Hellraiser über-mod project

[JohnIce]

So as some of you have noticed, I'm very happy with the specs and tone of my latest build (thread found here: NGD - Home-built Horizon 7 (HSS content)). However, it was my first attempt and some mistakes were made, causing a little too high action, lack of sustain on higher frets, and not the greatest tuning stability. Added to that, the 25" scale I was left with from using Warmoth isn't optimal for drop A tuning.

My C-7 Hellraiser is quite the opposite... I don't like the specs at all, but I like the playability and it's been rock solid on every performance I've done with it. But it lacks a trem.

So today I ordered a C-7 Hellraiser FR My plan is to yank the Lollar singles and Dimarzio PAF7 out of my home build, re-route the Hellraiser and refinish it in a Silverburst finish, basically turn it into a replica of my home build. Here's a mockup:



I also plan to dye the fretboard black, and use only one volume control. The other two knobs will be disconnected and reserved for use with a future piezo system (switch and volume).

Question: I like the idea of using a 3-way switch, as I need to do quick switches to the middle pickup live. Is it possible to use some kind of push/pull pot to be able to get the in-between pickup positions, without using a 5-way switch?

[drenzium]

EDIT: Assholes.

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by drenzium

The Hellraisers already have push pull pots installed for use with the tappable EMGs.

I personally think you're destroying a perfectly good guitar with all of these mods. It's not exactly a beat around guitar that you're having fun with, it's actually a pretty decent instrument.

If you want particular things out of a guitar, go custom or something bro.

Don't see why... get a custom Schecter for $4000, or buy one for $1000 that is close enough and do some modding to it. If I was dead-set on selling it again, I could pretty easily redo the mods and re-paint it black. But I don't see myself doing that, as I'm very familiar with the guitar and the specs and it's what I'd use live. I'm at the point where I know what I want from a guitar, so damaging resale value is irrelevant to me. Even if my band would somehow completely change styles, I'd still need this guitar to play the old songs

About the pots, yes they are used to split the EMG's, but I'm not looking for splits and I'm not keeping the EMG's. Actually I'll have to ditch the pots anyhow cause I'm switching to passive pickups.

[scherzo1928]

Sounds like a cool project. would you be keeping the binding like on the mockup?

About the switching, have you seen the 6 way switch Darren is using in one of his builds? I think you could find it useful.

Having a 2nd switch just for some pickup combinations could be an option, but absolutely overkill and overall not cool if you will also have one for the piezo.

Originally Posted by drenzium

The Hellraisers already have push pull pots installed for use with the tappable EMGs.

I personally think you're destroying a perfectly good guitar with all of these mods. It's not exactly a beat around guitar that you're having fun with, it's actually a pretty decent instrument.

If you want particular things out of a guitar, go custom or something bro.

a) those are 25k pots, which are useless for passives. Besides, he wants them for pickup switching, not for coiltapping his already singlecoil pickups.

b) how is he destroying it? He is turning a guitar into exactly what he wants from a guitar, without spending the money that a custom shop guitar would cost him.

bro.

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by scherzo1928

Sounds like a cool project. would you be keeping the binding like on the mockup?

About the switching, have you seen the 6 way switch Darren is using in one of his builds? I think you could find it useful.

Having a 2nd switch just for some pickup combinations could be an option, but absolutely overkill and overall not cool if you will also have one for the piezo.



a) those are 25k pots, which are useless for passives. Besides, he wants them for pickup switching, not for coiltapping his already singlecoil pickups.

b) how is he destroying it? He is turning a guitar into exactly what he wants from a guitar, without spending the money that a custom shop guitar would cost him.

bro.

Cheers mate! I'll see about the binding, it's hard to tell from pictures but it seems like it'll work well with a Silverburst. In that case, I plan to buy some pearloid-lookalike vinyl to cut the dragon out of, would be tacky but that's how I like it

Now that you mention it I've heard of the 6-way switch, will have to check it out. Is that the one that's laid out like the gear stick on a car?

The extra pickup positions aren't absolutely necessary, but I do like to cram as much versatility as I can into my live guitars cause I'm not a fan of switching guitars during the show.

And yeah, modding a relatively inexpensive guitar is my best bet at the moment. And I've had $3000 guitars that didn't necessarily play better than my Schecter, so I'm pretty confident in this

[yingmin]

Something I've thought about doing with my Steinberger (HSH) is switching to a 3-way selector for just the bridge and neck, and having a push/push pot to add in the middle pickup when I want it. Haven't entirely convinced myself to go for it yet, as the Steinberger isn't my main guitar and it really isn't a pressing concern, but it's something you might want to think about.

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by yingmin

Something I've thought about doing with my Steinberger (HSH) is switching to a 3-way selector for just the bridge and neck, and having a push/push pot to add in the middle pickup when I want it. Haven't entirely convinced myself to go for it yet, as the Steinberger isn't my main guitar and it really isn't a pressing concern, but it's something you might want to think about.

