My H-535 Got Some Love and Attention at Smith Music Today

schundog · February 20, 2014

It's no secret that my favorite body style is the semi-hollow 535/ G-Brand ES-335. My Prospect is giving them a run for their money, but that's another story....

A year or so ago, I had my regular tech/buddy replace the Schaller pickups in my 535 with Seymour Duncan Antiquities. When I got it back, I noticed that the pole pieces on the bridge pickup were quite recessed. I figured he might not have gotten the pickup deeply-seated enough, but didn't fret too much about it. A while ago, I decided to change up my well-set-up 535 by switching to D'Darrio 11s. MISTAKE! This messed with the setup quite a bit, and my novice efforts to bring the action back down to it's previously awesome level were substandard, to say the least. Pissed, I hung my head, and took it to the pro....

As I pulled into the snowy, sloppy mess that was Smith Music's parking lot today, an unknown-to-me kitty begged to be let in. I had the guitar case in hand, and couldn't really keep the cat from getting in, and once she was in, she wasn't leaving. Curt informed me that he made the mistake of letting her in the utility room when the actual temp around here reached -15 F, and now she decided she liked being an indoor cat. Being as his regular "mouser" is 16, he might want to let this girl apply for the job, as it may become open in the next couple of years. Still, 70-ish Curt put on heavy leather gloves, and tried to find the kitty that was not willing to go back outside. She had hissed at him a couple times as he tried to go after her, hence the gloves....

He didn't find her by the time I left....

I showed Curt the problem, after he got done schooling a 20 year old kid on how to properly string up his Schecter double-humbucker guitar. You pay more at Curt's, but you can't say that he doesn't show you how to use what you just bought. He messed with my guitar a bit, and said that the pickup cover on the bridge must have busted away from the pickup. Snipping the newly installed 11s and taking the pickup out confirmed this. He fired up his soldering gun, re-soldered the cover, put on a fresh set of .11s (Cromes, as that's all he had in 11s) and proceeded to make the necessary bridge/truss rod adjustments. About 1/2 hour work, sprinkled with political/gun talk, and he was done. While this was going on, a little girl missing her 2 front teeth came in for her piano lesson with the 80's stoner-looking dude Curt has do his guitar/piano lessons. He's really amazing, despite his appearance, haha.

The guitar looked/sounded/played much better. I asked him what I owed him, including the strings. $26 was the total. I'm Good with that! I have my Baby Back!

Unable to find a truss-rod wrench that fit, he resorted to getting out his set from Lowes. It worked, of course, but he was upset that he couldn't find one that fit among his hodge-podge of guitar tools..

This thing was in a box over on a table. It had a regular two prong plug to go into a wall. I didn't get around to asking him what the deal was with it...