Well, I had a bit of a play with that there nice Melody Maker that arrived yesterday, as I always think you need to make a guitar your own, even if it is just a different set of knobs or a good polish.
Of course most of the changes you don't really notice, but I know they are done and that is the main thing..
So 'Old Korma' as it will henceforth be known, had a bit of a spoodle:
1. The body and back of the neck got a de-shine with a green pan scourer, and then polished to a gentle sheen with some Beeswax, so it feels lovely and smells deevine.
2. The frets had a tincher of wear, but not enough to worry about so they just got a polish with 'Silvo' and are super slippy and shiny now.
3. The rosewood board was in good nick, but I gave it a clean and linseed oiled it to perfection.
4. The most obvious change was to put the Bigsby B50 on. That went amazingly well by my standards, I even managed to string it up without drawing too much blood, which is a first for me.
5. Finally a couple of little things - I put some aged Tele knobs on as I really don't like a lot of Gibson's ones, and I thought an aged yellow-ish switch knob looked OK too, so I went with that.
And that was about it. You will notice I've done nothing about filling the holes in the body left from the ToM bridge. I did think about it, but I quite like the look of it so it is cool for now.
As for how it plays, well the action might have to rise a tad as it is right on the 'board, no buzzes but I prefer the strings to get a bit of air. As it stands though it is sooper quick, bends beautifully and the neck is a peach.
Sounds-wise, it has the original Gibson P90 at the bridge, which is good enough, but the Rio Grande one at the neck is really nice. I've never tried them before but it makes the Gibson one sound plain by comparison. If it sticks around I'll no doubt change the pickups at some point, but no immediate rush, I think for once I'll live with it a while and see how I go on.
Coolio
La la laaaaa
