Post by cynical1 on Feb 27, 2011 22:07:25 GMT -5
Long story short, I run into one of the guys from the old circuit while visiting my Mom at the hospital, who tells me another mutual acquaintance just opened a shop a few blocks down the street. So, Mom goes into therapy and I have a few hours to kill, so I figure, what the Hell...I haven't seen him in 20+ years...how much trouble can I get into just stopping by...
We shoot the breeze for a while and he says, "Hey, you still do repairs?" This should have been the red flag, but I made the mistake of asking what he had...another illustration that age does not connotate wisdom... My buddy explains how he had given the guy $20.00 as a trade-in on another guitar as a kind gesture while he's digging around the back room looking for it. Right about now I'm thinking this probably just kindling with strings... He asked me if I wanted to fix it up since I was back in town. I explained I was not "back in town", but I'd be happy to give him the $20.00 and call it even. I'm still not sure who got the better of the other on this yet...
I have no idea what possessed me to take this guitar. I'm a bass player and I can't really play a guitar...but I am now the proud owner of a 90's era Fernandes Decade Elite Sustainer guitar...and for $20.00 how can you go wrong...yeah, I know...famous last words...
The last yahoo that owned it really beat it up pretty bad. It looked like this, I imagine, before the accident...
The neck and frets are in very good shape, but the body is all nicked up and the pickguard has a hole in it...a big hole... The Trem-Leo is shot, but that can be replaced. The battery and spring covers are MIA, but the tuners are still solid.
For giggles I locked the whammy, got new screws for the neck and tossed a cheap set of strings on it and just played it unplugged...and it really sounds pretty good...you can really feel the notes through the body, so there's no structural damage...and it weighs a 1/2 ton...
My real quandary is the Sustainer. I know you can't even get a non-sustainer sound out of these things without a battery in them...and the battery connection has been cut. It also has some proprietary switches and a DPDT switch pin soldered to a small board to active the sustainer.
The Fernandes site was pretty thin on schematics. Is there anybody out there that has one of these, or is familiar with the older Fernandes Sustainers?
It's still down in Chicago at a buddies shop, so next week when I go down I'll bring it back and get some pictures.
I really need to stop looking up old friends...
Happy Trails
Cynical One
We shoot the breeze for a while and he says, "Hey, you still do repairs?" This should have been the red flag, but I made the mistake of asking what he had...another illustration that age does not connotate wisdom... My buddy explains how he had given the guy $20.00 as a trade-in on another guitar as a kind gesture while he's digging around the back room looking for it. Right about now I'm thinking this probably just kindling with strings... He asked me if I wanted to fix it up since I was back in town. I explained I was not "back in town", but I'd be happy to give him the $20.00 and call it even. I'm still not sure who got the better of the other on this yet...
I have no idea what possessed me to take this guitar. I'm a bass player and I can't really play a guitar...but I am now the proud owner of a 90's era Fernandes Decade Elite Sustainer guitar...and for $20.00 how can you go wrong...yeah, I know...famous last words...
The last yahoo that owned it really beat it up pretty bad. It looked like this, I imagine, before the accident...
The neck and frets are in very good shape, but the body is all nicked up and the pickguard has a hole in it...a big hole... The Trem-Leo is shot, but that can be replaced. The battery and spring covers are MIA, but the tuners are still solid.
For giggles I locked the whammy, got new screws for the neck and tossed a cheap set of strings on it and just played it unplugged...and it really sounds pretty good...you can really feel the notes through the body, so there's no structural damage...and it weighs a 1/2 ton...
My real quandary is the Sustainer. I know you can't even get a non-sustainer sound out of these things without a battery in them...and the battery connection has been cut. It also has some proprietary switches and a DPDT switch pin soldered to a small board to active the sustainer.
The Fernandes site was pretty thin on schematics. Is there anybody out there that has one of these, or is familiar with the older Fernandes Sustainers?
It's still down in Chicago at a buddies shop, so next week when I go down I'll bring it back and get some pictures.
I really need to stop looking up old friends...
Happy Trails
Cynical One
lpf3