STRANGER TIMES
We’re always ready to help, but how can we offer advice when we’ve never played your guitar? With difficulty, reckons Dave Burrluck
Afriend of our art editor had asked for some modding advice and in a rash moment I said, ‘Sure! Send the guitar over and I’ll take a look.’ Said guitar is a Squier Showmaster, ‘Crafted in Indonesia’ circa 2002 (according to its serial number) and not one I’d previously encountered. Judging from a few For Sale ads I found, it’s not exactly desirable or worth much more than £120 and, in this condition – dusty, at best – probably a bit less. The strings had been attached to the tuners in what I can only call a ‘creative’ style. The vibrato, which should float parallel above the body, PRS-style, was raked back so it touched the top of the body, and the block saddles resembled a pirate’s teeth. Advice? ‘Take it to a charity shop and don’t waste your time’ was certainly one thought I had as I considered how to make this plank a little sexier.
The problem is, I don’t know the guitar so actually giving any advice on how to upgrade it seems pretty spurious. It’s a mistake us modders often make: to plan a whole slew of ‘upgrades’ before we’ve actually bothered to get the best out of what we’ve got. So, let’s start there.
Along with that reverse headstock and floating vibrato, the Showmaster’s other notable features include a chamfered edge to the heel (as you see on USA Fenders today), no scratchplate and an edge-placed football-style metal output jack. The volume, tone and five-way switch are all rear-mounted, and the single-coil pickups are direct-mounted to the body, while the bridge humbucker is mounted in a ring. No surprises, then.
Yet despite its dusty condition, and even with old strings, plugged in it all works. And bargain basement it might be, but the sounds are okay and there’s a noticeable balance to the output of the bridge humbucker when you switch to the quite thick and raw-sounding single coils.
I couldn’t find any very precise specs, but we’re probably looking at a basswood or similar body – it’s a pretty good weight at 3.55kg (7.81lb) – plus the black ‘poly’ finish has a little metallic flecking to it. But assumption is one thing, fact is another. When I remove the neck to inspect the body pocket, it’s very obvious it’s made of mahogany. Maybe it’s time to take this cheapo a little more seriously and at least get it gig-ready as is.
Clean Machine
With the neck removed, along with the tuners, I can turn my attention to the allimportant frets. Sighting down the neck there’s a forward bow, although it doesn’t look twisted, and removing the dust from the open-holed truss rod adjustor cavity allows me to relax the truss rod. It’s a dual-action type so you’re looking for the mid point where, in effect, it has no action on the neck and the adjustor nut feels quite loose. The frets themselves are approximately 2.5mm by 1mm, which is
“It’s time to take this cheapo a little more seriously and at least get it gig-ready as is”
okay so long as we don’t have too much wear to consider, which luckily we don’t. Checking heights with a Fret Rocker, they’re not perfect, but the imperfections are slight. The fret ends remain a little sharp after nearly 20 years, the fingerboard edges just broken-in rather than rolled.
If you know what you’re doing, a light fret dress is recommended, but simply polishing the fret tops will get you most of the way there. Round any sharp fret ends with a small needle file, and you can lightly roll the fingerboard edges, too, with a flat-backed razor blade or similar. Then use 600 grit wet ’n’ dry on a straight hardwood block and rub along the length of the ’board then across the frets from bass to treble side. Use the same paper on a softer cork block to sand those fingerboard edges and the fret ends. Next, use 800 and 1000 grit across the ’board and along those edges, and finally some 0000-grade wire wool to polish up each fret. I polish the face of the ’board, too, which removes any dirt. A dab of white spirit on a soft cloth will remove any residue. If you haven’t got any of that, simply use a very lightly damp cloth and plenty of elbow grease. Leave it to fully dry off and just give it a final rub with a clean piece of wire wool. A couple of drops of fingerboard oil will restore the lustre to the rosewood – wipe on, leave to dry then rub it up with a clean cloth.
At the same time – with those tuners removed – you can clean the headstock back and front and then I give the neck back a very light rub, just in the playing area, with those three abrasive paper grades, which gives a super-smooth, satin feel. Clean up your work space and vacuum up any debris, particularly from the steel wool. A final rub with any guitar polish and we have to be honest and say it’s probably never looked – and felt – better.
