Demonic, possessed guitar

[KuruPrionz]

A few years ago, I bought 5-6 guitars from a pawn shop, all needed repairs so they went cheap. I paid $25 for an Epiphone Goth 12 Explorer. All the rest of the guitars are long since fixed and sold - "making the world a better place, one guitar at a time."

 

I let the Epi sit around for a long time, I did take all the parts off, put them in a bag and labelled it. Recently, I decided it was time to fix it up and flip it. This escalated, every step required more attention than it deserved.

There was an aftermarket Floyd Rose installaion, the routing was done well but the "Floyd" had a short spring block and needed a long one. I had one but you must take the bridge completely apart to change it. The nut was also too high so I had to adjust the thickness of the shim. The bridge pickup, a Duncan Distortion - had a dead coil. It still does, I swapped in a high output humbucker from a Peavey Tracer that I had laying around. The pickups were out of phase, the Peavey pickup could not be easily reversed. The neck pickup, a Duncan Seymourizer, had barely enough wire to reach the volume pot. Changing polarity was a PITA. The volume pot for the bridge pickup was defective, another PITA.

 

It fought me all the way, I was up late last night - determined to fix everything once and for all or take it outside and smash it on the street (a tempting prospect!!!!). I got the wiring sorted out an finished puttting the guitar back together this morning. Ready to list it, I started taking photos and noticed that the previous owner had added 7 (yes SEVEN) holes for strap buttons in various places. I guess they were trying to get it to balance the way they like?

 

Thoughts of smashing it re-entered. I decided I would just list it as-is and both mention and photograph all the strap button holes so there woudl be no surprises for the new owner. I got it listed by 2:30 and sold by 5:45, probably a bit too cheap but it was too boogered to get a better price - $175 in cash and I am no longer haunted by the demonic, possessed guitar.

 

That sort of ordeal almost NEVER happens!!! Anybody have demonic guitar stories to share?

[Fleer]

Great story.

[Winston Psmith]

A few years back, when I was working in Music retail, we had a 1989 Epiphone Flying V in the back of the store, sitting in a huge, but extremely fugly, Gibson HSC. No one was making any effort to get it in shape to put out on the sales floor, and I felt sorry for it - never a good reason to buy a Guitar, take my word on that.

 

Oh, yes, I make particular mention of the model year, because Epiphone only made that model in 1989, and they came in three colors; Ebony, Ivory, and a color that Epiphone called Magenta, but which bears a strong resemblance to Pepto-Bismol Pink. It also had an Epiphone Tremolo system, with the obligatory "Licensed by Floyd Rose" imprint on it. I'll spare you photos at this hour of the morning, but if your search on "1989 Epiphone Flying V" you'll see what I mean. Don't say I didn't warn you . . . The only thing that makes it worse is the Hot Pink faux-fur lining in the Gibson case. Just painful to look at.

 

I made a deal with the store owner, who was only too happy to see it go, and brought it home, with an eye to upgrading it: then, things started to give out. First, the Floyd-style Tremolo system began to fall apart, due to pure metal fatigue!?!?! Seriously, the Sustain Block began to crumble. Then, the pickups all but disintegrated, with the pole pieces falling out. In short, I was left with a body-&-neck, plus the plastic pick guard and back plate. Oh, yes, I left the tuners, as they hadn't succumbed to entropy, as yet.

 

I ordered a bunch of cheap parts from GuitarFetish, did a little work to get the replacement Trim to sit right, but otherwise, there it sits. I just haven't put the effort into fully assembling the poor thing, and at this point, I may just take it all up to my FLMS, and pay to have it all put together.

 

It's more of a Zombie Guitar than a Demonic Guitar, as of now, but once it's been revitalized, I'll see.

[KuruPrionz]

A few years back, when I was working in Music retail, we had a 1989 Epiphone Flying V in the back of the store, sitting in a huge, but extremely fugly, Gibson HSC. No one was making any effort to get it in shape to put out on the sales floor, and I felt sorry for it - never a good reason to buy a Guitar, take my word on that.

