G-707 Trem adjustment tip / warning

Started by mateomasfeo, August 01, 2014, 02:55:24 PM

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mateomasfeo

I think I scored!  I have been looking for a quality G 707 for quite a while - eBay, Craigslist, Vforums - everywhere.

Today I found a G-707 on Craigslist at a pawn shop in Irving, Texas.  They wanted $500 with the 24 pin cable and HSC.  Only things missing were the knob template overlay, the owner's manual and the key to the case.

Drove an hour to the pawn shop with my GP10, headphones, working 24 pin cable, BX13 Micro (Thanks again Wayne - and eat your heart out!) and regular guitar cable.  Every thing worked perfectly - including the 24 pin cable.

The strings were the rustiest I had ever seen!  I think it had been under the bed for years.  Very few dings - in great overall shape for a 30 year old guitar.  The only thing wrong with the guitar is the nut is broken - but I was gonna replace the nut with a TUSQ and replace the tuners with staggered lockers anyway, so no biggie.

I negotiated them to $400.

How did I do?  Hang on, the police are at the door...





Dances with Sheep on SoundCLoud

https://soundcloud.com/dances-with-sheep

Elantric


thebrushwithin


Bill Ruppert

#3
I will be your prison bitch with that that thing!
AND a Jones converter!!!

Seriously drop the word prison.
That scares the daylights out of me.

aliensporebomb

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

gumtown

Sweet deal, they're quite collectable now.
I saw one new in a shop back in the day, and thought it looked cool (for the era).

If your going to be sent to prison over the deal,
make sure you take a 'soap on a rope'.
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

mateomasfeo

#6

I like these guitars because of the meaty pickup and ability to bypass the 13 pin cable.  My G-505 was relegated to the closet when 13 pin came along.  I have never been satisfied with the noise from the 13 pin cable, and the 24 pin, though built like a tank, was unusable with the 13 pin VG99 and other 13 pin rigs.

Enter Wayne Joness.  His magic box enabled me to use the hotter hex pickups of the vintage Roland controllers and to use the 24 cables which are quiet and almost indestructible.

Can't see why one would plunk down the money for a RR Strat when these fine vintage creatures are now usable and available in the same price range.

There is a really nice natural colored G202 on eBarf that would make a good rig with the Joness BX13 Micro...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291199353719?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

Thanks for the friendly comments, and it's off to get a TUSQ nut and some lockers.

Oh, and Bill and Gum, let's just use the politically correct term "Time Out" instead of "Prison..."

Dances with Sheep on SoundCLoud

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whippinpost91850

Very cool find. I wish I knew what happened to the Lefty I built for a customer 30 yrs ago ???

mateomasfeo



I'll bet!

You built a lefty?  Don't recall ever seeing one...

Dances with Sheep on SoundCLoud

https://soundcloud.com/dances-with-sheep

whippinpost91850

Quote from: mateomasfeo on August 02, 2014, 07:03:45 PM

I'll bet!

You built a lefty?  Don't recall ever seeing one...
Yeah! I'm alefty so when I had my music store (which started as a world class guitar repair and building facility) I had most of the lefty clientel in metro Detroit. I've built the arm portion by laminating Purple Heart and maple to make it as rigid as possiible.

mateomasfeo

Quote from: whippinpost91850 on August 03, 2014, 01:42:57 PM
Yeah! I'm alefty so when I had my music store (which started as a world class guitar repair and building facility) I had most of the lefty clientel in metro Detroit. I've built the arm portion by laminating Purple Heart and maple to make it as rigid as possiible.

Wow!

That is pretty wicked, side winder!!

Dances with Sheep on SoundCLoud

https://soundcloud.com/dances-with-sheep

Headless68

Does anyone know the thread size for a 707 trem arm (or have a spare kicking around) ?

