[Brucehum]

Hello friends,

Today I just got a free Tanglewood electric guitar (looks like a Tanglewood TSE505, except for two details that make me believe it is an older version of this model) + a strange amp (Kaman Matrix MA20).

tanglewood.jpg

Tanglewood TSE505

There are slight differences, as can be seen: no golden parts, the small picture in the head stock, full black body.

For what I've been able to find, some people consider them the best Les Paul imitations, bar Epiphone.

Here you can hear the new model of this guitar in play:
Youtube - Tanglewood TSE505 in play
Sounds great in my opinion!

This Tanglewood I got has a bit of history, locally, as it was used by a local band that disbanded last year. They where quite successful around here. They sang in the local idiom, Catalan.

The guitar needs taking to a Luthier to get it in good shape. It has some small defects:
- Two of the tuning pegs seem to not have the right action. They work, but barely.
- It has 2 strings missing. I could try to restring it myself, but not sure about the tuning pegs, so, I'll ask the luthier to do it to.
- The two tone knobs are missing (it still has the metal part, he took the plastic). I would have it put two plastic knobs in tone too.
- The three way selector switch (goes from rhythm to treble) has the plastic top broken (this is my fault, I managed to drop it when I was coming out of the car. Not sure if it works).
- There is quite a bit of background noise when using this guitar. (I used the variax 300 with same amplifier and cable, no background noise at all). This is the part that worries me the most.
-It has one or two small hits in the body, but that is no problem for me.

Considering that this guitar seems like a good guitar, do you think it is worth for me to have it fixed (up to a certain price, of course). I could try to restring it myself first, and see how it goes, but I haven't ever done that yet, I would prefer to do that with the Variax, as I know how it sounds. And the problematic tuning pegs are kind of stopping me from trying this.

I rescued this pretty guitar and amplifier from going to the trash bin (that was going to be the destiny if no one wanted it free), wouldn't like to have to take it there myself!

[SprayTech]

I would get a price quote on the repairs first , then decide if its worth it , or put the repair money towards a new ax , Or fix it yourself , be a good project to try on .

.

[allthumbs]

The parts are really cheap as you will see if you google for new knobs and tip. The tuners are not expensive either. If you don't care about the looks, your tech probably has a couple of old tuners kicking around. A decent new set wouldn't cost that much. Sounds like the guitar needs the wiring grounded. Even if worse comes to worse, a rewire job is only going to cost you somewhere between 60 to 100 bucks depending how you want it wired up. All told your total cost could be 50 to 120 bucks or so. You are getting a bargain at that price. Go for it. The axe has been played in a band and has the battle scars to prove it. Add in the mojo factor too. Cool axe.

[wjp01908]

+1 to what AT said.

The parts are going to be fairly cheap.

What really costs is the tech guys time, so doing it yourself and learning some skills along the way will save some cash.

That said, it doesn`t seem to need too much doing

Will

[starsailor]

Being a freebie is a good start, the cheapest new one would cost £199, don't know what a second - hand would go for probably £100 - £150, so you could price up what the repairs would cost based on those figures and if it goes over that Spraytech, Allthumbs, and Will have the best idea, as it's free use it as a project, the only cost is the parts, you'll learn quite a bit and end up with a nice guitar at a great price, if you have trouble with anything I'm sure the Techs here will help you out, I wouldn't mind a free Tanglewood.

[Brucehum]

Thanks once again for all your input. I am getting ideas I wouldn't even have thought about. In this case, fixing it myself!

Also, I panicked in this case thinking I had killed such a nice guitar (well, helped kill it when it was in a weak condition), but today I have tried to really tune it (using my POD as electronic tuner), and... it works.

The tuners seem to work fine! (I had to pull up one of the tuners that was stuck into the head due to the fall) I had not tried really tuning... shame on me. It is not that the tuners didn't work, it is that it was completely out of tune: Low E was at Db, B was so sky high that the second I touched the tuner it broke...)

I could get all the basics done except for background noise (no idea how to "ground the wiring", if I could do that myself). I have located all the pieces I need online. I would do better going to a shop, as the pieces are less expensive than the transport. Or I could get more necessary material such as a string puller, cleaning liquid, etc...

I still am tempted of just going to the luthier and having his standard revision: change strings, clean neck, body, remove rust, adjust tuners, clean electronics and more... (which would cover most of my problems, except for background noise, maybe). That would be, including the new hardware, what you mentioned, 100€ (85€ is the standard, +15€ for materials, I guess). I would have a 'new' guitar.

Or another option would be to restring the guitar myself (I do have a set of .10 D'addario I was going to use on my Variax, but this poor baby needs it more), get the pieces online, fix it. Get cleaning liquid. Cope with the background noise for now. Try to discover if I can "ground the wiring" myself. This would be nice in what is mentioned in this thread, a good way to know the guitar and get basic skills at maintenance.

note: this world IS small. The only time I've EVER left a concert was a free concert in a nearby town where they where going to have an old Spanish hard rock band from the 80s and first they had a typical town party band with the singer whose guitar now I have... I left when I got fed of their songs during a horrible rap (curious, because he used to do pop-rock). 1 year later, I have his guitar.

[737blues]

There could be a number of reasons why you are getting background hum, but you should not expect your LP and it's Humbuckers to be as quiet as your Variax, under any circumstances. The Variax has a unique piezo-electric pickup and it's noise characteristics will be very different, (much quieter, no feedback) than coil pups. Sounds like you've got a nice freebie. Just needs a bit of TLC. (don't we all)

[Brucehum]

It's alive!

Well, it was alive, but now it has all the knobs and everything. Although I got Gibson knobs, and the hole in the knobs is shorter than the metal to put them in, so they are a bit 'floating' over the body, and not perfectly straight, I can turn the tone, which is the main thing for me! I don't want to try and 'hammer' it into the right position in case they break (but I have 2 extra ones, so I could try).

I got a new cable (6m), and with the amplifier, now it is almost noiseless (as a non variax can be). Some days I practice with this baby, some days I use the Variax.

Also, I am glad I didn't take it to the luthier, by accident I've found some harsh criticism of exactly that luthier I was going to take it to. Problems specifically with Gibson and Gibson like guitars! Phrase said by this luthier: "A (gibson) SG is never going to be in tune, this guitars have their failings." he told this client. Also it seems he changed the neck for another strange neck, and did it quite badly. But I'm sure what I had to get done to the guitar he would have done perfectly, anyway.

Well, there are more luthiers, I'll check for the future!