Removing gunk from the body finish is similarly straightforward. It’s probably a polyester, but before you actually polish anything try to remove as much grime as you can with a lightly dampened cloth. Then any good guitar polish should have things looking showroom clean in minutes. There’s actually some nice ‘wear’ to this finish. It’s sunk into the mahogany grain rather than being, probably as intended, mirror flat.
In these days of aged and reliced hardware, actually polishing your parts might seem a little odd. But chrome hardware, not least on this black finish, surely needs to gleam, doesn’t it? Well, using some auto metal polish soon has the tuners, the bridge, saddles and control knobs looking ship-shape. A little light oil on the height and intonation adjustment screw threads won’t harm anything, either. The dust and gunk on the pickup tops can be removed, too. Again, a very slightly damp cloth should work, or if the dirt is a little more stubborn then use some naptha (lighter fluid) applied first to a cloth or cotton bud then rubbed on.
“I’m going to play this guitar a lot before I even consider how I might revoice it”
Setup & Go
We’ve covered basic setups numerous times over the past 50 instalments of The Mod Squad, and a bolt-on like this should give you few problems, although setting the vibrato correctly is the key. PRS suggests floating its vibrato approximately 1/16th of an inch above the body – handily about the thickness of The Mod Squad’s lolly stick collection. Use one stick as a shim under the front of the plate, another at the back, as a guide to screw the two pivot screws to
the correct height. Remove the front shim, leave the back one in place and over-tighten the spring claw. Once you’re done fettling, the last thing you do, holding the guitar upright, is to loosen both the spring claw screws a few turns at a time until the shim drops out.
Don’t be surprised if you spend quite a bit of time on a simple clean-up project like this. Unlike professionals, our time isn’t money and we can live with a guitar and spend as long as we want getting it right. You might, for example, just find a sharp edge you’d missed on a fret end, or need to slightly recut a nut groove. Obviously, pickup heights need a little tweaking, and something that’s easily forgotten is to finally dial in your intonation. The truth is, time spent fine-tuning even a simple low-end guitar such as this will dramatically improve the instrument – it’s doubtful in its 20 years it’s worked quite this well.
So, now is the time to consider your mods… or not. Is there anything happening here? If that’s a resounding no, cut your losses and move on, at least the Showmaster is in near-perfect condition for sale. But there’s enough going on here that makes me think there’s some potential.
The Next Step?
The key is that reverse headstock and the vibrato, which give this Showmaster an almost Jazzmaster-like resonance. And rather like a Jazzmaster, getting the vibrato to actually work needs some care.
First off, while I was cleaning up the tuners I removed the nylon washer between the button and the housing (a long-time PRS tone tweak) then tightened the button’s retaining screw, giving a stiff but positive feel. During the clean-up, I noticed that someone had already done some work here: the nut is bone (which I very much doubt is original), likewise, the strap buttons, which are for Schaller locks. Spending a little time on the nut is essential. Lower the height so the strings only just sit in the grooves then make sure each groove is perfectly smooth and doesn’t catch the string in any way. And, yes, apply some lube. I change the string trees, too – they’re still the pressed-steel type but have slightly curved edges, which means that the wraps on the wound strings don’t catch. Make sure they’re firmly screwed down, too, and that they don’t move. Again, apply some lube – our favourite dry lube Wilkinson SlipStick is ideal here.
You need to be very careful how you string up so there are enough winds around the post to get a good back angle on the top two strings. Obviously, some vigorous string stretching is necessary, not least on the longer string length of the bass strings behind the nut. But, actually, it all works rather well – it’s not a Floyd Rose, yet for lighter shimmers the tuning stability is surprisingly good. The biggest issue is getting used to the tuners being on the wrong side of the headstock, plus the fact that the top tuner is for your bottom string.
There’s a pretty generic but far from uninspiring feel to the neck. It measures 41.8mm right in front of the nut and has a depth at the 1st fret of 21mm, and is 23mm by the 12th. Its shape? I’d call it a relaxed ‘C’. It’s okay, and set with just a gnat’s relief and a pretty standard 1.6mm string height, it makes for a clean player. The fingerboard radius measures approximately 305mm (12 inches), which seems to suit the build.
A mod-free instalment of The Mod Squad? Well, the only thing I’ve spent any money on is a set of strings and I’m going to use them a lot before I even consider how I might revoice this now fit-for-purpose Showmaster. Look out for part two soon!