Well, the odd thing is that I use the middle pickup on it's own quite heavily... I'd say a good 50% of my rhythm playing is done on the middle pickup. That's also the reason why I'd like a 3-way switch over a 5-way, beacuse it's easier to access the middle position when you don't have to skip positions 2 and 4.

[yingmin]

Fair enough. I've had two-humbucker guitars for most of the time I've been playing guitar, so I'm not really that attached to my middle pickup, although I have found some uses for it.

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by yingmin

Fair enough. I've had two-humbucker guitars for most of the time I've been playing guitar, so I'm not really that attached to my middle pickup, although I have found some uses for it.

Yeah, I didn't really use it until about two years ago when I put together my Warmoth sixer, and really took the time to listen to all the pickup positions to make sure I liked the pickups and that the wiring was right. I was pretty blown away by the middle singlecoil and how great string separation and punch it had, which is awesome for extended chords on a gain channel.

As an example, this song is all the middle singlecoil (except for the solo), and I haven't found that tone anywhere else. It's clear like a bridge singlecoil, but much meatier and richer sounding:

[vansinn]

I imagine it'll look really good with that finish; the bindings works well with silverburst, at least on your mockup.

I'd advice you to try out the Lollar bucker and just one single before starting to fill and route; the tonal options just might surprice you (I find middle pups getting in my way, but we're all different).
I also believe the looks will balance quite well this way.

Personally, I'd leave out the dragon and opt for what I think would be a very classy look.
I'm not sure staining the board would look better; the stock color makes it stand out in a nicely contrasting balanced way..

I'd like to see a new mockup like this, if you got the time and inclination

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by vansinn

I imagine it'll look really good with that finish; the bindings works well with silverburst, at least on your mockup.

I'd advice you to try out the Lollar bucker and just one single before starting to fill and route; the tonal options just might surprice you (I find middle pups getting in my way, but we're all different).
I also believe the looks will balance quite well this way.

Personally, I'd leave out the dragon and opt for what I think would be a very classy look.
I'm not sure staining the board would look better; the stock color makes it stand out in a nicely contrasting balanced way..

I'd like to see a new mockup like this, if you got the time and inclination

Thanks for posting, and yeah the fretboard isn't urgent, chances are it'll look fine as is. But about the middle pickup, see my above post :p It's an integral part of my rhythm tone. And the dragon is not classy, but it's kind of my thing I haven't done a single Rhinestone gig where I didn't have a dragon on my guitar

[scherzo1928]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

Now that you mention it I've heard of the 6-way switch, will have to check it out. Is that the one that's laid out like the gear stick on a car?

that's the one.


STEWMAC.COM : Free-Way Pickup Switch

It could even help later on with the piezo?

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by scherzo1928

that's the one.


STEWMAC.COM : Free-Way Pickup Switch

It could even help later on with the piezo?

Interesting Would love to try one before drilling into the guitar, but I'll think about it. I was also looking at the StarrSwitch 3+ but according to reviews it's pretty unreliable and it was also a lot bigger and cheaper looking than I expected.

[b7string]

This will be cool! I was gonna say something like "but it would be way cooler still if you slapped some piezos in there" but it looks like you are way ahead of me

I have a C7 aswell, and while its not an rg7321 as far as cheap modibility goes, it leaves a lot to be wished for in some ways, and I think its a great starting point. And like you said, it saves yourself the multi-thousand-dollar price tag of a custom, and you still get a badass guitar.

[drenzium]

Go custom doesn't mean go to the schecter custom shop. It means just get a guitar made from somewhere that has the specs you desire.
I don't see the point in buying a guitar that is a certain way and then changing everything about it, THAT'S MY OPINION.
Your reasoning you added for getting this guitar over a custom is actually quite good, i dont see how i could ....ing know that originally though.
Actually being neg repped for using the word bro at the end of my sentence, oh my god.
Holy shit, assholes.

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by b7string

This will be cool! I was gonna say something like "but it would be way cooler still if you slapped some piezos in there" but it looks like you are way ahead of me

I have a C7 aswell, and while its not an rg7321 as far as cheap modibility goes, it leaves a lot to be wished for in some ways, and I think its a great starting point. And like you said, it saves yourself the multi-thousand-dollar price tag of a custom, and you still get a badass guitar.

Cheers man! Yeah that's an interesting discussion, people can mod RG's right and left but for some reason it's a touchy subject when it comes to Schecters I think it might have something to do with the flamed top, binding and set neck, it's probably seems easier to get a good result with just a flat-top black bolt-on guitar, even if the price is the same. That said, if I were planning to keep the flamed top (granted, the black one doesn't have it) then routing and filling like this would look pretty messy.

Normally I'd have no qualms about going custom, or building it myself, but I'm short on time as I've got plenty of gigs booked and we're also entering the studio at the end of this month, so neither custom nor home building is an option right now. To be perfectly honest, even though I enjoyed building my own guitar I don't really have the passion for it nor will to invest in the required tools, so this will be a happy medium. And since I already have the pickups and the paint cans from my last build, this project will cost me nothing aside from the original guitar.

