SG Homicide Frankentar

[crashbelt]

I think its one of Dan Erlewine's apprentice-pieces before he properly learned his trade. Could be worth $$$$s for that historical significance

 

[Nemesis0710]

Jeezuz. What a f@&king mess.

I thought exactly the same!

 

[Lynurd Fireburd]

For the love of all things holy.

He was attempting a B-Bender.

 

[Houdi_Elbow]

Why?????????

 

[Von Trapp]

I think the righteous thing to do here is to get it to work the way it was intended by the inventor and then perhaps touch it up a bit here and there. Marvelous find! ( I still think that the answer to the above "why" for instance is that he never intended for the guitar to be anything but a vessel for his electronic inventions.) Do you think he constructed and assembled the circuit boards himself?

 

[Chips]

Fantastic amount of work to get those mods in there.. A for effort.. F for execution.. It certainly does look like they were going for an onboard effects circuit.. If you look at Angus Young's original guitar (1970 standard).. where they cut a big hole in the back to place his wireless unit and put duct tape over the hole .. believe it or not, a good luthier would just sand this all back and plug some mahogany in there and paint it a solid color.. A few YOUTUBER Luthiers would love to have at it and hopefully put out a long series on those repairs.. it can be done or just use it as a wall hanger.. perhaps we can name this one the "Franken-G".. I think its a fabulous piece of art as it sits.. but it can be saved.. rather easily if there are not neck issues..

Thanks for the feedback. Honestly I looked at it and thought I'd just clean up the masacre and plug it as you mentioned. I could pull that off. BUT, as also suggested it is a great opportunity to do something nobody in their right mind would do with an unmolested vintage SG. I'd rather have a unique, but functional, guitar reflective of my awesome uncle that gave me a dirtbike and fireworks when I was a kid. We'll all figure out something cool and I will post progress.

 

[Chips]

I think the righteous thing to do here is to get it to work the way it was intended by the inventor and then perhaps touch it up a bit here and there. Marvelous find! ( I still think that the answer to the above "why" for instance is that he never intended for the guitar to be anything but a vessel for his electronic inventions.) Do you think he constructed and assembled the circuit boards himself?

It is remotely possible that he created this board but I don't think very likely. He would have had or had access to the knowledge needed but I suspect it is passive power and pulled from something else. The pot size is throwing me. They look too big to be from a pedal but he did have some dinosaurs that could have been plausible donors. I am convinced I will figure it out even if I have to wire in to see what it does.

 

[Chips]

At one point in the life of my '69 SG Std., I had purchased and installed a mirrored batwing pickguard, replacing (temporarily) the 3-ply plastic laminate (B-W-B). Looks great under lights.

 

[Chips]

I actually liked the lure tape look. It was just peeling and in bad shape so it had to go...for now. This was literally from a roll of tape he had for building saltwater jigs. I'd guess the same effect is now available in a better medium.

 

[Chips]

any pics of that mirrored wing hanging around?

 

[Von Trapp]

I actually liked the lure tape look. It was just peeling and in bad shape so it had to go...for now. This was literally from a roll of tape he had for building saltwater jigs. I'd guess the same effect is now available in a better medium.

+1 to that, looks awesome. And yes, that is a 9v battery spring in there 4 sure.

 

[Go Nigel Go]

my awesome uncle that gave me a dirtbike and fireworks when I was a kid.

Yeah, this is exactly like that... a lot of fun, and a little bit dangerous!

 

[Go Nigel Go]

For the love of all things holy.

He was attempting a B-Bender.

Hah! yeah that was my first thought as well, the shape is certainly similar, but there is no sign that such a thing was ever actually installed or attempted. I think it was just an unnecessarily overdone routing for wiring that could have run through a much smaller and simpler channel. I suspect "uncle" was not a wood worker by trade, and did what he did through inexperience rather than malice. He clearly had ideas for where he wanted the project to go, just maybe lacked the tools and experience a Luthier would have used and made do with what he had.

 

[Chips]

Hah! yeah that was my first thought as well, the shape is certainly similar, but there is no sign that such a thing was ever actually installed or attempted. I think it was just an unnecessarily overdone routing for wiring that could have run through a much smaller and simpler channel. I suspect "uncle" was not a wood worker by trade, and did what he did through inexperience rather than malice. He clearly had ideas for where he wanted the project to go, just maybe lacked the tools and experience a Luthier would have used and made do with what he had.

 

[Chips]

Having gone through what he left I can summarize his woodworking tools as a screwdriver, box cutter, and a drill. It is clear all 3 were relied upon here.

 

[Chips]

That helps. Without the serial it seemed most similar to 66 I saw in another picture so we'll agree 66 for now. Any idea what that electronic set jammed in there could be for?

Investigating the pots they are 1970. I know at least 2 were rewired for a position change but I am fairly certain they are the original pots.

As for the mods those are 1974 and they are not original to the board as I initially thought. Investigation with a magnifying glass proved such. Also it revealed there was a power pick up on the board but it was broken off. Back to figuring out what the board came from.

 

[fernieite]

View attachment 44074

I'm just on my phone and can't compare photos well, but that looks similar to an old Fender Blender fuzz circuit board.

It's got those cool Temple capacitors, 4 control pots and silicon transistors...

 

[fernieite]

Yep, it's a Blender.
The Fender Blender | Vintage Guitar® magazine

 

[Go Nigel Go]

Great catch on that link to the pedal. That sure does look like the board you have. There should be enough information just in that article to figure out the external wiring and function of the circuitry. Now that you know what it is, you might even be able to find a schematic, but that probably isn't necessary at this point. I've never seen one of those pedals before, but if I ever find one in pawn shop I would definitely be interested in trying it out.

 

[DaveSG]

I'm curious about the age of this guitar. The heel looked way more modern than the 1960s to me...looked much more like my 90s and 2000s SGs. However, it presents as a vintage guitar. Those bevels on the front look too shallow to me to be pre-69. Can't tell if maybe the neck is a 3 piece or not. Any chance you can take pictures of the front of the headstock and the back as well? Nut width, Gibson font, etc., could help nail down the exact year.

If I had to take a guess, I'd say late '69 or 1970 SG Special. There is still a lot to love about this guitar. Looks like original hardware...P90s, tailpiece, vibrato, pickguard (underneath that tape). Besides all the switches, the front looks in pretty good shape despite the random holes. Did you say you thought it looked like it had a neck break? Kind of looks like that from here.

The back...I'd be concerned a lot of that could be structural. There is no way you'd have any value in the husk (parts, yes!) but if it is sentimental to you, the fix that comes to mind is to pull the neck, tape down the body to a board, face down, and completely plane off the back 1/2 of the entire guitar (or for more safety around the routes, a lot of passes on a drum sander), then get a mahogany cap for the rear, and pancake the body, get a ball bearing router bit, and shape the new back to the contours of the body. From there, you'd be in good shape to re-route the neck pocket and rebuild the entire guitar. But...that is major surgery and would involve a lot of woodworking - not worth it unless you do it yourself and it is a labor of love. Heck, I'd do it just for the learning experience.

It depends on how dedicated you want to be. But it can be saved!