So, I've had the GAS to have something that harks back to the 80s guitar scene, Charvel, Kramer etc etc However, I wanted to avoid a locking trem and didn't want to spend too much. I saw one of these and pulled the trigger.
I researched and all have said that the body and neck are well made - which indeed it did impress me. The frets were actually really good, crowned and rounded no sharp ends - just needed to be polished. The Neck itself is a 12 inch radius but has shoulders.
The body is painted well, a blemish by the back of neck pocket. nothing awful though.
The hardware is cheap, rickety. Is to be expected. Volume Pot is like on/off - however the pickup is pretty alright. So this is a good canvas to build something upon.
So, I got my creative cap on and came up with something like this.
One of the first things I'm going to do is change all the hardwire. Give me some ideas on what hardware to get if you want to.
Black tremolo Bridge - (52mm)
Black Locking Tuners - (10mm) - DONE
Pot - something that I can maybe split the pickup
Nut - Graphtech Tusq - can't go wrong.
Eventually the pickup.
VF-84 vinyl sticker because Tomcats were the shit in the 80s
I'm trying not to break the bank with this as it's part of the challenge I'm giving myself to find solutions.
I've already started by getting some Locking tuners from Northwest guitars. Pretty decent considering the price-point. I also painted the inside of the truss road cover in blue sparkle.
Comments
I find that tilt-back, droopy headstocks and non-locking vibrato systems are a tuning stability nightmare - even if the vibrato baseplate is set down against the top of the guitar body.
The black nut in your photographs is slotted straight. This will cause the strings to snag on the tuner side. (They eventually chew away the sides of their slots!) When the nut slots are splayed towards their respective tuner posts, the strings still manage to snag after bends or vibrato use. Locking machineheads can not cure this.
I do not expect anyone to take my word for this. Instead, I suggest getting a second opinion from @ICBM