Cheers
Headless

Headless68

Been digging through my stuff and found what I think is an old screw in floyd bar with 6mm thread that fits ok but looks like the 707 has a longer first part to the screw in shaft than a floyd as this may clip the rollers when it's under normal string tension - will have to see once I mod the trem route to take the new shape

Elantric

FWIW G-707 Service manual is here

http://www.joness.com/gr300/service/G-707_SERVICE_NOTES.pdf


G-707 Trem Bar is Roland Part Number # 2214340101

Headless68

#14
Note the height adjuster for the roller section of the bridge should be adjusted with care and NOT over tightened - the roller saddle mounting plate is made of quite flexible metal and if you over-tighten the two screws while the two grub screws are protruding (as normal) on the underside then the plate will warp. In extreme circumstances this can prevent the roller saddle block from being able to be lowered all the way to the bottom of the bridge plate (and make action too high).

If this does happen to you the fix is to remove the saddle plate from the trem - remove all 6 rollers - remove the two grub screws - place one end of the saddle plate into a vice (only needs to be a small hobby type vice), then put a g clamp on the other end and gently twist against the warp - place on a flat surface to make sure its flat again.
When you put it back together only tighten the two retaining screws so they are just tight no additional pressure required as the strings will hold it in place anyway.

Headless68


Yohanes

I just bought a used Roland G-707 (actually it still isn't arrived yet), it need a lot of maintenance I believe, but that's not the problem, the problem is it lost its Trem Bar. I am in Indonesia, so although I may can order Roland Part Number # 2214340101, I afraid it would be too expensive considering shipping cost etc (last year I try to buy a brand new Roland/Fender GC-1 and asking the Roland distributor here, they say no stock have to indent approximately USD 1400.)

So I would like your input for what trem bar will fit for Roland G-707 if there is any? Headless68 has posted that trem bar with diameter of 6 mm will fit, at least that's the clue I have to hunt down a trem bar for my G-707. If there are any more info, would be great.
Thanks in advance.



Yamaha Pacifica 510V
Roland G-707
Godin Freeway SA
Boss GP-10
Roland GR-50

Headless68

Old style screw in floyd rose trem arms fit just make sure it's screw in not push in

Cheers
Headless

Yohanes

Thank you Headless, I have found screw in trem arm and fit in very well, although I need to straighten the arm a little to suit my hand confort while playing the guitar.

I also just finished modifying the electronic part and connecting with DIN 13-pin female connector, so I can (hopefully) use this guitar as a 13-pin guitar to connect directly with my Boss GP-10.

I am writing this in my blog, and will test my mod this weekend, and report back here the result. Wish me luck.
Yamaha Pacifica 510V
Roland G-707
Godin Freeway SA
Boss GP-10
Roland GR-50

Headless68

Cool mod - how did you know which of the 24 pins went to which of the 13 pins ? I saw that Wayne Jones has made some external 24pin to 13 pin conversion boxes but obviously not required if you are not using GR700
Let us know how it progresses

Headless

admin

Quote- how did you know which of the 24 pins went to which of the 13 pins ?

Learn here:

GK-13 Luthier / DIY Info
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?board=183.0


Headless68

....Don't start me on another project :-)

Yohanes

#22
Thanks admsustainiac, that's right, I used that circuit schema to study roland circuit design.  But instead of converting from 24-pin, I use G-707 schematic from http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-707.html. There you can find G2/G3 sockets where I solder directly my 13-pin connector to those sockets, by-passing 24-pin connector (I remove the 24-pin connector from those sockets).

To make the normal pickup volume control and tone control still functioning from 13-pin output, I de-solder one of the R15 end and connect it with a cable to volume output as you can see what I mean with photos at my blog:http://kandani.blogspot.com/2015/08/modifikasi-roland-g-707-untuk.html?showComment=1438392627473  (my blog is in Bahasa language, but hopefully you can understand by the translation widget at the blog.

I am currently contemplating the PCB circuit, I would like to use the touch plate to modulate the synth volume. Actually there are three unused potentiometers and two touch plate/button that could be utilized on G-707 PCB, but again, I would like to find out how best to use it.

Yamaha Pacifica 510V
Roland G-707
Godin Freeway SA
Boss GP-10
Roland GR-50

Headless68

Check out Wayne Jones on YouTube he has done that to control VG-99

Yohanes

Yeah, thanks to Mr. Joness for his wealth of guitar synth information. No doubt he is the master of guitar synth.
Yamaha Pacifica 510V
Roland G-707
Godin Freeway SA
Boss GP-10
Roland GR-50