 

Oh, yes, I make particular mention of the model year, because Epiphone only made that model in 1989, and they came in three colors; Ebony, Ivory, and a color that Epiphone called Magenta, but which bears a strong resemblance to Pepto-Bismol Pink. It also had an Epiphone Tremolo system, with the obligatory "Licensed by Floyd Rose" imprint on it. I'll spare you photos at this hour of the morning, but if your search on "1989 Epiphone Flying V" you'll see what I mean. Don't say I didn't warn you . . . The only thing that makes it worse is the Hot Pink faux-fur lining in the Gibson case. Just painful to look at.

 

I made a deal with the store owner, who was only too happy to see it go, and brought it home, with an eye to upgrading it: then, things started to give out. First, the Floyd-style Tremolo system began to fall apart, due to pure metal fatigue!?!?! Seriously, the Sustain Block began to crumble. Then, the pickups all but disintegrated, with the pole pieces falling out. In short, I was left with a body-&-neck, plus the plastic pick guard and back plate. Oh, yes, I left the tuners, as they hadn't succumbed to entropy, as yet.

 

I ordered a bunch of cheap parts from GuitarFetish, did a little work to get the replacement Trim to sit right, but otherwise, there it sits. I just haven't put the effort into fully assembling the poor thing, and at this point, I may just take it all up to my FLMS, and pay to have it all put together.

 

It's more of a Zombie Guitar than a Demonic Guitar, as of now, but once it's been revitalized, I'll see.

 

 

 

HAHAHAHAH!!! Nice one, Sir Winston! I went to NAMM one year long ago and ALL the guitars were pink. It was an Abomination in the Eyes of The Evil One.

A few years back I had a Hamer Steve Stevens come into the shop for set up. Excellent guitar, not my choice but well made and all quality. It was orginally pink.

The inevitable yellowing of the clear lacquer had shifted the color, the new color was not pretty.

 

Imagine Pepto Bismol Pink with lemonade, puked back up on the sidewalk. I quickly set to work, made it play great and got it out of here. I did not want to look at it!!!!!! Cheers, Kuru

[picker]

A few years back, when I was working in Music retail, we had a 1989 Epiphone Flying V in the back of the store, sitting in a huge, but extremely fugly, Gibson HSC. No one was making any effort to get it in shape to put out on the sales floor, and I felt sorry for it - never a good reason to buy a Guitar, take my word on that.

 

Oh, yes, I make particular mention of the model year, because Epiphone only made that model in 1989, and they came in three colors; Ebony, Ivory, and a color that Epiphone called Magenta, but which bears a strong resemblance to Pepto-Bismol Pink. It also had an Epiphone Tremolo system, with the obligatory "Licensed by Floyd Rose" imprint on it. I'll spare you photos at this hour of the morning, but if your search on "1989 Epiphone Flying V" you'll see what I mean. Don't say I didn't warn you . . . The only thing that makes it worse is the Hot Pink faux-fur lining in the Gibson case. Just painful to look at.

 

 

THis guy? All it needs is a black pickguard and a decent trem, with locking tuners. And, possibly some decent pickups...

 

I have seen that pink Gibson case lining, though. Unfortunate is the kindest way to put it. But "yuuuuuuk" is accurate...

[KuruPrionz]

A few years back, when I was working in Music retail, we had a 1989 Epiphone Flying V in the back of the store, sitting in a huge, but extremely fugly, Gibson HSC. No one was making any effort to get it in shape to put out on the sales floor, and I felt sorry for it - never a good reason to buy a Guitar, take my word on that.

 

Oh, yes, I make particular mention of the model year, because Epiphone only made that model in 1989, and they came in three colors; Ebony, Ivory, and a color that Epiphone called Magenta, but which bears a strong resemblance to Pepto-Bismol Pink. It also had an Epiphone Tremolo system, with the obligatory "Licensed by Floyd Rose" imprint on it. I'll spare you photos at this hour of the morning, but if your search on "1989 Epiphone Flying V" you'll see what I mean. Don't say I didn't warn you . . . The only thing that makes it worse is the Hot Pink faux-fur lining in the Gibson case. Just painful to look at.

 

 

THis guy? All it needs is a black pickguard and a decent trem, with locking tuners. And, possibly some decent pickups...

 

I have seen that pink Gibson case lining, though. Unfortunate is the kindest way to put it. But "yuuuuuuk" is accurate...

