My 325 has problems!

[dweeb]

Hi Mark -

I have a brand new 325V59, and I really like the guitar, but it has a lot of problems. I just thought I'd run over a few ideas with you for making my guitar more playable - anything you can advise would be very appreciated:

For one thing, it just seems too perfect, too new. I'm almost afraid to play it. What would happen if I placed the guitar on it's back on the floor, stood on it with one foot, and repeatedly stamped on the neck with the other at around the 9th fret, would you suggest this as a way of making the guitar feel more broken in? Another thing I was considered was holding it against a hot radiator for an hour, then submerging it in a bathtub full of cold water and Clorox, but this might not be cost effective. I mean, wouldn't sea water be a better choice? I've also heard that a great way to break in a new guitar is to completely bury it in mud and leave it there for 6 months to a year, but this seems rather silly, it would also leave you without a guitar for a long time. One thing I did try is I painted my guitar with margarine and put it in the oven; I was really annoyed because when I took it out an hour later, I dropped it because it was hot, and put a nick in the headstock - how do you repair that?

Regarding action and intonation: I'm not really getting a "rock & roll" sound from my guitar. I think it's the intonation, but I can't be sure. Any thoughts on this? Are the strings supposed to all be tuned to the same note, or 6 different ones? A friend of mine strung his guitar with 6 low E strings and tuned them all to 4 octaves above standard pitch. Can't you just get the same result with a capo? I tried that with my guitar, but I found the resulting action a little high for comfort; so I tuned them to 4 octaves below standard pitch and that felt a lot better (by the way, I like to turn my tuning pegs with pliers, you get a lot more leverage that way). Also, I hate the way the strings move around when I strum; what I ended up doing was using a chisel to bang a notch for each string into every fret, this seems to hold them in place better when I play. Is there a better way? My dad suggested duct tape.

I like the neck on my guitar, but it was missing a lot of fret dots; there was like only a few of them. I fixed this with a cigarette, which I used to burn in all the missing fret dots. This was a $1500 guitar; I think John Hall should be more careful about his quality control. Rickenbacker is a rich company, can't he hire someone to check the fret dots?

Finally, my guitar never seems to be loud enough. My buddy thought that maybe it was my amp. He brought over his Marshall stack (he plays a Strat, peon!), and we set it up in the bathroom, and closed the door. Then we turned all the knobs on the guitar up to ten, and all the knobs on the amps up to ten. That was pretty loud, but you can't bring a bathroom with you to a gig. Is that a good way to get a "rock & roll sound"? If you hold a butane lighter against the bridge pickup, you

[markthemd]

Pretty funny ....


Clorox is a really good idea ,it lightens the finish allowing for MORE tone to emmit!

[grsnovi]

I've found that if you make a thick paste using the dry Clorox and apply it with a cake icing technique that you get better results than using the liquid stuff (only amateur frankenstein makers use the liquid stuff).

Also, you should seriously consider painting that damn shiney fingerboard with non-skid deck paint - it gives you more traction when getting that rock and roll sound.

A short length of lead water pipe can also be fitted over any of those stupid short whammy bars so you can get some really cool sounds out of it.

And, to make it really loud - you need the knobs that go up to 11. I saw this once in a movie about a band called Spinal Tap and they were really loud!

Hope this helps.

[someone]

What would be even better: Walk into a busy intersection, drop your trousers and pummel yourself about the head and shoulders with the V59 over and over until you lose conciousness.

[rkbsound]

Just a word of caution: DO NOT drink the Clorox prior to using it on your guitar. This common mistake has been known to cause irreparable damage, and, ultimately, the guitar never gets fixed right.

[dweeb]

"someone" has a pretty good idea above, and I've heard that it can really help the intonation of the guitar in the lower-mid ranges (you always say the 325 is especially tough to intonate). I was going to try this very thing, but what I finally ended up doing was pushing my cousin into the middle of a busy intersection, and throwing the guitar at him; I used the strap as a sling to get really good velocity, and aimed it right at his head.

But he dodged the guitar, which fell face down onto the asphalt with a big clatter, and one of the strings broke and it skidded about 20 yards, and then it was run over by the left front wheel of a bus. When traffic stopped for the light, I raced over and picked up my guitar to test the intonation- and Mark, I have to say, it wasn't in the greatest condition. That wasn't so cool because I had a big gig that night. One of the knobs was scuffed, and there was some dirt on the Bigsby bar; how do you fix this kind of thing in the shop; man you Rick techs are real magicians.

At least as far as the knob goes, I knew the best thing to do was to unscrew the truss rod and bend it in half, and then pour motor oil and epoxy hardener into the truss rod channel in the neck, which I did, and it helped a lot - have you ever done this in the shop?

Mark, I know you're busy, but how do you tell the difference between the scatter wound and low impedance straight wound pickups? I want my guitar to have the vintage "rock & roll" sound that Dave Clark made famous. Someone told me, maybe I read it here in the Forum, that if you connect a 120 volt main line to a guitar cord and then plug the other end into the guitar, you can often lower the impedance of the new reissue pickups. Is that true? I tried that, and one of the knobs got really hot..good thing I sent in my warranty card! I used a crowbar to pry off the pickguard, but I couldn't see the windings; even when I also unscrewed the strap buttons. Is that normal? But anyway, as I was saying in my last post, if you hold a butane lighter to the bridge pickup, you

[rick12dr]

Mark, I think this guy is trying to upstage us; I thought only We were this weird!"What Mr. Dweeb
Meant to say was...."
Take it awayyy, Mark-o....

[rob]

Try using a hammer on your strings to get a "piano-like" sound. Or, try smacking your guitar over your singer's head every time he sings out of key. Or, do what Jimi Hendrix did and burn it, but try to play it without burning yourself. Or, try playing it while it's halfway stuck up your a.... Try explaining that one in the emergency room.

[rob]

"All I wanna do is play my guitar, honest!!!!!"

[Dr._Winston_O_Boogie]

The best way to 'break in' a new guitar is to play the heck out of it! But along your line of reasoning try putting the guitar in the case and then wraping the case in plastic, bury it 6" under ground then draw a map of exactly were you buried it! Send me the map and then leave it there until you hear from me again! ha! Just don't hold your breath!

[markthemd]

By the way ...don't go swimming with this model of guitar ....

After drying out ,they are famous for their shrinkage problems ...up to 3/4" !

This will necessitate using ultra-extra heavy strings ! the gauges are ;

1st-.016p
2nd.024w
3rd.028w
4th.038w
5th.048w
6th.060w

D'Addario makes these ....look under 'Stud Muffin'
in their catalog.