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Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 6:55 am
by Bob Shade
I have replacement arms in stock if you need one

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:22 pm
by 101Volts
Bob Shade wrote:I have replacement arms in stock if you need one


I do believe I'll buy one from you too, thank you. :)

I'll let you know when.

- Austin

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:27 pm
by 101Volts
I think I'll have to make some more saddles for the old bridge and tap the bridge for larger screws since I messed the original bridge up, the strings I want to use on this are too big for the Hallmark bridge and I need the original brass rod "V" style saddles that are deep enough to hold the strings in a bit better (Ricky Wilson strummed pretty hard which is what I'm imitating here.)

No, I won't be shaving the non-stock E tuner to make room for the giant bass string I'll put on this; I'll just "shave" the string past the nut with a belt sander.

- Austin

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:03 am
by 101Volts
Well, it seems stupid but the stock bridge was already damaged; Now I'm considering using J.B. Weld to plug the oversized saddle holes on the stock bridge, then I'll clean up excess and re-drill and tap them to the right size. Maybe the saddles can finally stay put instead of moving. As for saddles, I could either continue to put washers under them or I could make new ones which should only take some brass rod and time.

- Austin

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:18 pm
by 101Volts
I'm most likely going to use Permatex Cold Weld to repair my stock bridge (again, the screw holes are too big) now; I've used it before and it gets hard to the touch in 8 minutes and cures in a day so it's easy to work with. I might use the spare Hallmark bridge for another project.

- Austin

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:05 pm
by 101Volts
OK, it's been a while. To sum up the last few years (not in sequence: )

1: I was tired of the stock bridge (trying to fix it didn't work,) so I took the bridge off my Brass Rail, and put it on the Ventures II. I put the Hallmark Bridge on the Brass Rail, which works fine. I don't mean to leave the Brass Rail Bridge on the Ventures II forever, but it is a solid bridge.

2: I removed the neck, and glued the screw holes a bit. I glued in a stick for one of the holes, since there was a lot of space in one screw hole that needed more wood.

3: I glued two guitar picks to the body, to act as a shim. This guitar needs it. (They were in there before, but not superglued in. This helps keep them in place.)

4: I used Thread Locker (bought at an auto parts store) on the output jack, pickup selector switch, switch tip, and may have done the same on the knobs. I think I used a drop of superglue on one knob, since one of them fell off.

5: While trying to lower the screw for the neck pickup, I accidentally drilled through the pickup ring, so I glued a cut-up guitar pick to the bottom to hold the screw in.

6: I also cut a thin guitar pick and placed it between the Bigsby Vibrato Arm, and Moseley Vibrato Tailpiece. This keeps the arm in place better; I can move it wherever I want to put it, and it'll stay.

The guitar works fine, but it would be nice to have some string retainers at the headstock. I also haven't refinished it.

- Austin

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:06 pm
by Sarah93003
Wow, lots of work!

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:28 pm
by 101Volts
Sarah93003 wrote:Wow, lots of work!


Yeah, but nothing with the refinishing. I'm also a bit surprised the frets (especially the zero fret) are holding out as well as they are.

And now, I'll post some videos. First is me demonstrating how the guitar can overdrive an amp (which I never did in my older video.)

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jm4UHy4Svs[/youtube]

Next is a short demo of just messing around with how the guitar sounds.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iTMjjVmCbA[/youtube]

(Edit:) I'm not sure why the video embedding is not working.

- Austin

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2022 9:33 am
by Sarah93003
Nice video's. Great to hear the sound and see one brought back to life!

Re: 1966 Ventures II GC Restoration

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:48 pm
by SouthernVersion
Read through this whole thread. You've really come a long way with this guitar. Sad to see no new finish yet. But glad to see the guitar is back to where it was in 1966 (playability wise). Hope to see it blue like Ricky's one day!