can you fix a "dud"?

[cugel]

well can you w/o changing the wood?
i have a tokai lp thing with crcoils, good caps, 50s wiring etc, strings wrapped around the TP, all the tricks to help a lp like guitar.
it just wont sing and acoustically the thing just sounds dead. even my agile is more resonant. and next to a usagc strat...forget about it.
whats left?
sell it?
yeah i would try but there is a broken headstock but good repair.
put it in a case and forget it??
i think i know the answer

 

[Rock Johnson]

Sell it to a kid who needs a good starter guitar.

 

[buddastrat]

Two important lessons in life,

never give up on something you want,

Don't waste time polishing a turd either.

 

[mark norwine]

In my life, I'd rather not think about the money I've spent trying to turn mediocre guitars into good ones. Can't be done.

Sure....cheap electronics can be changed, etc., but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about wood that never should have been made into a guitar.

Some wood is meant to be sculpted at the hands of a luthier.
Some wood is meant to be burned.

Sometimes wood "gets lost" and winds up in the wrong location.

 

[bluegrif]

Guitars tend to retain their inherent tonal signature regardless of electronics. I had an excellent Gibson Explorer I bought in the 80s. It was one of those walnut/maple E2 models. It sounded big and chunky, and would have been perfect for a lot of styles of music. But it wasn't right for me. It became an object lesson in trying to change the inherent tone with pickup swaps. Sure, the electric tone was altered a whole lot, but the natural sound of the guitar always came through, and it never suited me. I tried and tried because I love the neck, the look, the overall playability and quality. But in the end, I had to sell it. Lesson learned.

 

[cugel]

i would be a great guitar for a kid since a headstock break pretty much cuts the value in half. i can pull the pups and try to unload it

 

[Dizi]

Bad LP copy + broken neck = dealbreaker. Sorry bud, its worthless. Give it to some kid who will think its the most awesome thing in the world.

 

[stoob0t]

I've always felt that if you don't have good wood as your foundation, you'll be constantly chasing your tail while your money pours down the drain.

I've had a few guitars over the years that have been great pieces of wood, but with dire electronics holding them back, but you can normally tell pretty quickly whether they're worth a bit of work to get them firing on all pistons or not.

If you want to have one last shot at the guitar, stripping the finish might make some difference if it's especially thick, but aside from that - it seems like you've exhausted all the reasonable options. Actually, thinking about it, are the saddles and nut still original? I've found graphite replacements quite good on les pauls type guitars.

 

[Jahn]

personally i think pedals and amps can always be raised from the dead. in my mind, they are Electronics.

Guitars are Instruments. If you've got dead wood, you can't work wonders unless you're Dr. Frankenstein.

 

[cugel]

yeah i have considered a new tail piece and nut etc
but why bother
i mean dont get me wrong, it doesnt sound like crap (esp. if you are just playing sabbath riffs, which i do at times, natch.) but once you a-b it with something really resonant like my usagc strat unplugged its astonishing the difference in feel. it just doesnt feel alive like my strat

 

[stoob0t]

I think tusq or similar bridge saddles might make a slight difference, but it sounds like an instrument to keep as a 'beater'

 

[RickC]

I've tried, many times, but never could.

Here's a twist though - someone else will probably love it. I can't count the number of times I've sold a "dud" and heard back about how much the new owner loved the guitar. As such, I've come to consider dudness as a relative, subjective thing in most instances.

/rick

 

[dazco]

theres only one thing that *may* work, and thats time. I have always seen improvement with a new guitar as the wood dries out. sometimes the improvement is truly huge. Other times not. But barring that it's not possible. If the wood is a dud it's either a done deal or it's just too wet and time will help. I've seen total duds turn great in time. In fact i just described my #1 ! However, do you want to wait when theres a good chance it will never become worth keeping? I only kept my current #1 not because i was waiting for it to change, but out of sheer laziness in getting around to selling it ! Before i ever got around to it i noticed it improving.

 

[Boris Bubbanov]

Scavenge any really $$ parts and let a youngster have it.

I think the headstock repair only looks good. You could try having the repair redone, I suppose, but I take a hint with stuff like this usually.

 

[plexistack]

put super hot pickups in it

 

[esoteric pete]

put super hot pickups in it

 

[cugel]

Scavenge any really $$ parts and let a youngster have it.

I think the headstock repair only looks good. You could try having the repair redone, I suppose, but I take a hint with stuff like this usually.

i was playing it tonite thru a brown super and it sounded pretty good
but i may drop some active EMGs init as suggested

 

[plexistack]

i was playing it tonite thru a brown super and it sounded pretty good
but i may drop some active EMGs init as suggested