Posted on Tuesday, 15 March 2011

I Like Odd Guitars This is a Yamaha SBG1200.  I bought it at Guitar Czar a very long time ago and it was beat to hell.  It had a massive scratch that ran all the way across the top, right down to the wood.  The tuners were bent, the pots had no pot-nuts and were floating free in the body.  It didn’t have any strap buttons and the nut was cracked at the low E.  Eric had it marked down very low, and he gave me a deal on top of that ‘cause it was so totally fucked-up.   This poor guitar probably wouldn’t have been bought by anyone else but me.  I took it home and realized that there was so much work to be done in order for it to be playable that I just put it in it’s tattered case and let it sit for a few years. After a few half-assed attempts to get it working over a ~10 year period, I finally had a spare weekend that I could devote entirely to this abused Japanese orphan.  My plan was to sand off the finish to the wood and re-paint it gloss black, getting it as close to stock as I could.  As I started sanding off the finish I started liking how it looked more and more.  I was(am) going through a heavy Wabi-Sabi phase;  the wood peeking through the scratched matte finish, and the mismatched hardware, was really speaking to me.  Besides there isn’t a more appropriate theme for a Japanese guitar than Wabi-Sabi. I replaced the rear pickup with a DiMarzio PAF Pro, the original was too muddy sounding for my taste.  Replaced the pots with Bourns Push-Push pots.  Replaced the pickup rings, they were so split that they fell to pieces once I removed the screws.  I replaced the split nut and the saddles with a Graph Tech, and then replaced the tuners with Sperzels.  Also, every single screw on the guitar was either stripped, corroded, or stripped and corroded.  I had to replace them all. Much to my surprise, with a little TLC (okay a LOT), this guitar is special.  I mean seriously special.  Unplugged it sounds like I’m playing an acoustic it is so resonant.  Plugged in, it sounds like I’m playing a dragon. There have been more changes since the above photo was taken.  In the photo the pickup rings are the old ones, the original speed knobs have been replaced with metal flat-top knobs, and I have since written “Wabi-Sabi” in Kanji on the body in black permanent marker.  These symbols are only partially visible through the heavily sanded paint that remains. Odd Guitars are cool.

I Like Odd Guitars

This is a Yamaha SBG1200.  I bought it at Guitar Czar a very long time ago and it was beat to hell.  It had a massive scratch that ran all the way across the top, right down to the wood.  The tuners were bent, the pots had no pot-nuts and were floating free in the body.  It didn’t have any strap buttons and the nut was cracked at the low E.  Eric had it marked down very low, and he gave me a deal on top of that ‘cause it was so totally fucked-up.  

This poor guitar probably wouldn’t have been bought by anyone else but me.  I took it home and realized that there was so much work to be done in order for it to be playable that I just put it in it’s tattered case and let it sit for a few years.

After a few half-assed attempts to get it working over a ~10 year period, I finally had a spare weekend that I could devote entirely to this abused Japanese orphan.  My plan was to sand off the finish to the wood and re-paint it gloss black, getting it as close to stock as I could.  As I started sanding off the finish I started liking how it looked more and more.  I was(am) going through a heavy Wabi-Sabi phase;  the wood peeking through the scratched matte finish, and the mismatched hardware, was really speaking to me.  Besides there isn’t a more appropriate theme for a Japanese guitar than Wabi-Sabi.

I replaced the rear pickup with a DiMarzio PAF Pro, the original was too muddy sounding for my taste.  Replaced the pots with Bourns Push-Push pots.  Replaced the pickup rings, they were so split that they fell to pieces once I removed the screws.  I replaced the split nut and the saddles with a Graph Tech, and then replaced the tuners with Sperzels.  Also, every single screw on the guitar was either stripped, corroded, or stripped and corroded.  I had to replace them all.

Much to my surprise, with a little TLC (okay a LOT), this guitar is special.  I mean seriously special.  Unplugged it sounds like I’m playing an acoustic it is so resonant.  Plugged in, it sounds like I’m playing a dragon.

There have been more changes since the above photo was taken.  In the photo the pickup rings are the old ones, the original speed knobs have been replaced with metal flat-top knobs, and I have since written “Wabi-Sabi” in Kanji on the body in black permanent marker.  These symbols are only partially visible through the heavily sanded paint that remains.

Odd Guitars are cool.

4 notes

  1. supernaut posted this