I'm Back! (Mods of Holly plus pics!)

[Redeemed]

Oh boy... 40 days is a long long time.. The first couple weeks of lent were agonizing.  I never realized how much time I spend on various guitar forums... and without the forums, I was surprised to find how boring the internet is.

Well anyhow.. so I've been away from the forums.. but I definitely have not been away from my guitars. (maybe that's what's up for next year's lent? )  During the 40 days, I was busy "pimpin'" out Holly (the OM-03).  She was bone stock at the beginning of lent.. and now she's pretty pimped out. 

The list of mods:

Colosi bone pins - This was the simplest modification on the list.  The pins were basically drop in replacements of the OEM plastic ones.. except for the low E pin.  The low E needed to be sanded down a bit to fit correctly in the hole.  Besides that, this mod was a breeze.  Now, did I notice a huge tonal improvement with the pins?  To be honest, no... but a slight improvement, yes.  It just cleaned up the sound a bit.. made the sound a bit crisper. 

Greven Vintage 50's Tortis pickguard - This mod.. I had hoped it'd be a painless one, but boy was I ever wrong.  The look I was going for with this guitar was a faux-vintage-martinesque-om.. and so it was only natural to add a Martin OM shaped pickguard as opposed to the Larrivee OM pickguard (which I like also).  A nice fellow over at the UMGF sent me a used OM-21 pickguard that he took off and didn't need.  So with the OM-21 pickguard as a template, I approached this pickguard project with optimism.  Well when I received the Greven guard from Maury's Music, the shape was far from accurate or true to the Martin shape.  I was a bit disappointed because I had emailed Maury several times to make sure that the Greven guards were designed after Martin pickguards.  Well, so amidst the disappointment, I decided to risk the twenty-some odd dollars and shape the pickguard myself.  I figured it can't be too difficult.  Well again, I was wrong.  In appearance, the Greven guards look very soft and pliable... and easy to cut.  Well they're not.  They are dang hard! and brittle.  Since the Greven guard was a bit larger than the OM-21 guard, I traced the outline of the OM-21 guard onto the Greven and I took a pair of scissors to it.  As I was making the cut, the pickguard started to chip and shatter away.  Now at this point, I was sure that I had thrown twenty-some dollars down the drain.  Then it occured to me that I should use some heat to soften up the material.  So I did.. and it made the cutting significantly easier.  After the correct shape was roughly cut out, I took some fine grit sandpaper and started smoothening the edges.  This took the bulk of the time as the edges were very rough.  Well anyhow, at the end, the pickguard turned out alright.  Actually, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out; it looks very true to the Martin shape.

Grover Sta-tites - A faux-vintage guitar would not be complete without a set of open back tuners... and so I decided to tackle this task myself as well. (Can you tell I was a bit bored... away from the forum?)  I ordered the tuners and the hex conversion bushings from stewmac (which by the way raised their price on the tuners.. like the day I ordered a set).  The installation was pretty straight forward.. I knew that I'd need to drill 12 new holes in the back of the headstock, but I didn't mind. (this guitar's a keeper for sure)  I also didn't want any holes left behind, so I went to Home Depot and bought a wood filler pencil thing.  I bought one that was supposed to be Red Cherry colored (I think) and it happened to match the color of the mahogany perfectly.  I filled the holes left behind from the ping tuners and installed the new Grovers.  A pretty simple mod that makes a huge difference aesthetically... and functionally, these tuners are definitely an upgrade from the stock pings.

K&K Pure Western Mini - At first I was considering taking the A2.2 system out of Emma and installing it in Holly... but that runs the risk of damaging the transducers while un-installing, etc.  So I decided to just get a whole new system for Holly.  I was working with a pretty tight budget so I knew the pickup wouldn't be a fancy dual source system.  Well for as long as I've been on this forum, I've read tons of favorable reviews on the K&K pure systems... I just never had the chance to test 'em out on my own.  Then, opportunity knocked on my doors when one night I was surfin' ebay way into the wee hours of the night.  I searched "K&K pure" just for the heck of it and found one for sale with a buy-it-now for $65 and 5 bucks for shipping.  It had only been listed for two hours or so..  so I knew I was one of the first to see it.. and that it wouldn't last long.  So I jumped on it.  Turns out, the seller bought it from Dave at Guitaradoptions a month earlier and was planning on installing it on a Larrivee.  Well for whatever reason, he had to get rid of the Larrivee and just had the K&K system un-opened lyin' around collecting dust.  I lucked out.

