A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Picked up two guitars yesterday at an estate sale (I need to stop buying guitars). This first one is a basket case of unknown origin that my daughter talked me into picking up. It's some sort of LP copy with a bolt on neck and an amateur paint job (my daughter likes the stripes) which looks ok from 3 feet away. They also cut the top of the headstock into a V-shape (what the...?).

It's a very thick body and neck (think '50s Gibson neck) and is pretty heavy. It had a ridiculous bow in the neck so the first thing I did yesterday was attempt to get the neck straight. The truss rod was completely loose so after many turns I got it to grab however the neck seemed to resist straightening at first. It got to the point where I thought I was going to break the truss rod and the neck still had a little bit to go - I decide maybe the thick neck just needs a little time to move so I put it away. Checked it this morning and it looks to be pretty straight. We'll see how it holds up with some string tension. I guess a nice thing about a bolt-on is I could always replace the neck LOL.

The frets are in good shape and pretty meaty however the fret ends are like cheese graters. I'll have to address those next. I haven't pulled the pickups yet to see what they are but I did open the plate to inspect the wiring and pots. Not very encouraging LOL.

Any guesses what brand this might be? I'll post on the second guitar once I get some pictures.

First Act?
Possibly MG-200 B or ME-201?

Yeah, first act uses those curved neck plates. With all those splices and heat shrink, they may be aftermarket pickups. I bought a bolt on LP epi and it had gibson pickups in it.

Well the First Act suggestion appears to be a good one. The closest seems to be the MG200 due to the 4-pot layout and neck binding. However the headstock on the FA doesn't seem it would lend itself to the long point V on this one. Also it looks like FA put their brand on the neck plate and this one doesn't have it. Maybe it's the same guitar rebranded for someone else.

I can't turn the truss rod any further and there is still some relief in the neck. I'm afraid under string tension it will be too much. Depending on how much relief I get once I string it up I could try a fret level - or maybe a cheap ebay replacement neck.

mozz wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 11:28 am Yeah, first act uses those curved neck plates. With all those splices and heat shrink, they may be aftermarket pickups. I bought a bolt on LP epi and it had gibson pickups in it.

Well that would be great if this had some decent replacement pickups. One redeeming quality in an otherwise turd of a guitar LOL.

What was the second guitar you got?
And congrats on the first if it was inexpensive enough.

Nice. I agree with the FA. Not an expert on them by any means, but it looks like what I remember them offering.

Well the pickups are generic, no name products and as I feared the neck has too much bow with string tension. For now it's going into the "future projects" pile and thinking this might be fun for my daughter and I to work on together - maybe over christmas break.