Hey Gang! This is one of my first posts here at this great forum, and with that, I wanted to share with you all my new project.
I'll be starting a small site dedicated to this project, but until I get started on that, I wanted to post this thread here to get some input and opinions!
So, I recently purchased a John Petrucci Ernie Ball Music Man from ebay in project condition. This is one of the older Petrucci models, before the D-sonic was introduced. The person who owned it before me decided to relocate the piezo switch to the area between the piezo volume and tone knobs, as it was a bit of a neusense when playing tapping licks. Having relocated the switch, he had the guitar painted from the original Carbon Blue to a Metallic Forest Green. Personally, the green isn't my thing, but I'm happy about that, because I'm going to have to strip the paint regardless.
As it stands right now all I have is the body, case, and MOST of the parts (Some little pieces missing here and there, like a couple of nuts and screws). The neck should be here in a couple of weeks. My intention is to restore this guitar to as CLOSE to it's original form as humanly possible, with a couple of slight alterations in between. I'm REALLY hoping I can find a unique color I like to make this guitar a little special, but I'm not sure I'll get that lucky yet. Worst case scenario, I'll end up going with the Graphite Pearl (probably my favorite EBMM color)or something similar.
So here's the guitar in it's present condition;
At first glance, you can clearly see the cover up job done where the piezo switch ORIGINALLY was, both on the front AND the back side of the guitar.
This will actually aid me in rerouting out that area to place the piezo switch where it should be. I hope...
Let's take a good look at those routing holes on the front of the guitar.
OUCH! The back is pretty well decorated, too!
Let's fool with the electronics a little bit and see how the guitar looks put together, just for fun!
Uh oh...wait a second.
It would appear that the Volume and Tone pots differ greatly in size from the Piezo Volume pot, so much so, that the piezo volume pot won't fit through the holes in the guitar body.
Not a huge deal, but a bit of a hassle. The previous owner ensured me that the pot has not been replaced, so I'm not sure how this fitting issue has come to be. Unfortunately, I don't have any friends with Ernie Ball guitars, so I can't take one of their's apart to compare! lol
While messing with the piezo volume pot, I noticed that something else seemed a little 'off' in a very literal sense. Look what happens when I place the copper plate into the guitar.
It would appear that the pickup selector switch is about a half an inch off center. Upon further inspection, I noticed two different wood types, and found out from the previous owner that the hole was indeed relocated, courtesy of the people who did the body work, filling up the hole like dummies.
I'm a bit on the side of OCD, so that's gonna have to be fixed provided I can find a way to make that area sturdy enough to redrill through one more time!
Looks like I'm also gonna need some new rubber pieces for my knobs!
I've definitely got my work cut out for me! This certainly won't be the easiest way to join the Music Man club, but it's more affordable for me, and I can take pride in the project when it's done, provided I manage to take my time and do a good job.
I certainly hope you will all follow along with me as I take on this project, and will share your helpful hints, tips and opinions/constructive criticisms along the way!
I look forward to playing this beauty when she's done
Take care,
Jordan
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Originally Posted by Dizzy
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