Golats

I don’t think you can go wrong with Yamaha. I’ve played a few of their budget acoustics and I’ve always been impressed with them . I’m doing up a battered FX310A at the minute and the action is great on it. That said, I agree with BigRedX - try out as much you can and go for something that sounds decent and isn’t going to give your friend blisters on their fingers within half an hour. I think if you get one that feels and sounds right...then it’s the right one for you, regardless of the brand.

Can anybody clarify what the make of this guitar is? It looks exactly like an SX SE3, even down to the offset “side parting” on the headstock, but the logo is wrong. The same logo appears on the tuners and neck plate too. Did SX guitars ever use a different logo...or is it an XS guitar? If it is I can’t find out anything about them on the net. Whatever it is it’s a decent guitar, very solid build, weighty and nice to play. I bought it from Gumtree, not working. I’ve now fixed it and want to sell it on but I don’t know what to ask for it.

That’s good enough for me @Grangur thanks for your help!

Thanks for helping out everybody. I've re-strung it and tried it through my Micro Cube.....it sounds fine! While I'm playing there's nothing coming out of the guitar that shouldn't be there (buzzing etc). When I take my hands away there's some hum from it but my USA Tele and Peavey Predator do that too so that's normal right? Or the amp's knackered 🙂 There isn't any shielding in the cavity, no obvious areas on the pickup casings, and attaching it to the screw doesn't seem to make any difference at all. What should I do - just tuck it away and forget about it?

Thanks for all that @Grangur, much appreciated. The cover is all plastic (no foil covering) by the way. I suppose I'll just have to plug it in and see what happens. Unfortunately I can’t test it at the minute as it’s in pieces, but once I get it back together I’ll see what it’s like through an amp. It won’t be tonight as I have to help my daughter with her GCSE chemistry revision! I hope she appreciates the sacrifices I make for her 😀

You're too kind @Grangur.......but I am hopeless with anything electrical. In reply to your questions: There's a GREY wire, going from the casing of the bridge volume pot to a hole in the body. The two black wires going into the hole have other wires within them. The bobble you mention is actually a screw head. A black wire enters the body where the screw is, going in the general direction of the tail piece. Is that the one you mean? It's attached to the bridge volume casing.

Sorry everybody, I'm on the scrounge for advice again. I've just bought a Les Paul Copy and I've noticed one of the wires is loose on the pots. It's soldered to the casing on the neck volume pot but I have no idea where the other end should go and can't see any obvious areas where it has detached from. (I think I have that right - Clockwise from top left is Neck volume, Neck tone, Bridge tone, Bridge volume???) Does anybody know where I need to attach it? When replying please assume you are talking to a complete idiot.

Ended up sanding it to take it back to white......and then liked the finish so much that I've stuck with it. Contrary? me?

Possible I suppose, but I think the drill holes for the angled bridge pickup wouldn't be covered by the humbucker hole. Might be wrong of course - would have to compare an SSS strat scratchplate next to mine..

As rare as hen's teeth aren't they? Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by vinyl wrap?

Could do...it's just getting one...an 8 hole one that is.

I'm going to give sanding a try. I would buy a new one but I can't actually find one anywhere. There are plenty available for HSS Strats but finding an 8 hole version is difficult. Plus....I'm stingy :-) If anybody can post a link to one please do!

It's black.

I'm leaving that as a last resort as I don't want it to have a matte finish. The way it's going I may have to resort to that as I've used about half a litre of hydrogen peroxide and bleach on it so far! It's changing colour....but very slowly.

No way I'm using that stuff - I work for them and know what goes into it! :-)

I've been thinking that way myself today but finding one with 8 holes is proving just as difficult as restoring the one I have!

I bought an HSS Squier Strat, while drunk, on eBay at the weekend. When I picked it up the next day I noticed the state of the scratchplate (see photo). It looks like it has been left in direct sunlight, in the same position for months! The only bits that remain white are the sections that were in shadow. Unfortunately the photos on the eBay listing showed this up (when not viewed through beer goggles) so I have no comeback. I've tried a few things: bleaching the plastic with 4% hydrogen peroxide (Twice) bleaching it with 35% hydrogen peroxide for four hours soaking it in a 5:1 bleach/water solution for 4 hours. Nothing works, it just stubbornly stays looking like that! It's nothing short of miraculous - anything else would be brilliant white after that treatment. Any suggestions for other ways to return it to white? I don't really want to sand it down but it may come to that. Don't buy guitars after you get in from the pub folks.

I feel your frustration; also going through a similar thing where a buyer in Sheffield is claiming he didn't receive an amp I sent to him last week. I've got proof of delivery thankfully but still can't shake the feeling that he has something up his sleeve.

The old dear has scrubbed-up pretty well.

Thanks a lot Bassassin, that really helps. Unfortunately I've scraped the sticker off while cleaning it up!!! At least of still got the photos.

Thanks Josie. I hope it is an 80s one. I would have thought I'd be able to find out about the history of Encore on Wikipedia but there's hardly anything. I thought EVERYTHING was on Wikipedia!

Thanks Sibob, so I know it's around 30 years old now. Excuse my ignorance but what's a "lawsuit" headstock? Did Fender start suing rivals who used the same shape head?

Just done exactly that...a used one came up on ebay in mint condition so I've saved myself all the farting around! Cheers @therealting

Cheers Bigwan. It looks a bit 80s to me but don't have anything to really back that up statement :-) Unfortunately the bridge is knackered. The saddles are rusted in place and I can't get them to budge with WD40. Whoever used this bass previously sweated sulphuric acid! I think I'm going to have to cut them off and get some new screes, springs and saddles.