Can someone explain?! (OLP issues)

[bjk]

So I picked up an OLP MM1 a while back at a Musician's Friend scratch & dent warehouse for cheap. I'd been wanting to do a Frankie stripe job forever and this was the perfect guitar for it. It actually came out really cool and I was really pleasently suprised at how much I like the feel and sound of it once I set it up. But it's also been driving me nuts. I'll pick the thing up one day and it'll play great with no issues. But then a day or two later, I'll pick it up and it will be buzzing like a son of a bitch all over the place. I've messed with the string height, tuss rod, etc but once it's buzzing, it doesn't want to stop. So I'll just set it back to where it was and leave it. But then the next day, I'll come down and pick it up and the buzzing is mysteriously gone! So i'll play the thing all night and it's great but the next day it's buzzing again. What the hell?!!! I've had many guitars over the years and never had this issue. Is this an issue with the unfinished neck expanding and contracting? It seems to be pretty straight. I keep all my guitars in my finished basement. I've wondered if that would be an issue, but all the others are fine (yet none of those are unfinished necks either - my Wolfgang is an EXP). Any ideas?

[AT]

Humidity and weather are major factors in how your guitar(s) will function from day-to-day.

I believe the OLPs have a satin finish on the neck. Isn't that correct?

Lastly, pardon my cynicism, but the bigger problem with your OLP is that it's an OLP. Folks have sworn by their value, but I bought one a couple of years ago to keep in my teaching studio, and despite almost daily care it turned into a bigger piece of shit as time progessed.

[bjk]

Yeah, I figured that was part of it. It's just frustrating because it's fun to play and it looks cool (like the Poundcake video EBMM). Plus I've read a lot of good reviews on them. If he damn thing wouldn't have a mind of it's own I'd give it an A+ for value per dollar.
Just curious AT. What issues did yours have? I've noticed that off the rack they're usually not set up at all. The action is a mile high and stuff, but once set up, they're pretty sweet for the dough. Plus, not a huge deal if you get a bad one. You can always stripe it and have a nice decoration!

[AT]

Yeah, I figured that was part of it. It's just frustrating because it's fun to play and it looks cool (like the Poundcake video EBMM). Plus I've read a lot of good reviews on them. If he damn thing wouldn't have a mind of it's own I'd give it an A+ for value per dollar.
Just curious AT. What issues did yours have? I've noticed that off the rack they're usually not set up at all. The action is a mile high and stuff, but once set up, they're pretty sweet for the dough. Plus, not a huge deal if you get a bad one. You can always stripe it and have a nice decoration!

Mine did what you were describing; it constantly shifted around adjustment, which was probably just from a lack of quality maple neck. Likewise, one of the problems that got worse over time were the frets--if one wasn't popping up three others were. I'd leave one night at 9:00 with the action and intonation set, guitar tuned, and return the next day at 2:00 to have the thing down or up in pitch by at least a quarter step and the action too high or low. I sold it after a few months.

Though not distant relatives of an Eddie guitar like the OLP, both Yamaha and PRS have done very well with their cheaper line guitars. For the same price or a little more than the OLP you can own something that FAR exceeds it in quality and, most importantly, has a relatively stable neck (that can maintain its intonation!). Even a Cort will serve you pretty well. I've heard enough shitty fretting out sounds from my students' crap Warlock, Silvertone, and those amazingly AWFUL Target and Best Buy guitars to last me a lifetime.

[A&Z Guitar Repair]

Though not distant relatives of an Eddie guitar like the OLP, both Yamaha and PRS have done very well with their cheaper line guitars. For the same price or a little more than the OLP you can own something that FAR exceeds it in quality and, most importantly, has a relatively stable neck (that can maintain its intonation!). Even a Cort will serve you pretty well. I've heard enough shitty fretting out sounds from my students' crap Warlock, Silvertone, and those amazingly AWFUL Target and Best Buy guitars to last me a lifetime.

