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Post subject: Guitar Repair Questions
Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:29 am
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Even though my questions are about a non-fender guitar, I figured you guys have a wealth of knowledge and might be able to help.

I have an old "Old Kraftsman" brand guitar that I am in the process of repairing. It's a neat old guitar with a single P-90 style pickup with tone and volume controls.

The other night I pulled the pots out and gave them a good cleaning. However, they do not seem to do much. Both of them will roll off the volume, but I'm noticing little effect on tone.

The sound is also very thin. However, there is no way to adjust the pickup because it is rivited to the pickgaurd. Perhaps I should drill out the rivits and replace them with screws and springs.

Add to all of that, there is an extremely large amount of humming. If I apply pressure to the pot shafts it will lessen. Could this be a grounding problem? At the moment, all the electronics are mounted to the pickgaurd with nothing going to the body wood.

Any help you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a picture of the Kay version:

Image


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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:40 am
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Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 9:58 pm
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Location: Motor City
Well, it looks pretty cool, pretty old, and in good shape. The question is, do you want to keep it original, or do you want to chop it up a bit so you can play it like a new guitar?

I might keep it as is. If I wanted to make it a good sounding and playing guitars (assuming the neck is solid, the action can be set well, etc), I might...

- put new pots in
- check or just redo the internal wiring
- make sure it's shielded well
- i'm guess the components aren't of the highest level, so it's probably a bit noisy and not-good-sounding by nature. i'd consider putting a good P90 pickup in that, and making it adjustable (loose the rivets)

All this little work will help a lot, but if the neck isn't good, or if you can't intonate it good, this won't matter because you'll have a cool guitar that is no longer original, can sound great, but plays bad and can't stay in tune.


I think I'd just leave it as it, and appreciate it for what it is. It's not going to play or sound like a new Strat or Les Paul, and it was never meant to. I'd make it part of my collection, show it off, play it ocassionally on some situaitons (maybe a clean tone, in the first position, etc), and fight the urge to hack it up and try to make it something it's not. But that's just me.
Just a few things to consider before you chop it up.


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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:28 pm
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The plan is to get it playing as good as originally possible. At the moment it is unplayable.

The wiring looks to be in good shape. The neck is in pretty good shape. (I plan to refret it eventually.) I've already put new tuners on it and the above mentioned cleaning of the pots and jack.

If all else fails, it may become wall art. However, it seems it would be an injustice not to get it playing again.


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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:31 am
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I love the old Kay, Silvertone, Harmony guitars. They are cool and funky. I would replace the tone and vol knobs, but NOT the pickup. Those old pickups is were the vintage tone comes from.
You would be surprised to find that many of these old guitars have DeArmond pickups, which, although noisy, sound pretty damn good. Replace all the electronics, do some sheilding, but leave the pup alone, in my opinion.


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