RKS Guitars are very friendly and forward
thinking guitar builders who have great ideas….
(More to come on RKS)
What we have hear is Texas
Joe's latest pawn shop find...
I strolled into a pawn shop on friday Jan 19th 2007 around lunchtime...and saw this guitar
hanging on the wall...and i offered the pawn.shop owner 55 bux for it..he
told me...60 and you got a deal..i said
go for it its a deal..the guitar was priced at 75 doillers....ha ha
!!!..i walked out the door with this and 2 old record albums 33
rpm..kraftwerk.. tour de france and ..obscure 80's band Talk Talk....ha ha ! all for
60 bux not bad !!! ha ha
!!
It is a vintage early Japanese.mid 80's Fender neck on some type of
custom built strat copy body...the body seems to be mahogany or some dark
wood very lite ...in weight...
the frets are in good shape..on the neck...the tuning keys are
Fender...the tremelo.system is an old mid 80's Kahler highend strat
model...it had 2 EMG pickups in it but i pulled them out as I wanted to build
a Van Halen style frankenstien strat ...the volume pot and the ...3 way
switch were all busted so I junked
them...in place ..i ran down to the local Guitar Center and Chuck ..the MGR.
hooked me up with a bargain priced.(60.00 bux).but very high quality...Dimarzio
Tone Zone model pick up.with F(fender type ) spacing a great idea if you ask
me..!...brand new..!
I have always loved Dimarzio pickups...my 1st ..hot rod guitar in the
early 80's was hopped up with an Dimarzio super distortion..pickup..that i
bought new for 75.00 dollers ha ha !
I took the guitar down to my buddy John Douglas garage and sanded down
some of the over spray black paint and came up with this distressed...black
and creme pirate looking...scraped up..vibe....it looks kool and sounds great
since the guitar does not have so much gunky paint messing with the
tone....anymore ...the body seems to breath better...and the tone is great
more on this later...*
I also installed a 500 k brand new Gibson Pot....which rolls very
smoothly...we strung it up..with..9 gauge e.ball slinky strings...and tuned
her up..and damn this thing sounded great....!! John and i were surprized
what it sounded like on a small 1 x 12
combo...but thats not all...what would later happen would shock the Hell out
of me and blow me away..!!! ha ha as
far as tone...it was pretty darn late so I left for home and was ..pretty
damn happy with my new...Van Halen style tone monster !!! not bad ..bought it
at lunch time Friday... and by midnight ..it was alive with tone and a new
pick up !!!
I could not play it on
saturday..through my Old Marshalls ..due to work and other commitments..but
come Sunday afternoon i was shocked and in disbelief at my discovery
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hooked my new Febder tone monster pirate guitar...through...differant
Marshall Heads...a ..50 watt..74...a.50 watt...76..and a ..100watt 79..master
volume..and boy was i blown away...with this guitar..!!
I only used a danelectro dan
echo...at a very lite 350 ms...setting ...and...an old old ..ts 9 eric
johnson style tubescreamer...some cheap old beldon cables...(my
favorites)....through...3 differant cabinets...a vintage early 70s..Marshall
4x12 and 2 differant 80's style..4x12's with ..celestion 75 watt
speakers..this guitar roared like crazy...i got soooo.close to the Van
Halen...1 and Van Halen 2 sound it was scary....! ha ha !
it sounded so sweet..and very...full very fat tone...it was
amazing..! i think the combintation of
the Dimarzio Tone Zone humbucker and the 20 year old Strat type Body * with all that choking
paint sanded off.. and Fender Japanese
rosewood neck made the differance ...this guitar is amazing !!!
I have built many mongrul type strats over the years but this has got to
be the best Van Halen style one i have ever made.....
and the fact i got it so cheap in a local pawn shop only makes my little
adventure more satifying !!! ill keep
you all posted with more pix soon !
and plus a live gig update....
Keep Rockin'
Texas Joe Valles
Feb. 1st 2007