple trips to the sandbox, but it just sustained really well and played very smoothly. It wasn’t what I remembered it to be at all. I did have it set up a few years ago but didn’t play it much when it came out of the shop. It basically felt the same then as I remembered it from the day I bought it - clunky and awkward. This time around, though, it felt completely different In a really good way.

Has that ever happened to you? Pick up an instrument that you’d basically written off to find its way better somehow? Just figured out too late how smokin hot the girl next door always was?
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They have good resale value also.
 
It happens at least once a year with my JEM. I’ll go a few months without playing it as much, especially when I’m writing because I mainly write on one guitar (Ibanez SZ), mainly because I keep the JEM in standard tuning and most everything I write is in drop-C, so I just use the JEM for overdubs/solos.

Sometimes I’ll set it up in drop C and usually when I do, I get that “Damn dude, why do you ever put this guitar down for so long?”
 
I have a Strat that was custom built that I got in a trade for another guitar. It wasn't set up well and, being a clone of a 60s model, had scooped pickups, which aren't my thing, so after trying to get to like it and failing I ignored it.

A few years later I pulled it out and took it apart, swapped out the pickups for some '59 clones and readjusted everything and that made a big difference, it's a lot more fun to play, but that 7.5" radius and smaller frets still slow it down. It's been on the chopping block for a long time so perhaps it's time to release it to the universe.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
I have a Strat that was custom built that I got in a trade for another guitar. It wasn't set up well and, being a clone of a 60s model, had scooped pickups, which aren't my thing, so after trying to get to like it and failing I ignored it.

A few years later I pulled it out and took it apart, swapped out the pickups for some '59 clones and readjusted everything and that made a big difference, it's a lot more fun to play, but that 7.5" radius and smaller frets still slow it down. It's been on the chopping block for a long time so perhaps it's time to release it to the universe.
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i always kind wondered about this... (7.5 or 7.25 = slow). generally higher action due to the tighter radius... but so many guys played them so fast (albert lee especially). when I finally got my own 7.25... it does have higher action so that bends don't fret out... but the nut is cut lower and action raised at the bridge side giving a sweet spot around 1-5... it's no shredder... but it def feels fast. anywho... just need to get albert lee to play my jem as fast as he can so I can compare (hehe).
 
Tonedeaf said:
They have good resale value also.
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Lol not mine. My pickup swap was the first I’d done and the wiring looks disgusting. Also I trashed the pickup bezels cleaning them with acetone because I was not aware, at the time, of what acetone does to polymers. This is what happens when you’re bored and in a hotel room in the desert for months on end lol.
 
RevDrucifer said:
It happens at least once a year with my JEM. I’ll go a few months without playing it as much, especially when I’m writing because I mainly write on one guitar (Ibanez SZ), mainly because I keep the JEM in standard tuning and most everything I write is in drop-C, so I just use the JEM for overdubs/solos.

Sometimes I’ll set it up in drop C and usually when I do, I get that “Damn dude, why do you ever put this guitar down for so long?”
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Cool. Those SZs are no slouch. I recorded an entire album in 2006 using an SZ320 Mahogany.
 
USMC_Trev said:
Lol not mine. My pickup swap was the first I’d done and the wiring looks disgusting. Also I trashed the pickup bezels cleaning them with acetone because I was not aware, at the time, of what acetone does to polymers. This is what happens when you’re bored and in a hotel room in the desert for months on end lol.
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Wish they had hotel rooms in my desert location! :p
 
la noise said:
Cool. Those SZs are no slouch. I recorded an entire album in 2006 using an SZ320 Mahogany.
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That’s what mine is!

I actually got it as a backup guitar for the JEM because I was snapping strings during live shows left and right and wanted a fixed bridge. These things were $500 new with a case and I REALLY loved the neck. My ex ended up surprising the hell out of me with it one Christmas. I took a hammer and a chisel and put a forearm contour on it, sanded that reddish finish off and then took a blowtorch to it. :D The chip under the bottom tone knob is from the time I threw it about 25 feet across my house when I was pissed at a roommate, that’s the only damage that it took! I’ve found them for as cheap as $125 on Craigslist and now that I have a little extra money in my pocket, I’m going to start picking them up whenever I find them cheap.



And the Gibraltar III bridge? Best top mounted bridge I’ve ever played, mainly because of how smooth it is and I don’t cut my hand to shit during a live show with it.
 
The SZ was a really cool line. I had an SZ520 in a blueish greenish blue kind of thing. It was soooooo gorgeous. Ultimately I got rid of it because I didn't like the body thickness but if I could ever have a custom version of any Ibanez it would be an SZ of some kind.
 
deathbyguitar said:
The SZ was a really cool line. I had an SZ520 in a blueish greenish blue kind of thing. It was soooooo gorgeous. Ultimately I got rid of it because I didn't like the body thickness but if I could ever have a custom version of any Ibanez it would be an SZ of some kind.
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I’d love to see a 24 fret SZ with a Floyd, but seems like Ibanez is done with that line altogether.
 
RevDrucifer said:
I’d love to see a 24 fret SZ with a Floyd, but seems like Ibanez is done with that line altogether.
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Yeah I think they were gearing towards the nu-metal crowd with their PRS-esque design. Now that cargo pants and goatees are no longer mandatory for rock bands, I guess they don't see the point.
 
deathbyguitar said:
Yeah I think they were gearing towards the nu-metal crowd with their PRS-esque design. Now that cargo pants and goatees are no longer mandatory for rock bands, I guess they don't see the point.
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For sure, that was completey aimed at the nu-metal/metalcore crowd. Really, it's the perfect mix of a Strat and a Les Paul.
 
Yup ,I've done that a few times, play the guitar and think WoW this amazing ,why didn't I like this before ,i'll play for a while and then pick up my Ibanez JS or my evh or even my Ibanez 550 20th. and say WoW that guitars a piece of shit ,these others play so much nicer :oops: :)
 
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