Even a man who is pure at heart and says his prayers at night can fall victim to the Cabin-Caster.
So what have I done so far?
The Ted McCarty bridge (I believe he designed it on the set of Tucker's Luck) was lowered all the way down and the intonation and action was nice although there was choking at the 17th fret on both E strings. Rather than mess about with the truss rod or trying to level frets, I simply raised the bridge up slightly until the choking was no longer a problem. With finger on 1st and last fret, there was just a little gap between string and fret up the neck as you would like.
Silver star speed dials and Humbucker sized P90, both from Warman Guitars, have arrived. The two stars are now on and the P90 sits, biding its time. The cheap humbucker has no adjustable pole screws so the previous owner looks to have raised the pickup surround to get the most volume out of the pickup. I have screwed the surround down to make my picking technique a little easier and having the pickup a little further back allows for more dynamics and expression from the picking hand. Still haven't had a chance to record the sounds as busy being a daddy...
Here's the pick up and a link to the warman guitars website.
As an Encore, this was obviously intended to be a guitar for a beginner to intermediate type player. I don't find it too bad, however; especially compared to the terrible cheap guitars of my youth (although I suspect a good setup and the replacing of cheap parts would have probably solved a lot of those problems too).
The question that interests me is whether a player would always need to upgrade to a new instrument from a lower end guitar. The Les Paul Junior (that this Encore emulates) was designed as an entry level guitar. they are still used by Keith Richards, Billy Joe Armstrong and Leslie West. Now they sell for a lot of money: here's a 2nd hand 50s junior.
Joan Jett played the humble Melody Maker and Kurt Cobain played a Fender Mustang. People rave about MIJ (Made in Japan) guitars of the 90s.
It is true that most guitarists (myself included) have what is commonly referred to as GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) or the basic greedy desire for new stuff. The idea being that another guitar will make you a better guitar player or sexier or maybe just happier. If, as guitar magazines heavily imply, all guitarists are male- we could refer to this as NEW guitar desire (Never Ending Wood).
And there are constantly new guitars appearing- new products at NAMM usually aimed at getting that "classic" sound and relic-ed to look like they've been around for decades.
Yet there must be enough guitars on the planet by now. And the wood will end sooner or later- the fancy bubingas and swamp ash, maple and mahogany are only finite after all. This is an argument that is a hot topic at the moment with various threads and discussions on forums for and against cheap guitars and modding existing axes.
So call this upcycling if you will, but hopefully this will help the top guitar manufacturers relax the production lines slightly.
