Another possible project...maybe

So tonight I just picked up a Yamaha Pacifica 521 for $100 to take the neck off of and put on a Yamaha Pacifica 812v body I got for $99.

That leaves me with an extra Yamaha body.

It is a very nice looking metallic royal blue, no chips or scratches.

But it has three significant problems:
H/S/H with no coil tap options that I can tell (definitely no push/pull, and apparently no autotap in positions 2/4).
An extremely muddy sound in all positions.
a vintage 6-screw trem.


I could replace all the electronics to try and get a brighter sound.

But then I'd still have the stupid useless trem.

I guess I could block it, but that seems a little bit silly.

I think I'd prefer one of you blokes telling me I can put in a hardtail bridge or easily rout it for a Floyd Rose.
But then I'm still short one guitar neck.

eBay? Or would one of you guys like it for $50?

Just thought of two possible flaws in my plan:

1) Comparing pictures, the neck joint bars might be different sizes. That would be a deal killer right there, and I guess I'd just sell the PAC521 and keep looking for neck hardware for the PAC 812S.

2) The PAC 812S has a locking nut (height adjustable!), whereas the PAC 521 has a regular nut. There are two ways I could solve that:
a) behind the nut locks, or
b) Sperzel tuners.

Assuming the neck fits, what do you guys recommend?

Not sure about the necks, but as for the trem, I highly recommend the Super Vee BladeRunner. It swaps right out for a standard Fender type trem. I just put one in my 83 Strat last and it works awesome. If you look at the pic you'll see this thin line in front of the saddles and behind the 4 set screws - this is a stainless stell piece that is flexible, but taught enough to return the bridge back to the 0 position. Cost me 150 or 160 USD and I will be using them in my new builds for sure. First time I've actually used the trem in my strat for years as the oringial did not stay in tune nearly as well as this one.

Also if you are look for the lockeing tuners - go with a sperzel type, much easier to tune compared to a locking nut or saddles - no allen keys!

sarcaster wrote:...I highly recommend the Super Vee BladeRunner...First time I've actually used the trem in my strat for years as the oringial did not stay in tune nearly as well as this one.

I think I've seen this recommended here before(?) Looks nice and stable compared with the traditional 6 screw Strat trem. Those are problematic at best. You get OK results with them if you back off the centre 4 screws and encourage it to pivot on the two outside ones, but you still end up crushing the wood. Innovative for its day, I guess, but ultimately a really dumb idea.

I think I'm going to sell the body, so replacing the trem is no longer a goal.

I'll use Sperzel tuners on the neck and see how the tuning stability is before considering other steps.

Never have a problem with strat (6 screw) trems if set up right.

Prefer the strat plus 2 pivot one meeself (even though mines blocked off)