My custom shredder guitar and pedal configuration

It started out as a curiosity guitar procured in a manner of which (as many guitar stories are told) is dubious at best. I was almost ready to give this guitar to a young student in the hopes it might punish his mother, but then decided after taking it to a local luthier that just maybe it was a keeper if I fixed it up. So, Randy at Guitar Express refurbished the guitar and cleaned it up. Check out Guitar Express sometime. It's a really great place, and Randy is a great guy. He really knows a lot about guitar makers and the history behind most guitars. And, he's a really good player.

And, so, I decided that this guitar was a keeper. As it turns out, I was getting tired of lugging my Stratocaster and pedals with me to practice. I wanted a "road" guitar and a way to simplify the task of lugging pedals. This led me to buy a GT-6 pedal so that I could reduce the number of effects pedals that I needed. I take lessons from an amazing player and songwriter. Check him out! Michael Harris, probably the best musician I'll ever meet.

I did more than a few modifications costing me about $1,000 and a bit of sweat equity.

Replaced the neck

I replaced the old 21 fret Series 10 neck with a 22 fret Arbor. I sanded off the the Arbor brand name on the final take--this is now MY guitar, not any model or make. Need to do new pics. The frets on the series 10 were not even spaced correctly. I filed down the frets to keep them from cutting my hands. It took some trial and error to align the neck properly. And, I had to put a piece of plastic under the neck to keep it from bowing. Then, I had to significantly raise the action to prevent the higher frets from buzzing. Replaced the nut with an EARVANA drop-in Gibson style nut, had the truss rod tightened and the floating tremolo loosened to effectively kill any whammy bar action. I want this guitar to stay in tune.

Replaced the tuners

I put on Sperzel locking tuners and the "Drop D Thing" tuner to drop from low E to D quickly. I had to buy a drill press to bore out holes just to install the tuners. I replaced the saddles with graphite saddles. It took me hours of wet sanding to widdle the saddles down so that they fit properly. Before I did this, I was breaking a few strings every week. In fact, it was so bad that I went out and bought a case of D'Addario strings as soon as Guitar Center put them on sale. Funny. Since I did that I have not broken a string for several weeks now. Graphite saddles rock!

Replaced the knobs

Got some decorative abalone top black metal knurled knobs. It's much easier to volume swell now, not that I am all that good at it yet.

Replaced the inlays and the cheesy brass button tops

All abalone now. Simply decorative. Got to shred with some style. Sure cost me enough.

And, I added strap locks...

A must have if you play alot. I'm up to 30 hours a week now, and four students.


Replaced the neck, knobs and saddles		Sperzel locking tuners and the "Drop D Thing" tuner

Effects right on the guitar. Like I need em :)--Right, well only the phase button works, and I'm glad it does. But, who cares anyway?		My favorite pedal arrangement BOSS GT-6 BOSS DD-2 digital delay VOX Wah (plan to mod it someday, check this link out) Dunlop Rotovibe BOSS micro BR digital recorder ZOOM G2.1u Berhinger 4 channel micro mixer And sometimes I add backing tracks with my sansa e280 MP3 player (not pictured)

I bought a BOSS gig bag from Guitar Center online for my GT-6. I highly recommend this to anyone using this pedal. I am able to lug all my favorite pedals in it like you see above. BTW, I only use the drum machine from the ZOOM pedal. It's kind of funny that I paid more for it than the gently used GT-6 that I got off Ebay.