Originally Posted by drenzium

Go custom doesn't mean go to the schecter custom shop. It means just get a guitar made from somewhere that has the specs you desire.
I don't see the point in buying a guitar that is a certain way and then changing everything about it, THAT'S MY OPINION.
Your reasoning you added for getting this guitar over a custom is actually quite good, i dont see how i could ....ing know that originally though.
Actually being neg repped for using the word bro at the end of my sentence, oh my god.
Holy shit, assholes.

I won't feed this too much, and I think you're overreacting a bit, but just to be clear I didn't rep you and have no intention to, and I don't expect you to know anything about me other than what I wrote in the OP. It's a discussion forum, not a wiki But I'm not at all changing everything about this guitar, really just the pickups and finish. It's a quick job that will take an efternoon or two, plus some time for the laquer to cure. If I wanted a different scale length, neck joint, wood selection etc. then I'd agree with you, but really the modding at hand here will look a lot more extensive than it actually is.

[JohnIce]

Double-post, but it just hit me that the EMG's left over from the Hellraiser could fit quite nicely in my newly refinished Squier Two birds with one tone, ha.

[signalgrey]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

Don't see why... get a custom Schecter for $4000, or buy one for $1000 that is close enough and do some modding to it. If I was dead-set on selling it again, I could pretty easily redo the mods and re-paint it black. But I don't see myself doing that, as I'm very familiar with the guitar and the specs and it's what I'd use live. I'm at the point where I know what I want from a guitar, so damaging resale value is irrelevant to me. Even if my band would somehow completely change styles, I'd still need this guitar to play the old songs

About the pots, yes they are used to split the EMG's, but I'm not looking for splits and I'm not keeping the EMG's. Actually I'll have to ditch the pots anyhow cause I'm switching to passive pickups.

dude, i LOVE taking a guitar i kinda like....gutting it..and making it exactly what i want. Its totally different than just getting a custom, something is so satisfying about frankensteining a guitar.

NPD!!!

that was my mod.

I did something similar with my Burns barricuda and i ....ing love it, its my favorite guitar. Go forth! make awesome shit!

[JohnIce]

Originally Posted by signalgrey

dude, i LOVE taking a guitar i kinda like....gutting it..and making it exactly what i want. Its totally different than just getting a custom, something is so satisfying about frankensteining a guitar.

NPD!!!

that was my mod.

I did something similar with my Burns barricuda and i ....ing love it, its my favorite guitar. Go forth! make awesome shit!

Shit man, that looks schweet! At first I almost jizzed because I thought it was a 7-string P-90, but it's cool anyway Yeah I have high hopes for this one, there's not really that much that can go wrong as far as playability or sustain goes, as I'm keeping the neck and bridge where they are.

[scherzo1928]

Originally Posted by signalgrey

dude, i LOVE taking a guitar i kinda like....gutting it..and making it exactly what i want. Its totally different than just getting a custom, something is so satisfying about frankensteining a guitar.

NPD!!!

that was my mod.

I did something similar with my Burns barricuda and i ....ing love it, its my favorite guitar. Go forth! make awesome shit!

holy balls, you look exactly like your avatar!

and that axe looks great!

[Murmel]

Originally Posted by drenzium

Go custom doesn't mean go to the schecter custom shop. It means just get a guitar made from somewhere that has the specs you desire.
I don't see the point in buying a guitar that is a certain way and then changing everything about it, THAT'S MY OPINION.
Your reasoning you added for getting this guitar over a custom is actually quite good, i dont see how i could ....ing know that originally though.
Actually being neg repped for using the word bro at the end of my sentence, oh my god.
Holy shit, assholes.

If you took the time to read your own posts you'd see why you get neg-repped. You're pretty much being a douche all the time.

Anyways... Hoppas du får igång detta projekt, John. Skulle vara riktigt intressant Har verkligen fått upp ögat för silverburst på senare tid. Grymt snyggt.

[signalgrey]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

Shit man, that looks schweet! At first I almost jizzed because I thought it was a 7-string P-90, but it's cool anyway Yeah I have high hopes for this one, there's not really that much that can go wrong as far as playability or sustain goes, as I'm keeping the neck and bridge where they are.

im gonna email about SD making a custom one. doubt its gonna happen but that would be ....ing AWESOME!

Originally Posted by scherzo1928

holy balls, you look exactly like your avatar!

and that axe looks great!

hahaha thanks dude!

[crush_taylor]

Originally Posted by JohnIce

Double-post, but it just hit me that the EMG's left over from the Hellraiser could fit quite nicely in my newly refinished Squier Two birds with one tone, ha.

That looks awesome. Even though it's kind of too late and there really isn't much going on in the pickup area for detail, you could paint the emg covers to complete the look.

[Triple-J]

I've been considering a silverburst on the body and a custom P-90 Phat Cat (SD do customs for 7's Custom 7-String Humbucker - Seymour Duncan Humbuckers) for my Blackjack for some time so this is quite an inspiration to me and a great idea!

[AeonSolus]

i don't know why but that position diagram of the 6 free-way switch always looked like 3 stacks of boobs to me