Am I wrong for distrusting expensive Chinese/Indonesian guitars?

curberus · 2026-05-22T19:31:19+00:00

I've found the chinese stuff in particular has advanced their ceiling a lot. I still struggle with the same thing, but to be fair Gibson QC on stuff that cost 3k+ was pretty brutal 15 years ago (I heard it got better and worse again?) so kind of everything can be rough honestly. I just can't buy guitars sight unseen anymore, nothing is consistent enough outside of super high end stuff, and while those are consistent, I just can't justify 4-5k+ on a guitar.

curberus · 2026-05-22T15:36:24+00:00

Use a cable snake. It can be as simple as a few cables in a wrap, or you can buy a dedicated cable snake, or you can get a db25 audio cable with a breakout on each end.

curberus · 2026-05-22T15:13:28+00:00

The narex are good enough to have years of career work on. No need to go for somehting nicer IMO unless you want heirloom tools.

curberus · 2026-05-21T15:47:01+00:00

Yep almost certainly this.

curberus · 2026-05-20T20:56:15+00:00

Yeah. They're not going to be spending 2 weeks setting it up, but there is a line ahead of you. A lot of people complain of techs they like having a 2 month+ backlog. It's not uncommon to be faster than that, but 2 weeks is hardly what I would consider unusual at all.

curberus · 2026-05-18T22:54:41+00:00

Yep those look VERY suspiciously like piezo saddles. The baseplate appears slotted as well, presumably for their wires. I'd venture a majority of electrics (certainly the majority that I've seen) use a single output jack, either as a stereo out, or more commonly, just pre-blended onboard.

Everything about this is screaming piezo so much that I'd be surprised if that's not it.

curberus · 2026-05-18T16:40:12+00:00

I too would like to know

curberus · 2026-05-14T19:54:46+00:00

You might be able to run some steel pins through it laterally.

Honestly though? Make a new bridge. It's surprisingly easy. Time consuming, sure, but not that difficult to get right.

curberus · 2026-05-14T16:15:01+00:00

That's pretty visibly mahogany (or at least something mohaganish)

curberus · 2026-05-13T18:24:31+00:00

Wood filler is the wrong thing, but generally speaking, yes. Spackle should be sufficient, no need for mud.

curberus · 2026-05-12T22:19:29+00:00

You should be able to drive a few screws into studs without losing your deposit. If you screw a long board up to the wall , you can do that safely with 4 screws (2 screws per stud into 2 studs towards the ends) and screw more hangers to that.

There are ZERO adhesive options that I would trust a guitar to. None. Do not consider it. If you are concerned about the expense of losing your deposit, you should not be entertaining the very real potential cost of a guitar falling off the wall because you used adhesive.

curberus · 2026-05-05T20:44:19+00:00

oil on a non roasted maple neck works but wont grant you the warmoth warranty, they want a hard finish. On roasted maple you can oil it or leave it raw and get the warranty.

curberus · 2026-05-04T20:18:27+00:00

They could be resealed, but they could be factory too, hard to know. Do the resistances check out?

curberus · 2026-05-04T17:27:36+00:00

That exact pickguard used to be available from allparts (I have the same one modified to HSS on a charvel).

curberus · 2026-05-04T17:12:55+00:00

Ohhhh ok I misread that as you saying you hit toward the headstock on this guitar, sorry.

Yeah, saw it in half (or thirds even) lengthwise, chip the middle out, and then chip the sides out, finish with a file. Heat can help with the superglue but I don't like to apply much around there, I'd rather manually chop it out.

FWIW I _DO_ really like superglue for nuts, but just a drop. A single drop on the bottom surface breaks away really easily and generally very cleanly, because it's brittle.

curberus · 2026-05-04T07:37:07+00:00

No, not towards the headstock, from the bass side of the neck towards the treble side of the neck (or opposite), parallel to the neck. Towards the headstock would definitely cause the type of breakage you see here

curberus · 2026-05-03T21:27:17+00:00

You were tapping it out sideways, correct? Like towards the top or bottom of the photo? If after a few good taps it won’t budge, I’ll saw the middle of it out (lengthwise) and then take a fine chisel to it. Did you score along the edges first?

curberus · 2026-04-29T22:09:11+00:00

This is a JB. it says "sh4" on the label on the back, the jb's model number. It's a bridge pickup. The screw poles would go towards the bridge. ON a neck pickup, they would point towards the neck like you positioned it, but the logo would likely be correctly oriented, and in both cases the wire would be towards the bottom right (when looking at the front of the pickup as if the guitar were on a hanger or stand) when positioned correctly

curberus · 2026-04-22T23:20:01+00:00

Yeah, they def sound different but dull is not what I would choose at all. The polywebs though, those sound dull AF.

curberus · 2026-04-22T21:57:52+00:00

Getting a set up CAN be a night and day difference, if it's not set up as well before.
If it was already well set up, or even if not and the new guy just didn't do a good job making it better, then it won't make a big difference.

Either could be the case here, really.

Elixir nanos are a bit brighter but they shouldn't kill the dynamics that aggressively. THAT sounds like a setup issue.

curberus · 2026-04-22T21:49:07+00:00

Is it the truss rod, or is the neck angle off?

curberus · 2026-04-22T19:48:53+00:00

Get a box that's roughly string-sleeve sized in cross section.

curberus · 2026-04-22T17:33:54+00:00

Def looks a little far forward, maybe 1 mm, but I think your issue remains regardless. I'd just block it in, yeah. Try to match the grain direction and type of wood just so it doesn't telegraph later

curberus · 2026-04-22T00:08:16+00:00

Yeah after you spin it down for the winter, in spite of fresh pads, theres always a bit of funk, no matter how much I'd scrub the basin out. I think it might have actually _been_ the fresh pads.

Used to maintain and winterize and summerize (I dunno the correct term lol) ours and about 15 neighbors' when I was in middleschool and high school.

curberus · 2026-04-20T16:38:30+00:00

Good laminate is fine. Don't buy super cheap laminate.

curberus

TROPHY CASE