Those AWFUL Target/Best Buy/Wal Mart guitars are excellent!!. I make a good living fixing these guitars up. It's amazing how much an "I told you so" can cost. People come to me wanting to get a starter guitar etc. I show them what I have used and their comments are, "Well I can get a new one at Walmart/Target/Best Buy". I gladly explain the faults of these guitars, and then gladly repair these guitars when they won't hold tune, the frets pop out, the electronics stop working etc.

I don't want to sound like I'm taking advantage of them, but if you choose to buy these guitars, you have choosen to handle the repair cost etc.

As for the PRS SE line...All that I've had in for setups, etc have been fantastic guitars. Great build quality, gret fret work etc. The LTD guitars I've see have also been very well built. Peavey's Hartley Signature line of import guitars are well built, but need upgraded pots/switches etc.

With the spring season in full force, the humidty is going to give you fits on your OLP. If you can "control" your enviorment, you'll have better results. Sometimes it means running a de-humidifier in the spring/summer, and a humidifier in the winter. Not a big investment, but one well worth the cost.

[vanzefflin]

The direction the grain of the wood runs has a major affect on guitar necks. When you purchase a guitar, make sure that the grain runs horizontally. When the grain runs vertically these necks tend to reverse. Fender imports have had a lot of probems with this. Obviously, they sell a lot of guitars so the odds are greater.


AZ, I am with you 100% on folks buying shit at big box stores. They think they are saving a few bucks. The reality is they are either turning their budding prodigy off by frustrsting the shit out of them with a sub-standard piece of shit. Or, they can come spend $50.00 with me or you and get their piece of shit set-up. I set-up every guitar I sell, and it is included at no extra charge.Of course, we do not have the buying power of Wal-Mart or Costco, or G.C. but, we do have WAYYYY more knowledge and integrity.

[lil'devil]

yeah i agree.

music is a funny thing, a good quality instrument is actually beneficial to a noob starting out.

bad instruments will just put them off.

[Mikey Metalhead]

yeah i agree.

music is a funny thing, a good quality instrument is actually beneficial to a noob starting out.

bad instruments will just put them off.

I preach that to every person and parent that come to me when they or their kid wants to learn guitar. A few still let there kid talk them into a warlock.... the most recent, sold it as soon as he started getting good and got him a nice Ibanez RG. I tild him he was lucky he didnt give up trying to learn on that BC.

[AT]

My first electric guitar (not including the crappy borrowed acoustic I played on for a few months or the Squier Bullet I rented) was an Ibanez Roadstar II, made in '84 or '85. I did most of my early learning on it, and it sat stored or loaned to friends after that. I recently pulled it out of storage to keep in my teaching studio so as to give it some life again. All the thing needed to be functional was a setup, and it was top notch. I'd forgotten how good of a guitar it was. And it's again got very cool learning mojo on it, as it was my big learning guitar AND now a lot of my students are playing it during their lessons.

[throb]

So I picked up an OLP MM1 a while back at a Musician's Friend scratch & dent warehouse for cheap. I'd been wanting to do a Frankie stripe job forever and this was the perfect guitar for it. It actually came out really cool and I was really pleasently suprised at how much I like the feel and sound of it once I set it up. But it's also been driving me nuts. I'll pick the thing up one day and it'll play great with no issues. But then a day or two later, I'll pick it up and it will be buzzing like a son of a bitch all over the place. I've messed with the string height, tuss rod, etc but once it's buzzing, it doesn't want to stop. So I'll just set it back to where it was and leave it. But then the next day, I'll come down and pick it up and the buzzing is mysteriously gone! So i'll play the thing all night and it's great but the next day it's buzzing again. What the hell?!!! I've had many guitars over the years and never had this issue. Is this an issue with the unfinished neck expanding and contracting? It seems to be pretty straight. I keep all my guitars in my finished basement. I've wondered if that would be an issue, but all the others are fine (yet none of those are unfinished necks either - my Wolfgang is an EXP). Any ideas?

The answer to your problem is easy...just play the guitar on the days that it sounds and feels good to you. i'm not kidding. David Gilmour once said in an interview that one day he'd play a guitar and it would sound great and the next day it would sound horrible to him. his solution was to not fuss with it, put it back in it's case and just play another guitar that day. do what Gilmour does my friend.

