I mentioned in another thread that I bought a J.Reynolds guitar in a Pawn shop the other day. Paid $60 for it. I couldn't resist the way it sounded in the Pawn shop unplugged. TRUST YOUR EARS not your eyes. If it sounds good unplugged, It will most likely sound good plugged in. The pickups and electronics in it were no different than what you would find in a starter squier. The neck was cheap and had buzzes in it, so I swapped it with a Squier CV 60's neck.

The upgrades made are:

Squier CV 60's neck
CTS 250k pots
Sprague Orange .033 cap
Benson Custom Handwound 7.0 Bridge pickup
Benson Custom Handwound 6.4 Neck pickup
Lace Sensor Silver Middle pickup
Graphtech Saddles
Fender 5-position switch
Black Fender pickguard, knobs, and Tele Switch knob
(Dark red pickup covers on order to replace the white)







The body of this guitar singlehandedly makes me a believer that the wood in a guitar means a Big difference. In the past, I always just considered it more of a minor thing than a major thing. I've had these pickups in other guitars, and never have they sounded so good. I can't say enough about Benson Custom Handwounds, and the FLS middle surprisingly paired up nicely with them as far as balance and sound.

Other online reviews and discussions list these J. Reynolds guitars as having Poplar bodies. This one is not. It's definitely Basswood, and it produces a sound that still has me smiling from ear to ear. The sounds coming out of it are ungodly good. So much so that I'll be looking to upgrade the neck to a U.S.A, Fender neck and other mods to follow.

Best $60 I've EVER spent!! Not sure what to call this thing. But it's a definite keeper.

_________________

HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

Looks great, congrats.

_________________
Rated "M" for meaty.

Hi Shredd6

That body looks great! A really nice "grain with a stain"!

Congrats!

Andy

P.S. Your tunes rock by the way. Good stuff!

_________________
Pending Greatness

Nice resurrection Shredd. Sounds like a tone hound for sure.Glad you have it. The price was right........... Mike

_________________
The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Great job you have done there,the grain of the wood kinda looks like ash but I'm not too sure on that either way it's a lovely body.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Thanks guys.

You know, initially when I saw it hanging I had to wonder what the wood was. The grain did stand out on the wall. Although it did look like Ash, it also had Mahogany-like characters to it as well. If it was Ash, it would be much heavier, but the ash-like grain and very light weight ruled out the possibility of both. I knew it was Basswood as soon as I picked it up.

The big surprise really came when I gave it a strum. I played it for a few minutes, and just couldn't believe what I was hearing. There was another musician in there kind of watching me examine it, and I kept saying to him, "Listen to THAT dude!!" He just kept smirking at me like I was crazy. So excited about a $60 guitar.

I would have to say that the finish is a big plus. It does look really nice. But the sound is what I was after the most. I HAD to have it.

That being said, I would definitely be interested in checking out more Basswood Fenders in the future.

Andy, thanks for the compliments on the music. I really do appreciate it. And now I have a nice new addition to the arsenal.

_________________

HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

Just played a 3-hr set with the new guitar last night. Very happy with how it performed. Thanks for all of your replies. I'm digging this guitar a lot.

_________________

HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com