Oops, I did it again!

I just bought another guitar... 30 Eur (40 Usd), I just couldn't resist.

I posted in this section as it needs quite a bit work...I just hope it doesn't need a refret, as I read horror-stories about refretting ebonol...we'll see as soon as it arrives.

Quite curious about the graphite-neck however.

Is it in yet Hans?  Interesting find! 

BTW Any chance of pic's from your 350 with the new pick-up? Did it in fact arrive at all? Satisfied with the sound? I noticed the green blobs on the back of it now and only now I remember it was mentioned somewhere that those green blobs seem somehow related to UBC pick-up's...???
Any succes with the PU rings?  After revisiting 'This' thread I can't remember any updates about that one...
Just curious.

Tschüss, Jim

Hi Jim,

I don't have the villain yet. The seller wasn't willing to ship it, but a friend of mine has a grandmother in the city where the seller lives, and he was willing to drop it at her house. I'll get the guitar as soon as my friend will visit her, I guess it'll be arround christmas. Got a quest mini-guitar the same way last year (same city, same friend, same grandmother).

The MMK 75 arrived, but unfortunately one coil was dead (tried quite everything). I plan to analyse my working MMK75s, which all have those green blobs btw, (AC-resistance, inductance, perhaps capacity and of course wire gauge) and rewind the coil as closely as possible on a cnc-router. That needs much time however, which I don't have at the moment :-(...but I'll let you know when things will go on.

At the moment, the MMK61 which I got from Steve resides in the x350, and in fact, I'm very happy with it. Haven't searched for a pickup-ring so far, as the MMK75 isn't repaired yet and I'm using a white one that came with the MMK61.

Viele Grüße,
Hans

Those graphite necks were a fad at the time, they sell for quite a bit nowadays.  Gorgeous color, and a Kahler Spyder!  Great find, great deal.

Hello Hans,

Luckily it seems it is still possible to obtain Kahler Spyder replacement parts. Not sure about the stringlocks and prob. not through Thomann.de.


You might want to consider to have that MMK-75 coil rewired  by These Guys for instance although it's not next door and it will come at a price, they seem to know their stuff. Since both suppliers are USA based it might be a good idea to contact your friends up there because of taxes.   (It was so nice of Steve to send you the MMK-61 I can imagine you're not in a hurry!)

Here some Dutch guys were discussing their Villains last year on a Dutch forum in a way that might interest you. That graphite neck must be something special and is intriguing indeed. If you manage to get the MMK-75 back in working order Steve's MMK-61 might be worth trying out in the Villain instead of the EMG Select. You probably thought of that didn't you?  About those EMG's, or the single coils, what do I know? I myself never saw or played a Villain. Still excited.
 
Anyway good luck on your projects which are inspiring. I'm  looking forward on the progression on these ( I realise study comes first). Someday those guitars will most probably turn into something strange and beautiful, for you seem to have a such good intuition for the potential they contain and the knowledge to make it happen. Don't hurry, first things first

Cheers,
Jim

Those graphite necks were a fad at the time, they sell for quite a bit nowadays.  Gorgeous color, and a Kahler Spyder!  Great find, great deal.

Thanks, I'm very curious in what nick it is apart from the obvious things... those 4 pics are all I've seen so far.  Just hope frets are reasonably ok and the trussrod is working.


Thank you for the links Jim,
 
I'll order at wammiworld as soon as I know which parts are needed. They also have stringlocks (not the same but very close), I guess I'll try my luck on the locknut clamp plates and screws they have.

Concerning the rewiring I think I'll try it first on my own (after some tests of course), as I generally want to find out how much of the stories one hears about pickups is voodoo and how much is just physics, and as the MMK75 won't be the last one that I wind, the effort is magageable.

I also have a pair of "classic-PAF" humbuckers (5000 windings, AWG42, Alnico 5(?)) that I wound, a pair of MMK53 that need to get rewired, and a Rail-MMK45. I guess one of those will fit, as I read the EMG-select sounds a bit thin (Perhaps the MMK45/53 is the way to go here). Others say that these emg-selects just need a little preamp, so perhaps I'll try that also.

Cheers,
Hans

I finally got it yesterday and directly began cleaning it up. The laquer is in a very good condition, only 2 little blemishes. The trem shows some wear, but I guess thats ok. I'll order the missing parts soon. Pickups seem to work.


I read that the optional holes in the saddels of the trem would be for height adjustment...appearently they aren't. Seems like theres a spring somewhere in there that will let the saddle come up again when you press it down. Don't get the sence however as the strings will also do that job.


Another thing that irritates me is thet the trem only allows diving... there's no room for upbendings (even with strings on).

The frets show some wear. I don't know if the neck needs a (partial) refret, so I'll have to get it to my local luthier and let him judge...what do you think?


Finally, a tuning peg is missing. I found them in a German online-store (LINK), I would have to order a complete set of them for 40 Euro, however. Does someone perhaps has one of those with 2 "nipples" or knows where I can get a single one?


Can't wait to play that one.

Cheers, Hans

Slacken the screws off on the spring claw.

Those tuners are the same as Squier/ Fender
This kind of thing

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Squier-Fender-Stratocaster-Telecaster-Tele-Strat-Black-Tuners-Hardware-Plate-/121250341722?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item1c3b15635a


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Machine-heads-tuners-2-pin-no-screw-for-Squier-Fender-guitars-UK-SELLER-/111082546660?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&var=&hash=item19dd0925e4

If I slacken the screws enough to allow upbendings, the trem wouldn't sit parallel to the body anymore, would it? Doesn't that matter?

I could be completely wrong, sorry if that's the case.

Thanks for the hint concerning the tuners, I'll have a look.

You'll have to string it up and check out whats what... 

By the way those frets look OK, nothing to worry about, yet.

Thanks, yes, I will as soon as I have the spare parts including some screws...I can't imagine why someone does this to an instrument:

silence86 wrote:If I slacken the screws enough to allow upbendings, the trem wouldn't sit parallel to the body anymore, would it? Doesn't that matter?...

Have a look HERE for some info on the care and feeding of Kahler trems.

Bridge should be on the same line as the neck, which is not always straight with the body.

Thanks you, I'll try my luck as soon as I put the villain together and keep you posted.

Please keep up posted, we'll guide you. 

Hopefully a little better than the blind leading the blind. 

 

Those screws.... just lightly sand the crap off and paint the heads!! Works a treat!!