Fine tuning pickups, planning on refinishing ...

Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 -- The parts I ordered for my project guitars continue to trickle in ... the black speed knobs arrived today. The snowstorm we had earlier this week delayed mail delivery, but that's ok -- I don't have the replacement pots for the Ibanez anyway.

I have ordered new pots to replace these, and
I already have my new speed knobs. With my
new set of super slinky strings, this one is
ready to rock. I've also add the missing knob
on the 3-way switch.

I thought I had ordered them, but I had not ... I had them marked on eBay, then changed my mind to go back and check the OE parts list on the Ibanez website. I bit the bullet tonight and ordered a set of pots for it. Once I have the pots replaced, there won't be anything left to repair!

I'm still working on adjusting the pickups ... I'm just not really sold on the audio quality, and thanks to Youtube research, I've gotten a better understanding on adjusting them for best performance. I had them adjusted too close to the strings, making both pickups sound muddy. I've lowered them down and they're -- at least -- better.

I have a hard case for the Ibanez -- or for my Peavey, depending on which I decide to play and which I don't. I really want a hard case for my Oscar Scmidt OE-30 semi-hollowbody, but those don't come cheap. I still find myself drawn to red or black semi-hollowbody guitars, and I can pick one up for $200 easy, sometimes with a hard case. But frankly, I'm not ready to drop that much cash on another guitar -- especially when I have my OE-30 tobacco sunburst that plays just fine.

My real project guitar -- the Spectrum strat -- awaits the real work. First, I need to figure out what I want to do with the body. It needs finishing, and I'm looking online for supplies. I'm pretty sure I'm going with Surf Green, but before I get to color coats, I have a helluva lot of prep work. I'm going to seal the grain and make it a slick as I can before going with color. I'll clear the hell out of it. then wet sand and buff it.

This is what I would like my Spectrum strat clone to look like
once I have it completed. There's a lot of work from here to
there.

I'm hoping that after all this work refinishing this thing that it plays worth a damn. Once I have the nut installed, I may just reassemble it and give it a try before I start painting. We'll see.

I continue to play my OE-30 a lot, and have been adjusting the pups to clean up their sound. That's working pretty well. I'm just more used to single coil pickups, you know?

I'm also trying to avoid the temptation to buy a telecaster-style guitar. My wife has surgery this week, and she will be off work for SIX weeks, meaning anything I buy in the next couple of months is going to have to come past her while she's here -- and I don't want her chewing my ass because I bought a (another) new guitar.

I need to really work on my skills rather than buying another guitar ... learn to play better instead of more stuff to play. Hell, I was even considering buying an autoharp to learn to play.  Instead of

buying another guitar, I'm going to spend a little money on some instructional materials.

Speaking of buying more stuff, my other Behringer V-Amp 3 arrived yesterday ... I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy it when it sells usually for twice the price.  I'm also considering buying the rack mount version of the V-Amp, which I can get for about $75. Of course, that means I'll have not one but TWO V-amp 3s hanging around .... if I play my cards right, I could sell them both and come out money ahead on the rack mount V-Amp. ... or maybe I can apply the proceeds to a telecaster? I can always dream, lol.