Fender-Roland GC-1 GK-Ready Stratocaster question

Started by Bill Ruppert, January 18, 2012, 03:40:43 PM

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GuitarBuilder

Quote from: edgehill on December 10, 2015, 10:31:11 AM
Thanks for the advise.

The guitar guy took a look at the guitar today and said it'll be ok.
We'll be changing the tuners to a staggered set, new nut, new pickups, new trem and the frets need to be worked on too.
All this on a new guitar  :D

Suggested Hipshot tuners look cool but not available around here. The "UMP" installation system is nice.
Maybe Sperzel Trimlock 6L staggered set is is equally good?

Best regards,
edgehill

Sperzel tuners are an excellent choice.  I have them on one of my custom-built Strats.
"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

GuitarBuilder

Quote from: diecairo on December 10, 2015, 04:27:41 PM
Hello everybody,  :)
sorry to join a question to different questions. But speaking of upgrading a gc-1...
I  was wondering if soldering and installing new pick ups on a gk ready strat is more difficult or anyway different from normal strats. Since the 13 pin output brings also the signal from the magnetic p.ups... Are there more cables to take care of?

It's the same number of pickup wires, so no!
"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

Elantric

#327
I find sperzels  a pain to install.

The Cardboard template they provide is not accurate enough and if you don't install sperzels on a regular basis - It's too easy to get the required hidden anti rotation pin hole slightly off center

( hint - use a drill press or fabricate a drill guide block for accurate location of the Sperzel anti rotation pin holes on the back of the headstock. These holes must be absolutely perpendicular and aligned properly. ( skip hand tools) Production line guitars use a CNC drilling mill to locate these holes properly.

If you install the Sperzel tuners with the typical washer and 10mm hex nut on the face of the headstock ( which clamps the tuner in place with suitable torque) if the hidden anti rotation holes are not in the precise location the whole Sperzel aluminum tuner case can easily become warped and then you have binding tuning gears. Also I find the Sperzel gear ratio rather low and a bit touchy and tough to keep in tune

If your luthier has the proper Sperzel Tuner install template - they should work ok ( for staggered height tuners  still prefer the Hipshot best , then schaller, then Gotoh , then Sperzel -but that's me

I have an easier time with Gotoh staggered height locking tuners - these are stock on JTV-69 and available at GuitarFetish under their GFS brand.

edgehill

#328
Thanks Elantric.
My luthier pretty much said the same thing (and he does have a jig for installing Sperzels).
He also said that he has seen Sperzel sets where some of tuners were ok and some were "loose" (the peg moves a bit before the tuner "grips")
So, no Sperzels for me.

Instead I decided on Schaller F-Series Locking Tuners 6L set, a direct replacement for the current ones.

/edgehill
edit:typo

aliensporebomb

Sad to say I found Sperzel tuners a great idea but the execution didn't work for me.  One of the reasons I sold that Carvin guitar I owned was because the tuners built-in-ratio was not really ideal for precise quick tuning.  Even Carvin moved on to a different brand of tuners.  I'm sure they were a quality product, they just didn't agree with me for some reason.

It's really strange though - I recently got an MIM strat that was brand new, 60th anniversary model but had been bought and left to sit somewhere so it needed a couple hours of cleanup.  Ended up being just under $200 (it needed a lot of cleanup) but the whammy is nearly as good as the bladerunner in tuning stability.  I wonder if Fender has adopted Carl Verheyen's floating tremelo stability trick at the factory now? 
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

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

GuitarBuilder

Quote from: Elantric on December 10, 2015, 10:35:01 PM
I find sperzels  a pain to install.

The Cardboard template they provide is not accurate enough and if you don't install sperzels on a regular basis - It's too easy to get the required hidden anti rotation pin hole slightly off center

( hint - use a drill press or fabricate a drill guide block for accurate location of the Sperzel anti rotation pin holes on the back of the headstock. These holes must be absolutely perpendicular and aligned properly. ( skip hand tools) Production line guitars use a CNC drilling mill to locate these holes properly.

