Columbus ES-335 Copy
People talk about basket cases but they are usually exaggerating, not in this case! I was contacted by a guy who had loaned his guitar to a "friend" who had kept it for months and robbed it for parts to bring his own Les Paul copy back to life. He handed it back in this condition! Whether he is still a "friend" I do not know!
This was a real basket case as you can see from the before pic below, bridge & tailpiece missing, two pots missing, switch broken, what little was left of the wiring was unusable, all the knobs were missing and it was generally flithy. Only saving grace is what was left was in reasonable condition. The guy was desperate to get his guitar into a playable condition again but there was the slight complication that he was a student and wanted the work done as cheaply as possible.
Before
I searched through my parts boxes, replaced everything that was missing, rewired it, no mean feat with an ES-335. There is no access plate at the back of the pots, only access to the pots is through the "f" holes, it's like working through a letterbox, I had to make tools to do the job. General clean up, polish, new strings, full set up and to his delight below is what I handed back to him. It turned out to be a really lovely guitar, great sound even with the original pickups. I would have quite happily added it to my collection. Best of all, I managed to keep the costs as low as I could.
After
Yes, it is signed, by Ocean Colour Scene!
If you have a similar basket case that you want rejuvinated or even want to get rid of get in touch, I might be interested?
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