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Post subject: EJ neck and trem q's
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:16 pm
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Hey all. Just got an Eric Johnson, which I'm finding I really like. :) It damn near is the perfect Strat (for me). A few things:

a) It has the shiny, glossy, polished neck finish. When I went playing a whole bunch of Strats to decide what I wanted, I actually preferred the satin finish on the VG, deluxe, and Pro models. Any thoughts on trying to roughen up the surface at all? (I saw steel wool mentioned somewhere.) A local guitar luthier said he could refinish it, but I don't think I want to go to that extreme. Just roughen it up a bit to change the slick feel. ??

b) The tremolo has 5 springs. Can I simply take two of the springs off of it, change the saddle height, and I'm good to go for a more traditional bridge setup? (I don't like how much effort is required to "dive bomb" the tremelo. Plus, because the bridge is angled back and flush with the body, when I screw the trem bar in or out, the bar actually hits the guitar body towards the back of the guitar. So now I put a "spacer" under the bridge in the back to lift it a tad while putting in or taking out the trem bar to prevent this.) ??

I love this guitar man. Hard to explain. I have a '79 Les Paul KM (an early "near miss" of the '58 standard), and in the mid '80's I tried a Japanese Strat. Crap guitar. Finally got around to getting a new one. This baby speaks to me. It has "soul". I'm sure you all know what I mean. :D

Funny thing: I wasn't even aware of who Eric Johnson was before I settled on this one. Just looking for a late '60's/early '70's Jimi Hendrix/Ritchie Blackmore type thing.

Cheers!


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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:22 pm
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I've got an EJ and agree it's the perfect strat. Yes, the neck can be a bit sticky at first. Wiping it down when it starts to get sticky helps a lot. The nitro kinda holds on to sweat and dirt. Not to worry, the more you play it the less of a problem it is. Just keep it clean till the nitro fully cures and starts to wear from playing.

I've left the trem as is, but I see no reason why you couldn't do what you wanted to. It certainly won't hurt anything as long as you make the proper adjustments after removing a spring or two.

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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:23 pm
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Take the guitar to a tech and tell him you want the bridge setup to float. Have him do a complete setup on the guitar.

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Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:54 am
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I just found this yesterday. EJ talks about his sig strat. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document?doc_id=102063&autop=1&pgvar=interviews&wv=EricJohnson-02-SignatureStrat_1&vname=Eric%20Johnson%20-%20Signature%20Strat


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Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:36 am
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cryingstrat wrote:
Not to worry, the more you play it the less of a problem it is. Just keep it clean till the nitro fully cures and starts to wear from playing.


Right. Another buddy says I need to play it more to wear the neck too. But I'm just wondering if there's any way to artificially accelerate that wear? :) (For example, my buddy wishes that Fender would offer a "relic" neck on the EJ.)

CAFeathers- I think I saw in another thread that you have the bridge floating with 5 springs? How does that work? There's so much tension on an EJ that the bridge is pulled back against the body. Different strength springs?

That MF link keeps crashing IE. Maybe later it will work...


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:29 pm
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I actually figured some stuff out. The reason why the tremolo was hitting the guitar when I screwed it in ... is because it was bent. It was bent because it took way too much force to dive bomb the tremolo with all 5 springs.

So I did have the tremolo slightly floated with 3 springs, and it actually stays in tune better now than it did.

I rebent the trem bar, but I'll probably buy a new one anyway because as this one was already bent and rebent back into shape, the metal is going to be weaker and it might happen again.

And I did see the other thread talking about sanding the neck down. Still haven't decided what I'm going to do there.

I really love this guitar though!


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:36 pm
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Hello Kevin Brown,

I'd put away the sanding paper, give it 6 months and
play it everyday, thats the best cure. You'll never
remember it feeling bad. :wink:

Too bad about the bent arm, your right it'll bend easier
the next time, Luckily not an expensive item.

Best of luck.


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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:17 pm
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Hey Kevin,

Before you destroy your finish and the vallue of your guitar, go down to your local music shop and buy some Tone Finger-Ease by Chem-Pak, Inc. It's a popular item and every music store should have it in stock. It's a string lubricant but you can also spray the back of your neck with no damage to the finish. It'll smooth out the neck in one application. It's like $5.00 and a can lasts me months (I play several hours every day).

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:36 am
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manabu108 wrote:
Hey Kevin,

Before you destroy your finish and the vallue of your guitar, go down to your local music shop and buy some Tone Finger-Ease by Chem-Pak, Inc. It's a popular item and every music store should have it in stock. It's a string lubricant but you can also spray the back of your neck with no damage to the finish. It'll smooth out the neck in one application. It's like $5.00 and a can lasts me months (I play several hours every day).


Good advise. I used to use baby oil (really messy and kills your strings) until this stuff hit the market.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:04 pm
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Strataholic wrote:
manabu108 wrote:
Hey Kevin,

Before you destroy your finish and the vallue of your guitar, go down to your local music shop and buy some Tone Finger-Ease by Chem-Pak, Inc. It's a popular item and every music store should have it in stock. It's a string lubricant but you can also spray the back of your neck with no damage to the finish. It'll smooth out the neck in one application. It's like $5.00 and a can lasts me months (I play several hours every day).


Good advise. I used to use baby oil (really messy and kills your strings) until this stuff hit the market.


If you're really on a budget you can use the old school method also of sprinkling a little baby or talcum powder on your fretting hand and rubbing it up and down the neck.

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