I used to have a really rubbish SG copy and dabbled with bass for a while but had to sell the bass when I was at college and eventually gave the SG away when it became unplayable. Didn't really play for a while but then caught the bug again and imported a Fernandes Nomad Deluxe so I could just noodle around without needing an amp.
It's really good fun, and incredible for SY style detuning but it's just not...
So I picked up a 60's Japanese cheapo and had to re-fret it (might as well have a go, I thought), then gave it to a friend when I managed to find a battered '66 Klira StarClub 232 Jag copy:
- details and another pic here index.php?topic=608.0. It needed a lot of love (neck sanding flat, new fingerboard, neck pocket filling and reshaping, bridge dismantling and re-arranging, electrics cleaning) to bring it back from the dead, but it's now working a treat and I love it to bits.
I was planning some built-in effects for the Japanese cheapo before I gave it away but there's no way I'm going to mess with the Klira's vintage steel pickguard, and anyway it's got more than enough going on in there with the swell lever etc...
...So I've made a bunch of fuzzes and the one I liked best became a pedal with switchable clean boost then a silicon/both/germanium fuzz. Made one for myself and one as a present for a friend (spotting a pattern here!).
I'm now planning on building something like a JM over the winter, so I can have a longer scale length (the Nomad and the Klira are 24") and so I can experiment on it without guilt. I'll probably make the body myself and buy a paddle neck if I can find a big enough headstock for the funky Framus shape I want. JM hardware, and at the moment I'm thinking tappable hummers. I still haven't given up on the idea of a Moses switch (turn that stick into a snake!) so it's possible there'll be some kind of fuzz/boost/tremolo thing going on by the time I'm done.
I'm tremendously fickle though. And poor, so anything could happen! I'll keep you posted.
If you flick the hair on his back leg his eye lights up and the most awesome feedback comes out of his ear!