Possible New Dumpster Winner

[msuffidy]

I used to own a (low quality) used guitar I sold because I didn't want to spend time learning to play it. I have been sort of regretting getting rid of it. But hey it's ok because last night I found an electric guitar in my garbage room. It had a broken string but I think I can get another. Controls are a bit scratchy but the line voltage is like mic voltage so I don't know what to expect. To date I have found 4 monitors in my garbage room, 3 of which had no problems, one mac router/dsl modem combo, and a few minor bits, and 6 sealed bottles of champagne.

https://www.facebook.com/matthew.suffidy.1/posts/313666933742165

[HowdyPartner]

Looks like a Yamaha Pacifica. There is a metal thingy missing, you might want to go back and look for it.

[themadhippy]

There is a metal thingy missing,

its  a wammy bar,or in polite company tremolo arm.

[msuffidy]

I was aware of that but I am just learning so I was not expecting it to be a big deal. There is an open hole with no apparent damage so hopefully that is ok. I just went back, but the guitar was on top of a bunch of plastic recycling bins and I did not really look anywhere else. If it was in the real garbage it is under real garbage now and I did a quick look around the bins. nada I was just researching the issue and it looks like some people take it out and stick a block in there to keep it in tune. If that was not the case here I guess I would have to do it. It is a cheap but a bit important effect....

[msuffidy]

I took the rear plate off and it looks like it was probably unscrewed and removed. I am not seeing damage. I don't know if the threads are still ok. There is a smaller hole on the bottom and you can see through to the opening where it was supposed to go. I've seen a lot of them without them maybe some don't come with it?

[james_s]

Somebody probably removed it for one reason or another, maybe it got bent or broken. I wouldn't worry about it, if you get to the point where you can play it well enough that it matters then you can probably buy a replacement.

[dzseki]

Somebody probably removed it for one reason or another, maybe it got bent or broken. I wouldn't worry about it, if you get to the point where you can play it well enough that it matters then you can probably buy a replacement.

Tremolo arms are for instant detuning of the strings therefore produce a "sliding" sound effect. They are easy to remove as they not that often used, also the arm itself may impede the player in playing. There are two flavours of tremolo arms, this is the simlplier one, this one is much easier to use (and tune the strings) but heavy usage may cause the strings get out of tune. The more complicated designs employ a locked nut right before the first fret, which holds the tune almost perfectly all the way, but the strings are ultimately more difficult to get in tune (whenever the temperature changes etc.)

[msuffidy]

Thanks for the info. I managed to get the strings, costing $6 after tax Canadian, on today. I did the proper downward non overlapping winding. It so happens there is a music store not very far from where I live walking. I used to have a computer store also but it closed down. It was a learning experience. Have to keep tension while turning feeding from the bottom and holding the other side up. Some big probs are it seems the tone knob does not do anything and that is not a problem if it is not limiting anything as it is.

[james_s]

Well that shouldn't be too hard to repair if you are inclined to do so, guitars are not electrically complex devices, the tone control is normally just a potentiometer in conjunction with a capacitor. Look for signs of damaged components and molestation, it's probably just a broken pot or a bad connection.

[msuffidy]

The way they seem to be usually wired is the tone pot is a dampener for the circuit effecting certain frequencies. Since pots probably fail open, in theory I already have the default although it does not sound like it. Also I don't see why I could not just bypass the volume and tone to just output 100% volume 100% tone without buying any more parts. Then external equipment could manipulate it. There could be issues with taking out the top plate with the strings on.

[james_s]

Why would you want to bypass them? There's a reason pretty much every electric guitar ever made has at minimum a volume and tone control. It's trivial circuitry.

[msuffidy]

never crackles again... and I found it in the trash. But I will keep my options open

[rjp]

Lots of people bypass the cheap pot and cap tone controls nowdays because the modern signal chain has far better tone modifiers on it than a simple treble rolloff

[msuffidy]

Next time I change the strings I think I will bypass the pots. I got the service manual, no surprises in store.

[Brumby]

There's a reason they put those controls ON the body of the guitar.