If you install the Sperzel tuners with the typical washer and 10mm hex nut on the face of the headstock ( which clamps the tuner in place with suitable torque) if the hidden anti rotation holes are not in the precise location the whole Sperzel aluminum tuner case can easily become warped and then you have binding tuning gears. Also I find the Sperzel gear ratio rather low and a bit touchy and tough to keep in tune

If your luthier has the proper Sperzel Tuner install template - they should work ok ( for staggered height tuners  still prefer the Hipshot best , then schaller, then Gotoh , then Sperzel -but that's me

I have an easier time with Gotoh staggered height locking tuners - these are stock on JTV-69 and available at GuitarFetish under their GFS brand.

I do have the right tools - in this case drilling jigs for each brand of tuner.  Makes life very easy!
"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

Elantric

QuoteI do have the right tools - in this case drilling jigs for each brand of tuner.  Makes life very easy!

I would expect no less- but "Joe average"  probably will not own the necessary drill blocks / jigs  - and only have the Sperzel supplied cardboard tuner template.

edgehill

Here's a follow-up on what had to be done on my new Roland Strat
- frets were leveled, fret ends smoothed
- nut was worked on but did not need a new nut. Every string was way too high and tight.
- the tuners were probably ok as such but replaced them with Schaller staggered F-series locking tuners (16:1 ratio), they work great, some added weight but the guitar does not feel neck heavy.
- new tuners allowed also to remove the string tree (which was srewed right down to the neck causing a ridiculous angle at the nut)
- Super Vee tremolo, well, basically it is what has been said on this forum. Just works. The tremolo arm is a bit high but I'll get used to it.
- Fender Hot Noiseless pickup set. I don't know if I like them or not. The originals were too trebly and buzzy, these seem to be a little too dark. Undefined mids to my old ears.

I got the guitar cheap. With all the work and upgrades it is now a tad more expensive than the regular store price.

But the guitar is now a fine instrument that plays well, stays in tune and the 13-pin tracks pretty good.
I think the pickups were a wrong choice for me but otherwise no complaints at all.

Thank you again for the advice given!

sec6

#333
Just picked up GC-1 for $399 in mint condition!  Went looking for the street price and they can cost up to $899.  But the reason I post is that while looking at prices, I noticed that Sweetwater, Musician's Friend, GC, American Musical Supply, Anderton's, Thomann, and zZounds no longer carry them.  I had a Rosewood neck sunburst but it was the most dead, lifeless guitar I have ever played.  Sold it and gave up until I found this one. Great guitar.  Are they being discontinued?

GuitarBuilder

"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

Elantric

#335
Interesting
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Roland/GC-1-GK-Ready-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitar.gc


But other dealers just say "temporarily out of stock"

( . )( . )

There's no indication from Roland that they're being discontinued, but it is weird...maybe a new model coming soon?

( . )( . )

Of course, now that I can't find a GC-1, I want one. I hope Roland is pulling them because they plan on making an American hss version (yeah right).

I see a lot of mixed reviews on the GC-1. Some people say it's a high quality build and a great player, and others say it needs a lot of work...am I better off just having an American professionally modded?

GuitarBuilder

I think the GC-1 is basically a very good guitar.  Yes, it could use some mods (pickups primarily, followed by bridge and tuners), but that is mostly personal preference and easily done.

All factory guitars could use a good fret job; none seem to compare to a great hand-built guitar.  That's an easy assignment for your local luthier.

All these taken into account, it would be a lot easier and cheaper to buy a GC-1 than to modify an American Standard with a GK kit.

I love my GC-1!
"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

raocomp

I'm having a problem with my Roland ready GC-1 the G sting does not respond and when it does its weak and drops quickly I've tried cleaning the connections ,and the gr55 is fine I used another setup on it works fine . Any suggestions ?

Elantric

the Gk 13 pin cable is all analog, and prone to signal drop out, even brand new Roland GK cables, and often exhibiting a problem for just one string dropping out.

follow the instructions here first:

GK 13 pin Cable Maintenance Tips.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3132.0


aliensporebomb

Agreed.  Even though the cable I got with my VG-99 is the fairly I've found, I do have to check contacts and clean them periodically or I run into issues with the high strings being a bit weak.
That is a sign to me that cleaning is needed.

I definitely need to get a spare on hand.

Regarding the Roland Ready Strat/GC-1:  I've seen some around town sit there for years without being bought (I know where three are right now, black with maple boards at two different stores - Groth Music in Bloomington, Minnesota is one and the other is Twin Town Guitar in South Minneapolis). 

