Songwriters in Seattle

Tag: The Trading Musician

  • DIY Blues, Pt. 2: Something Busted, Something Used

    So here’s my situation: I’ve got a beat up Epiphone Les Paul (muddy pickups that cut out, a missing tuning peg and buzzing strings) and don’t want to spend a fortune on repairs, let alone a new guitar.

    Inspired by the do it yourself (DIY) punk rock ethos detailed in the pages of Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life (the latest stock market reports didn’t hurt, either), I decided to take matters into my own hands and set out about repairing it myself. (What’s the worst that could happen? It’s only electricity, darn it!) Keep in mind that I have no related experience and have been too timid to even crack open the paneling and look at the electronics inside.

    The first step, I decided, would be to pick out a new pickup. Naturally, I went to Guitar Center. When I told the sales associate I wanted something a bit brighter sounding, he suggested a Gibson Burstbucker II, for $129.99. Fair enough. However, I drew the line when I found that I’d have to drop around $70 for an entire set of new tuners.

    Leaving Guitar Center, I decided to be a bit more adventurous and visited The Trading Musician on Roosevelt Way, near the U-District. If its name was any indication, I figured they might have some miscellaneous individual tuning pegs that would do the trick for a more reasonable price. Calling ahead in advance confirmed my suspicions.

    Once there, I also discovered a treasure trove of new and used pickups; Seymour Duncan P-Rails and Pearly Gates floating to the top of the stack.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    However, since I had a gift certificate for $50, I decided to stay within those bounds for the time being and settled on a used DiMarzio 159, priced at $39.99 (which I later found online selling for closer to $100).

     

     

     

     

    Unfortunately, none of the tuning pegs were a match for my guitar. They had a ton of Gibson varietals which may have worked, but, alas, only one oriented for the bass side of the guitar. And that was a Gibson Deluxe; too fat to fit through the hole in the headstock.

    Returning home, fully armed, I realized that my work had only just begun. Many questions remained unanswered: Why, for example, did my new pickup have four wires protruding, when my old one only had two? What the heck was I gonna do about my missing tuning peg and the buzzing strings? And what in the world is this soldering thing all about?

    Up next:

    DIY Blues, Pt 3: Touched for the very first time

    I finally pull back the veil on my guitar and get the shock of a lifetime.

    Previously:

    DIY Blues, Pt 1: Reviving a dead guitar

    With nearly empty wallet, I set out to fix a seriously impaired guitar

  • DIY Blues, Pt. 1: Reviving a Dead Guitar

    Disclaimer: The author claims no authority or expertise in the matters discussed here within. Quite the opposite. He welcomes corrections, advice and scathingly negative commentary where appropriate. Hopefully, this odyssey will inspire other timid souls to delve into the realm of guitar repair.

    As the stock market sinks further and further, it’s hard to justify sinking hundreds and hundreds of dollars (or more) into a new guitar and/or repairs. However, after years of writing and performing solely with an acoustic guitar, I knew it was time to make like Bob Dylan and plug in. What I had at my immediate disposal was a run down Epiphone Les Paul, the tone of which I had never been happy with.

    In addition to its infamously muddy signature tone, this ELP tended to cut out when toggling between the bridge and neck pickups. Even worse, it suffered from a missing tuning peg and buzzing strings, the action low enough that the three remaining strings were lightly touching the first fret.

    Having no experience working on guitars, my options seemed to be to pawn it off and buy a new guitar (to the tune of at least $500) or take it in for repairs of an unknown cost and quality. Therefore, I decided to seize the moment and educate myself. As soon as I cracked open the rear panel and heated up an ancient soldering iron, I knew I had made the right decision.

    Up next:

    DIY Blues, Pt 2: Something Busted, Something Used
    Faced with a mess of wires, an over sized soldering iron and no experience to his name, the author must install a used pickup of dubious quality while avoiding a catastrophic meltdown. But first, he seeks some assistance from the good folks at The Trading Musician.