Crafter SAT- Modification Suggestions needed.

racman

So I heard that Turnkey had a massive sale and these were going for R500. Unfortunately only a few were left and some of the staff purchased. On a whim I called this morning and it just so happened that I spoke to one of the staff who had bought one. They are apparently not plannning on getting any more in so I (with approval from management) offered to purchase this from the staff member at R1500. Still a bargain for me and he also scored a good deal. I ahd one before briefly (albeit the lipstick PuP version but although this model is a little more funky and not as "wood" in its looks, I feel that possibly the 4 controls (2V, 2T) and Kent Armstrong P90 PuP may well make it a better guitar to tweak. It also has a 3-way switch - Elec Pup, Both, Ac Pup(Baggs).

A few pics (not mine but identical model):

The aim is to make this a better guitar for my purpose. Ideally I want to improve the overall playability as well as the electric and acoustic sounds. The acoustoc sound is not bad and I will try it out on Thursday evening through the LR Baggs Para EQ at practice.

My thoughts are the following:

1) Nut and Saddle appear to be plastic so will review - what material is suggested?
2) Change strings to a acoustic 10/11s for a better acoutsic sound.
3) Replace Tuners and jack socket with good quality.
4) Complete set-up etc

Some more radical ideas:

1)What about a bridge P90 with a 3-way switch
2) Maybe two seperate outputs - one elec and one acoustic with the switch being elec, ac, both outputs rather than a blend in one single o/p

Any suggestions are most welcome.

Bob-Dubery

racman wrote My thoughts are the following:

1) Nut and Saddle appear to be plastic so will review - what material is suggested?

If my recent experience is anything to go by you want to go for warthog tusk. If it's plastic then even Graphtec Tusq should be an improvement.

Gearhead

I would see if the thing has a sustain block before going in for the P90 rout. If it does not have any wood underneath, you're going to weaken the top dramatically and create a leak close to the driving part of the top.

AlanRatcliffe

Gearhead wrote I would see if the thing has a sustain block before going in for the P90 rout. If it does not have any wood underneath, you're going to weaken the top dramatically and create a leak close to the driving part of the top.

+1. Otherwise, adding a bridge P90 will make it a more flexible electric guitar (although I doubt you'll use a bridge P90 with the piezo much).

Does it have a stereo output? If so, you don't gain much by adding a second socket instead of a stereo cable (which lets you split the two signals to different amps). I use separate sockets because it lets me use standard mono cables and avoids buffering the magnetic pickups.

While I love bone or ivory for nuts, if there is an undersaddle pickup I find Graph Tech Tusq to be a lot more reliable and consistent with far less chance of string balance issues. Otherwise, always a good idea to upgrade saddle and nut from cheap plastic.

Tuners, you could probably hold off for now - the cheap tuners are often OK for a year or two, but don't last. So when they do start playing up, then you replace them with something good.

racman

Thx for the advice. I guess I thought that I HAD to spend some money on it because I got it cheap.

Alan, I just checked and it appears that it does have a stereo jack plug but the socket is a real cheap and nasty chrome one so I would like to replace that, Nut and saddle, better strings (maybe 11's) and a setup and we're good to go.

AlanRatcliffe

I'm also reluctant to change things like sockets until needed or unless I'm going in to the wiring to replace something else anyway (usually pickups ?) - then I'll do everything at once so I don't have to go in again for years (well... at least theoretically).

Mr-M

Hey, I've got one of these in Goldtop. Just recently started having trouble with the jack plug, so I can confirm that it's worth changing for something better. I'll have a replacement fitted soon. It is a stereo jack. Comes with a splitter cable to separate the magnetic and piezo signals. I just tended to switch between them or use a blend of the two with the 3-way selector using a mono guitar cable from the output jack. Mine's been on indefinite loan to my dad to use in church for the past year.

He has been having some problems lately with the B or G strings breaking, but I'd say that's more because he plays really hard (hey, he's a big man) and uses 10s. It's not really unique to this guitar as he has the same problem with his others. I recommended he changes up to at least 11s to remedy the string breakage. If it persists, I'll probably change the saddle and maybe the nut to Graphtecs. After using it myself for nearly a year and my dad playing it for longer than that, I have to say, tuning stability's been just fine. No need to change them IMO, though if I was still using it I probably would have changed them to locking Planet Waves. Just a habit of mine with all my guitars, but no real need. Quality seems fine to me.

BTW, it does have a nice big brass bridge block - flip the guitar over and you can see it on the back, where the ball ends of the string are anchored.

Squonk

How does this model sound with the LR Baggs?

Must be quite interesting to morph acoustic and Humbucker sounds together.

Rac, you will have to upload some clips!