The installation was pretty simple... blah blah, blah blah.. now onto the sound......This pickup is the real deal!  I am now a believer!  The K&K pure is hands down the most natural sounding pickup IMO.  I thought the A2.2 in my L-09 was nice... but yeah.  Anyhow, the K&K, all on it's own, without a pre-amp DOES have a good amount of volume.  I played it at church about four times already without a single problem.  Sure it may not "cut through the mix" like an undersaddle pickup, but the only reason why undersaddle pickups like fishman systems do "cut through the mix" is because they sound ridiculously un-natural and inaccurate.  The K&K does get "lost" in the mix, but that's exactly how I want it, because I know that if my guitar were unplugged, she'd get "lost" in the mix as well..  (I'm not sure if that makes any sense)  Conclusion: the K&K pure system is amazing!

Strap pin - Lastly, I had a strap pin installed on the heel cap of the neck.  (not much to talk about with this one)


Here are some pics of Holly's transformations:





Colosi Bone Pins


Greven Pickguard


Grover Sta-Tites  (before/after)






That's all folks!


-dan

[sigurdd48]

nice looking axe, Dan
Definitely has that vintage appeal now
The Greven guard looks hot

I have a set of Grover Sta-Tites (and round bushings) just burning a hole on my workbench, waiting to be installed in my OM-03MT.
I've heard people are happy with the stock ping, but I'm one of those who is getting tired of turning, turning, turning the knob to get any change when I am turning some strings. Installed Sta-Tites on a 000-15S a couple years abck and love them; they work!  This week I'll get to it. (Stew-Mac also sent me a strap pin... then I can get my leather strap out and start strutting around the house with my guitar)

Since the 'hog top looks darker, I'm sticking with the clear guard, or maybe someday, no guard (the Emperor's new pickguard)

[jwieties]

Welcome back Dan.

The gutiar looks fantastic.
Great job on the gaurd!!!

-josh

[ronmac]

Welcome back! Those Grovers add a very nice look to the traditional styling of the OM.

[Randy_R]

What a good looking guitar... welcome back   :WNK>

[solarbean]

 

Nice stuff!

That pickguard and tuners do indeed give it a nice aesthetic. Well done!

[pg60]

I've heard people are happy with the stock ping, but I'm one of those who is getting tired of turning, turning, turning the knob to get any change when I am turning some strings.

don't want to hijack this thread, that OM-03 is a beaut, but this comment caught my eye.  i have an OM-03MT and I cannot believe how far I have to turn the knob to bring the G-string into tune with a small tonal adjustment.  all of the strings take some turning but especially the G and D strings.  is this "precision" (or lack thereof) a characteristic of the ping tuners?  i was going to check for binding at the nut next time i change strings.

[Randy_R]

don't want to hijack this thread, that OM-03 is a beaut, but this comment caught my eye.  i have an OM-03MT and I cannot believe how far I have to turn the knob to bring the G-string into tune with a small tonal adjustment.  all of the strings take some turning but especially the G and D strings.  is this "precision" (or lack thereof) a characteristic of the ping tuners?  i was going to check for binding at the nut next time i change strings.

I've gotten in the habit of always pressing on the string in front of the tuner after tightening a string. This helps eliminate problems with nut binding.

[roknroll]

Did you those tuners drop in without any mods?  looks sweet by the way.

nevermind, just re-read how you installed them...

[Fstpicker]

Boy...you were a busy man!

I love the vintage look of your pickguard and the tuners. Really cool! Very nice job you did there.

Hey, maybe I should "fast" for 40 days? I might actually get something done around here!

Naa.....

Jeff

[dleahy]

I am in the process of replacing my D03 tuners with Sta-tites. I assume you had to dowel the holes on yours as well. What diameter dowel did you end up using? I am trying to avoid too big a hole. I know a little is going to show around the new bushings but I am trying to keep it to a minimum.

[HangFire]

Great looking guitar, you even got the pickguard on at the right angle! ^_^

Welcome back;-)