 

 

Maybe florescent lime green pickguard and truss rod cover? Cover the pickups with "rainbow tape."

[picker]

Maybe florescent lime green pickguard and truss rod cover? Cover the pickups with "rainbow tape."

 

yuuuuuuuuuk.

[Winston Psmith]

@picker - That's the one. It looks like the one in the Reverb listing has all its original parts? Still, I wouldn't spend $400 on it, even if the shipping were free.

 

I've seen photos of '89 Epi V's that have been extensively customized, and a black pickguard would definitely be an improvement. In my case, I was trying to get the Guitar working, without spending a lot of money on parts, so I thought less about aesthetics than expenses.

 

DiMarzio still offers some of their pickups with different colored faceplates, Purple, Blue, Green, even Pink. I wasn't going to spend more on Pickups than I spent for the Guitar, so . . .

[KuruPrionz]

@picker - That's the one. It looks like the one in the Reverb listing has all its original parts? Still, I wouldn't spend $400 on it, even if the shipping were free.

 

I've seen photos of '89 Epi V's that have been extensively customized, and a black pickguard would definitely be an improvement. In my case, I was trying to get the Guitar working, without spending a lot of money on parts, so I thought less about aesthetics than expenses.

 

DiMarzio still offers some of their pickups with different colored faceplates, Purple, Blue, Green, even Pink. I wasn't going to spend more on Pickups than I spent for the Guitar, so . . .

 

You might try searching eBay and Reverb for "pulls", when people put Duncans or whatever in their guitars they have pickups left over. Most of the import "copies" are more than close enough to the originals.

The bridge pickup in the demonic Exploder above was in import, sort of a copy of a DiMarzio Super Distortion. Maybe not identical, that's why we have tone controls on amps!

 

The rotting Floyd is new to me, I've seen some poor hardware but that is near the top of the heap for bad.

[Larryz]

Too many demonic guitar stories to list, which comes from ordering on-line. Two involved output jacks and another two involved the 3-way switch as common denominators. Luckily I have a 3 techs to help me resolve all of my problems buying brand new guitars at quality prices from different guitar makers (and I won't name names). So let's talk 3 ways. I know I'm the one that's possessed as no-one could have the same problem come up on two different guitars with techs that couldn't believe my issues as they were 10 years apart and both were intermittent. I didn't care what they said, I told them to just replace the switch with my new one, throw the old on in the case, and the problems were solved. Never a problem since the replacements. What are the odds of getting two new guitars with a faulty 3-way? I only I could be so lucky.

 

I advised the maker on the 1st one that it was not be covered under warranty since the techs could not duplicate the issue in the shop. I told them just to charge me $40 bucks for the switch and labor and I would pay it out of pocket. The maker upon hearing my dilemma split the cost with me and thanked me as they wanted to check stock for a possible bad run of 3-ways. So 10 years later after many guitar purchases, I run into the same problem on a guitar by a different maker. This time I just had the 3-way changed and avoided all the intermittent warranty goblins that have been haunting me. I now have the 2 stock switches saved in the cases in the event no one ever believes my ghost stories!

[KuruPrionz]

Problems with switches and jacks are not uncommon. Pots fail too. Mot common is somebody will use pliers to "tighten the jack" and twist the wires off. I've fixed quite a few of those, not demonic.

 

I am at a point where I am thinking of wiring up my next build with one pickup straight to a Switchcraft jack. I mostly use the neck pickup anyway, get tonal variation by picking in different areas.

 

If that breaks then I will suspect that I am possessed rather than the guitar!!!!!

[Larryz]

+1,000 on not letting the jack turn while tightening or you may twist the wires off and have some major issues...I got rid of my demons on an ES-175 by having my tech put on a LP metal jack plate (as Scott recommended). The concept of going direct to the Switchcraft jack is a good one as most of us do not use the tone knobs (as currently being discussed on another thread). Bypassing the tone pots makes sense to me. I think a volume pot is still a good thing to have though. +1 on picking in various places to get different tones. Let us know how it works when going direct and Happy Birthday!

