Sanding the neck and changing pickups in a Legacy 2007

[edson]

Hi, I've seen in youtube and other places that some guitarists (ex. SRV, John Mayer) sand the neck o the guitar to make it smoother and faster.

Does anyone here have any experiences with this? I would like to try it, but at the same time, I don't want to "maim" my beautiful 2007 Legacy

I've also been thinking of changing pickups.

The ones I've been thinking are the Fender Vintage Noiseless. Anyone here who has any other tips, hints and tricks? Any other electronics I could change aswell that could make my Legacy even better?

[KenC]

Hi Edson,

I doubt you'd accomplish much by sanding the neck of your Legacy, other than seriously reducing its resale value. Sanding would typically be done to reduce the stickiness of a lacquered neck, but your G&L should have a satin neck to begin with. In other words, you already have the kind of neck surface they were trying for.

I can't offer an opinion on the pickups. I've only owned one Legacy, and the stock G&L pups had more sparkle and shimmer than I remember my 70-something Strat having. I leave all of my G&Ls stock, but some of the other G&LDPers have preferences for aftermarket pups. Hopefully some will chime in. I believe Lucifer has an opinion on the Fender Vintage Noiseless models .

At least a pickup change should be a fully reversible mod. If you're really interested in sanding a neck, I would look for an early MIM or MIJ Fender with a gloss lacquer finish on the neck. I believe they were made that way in the 90s.

Ken

[suave eddie]

but your G&L should have a satin neck to begin with.

Did I miss something here? How do we know he has a satin neck already?

[Miles Smiles]

I'm sanding all necks of all my guitars, if they feel sticky, but I do not sand down the lacquer. I take very fine sanding paper and I'm just sanding just a little bit. It needs only to be dull to be not sticky you may hardly see the difference, but you feel it.

[louis cyfer]

the satin finish is pretty fast already, ken is assuming you have that because that is the standard finish.
there are no fender branded pups that are better than the legacy pups. the vintage noiseless are particularly woeful. first of all, you want to ask, what is it that you want exactly, what sound are you going for? dirty, clean, etc? most of the tone comes from you. you can hand a legacy to john mayer, he'll sound exactly like john mayer. he can hand you his guitar, you won't sound like him. so practicing will make more of a difference than any tinkering. there are some aftermarket ups i am really fond of, the jm 60's david allen, the stratty cat david allen, the jazzy kat kleins, and the lindy fralin real 54's. btw, lowering the pups can change their sound dramatically. a lot of people have them set too close to the strings.
what is your playing level? how long have you been playing?

[louis cyfer]

I'm sanding all necks of all my guitars, if they feel sticky, but I do not sand down the lacquer. I take very fine sanding paper and I'm just sanding just a little bit. It needs only to be dull to be not sticky you may hardly see the difference, but you feel it.

i do that to my guitars too, i use 260-320 paper, and sand when it starts polishing up just by use. but the gl satin doesn't really need it. my preferred finish is too do the birch and casey tru oil, i do that once i have all the finish off from sanding it gradually.

[KenC]

the satin finish is pretty fast already, ken is assuming you have that because that is the standard finish.

That's what I meant. I thought I had said something about anything other than satin being a special order, but I must have edited that out before I posted.

I had always been a bit puzzled about people having aversions to glossy necks. The vast majority of my G&Ls are from the Leo-era, and none of them feel noticeably different to me than my couple of satin-necked BBE-era instruments. Last weekend I had a chance to play an '81 L-1000, and now I understand the issue many people have with gloss lacquer finishes. It felt like somebody had rubbed a lollipop all up and down the back of that neck. It was bad enough that I had trouble lines that required shifts between positions. I think that's the first early G&L I've ever played without getting a serious case of GAS.

Ken

[edson]

Seems I forgot about this post.. :O

I've starting playing classical guitar when I was 13-14.

Electric guitar I've only played for a few years, maybe 4.