[bjk]

The answer to your problem is easy...just play the guitar on the days that it sounds and feels good to you. i'm not kidding. David Gilmour once said in an interview that one day he'd play a guitar and it would sound great and the next day it would sound horrible to him. his solution was to not fuss with it, put it back in it's case and just play another guitar that day. do what Gilmour does my friend.

Yeah, thats pretty much what I do. It's funny though. It's my cheapest guitar, but i find myself always drawn to it. Probably because its my little Frankie project and it looks really cool (check out Zaxxon's OLP in the replica thread-I basically copied off those pics-sorry Zax ). Plus it's light and comfortable to play and I like the toggle switch is not on the top horn. I love my Wolfie but my only compaint is the damn switch is in the way when I'm doing Eddie stuff. I'd really like to have a real Ernie Ball Axis, but I've already got 5 guitars, just bought a half stack, I'm not a "working musician", I just jam along to my favorite 80's rock/metal/hair in my basement, and most importantly, my wife would kill me if I dropped over a grand for a guitar.

[nast2112]

I owned an OLP MM1 and installed a Floyd on it and own an Axis right now. To be honest with you, the neck radius and feel of the OLP neck I liked better. It's a thinner neck and the radius is 12" vs. 10" of the Axis. The OLP neck just played better/easier. The radius of a floyd rose is flatter than 10" and I had issues with playability on the Axis until I had the neck re-radiused to a compound radius (10-16") and put Fender medium-jumbos on it. Both necks suffer from the frets being too small/low. I have more respect for Eddie and how difficult the Axis was to play 'as is' from Ernie Ball.

Fret issues with the OLP: Despite the OLP neck having somwhat of a satin finish, I think the neck dries out over time and the frets start sticking out on the edges of the fretboard and tend to pop up. I took a fretting hammer and carefully taped in the couple higher frets and also used a sanding block/paper and smoothed down the fret ends. After having to do that initially, it seemed to be stable after that. Maybe using Tru-Oil on the OLP neck early when the neck is new would help seal the neck and prevent some of these problems. Don't know.

Anyway, I think the OLP is a decent guitar for the money. You can get a good or bad one with a twisted neck, etc., just like any other guitar. You have to try em out.

Chris

[bjk]

Well, I picked up dehumidifier for my basement and it seems to have done the trick. I probably should've gotten one a long time ago because I've got a bunch of valuable stuff down there (big screen, stereos, records, guitars, amps..etc..) and I'm sure the humidity and moisture fluxuations aren't good for them. The MM1 is playing clean with hardly any buzzing now and hopefully it stays that way. My other guitars seem to play a little cleaner too. I was surprised at how much water was in the tank after only a few hours. I'm keeping it at about half strength and set on low. Any suggestions on how high I should be running it? Is there any chance of drying it out too much down there?

[AT]

Well, I picked up dehumidifier for my basement and it seems to have done the trick. I probably should've gotten one a long time ago because I've got a bunch of valuable stuff down there (big screen, stereos, records, guitars, amps..etc..) and I'm sure the humidity and moisture fluxuations aren't good for them. The MM1 is playing clean with hardly any buzzing now and hopefully it stays that way. My other guitars seem to play a little cleaner too. I was surprised at how much water was in the tank after only a few hours. I'm keeping it at about half strength and set on low. Any suggestions on how high I should be running it? Is there any chance of drying it out too much down there?

Actually, not related to guitars, be sure to clean and replace the filter on your humidifier OFTEN! It'll develop mold and mildew in rapid time, and that can make you and anyone else (including pets) quite miserable.

[MBMM]

The answer to your problem is easy...just play the guitar on the days that it sounds and feels good to you. i'm not kidding. David Gilmour once said in an interview that one day he'd play a guitar and it would sound great and the next day it would sound horrible to him. his solution was to not fuss with it, put it back in it's case and just play another guitar that day. do what Gilmour does my friend.

Amen to that! My Wolfgang has the same issues of on one day and off the next. On the off days I'll kick back on my trusty MIM plain jane Strat. I don't know what it is but that Strat never buzzes and rarely goes out of tune regardless how hard I play it. I guess I got lucky!