mairj40 Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 I have a very sad story. I get a PRS CE-22 from a guy who's ex absolutely destroyed it. She stabbed it, smashed it, and shot it. The neck is a complete loss. The body is in several pieces. Pretty much the whole middle section of the guitar, where the pickups and bridge are, are gone. One of the horns is broken off as well. I am not sure that I will be able to salvage any of it, but I am going to try. I currently have the two halves of the guitar in the clamps at home waiting for the glue to dry. The guitar is basically in the shape of a "U". My plan is to trim the edges of the broken parts in the center of the body and make them as straight as I can. Then I'll cut a solid piece of oak or maple to fit into the center where the wood is missing. The guitar originally had a trem system on it, but I am planning on using a Wilkinson wrap around bridge on it when I put it back together. I'm thinking that having the extra structure of the wood in place of the trem cavity would be a good idea. I think this guy will need all the reinforcement and strength it can get. Quote
ScottR Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 That was one seriously pissed off ex...... SR 1 Quote
2.5itim Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 Holy crap she seriously demolished that thing! Did you purchase it or are you trying to fix it for him? Quote
mairj40 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Report Posted March 18, 2016 Just now, 2.5itim said: Holy crap she seriously demolished that thing! Did you purchase it or are you trying to fix it for him? I bought it for $50. It came with the case. One of the pickups is still good and there are four of the tuners left. I figured, if nothing else, the case, pickup, and tuners were probably worth $50. Even if I can't get it back into shape, I don't think I got hurt too bad on it. 1 Quote
Tim37 Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 Scrible a illegible signature on it and hang it on the wall Quote
KnightroExpress Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 Wow, that's quite the project there. You're right though...if nothing else, you've probably got $50 in value with the case and random parts. Quote
2.5itim Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 Depending on what pickups are in it you may have more than that in parts lol. I just bought a set of Prs pickups for a build and they are insanely expensive. Quote
mairj40 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Report Posted March 18, 2016 One pickup just says "Vintage Bass" on it and the other just says "HFS" (I believe). I haven't looked them up yet to see what they are selling for. The one that says "HFS" is ruined, but the other one may be ok. I need to check it for continuity and make sure that the wires aren't broken. Quote
curtisa Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 Ouch. I bet that tickled. If the rest of the neck is as badly demolished as the fretboard and headstock, dig out the truss rod and check if it's also worth saving. From memory PRS use good quality units, similar to Allied Lutherie rods. Four tuners by themselves aren't going to be much use unless you're building a ukulele with a 3+1 headstock. Buying two replacements, even if they're the same make and style, will probably stand out as being replacements. Trem components could be handy. Looks like you have one (possibly two) speed knobs. Check if the switch is still good. Jack socket? The rest of it is entirely down to your willingness to sink a good deal more than $50 into getting it back up and running again. It'll never be a PRS, nor will it carry the resale value, but as a learning exercise (and possibly a tone voodoo buster) it could be an interesting challenge, and a good story to tell. Quote
mairj40 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Report Posted March 18, 2016 Yeah, the rest of the neck is toast. The truss rod is bent and sticking out of the back of the neck. It looks like the tuners are $30 to $40 a piece. All three speed knobs are there. One is off and in the case. The switch still turns and feels fine, but who knows if it will actually work. The jack socket is still intact too. Yeah, I didn't figure it would be worth anything when it's done. I just though it might be a way to save a pretty awesome guitar. I love tinkering with this stuff. It's like my therapy. Lol. Quote
mairj40 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Report Posted March 18, 2016 Nope. It probably desintegrated. Lol. 1 Quote
mairj40 Posted March 20, 2016 Author Report Posted March 20, 2016 Here's today's progress. I made a Mahogany block to fill in what was missing. It is current;y in the clamps drying. I also started filling in some of the bullet holes with Kwik Wood, an epoxy wood filler. Quote
mairj40 Posted March 20, 2016 Author Report Posted March 20, 2016 Got the rough shape of the new horn done and glued on. I also got the replacement block sanded down and shaped to the body. Quote
Norris Posted March 21, 2016 Report Posted March 21, 2016 "Flight com, I can't hold her! She's breaking up! She's breaking—" PRS CE-22 - a guitar barely alive. "Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic guitar. PRS will be that guitar. Better than it was before. Better...stronger...faster." Cue theme tune Good luck! 2 Quote
Prostheta Posted March 21, 2016 Report Posted March 21, 2016 re: Truss rod. I've got an article on making single two-way compression truss rods in the wings, and I was wondering if this one were of the low-profile rod/aux bar types or a single rod. Quote
mairj40 Posted March 22, 2016 Author Report Posted March 22, 2016 Got most of the shaping done on the horn... Quote
mairj40 Posted March 26, 2016 Author Report Posted March 26, 2016 Here's the latest project. I had never routed pickup openings before, but I figured that this would be the project to try them on.. They aren't perfect, but that is what they make pickup rings for Lol. Quote
mairj40 Posted April 18, 2016 Author Report Posted April 18, 2016 Here is where the project is at now... The neck is temporarily attached so that I can measure out the bridge location. 1 Quote
Tim37 Posted April 18, 2016 Report Posted April 18, 2016 Man you have done a nice job of resurrecting that beast. Did you rebuild then neck also? Quote
mairj40 Posted April 18, 2016 Author Report Posted April 18, 2016 Thanks, man. It is far from perfect, but it should play (hopefully). I couldn't rebuild the neck. It was cometely wasted. The back of the neck was cracked open, and the truss rod was bent and sticking completely out of the back. Not to mention half the headstock was missing. I ordered a replacement neck from China. It's the only thing I could really do. I hated to not put an original PRS neck on it, but they aren't the easiest to find. Quote
Prostheta Posted April 19, 2016 Report Posted April 19, 2016 Far from perfect? We saw how it looked beforehand. Quote
mairj40 Posted April 19, 2016 Author Report Posted April 19, 2016 I got the bridge located last night. I'll pull the neck back off so that I can wet sand the body and polish it. 1 Quote
SIMpleONe89 Posted April 30, 2016 Report Posted April 30, 2016 Oh wow this is very cool how you resurrected that guitar! Quote
mairj40 Posted May 2, 2016 Author Report Posted May 2, 2016 I'm having some issues with the wiring. I ordered a new wiring kit for it, but it didn't come with any schematics. The one below was suggested, but my PRS pickups have three wires, not four. And I also do not know what is north and south start and finish on the PRS pickups. How do I make this work? Any ideas? Quote
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