I’ve not had one of these Chinese copies before.  I’m all for cheaper copies and cheaper lines.  There’s nothing wrong with Squire, I’ve got an Electromatic Gretsch myself and I even built a “Rickenfaker” but I don’t like labelling things and pretending they are something they are not.

However one of my customers took a punt on this one…..

Out of the box it is what it is, a fairly cheap guitar.  Having said that there is a lot I can do to make it a whole lot better.

The frets are a little uneven but not that bad. A fret-dress would make it first class but It’s not bad enough to warrant the time and money.

I’m going to need to adjust the truss-rod, unfortunately one of the screw heads sheared off so I’ll have to fix that first…

It’s a fairly easy job.  Using a guide and a hollow drill bit drill around the old screw shaft…

There it is…

All I need to do now is cut a plug of hard wood to fit in the hole…

Tap it in to place..

Once the glue dries cut it flush with a sharp chisel…

I’ll drill the new hole when I come to fit the truss-rod cover…

The volume and tone knobs are a little shabby so I’ve been asked to swap them for proper Gibson ones..

How exactly do you “Bench Test” a knob? Oh yes, it turns left and right!  Anyway they are much better quality…

While I’m at it I’m not exactly happy with the way the pots’ sit, some of them are a lot higher than the others..

I’ve reset the one on the left by adding a nut and washer on the inside, otherwise the knobs will sit very high.

While I was in there I found a loose earth wire.  The customer did complain of some humming, I’d put it down to poor quality wiring and pickups etc but this might not help.

With the bits and pieces sorted out it’s time to sort out the setup..

Starting at the top the action at the 1st fret is about right..

Next the curve in the neck…

It was a little too much so I’ve tightened up the truss-rod…

Next the action height at the 12th fret (raising or lowering the bridge).

With that done just a quick check of the intonation and the job is done.

It’s never going to be a great guitar but its much better than it was.  It would make an ideal first guitar for someone to learn on.