Groth has a huge metal free standing GK kiosk with a GR-55, a demo ESP GK-only guitar and headphones and an small Boss amp so you can test the GR-55 out and another GC-1. 
Their other GC-1 is hanging high in the air on the "above" rack of guitars.

The one at Twin Town Guitar has some stuff up on the wall next to where it's hanging something like more than 15 feet in the air but you'd also need to make an effort to take it down. 

The local Guitar Center near my work sold one almost immediately when it got one for full price and when they reduced the price on the other from $899 to something like $650 it sold.

The Roland Ready strat I had initially, the black one was decent but took effort to really riff on it.  The white one I got recently had a really decent neck so that one will be fun once I get it back from repair.

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

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

alexmcginness

#342
Ive yet to see any Roland ready Strat that I thought was decent. To me they all feel cheap. I saw one of these in a shop in Germany and picked it up as the kneck and the fretwork are flawless and I stuck a GK pickup on it.
   Check one out. Theyve got a 9 inch radius fretboard so the action can be set up real low without the bends choking out. The price is far better than any Roland ready strat Ive seen and the quality of these is just as good as Strats that are far more expensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Squier-Vintage-Modified-70s-Stratocaster/dp/B0073AN19C

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/squier-vintage-modified-stratocaster-70s-electric-guitar/h78854

http://intl.fender.com/en-CA/squier/series/vintage-modified/vintage-modified-70s-stratocaster-maple-fingerboard-black/
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

pasha811

Quote from:  sec6
There are some good ones out there--I have one.  But some real duds too.  The GC1s being made starting in 2012 are basically American strats assembled in Mexico.  If you can find one with a good neck, they are excellent.  Throw on some Fender locking tuners, and they stay in tune for days.

Do you suggest putting new pickups as well?
Listen to my music at :  http://alonetone.com/pasha/

alexmcginness

#344
Quote from: pasha811 on June 05, 2016, 11:03:26 AM
Do you suggest putting new pickups as well?

check out one of these and get a GK internal kit. Far less money, a better guitar with a better kneck, and Duncan designed pickups.

http://www.amazon.com/Squier-Vintage-Modified-70s-Stratocaster/dp/B0073AN19C

Read the reviews at the bottom of the page. The one I got has the best fretwork and action of all my strats, including my 92 American Standard.
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

aliensporebomb

Depends on the guitar.  Some of those Roland Ready Strats are "so-so" but some are better.  The black one I had for a long time had a graphite nuts and SuperVee Bladerunner which made it better but it was still difficult to play.

The white one I got a couple of weeks ago is way better playability wise.  I popped a bladerunner on that one and it should be good for the foreseeable future.
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

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

( . )( . )


blindjammer2015

Was also wondering about this guitar. Now that I'm getting a Godin I don't see any reason to get this anymore... but I'm still tempted to get this for the sake of having another GK ready guitar. Is this worth looking into? I've found some on ebay for cheap prices.

Elantric

#348

Which one is better - Piezo or Magnetic hex PU?
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=5043.msg34288#msg34288

If you Palm mute with your playing technique,  and prefer the best Rock and blues tones from 13 pin DSP Guitar modeling systems  - a magnetic type hex pick up is best 

If you are more into new age acoustic tones, the piezo pickups work a bit better.

My ideal guitar would have both a Fishman Tripleplay Strat magnetic hex PU and RMC piezo hex pickups and be user select able on a patch by patch basis 


Re GC-1A? 


All known current production  Roland Guitars with hex pickups  are listed here:

http://www.rolandus.com/categories/guitar_bass/guitar_synthesizers/


We know there is a Fender  / Roland American G-5A VG Strat
http://www.rolandus.com/products/g-5a/

(but remember the G-5 and G-5A  models do not have a 13 pin output

But the GC-1A - I never heard of, and from looking at the the photo of the so called "GC-1A for sale on ebay (in my opinion) it's more of a frankenstrat and not a production model

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-ready-American-Fender-GC-1A-Stratocaster-Floyd-Rose-factory-13-pin-/232024992086?hash=item3605c46956:g:HrcAAOSw3R1XTs6g




blindjammer2015

So do the Godin piezo guitars not work well with conventional modelled rock or blues tones then? In a perfect world I would have both guitars, but I just can't afford them right now... and the ebay ones in my price range seem to be ones from the 90s with the gk2, not 3. I'm new to the whole thing, and many of the threads listed are going completely over my head.