When I was little, I wanted to play drums. My parents were against that idea, and offered guitar lessons instead. I took lessons for about a year when I was 9 or so, using the "FAME" guitar method, which was all done with a record and some sort of slide projector at a music school in South Gate, CA (the same one, I think, that Weird Al Yankovic
learned accordion in). I learned some basic chords, and got a Japanese built acoustic guitar that had an electric pick-up built in-maybe the subject of another post someday.
10 years later, I still wanted to play guitar, and thought that I would buy an electric. My girlfriend at the time had a brother who's friend had an uncle that was willing to sell me the guitar in the picture for $100, a "Crown Professional" electric guitar. It was 1982, and I think I overpaid considerably, but I didn't know any better. It was an electric guitar! I used the amp that came with the aforementioned FAME guitar, plugged in and rocked out, soon taking over the world of music, and selling 50 million albums worldwide.
Or not.
What happened was that I didn't know enough to know how to play, and being very inpatient, I didn't want to practice. So, I stuck it back in the case. I'd pull it out every now and then, try to play, and put it back in the case. The action was a bit high, and I could never get it to stay in tune. Then, I didn't have an amp, then I broke the high E tuning machine, etc., etc., etc.
In the meantime, I went to college and had friends that showed me a little bit, briefly had an old Danelectro, gave that back to it's original owner who then gave me a Japanese Encore (which will be another post), then bought a Japanese Fender Stratocaster (in about '87), which had fine tuners up a the headstock that I could never keep in tune.
Finally, I got serious. I bought an Epiphone PR 5 E, (in 1995) which I really like. Then traded in the Japanese Strat for a Epiphone Sheriton II, another great guitar. I decided I wanted a 12 string, so I bought a Mitchell from Guitar Center, which was a great value for the money. I took some lessons, and bought a Baby Taylor. I went from having no playable guitars to having 4 in a two year span, all different and all kind of fun.
Around that time, I pulled the Crown out of the case, and figured that I could maybe fix it with the right parts. I bought tuning machines and tried to install them. The pegs didn't fit the hole, so back into the case the Crown Professional went. I moved, got married had kids and other than serenading them in the bathtub, didn't play much for about a 10 year gap.
Then about six months ago, my father-in-law started playing, borrowing my Sheriton II since I was taking classes and didn't have a chance to play. He liked it, and bought an Epiphone Casino, and I had to practice to start playing with him. When he had my Sheriton, he got it professionally set up, and when I got it back, it sounded great, making me sound better. I started to practice more, and then I got to thinking about the guitars I had in the garage, an old Regal parlor guitar, the Encore, The Fame
and the Crown.
I started to take apart the Encore, and got stuck on the electronics last week. So rather than finish with one guitar, I decided to try to fix the Crown.
Wednesday, I took it out of the case. There was mold on the fret board, which I cleaned off with some Lysol wipes.
I plugged it in, and all of the pickups appeared to work, and didn't sound too bad. I took the strings off, unscrewed aluminum pick guard, and found that I had a solid body electric guitar. I've had it for almost 30 years, and it was probably another 10 or 15 years old when I bought it, so I'd say it was from the late 60's-early 70's. I don't know enough about wood to know what kind it is, but it's definitely solid. The electronics looked okay, too.
I found some Armor All wipes that I use for my car, and wiped down the guitar real good.
The tuning machines still didn't fit, and I need to do some other things. I put the guitar away while I thought about possible answers.
Thursday, I figured out the solution. I'd drill bigger holes, and push the new tuning machines through them. The only problem was I didn't have a bit large enough to make the 1/2 inch hole necessary.
I tried a wood drill bit, but that still didn't make a hole large enough. Then I realized that the hole didn't have to go all the way through, it just had to go enough to get the bottom part of the machine about half way through the head stock. I found my counter-sink bit, and used that.
That worked. The headstock is still pretty thick, though, so it took some doing, and I got the machine for the high E in. Then it was time to take out the other machines. I wanted to save them, because I'd like to take a shot at a shoebox guitar before the summer is out. There were five more machines, each held by two tiny screws.
Somehow I managed to strip every other screw that I tried to take out, making me very happy about the set of vice grips I bought at Lowes a few months ago. I'd squeeze the screw and turn it out. It took a while, but I got them all. Then I drilled with the counter-sink bit and put in two small pilot holes to keep the new tuning machines in place.
I have four in now. Tomorrow, the other two.
If anyone happens to own a Crown Professional guitar, please send me any information you might have. I found some stuff here on the net, and I'll try to post a link when I'm done.
I have to wiggle the two pickup switches closest to the neck. Those two work in tandem, so though the buttons allow them to be selected separately, they seem to be happiest when on or off together. I decided to leave well enough along, and screwed the pickguard back on the guitar.