[Dagwood]

I went to the music store one day many years ago looking for an acoustic. The store owner was very patient allowing me to grab what ever guitar I wanted to play and noticed a 1984 Ovation hanging in the back room. I asked him if I could try it and he said that it was not for sale. It belonged to one of his teachers but he would let me try it. After playing it I was obsessed with it and could not walk away without buying it. He called the teacher and he was glad to part with it. I have had this guitar over twenty years and can not put it down. I think this guitar is possessed. Any thoughts? 

[Scott Fraser]

I think the guitar chooses the player. 

[Larryz]

When you get your hands on the right guitar, don't let go of it...😎

[murphybridget]

Wow, that sounds like quite the ordeal with that Epiphone Goth 12 Explorer! It's impressive that you were able to tackle so many issues and ultimately get it sold, even with all the challenges you faced along the way.

[KuruPrionz]

4 hours ago, murphybridget said:

Wow, that sounds like quite the ordeal with that Epiphone Goth 12 Explorer! It's impressive that you were able to tackle so many issues and ultimately get it sold, even with all the challenges you faced along the way.

Over the years, I've worked on hundreds of guitars for hundreds of different reasons. Most of the time, it's fun or a learning experience. 

This time it was simply pure annoyance. The OP is almost 4 years old now, so it's more amusing to me. Cracks me up that this has reappeared! 🤣

[Larryz]

@KuruPrionz. +1 Tales from the crypt (i.e. 4 years) usually come from new members or one-hit overnight wonders for some reason.  I guess I can relate when there is really some needed history on a thread.  Most of the time the people on old threads have died or moved on and can't respond. I wish the new members would just start a new thread and use the knowledge they gleaned from the old thread that interests them. Rule 5 says no resurrecting old threads...but I guess there are exceptions to the rules.  I hope they don't wait or expect a response when quoting old members on old threads LoL! 😎 

[murphybridget]

On 4/1/2024 at 7:07 PM, Larryz said:

@KuruPrionz. +1 Tales from the crypt (i.e. 4 years) usually come from new members or one-hit overnight wonders for some reason.  I guess I can relate when there is really some needed history on a thread.  Most of the time the people on old threads have died or moved on and can't respond. I wish the new members would just start a new thread and use the knowledge they gleaned from the old thread that interests them. Rule 5 says no resurrecting old threads...but I guess there are exceptions to the rules.  I hope they don't wait or expect a response when quoting old members on old threads LoL! 😎 

It's true that reviving old threads can sometimes feel like speaking into the void, especially if the original participants have moved on. Starting a new thread might indeed be a more effective way to engage with the community, especially if the topic is still relevant and there's valuable knowledge to share.

[Larryz]

@murphybridget, I agree with you 100%.  I think this thread is an example of being OK for a resurection exception as the OP and almost all of the response posters are still around and there is a chance they may still be interested in commenting.  😎👍

[murphybridget]

On 4/4/2024 at 11:33 AM, Larryz said:

@murphybridget, I agree with you 100%.  I think this thread is an example of being OK for a resurection exception as the OP and almost all of the response posters are still around and there is a chance they may still be interested in commenting.  😎👍

Although I'm guilty of this sometimes. It's either I completely overlooked the date or I find the topic very interesting and I still write a comment anyway.

[Larryz]

@murphybridget,  Sometimes there is a good reason to <bump> an old thread.  There may be a lot of relavent information on it like a mystery guitar, pedal, PA, etc., question that someone can finally answer, or a stolen guitar that someone finally located, or a project guitar that we never saw the completion of, a deceased musician or missing forum member question etc.  Sometimes an old thread could still be of interest and deserve future comments.  Many times though, a new thread will get to the active forum members if there are any LoL!  Keep up the good comments as we need all the active members we can get!  😎👍

[murphybridget]

On 4/9/2024 at 8:43 AM, Larryz said:

@murphybridget,  Sometimes there is a good reason to <bump> an old thread.  There may be a lot of relavent information on it like a mystery guitar, pedal, PA, etc., question that someone can finally answer, or a stolen guitar that someone finally located, or a project guitar that we never saw the completion of, a deceased musician or missing forum member question etc.  Sometimes an old thread could still be of interest and deserve future comments.  Many times though, a new thread will get to the active forum members if there are any LoL!  Keep up the good comments as we need all the active members we can get!  😎👍

That I totally agree. Sometimes I find partial solutions to my problems, and I bump the thread somehow.