| This has been my main guitar since 1990. While
I've now branched out into a number of guitars for a variety of tones, it still performs
the role of being my two humbucker guitar and my MIDI guitar. I've been modding and tweaking it constantly since I got it in 1990, so much
so that it's often easier to say "some of the wood is original" than to list all
the changes I've made.
Origins
Sanox is an obscure Japanese brand. This guitar (circa 1985) exemplifies everything
I like about mid-80's Japanese guitars - good quality woods and well constructed, but with
sub standard hardware - a customisation dream.
Body
The shape is stock standard, and seems to owe a lot to BC Rich guitars (although I
think it predates them). Very comfortable to play seated when unplugged, but the extra
outputs I have added now get in the way of the right leg a bit when plugged in. Tummy and
forearm contours a la Strat also.
I added the fiddleback maple inlay along the centre of the
body - partly to cover previous surgery and partly because it is a stunningly figured
piece of wood salvaged from an acoustic made in 1935. The same wood has now been used for
the control cavity cover, although this is temporary until I can make a rosewood cover.
The two inlays cover holes left over from the original Les
Paul style switching configuration. The round "beach" scene is covering the hole
from the 3-way toggle and the owl covers a pot hole.
Neck
This is a good example of what a good through neck can be - bright without being
brittle and with a slight natural compression to the notes. Harmonics sing out with ease
and sustain is unbelievable. No dead spots and a very low action. The centre strip of
mahogany makes the sound slightly warmer than a one piece maple through neck would be.
The 24 frets are are the third set of frets (including
originals). Currently they are Gibson "wide" fretwire. In another year or so I
will need to fit a new set and will probably go with stainless steel frets for the
durability.
Pickups & Wiring
The original pickups were two ceramic magnet no-name humbuckers, which were very
tinny and underpowered. Needing something to offset the brightness of the through-neck, I
went through 15 different pickups before settling on a Lollar Imperial at the neck and
DiMarzio Air Zone at the bridge.
A Graph Tech GHOST piezo system is fitted for an
"acoustic" piezo output and also handles the 13-pin output for guitar synth.
The original control layout was identical to a Gibson Les
Paul. The pickup selector switch I moved from the standard position to accommodate my
flamenco-style flailing. Currently there are four 3-way toggles:
- Toggle 1 (large): Pickup selector - bridge/both/neck
- Toggle 2 (large): System selector - Magnetic/both/piezo
- Toggle 3 (mini): Bridge pickup series/coil-cut/parallel
- Toggle 4 (mini): Neck pickup series/coil-cut/parallel
The three controls are all volumes: magnetic, piezo and MIDI.
Hardware
The bridge is a Wilkinson made Fishman Powerbridge fitted with Graph Tech Ghost
piezo saddles.
All the other hardware is made from rosewood. The pickup
rings are Madagascar rosewood, while the knobs and switch tips are made from Indian
rosewood. I plan on making the truss rod cover and control cavity cover from rosewood too.
Tuning machines are the Planet Waves locking set, which are
nice in that they automatically cut the excess length of string off as you tune. |