The sound I'm looking for is the more vintage Strat sound.

I also recently bought a new amp, Two Rock Exo 15.

Oh, and I've kinda put away the sanding idea since I don't think it will give me anything other than wanting do do it of curiosity...

About the pickups, I've seen some videoes on youtube where people change the pickups to alter the sound and make the Legacy sound more stratty. I rather not change it though, but perhaps someone has tips on how to setup pickup heights, or even set the tone and EQ on an amp to get the "stratty" sound

/Edson

[louis cyfer]

i have the two rock custom reverb signature v3. i have not played the exo amps. the legacy pups are pretty stratty actually, but d allen 60's rock n blues or the d allen big cats would be a big improvement.

[edson]

i have the two rock custom reverb signature v3. i have not played the exo amps. the legacy pups are pretty stratty actually, but d allen 60's rock n blues or the d allen big cats would be a big improvement.

What's your pickup heights?

[louis cyfer]

i have the two rock custom reverb signature v3. i have not played the exo amps. the legacy pups are pretty stratty actually, but d allen 60's rock n blues or the d allen big cats would be a big improvement.

What's your pickup heights?

where it sounds best. each pup and guitar is different. there is no magic pup height, the notion of that is silly.

[edson]

where it sounds best. each pup and guitar is different. there is no magic pup height, the notion of that is silly.

I agree and disagree. It is individual, and no magic pup height. I'd like to have a reference. Where does ppl think it sounds more stratty, and I can work from there. I'm just looking for a shortcut. But perhaps THAT is silly

/Edson

[louis cyfer]

i adjust the bridge pup to where i get the best sound then adjust the other two until they balance in volume. usually farther away gives better results. but there are no shortcuts. shortcuts are for techs who just want to set the height and call it a day.

[Boogie Bill]

How are you setting the PTB controls?

I set mine T-10, B-5... with rhythm volume around 7. I can roll the treble down for a jazzier tone. If I want to make my solos punchier I can roll up the bass. I set my bridge pickup fairly high and then adjust the others for equal volume and good quack from positions 2 & 4. I set my amp for the max treble tone I want from the bridge pickup and go from there. My tone is more like Clapton, Knopfler and Cray, rather than SRVs meatier tones. I use Mesa Mark Series amps which give me thick drive tones.

For those bloosy tones, I'll grab my S-500. If I want thicker PAF tone for hard rock or fusion jazz, I'll grab one of my Legacy Specials. The Comanches are great for a wide variety tones, from sweet to agressive, with single-coil clarity and humbucker quiet.

If like the tones from you Legacy, you mght not need new pickups.

(But you may need three more G&Ls!!!)

Bill

[edson]

How are you setting the PTB controls?

I set mine T-10, B-5... with rhythm volume around 7. I can roll the treble down for a jazzier tone. If I want to make my solos punchier I can roll up the bass. I set my bridge pickup fairly high and then adjust the others for equal volume and good quack from positions 2 & 4. I set my amp for the max treble tone I want from the bridge pickup and go from there. My tone is more like Clapton, Knopfler and Cray, rather than SRVs meatier tones. I use Mesa Mark Series amps which give me thick drive tones.

Bill

T=10 and B=5 works quite well

I have my pickups set to this now:
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/I ... _Pt_1.aspx

[SouthpawGuy]

DiMarzio Areas 61/67/58 neck are noise free and lower output with a thinner tone than the stock pickups.

[louis cyfer]

DiMarzio Areas 61/67/58 neck are noise free and lower output with a thinner tone than the stock pickups.

they just don't sound very good. i have them.

[ben17e]

As far as sanding necks, I wet sand all my necks with 600 or finer grit. That way if it is a gloss finish it is retained and even if I take some of the gloss off then it is easy to sand finer and buff back to the original gloss. Thats never happened to me though, it has always stayed visably the same, just cleaned off imperfections.