Since I've been in this band our other singers always had their ukuleles handy and play and sing wherever we go. I usually sit around and watch. Never really got into ukes, I don't really always have an acoustic guitar that I take with me wherever I go. Not a big fan of travel acoustics either. But now, I can finally hang out and play our songs wherever we go without having to lug around an acoustic with me. Tours, picnics, parties, etc..







My modded Squier Mini Player.

I bought this at a pawn shop for $25 not working. Squier parts for this are nearly impossible to get for them so I decided to do my own thing with it. I bought an Artec preamp for it and of course it didn't work. But I wasn't sure if it was the speaker or the preamp. I almost just said forget it altogether. But that just bothered me, so I did my experiments, deductive reasonings, and eventually bought another Artec SDAT preamp.. Turned out my first one was just a dud.

The preamp itself gets real thin when you back off the volume so I decided to install a separate Volume for the pickup so I wouldn't lose bass tones, and further still, installed a modded TBX pot for versatility of backing off the volumes and retaining Bass or treble. Grabbed a LED from Radio Shack so I would know when the guitar was turned on so I don't inadvertently drain a battery.

The crazy part came with choosing a pickup for it. I painstakingly went through pickup after pickup. The speaker being as small as it is doesn't respond too well with average bridge pickups. They're too hot and become distorted. I wanted it very clean. So I went through a myriad of neck pickups and/or "any position" pickups. The result was pretty shocking to me.

After going through Duncans, Epiphone, Dimarzios, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Stock, aftermarket, etc.. One pickup did stand out as being the smoothest and most versatile for this Mini. And wouldn't you know it, it was a Squier Bullet HH neck pickup. I've said it before in another thread that these new Squier Bullet HH neck pickups are bomb. I almost didn't want to believe it, that's why I went through all of that all freaking night. But it outshined the others. Very colorful and versatile little bugger. My Props to Squier for making such a good sounding pickup and putting them in a $100 (new) guitar. Crazy.

So there you go. My new travel and songwriting guitar. I love this thing. I think everyone should have one.

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

That's too cool!

I'll bet a neck position Filtertron (Gretsch) would have worked for that application.

Pretty cool refurbishing job-now you ccan jam away with the Uke guys.

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'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.

Now your talkin! Had a situation, found something close, modded it to work for you, only thing left to do is go enjoy that puppy!

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Howdy Shredd6!


Nice job mate! At least If I find one I know who to send it to get it pimped!

Cheers!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Thanks guys. The more I play it, the more I realize how useful one is. I'd have to admit, at first when they were in production, I didn't think much of it but a toy. But the neck is straight, the guitar can be intonated just like a regular guitar. With this preamp/volume/ tone setup, it creates a good variety of clean tones. Decent enough for practicing, sounds as good as most cigar box amps.

But being able to have one on tour is going to be really cool. Sometimes you wanna just play in a parking lot just to pass the time, and it doesn't take a lot of space in the van. I've already been sitting on the couch practicing my singing. It's just a cool thing to have. I'm digging it.

StratoBobster, I wold have loved to try one out in this puppy. The one thing I noticed was that pickups either sounded too honky in the mids, or too trebly and distorted. For some reason, the Bullet HH pickup just didn't do any of that and sounds creamy, clean, and balanced compared to the others I tried. It was crazy. I was pulling pickups out of my regular tour guitars to try them out.

Andy, I've seen some of your stuff.. Who you kidding? Hahaha. I'm sure there are plenty of guys on here who would have other great ideas on how to pimp one of these out. And you're definitely one who can get creative.

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

I really admire you guys with the time and patients to create your project guitars. You know they really are quite something
----Danny,

Awww shucks.

When Haleamano do a UK tour we'll have to meet up, drink beer and talk geeky guitar mods mate!

Cheers!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I'd love to make it over there Andy. Hopefully we can make it happen someday.

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

That's cool Shredd. Sounds like you turned a piece of junk into a useful tool. Something like that would be pretty awesome to have to take places I don't really feel comfortable taking my other guitars. Like camping/fishing trips. I might have to look around for something like that.

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Check out my new FB music page!

https://www.facebook.com/TheDevilandMe.Music

Cool story Shredd, thanks for posting, enjoy your new guitar.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Oh man, that's just too cool! And the jewel light puts the icing on the cake - great job!

Nice work, Shredd - and I'd expect no less from you. I like your attitude. Congrats.

Cheers - C

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Clever....
There is something to be gained from a little ingenuity when you cannot find what you want or most of the time it is unrealistically priced.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "