FLAMEY FIRST ACT
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:09 pm
Picked this one up yesterday for $47. It spoke to me the moment I saw it and I knew I had to have it. I used to see First Act guitars more frequently in my travels, but they seem to have been scarce lately. This particular one I have never seen before. It's an ME-4016.
Overall the guitar feels extremely light. In my photos it looks sort of mustard yellow or ochre, but in reality its actually a khaki green color. Think army green.
It has dual ceramic humbuckers in the 8K range and one volume and one tone control with a three way toggle. There is no crackling in the pots and they have a nice usable sweep. The toggle is the mechanical type. The pups don't sound terrible, though they're not to my personal taste. I may try some different magnets in them to see if that sweetens the tone to my liking.
The tuners work fine and hold pitch with no discernible lash, so I see no need to replace them. Likewise with the very simple yet functional hardtail bridge.
There is something about the shape of the headstock that to me is slightly reminiscent of a Gibson Firebird; in the shape, the length, and the backward tilt. The strings follow a straight path from the nut to the tuning posts and there are no string trees. Once I had lubricated the nut slots it would not go out of tune.
The pictures of the figuring on the back of the neck speak for themselves, but seriously, would ya look at that nice flame! It reminds me of some of the flamely necked Squier Classic Vibes I've seen. It's quarter sawn, as can be seen in pics. Very stable feeling neck on this First Act.
Like a lot of guitars found used it was in desperate need of set up. The action was atrocious.
Here's what I've done so far:
Dress the fret ends and polish the frets.
Roll the fret board ends.
File the nut slots and lube them.
Soak the hardware that had rust on it in a vinegar/salt solution overnight.
Give the fretboard a good drink of mineral oil.
Restring with .09s.
After reassembly and a set up it plays like a dream. One thing I do need to do is cut the saddle adjustment screws shorter. A dremel will perform that task in short order. Other than that, I can't see doing anything else on this guitar other than messing around with the pickups to get them closer to my tonal preference. I'm just going to play this thing and would seriously have no problem gigging with it.
If these guitars get a bad rap, I believe it's only because they likely came new with a bad set up (or none at all), and are often found used in the same condition (or I dare say worse due to bad amateur luthiers). All the parts are there to make a perfectly good playing guitar, and in the case of this particular one, a surprisingly good one.
Overall the guitar feels extremely light. In my photos it looks sort of mustard yellow or ochre, but in reality its actually a khaki green color. Think army green.
It has dual ceramic humbuckers in the 8K range and one volume and one tone control with a three way toggle. There is no crackling in the pots and they have a nice usable sweep. The toggle is the mechanical type. The pups don't sound terrible, though they're not to my personal taste. I may try some different magnets in them to see if that sweetens the tone to my liking.
The tuners work fine and hold pitch with no discernible lash, so I see no need to replace them. Likewise with the very simple yet functional hardtail bridge.
There is something about the shape of the headstock that to me is slightly reminiscent of a Gibson Firebird; in the shape, the length, and the backward tilt. The strings follow a straight path from the nut to the tuning posts and there are no string trees. Once I had lubricated the nut slots it would not go out of tune.
The pictures of the figuring on the back of the neck speak for themselves, but seriously, would ya look at that nice flame! It reminds me of some of the flamely necked Squier Classic Vibes I've seen. It's quarter sawn, as can be seen in pics. Very stable feeling neck on this First Act.
Like a lot of guitars found used it was in desperate need of set up. The action was atrocious.
Here's what I've done so far:
Dress the fret ends and polish the frets.
Roll the fret board ends.
File the nut slots and lube them.
Soak the hardware that had rust on it in a vinegar/salt solution overnight.
Give the fretboard a good drink of mineral oil.
Restring with .09s.
After reassembly and a set up it plays like a dream. One thing I do need to do is cut the saddle adjustment screws shorter. A dremel will perform that task in short order. Other than that, I can't see doing anything else on this guitar other than messing around with the pickups to get them closer to my tonal preference. I'm just going to play this thing and would seriously have no problem gigging with it.
If these guitars get a bad rap, I believe it's only because they likely came new with a bad set up (or none at all), and are often found used in the same condition (or I dare say worse due to bad amateur luthiers). All the parts are there to make a perfectly good playing guitar, and in the case of this particular one, a surprisingly good one.
