Roland GP-10 and Fender Roland Strat

Started by Durodon, December 04, 2021, 07:34:48 AM

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Durodon

I bought a Roland GP-10 on Cyber Monday and was intending on buying the DIN cable and the Roland GK-3 or the Roland GK-Kits-GT3. I'm also thinking of a Fender Roland GC1. I have a few questions that I hope someone would be kind enough to answer.

I primarily bought the GP-10 so I can do alternate tunings without retuning the guitar. I'm not sure what extra value the Fender Roland provides I know I would have to pick up used Roland hardware for the extra features. Would a 1998 GC1 have a GK-2? If so what does this do less than the more modern GK3? I dont want my experience of the GP-10S to be diminished to a major extent. If better to upgrade would it be relatively simple to buy the GK-Kits-GT3 and upgrade the internal parts?


To purchase and have a GK-3  installed on one of my own guitars will cost me roughly $300 or $420 for the internal kit. I have seen a used, cosmetically damaged (ugly chip on the back, but otherwise looks typical used condition for a 22 year old guitar) Fender Roland GC1 Strat (without any Roland modelling hardware) which will cost around $560, and so for $260 / $130 extra seems a good deal, albeit extravagant as this is beyond what I need.

Thanks in advance.

admin

technically the Fender GC-1 never existed prior to 2011

the prior model was the Fender "Roland Ready" Strat - basically a 21 fret Mexican Strat, introduced in 1995 same year as the Roland GR-30  - Guitar Center often sold them as a bundle 

Roland states the GC-1 employs same signal opamp gain as a GK-3 , same as the Roland GK-KIT-GT3 - and tell folks to use the GK-3 GK Input setting on the GK Processor

Review Schematics
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=73.0

Durodon

Hmm, that is an excellent piece of information. It looks like it would have a GK2 rather than the GK2A of the Roland GC1.

Can anyone advise how this Strat compares to the later GC1, and how useable the the GK pickup is with a Boss GP-10?

Thanks

Durodon

Quote from:  Bluesbird on December 04, 2021, 07:47:39 AM
I added a kit to a Squier Starcaster. I am very happy with it.

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=359.msg227983#msg227983

The Roland GK kits can be had for cheap from Andertons:
https://www.andertons.co.uk/roland-gk3-internal-pickup-kit

I would find a guitar you like and put a kit in it.

I dont trust myself to take a drill to any guitar. My (very good) local guitar tech told me it was 4 hours on the bench last time they installed an internal kit, so definitely out for me. I was considering buying a Squier Jaguar for this very purpose at one point, although I am not sure how well it would have fitted.

gumbo

#4
The GK unit fitted to the Roland-Ready Strat works fine with the GP-10...in fact its output is hotter than the (later) GK3.

The problems that (can) happen with (both) the R-R and the GC-1 are:

1. The internal GK wiring in the guitar suffers from bad soldering (at the factory) and uses small-gauge cabling that often moves inside the cavity and results in bad or broken joints.

2. Plug-in connections to the GK mainboard sometimes become intermittent and require proper cleaning to maintain contact...oxidation of contacts over many(!) years can be a contributing factor.

3. Sometimes (but not all that often) the S1 & S2 switches fail because of their design and heavy-handed mis-use by players.

4. The original Roland 13-pin jack sometimes fails electrically because of wear and contact oxidation in its design

5. The original Roland 13-pin jack sometimes fails mechanically because of its design and heavy-handed usage by players, resulting in its Major Part disappearing inside the guitar with a shower of broken bits of plastic and loose fixing nuts because it was factory-installed without spring washers or locking nuts.


Points 1 & 2 can be fixed by rebuilding and/or cleaning the appropriate components

Point 3 can be fixed by doing away with the 1963 switches and replacing them with one (On)-Off-(On) momentary DP3T switch which is readily available for peanuts on eBay.

Points 4 & 5 can be fixed by replacing the original jack with one that works that is made by someone I know in Australia.

Original electronic parts are hard to come by for this guitar, but work-arounds ARE available.

Yes, you can retrofit the guitar with GK3 gear, but it is a bit of stuffing around.


BTW, most GC-1 Strats were made using the EXACT same GK components as their earlier ancestor, the Roland-Ready Strat...this IS the case DESPITE a lot of Roland advertising of the time...     ....the main difference that one experiences in buying a second-hand GC-1 is slightly(!) less road miles and one extra fret.



I have two Roland-Ready Strats and they work fine...BUT, like most things I have, I tend to pull things to bits when I get them and fix the short-comings before I put them into service...the R-R Strat is not particularly difficult to work with, but is frequently mis-understood by users who are frightened to open it up and sort it out.

Many people believe that the R-R / (later) GC-1 Strats provide less trouble and better performance with most Roland/Boss synth units overall....

...there is a LOT of information on these guitars on this Forum relating to their performance, upkeep and modification.....like most things, you just need to understand the beast before you lose your temper with it.

HTH you in your decision-making process....this is the place to ask questions you may have.


Cheers,
Peter


PS

The ONLY 13-pin cables to buy are those marketed by 'Codesmart' on this Forum....
Read slower!!!   ....I'm typing as fast as I can...