LeGrande mod and neck removal

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 21 Nov 2018 3:03 pm

Iâ€™m going to agree with J.R. And several others, if you want a Single 10, then buy or trade for one, donâ€™t butcher a nice D-10 to do it. Removing about 3 or 4 lbs isnâ€™t going to help plus it depreciates the value of your guitar way below what a Single 10 would sell for.

forrest klott · Post by **forrest klott** » 21 Nov 2018 3:12 pm

A guitar is only original once....

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 21 Nov 2018 3:34 pm

Sheesh guys, I don't think Eddie is proposing to "butcher" his guitar.

Eddie Stephens wrote:... thought I would try to do the mod on this guitar and if I ever decided to sell it, just reinstall the parts...

He just wants a loafer. His OP was only asking for advice on removing a cross shaft, not for a lecture on the (subjective) morality of him modifying his guitar to suit his needs. It's his guitar, he can do what he wants with it. Everything is ephemeral. A guitar is really only truly "original" until you change the strings the first time, or the change copedent, or the tuning nuts, or...

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 21 Nov 2018 8:35 pm

Ian, you know and I know that when even a hint of changing a D-10 to a S-10 opens a whole new can of worms, especially on the forum. But you are correct, that wasnâ€™t his question and I do apologize for my statement. I was just letting a few worms out.ðŸ˜Š

Eddie Stephens · Post by **Eddie Stephens** » 21 Nov 2018 8:35 pm

Wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the input on this. Tackling cutting the dowels was a bit more than I wanted to get into, so I decided to keep it as is and just leave it here in my home studio. Thanks Ian for the info on making those cuts. Much appreciated and to everyone else on the feedback and links to the other instruments. I will kick it around some. I might even dig back into some C6 again. Been a long time. I may try in the future to pick up a SD guitar and maybe something light enough to do one nighter's with. I used to have a SD MSA years ago and even though it was a little lacking in tone, it played extremely fast and smooth. I miss that one. There are a lot of great instruments out there.
All rods are back in and I'm only short 3 e clips. Are those 7/64 clips? I'll wrap this up after tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 21 Nov 2018 9:01 pm

When I'm called upon to do that- for whatever reason- I use a Dremmel with a cut-off wheel.

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 21 Nov 2018 9:08 pm

the clips you need: https://www.mcmaster.com/97431a230. You'll end up with 97 spares for next time.

This question has come a couple of times here, Michael Yahl also stocks some similar clips, but they are for a larger diameter rod. The size in the link fits the stock LeGrande II/III rods

Eddie Stephens · Post by **Eddie Stephens** » 21 Nov 2018 9:28 pm

Thanks Ian!

Bill C. Buntin · Post by **Bill C. Buntin** » 22 Nov 2018 4:12 am

Well I sincerely apologize Eddie. I was not trying to be a "wise acre". Just agreeing with my friend Jack Stanton. By now I'm sure you realize at least some of us are thinking this is a bad idea. And my good friend Forrest makes another great statement, "a guitar is only original once".

The fact that these guitars are no longer made is another reason. But again I hope you will forgive. Only trying to offer insight based on our common love for these instruments. Altering, to me, my opinion, is sort of like pulling pages out of a classic book.

~Bill

Eddie Stephens · Post by **Eddie Stephens** » 22 Nov 2018 9:43 am

Bill C. Buntin no apology necessary. I certainly understand everyone's point of view. In my mind I had thought this through for quite some time. There was no way that I was going to butcher this guitar. I have been a craftsman for many years experienced in woodworking/furniture building/speaker building and many other things related to electronics and music. I also have done setup work on previous steels. This would not have been the first guitar I have repaired or made changes to. I completely rebuilt my Zum D10 and replaced axle rods in the changer and did some setup work and completely restored it. As I had mentioned, the changes I was going to make was for a test drive. For me, not that big of a deal and I wouldn't at any point take the guitar to a state that I couldn't completely put it back. I was frustrated when I hit the cross rod removal part and that is why I probably snapped back, so I apologize as well. Anyway all rods are back in and and everything is back to normal. I will be entertaining the idea of a lightweight SD10 to do one nighter's with and leave this one in the studio.
I do respect everyone's opinion as the number of combined years of experience on this forum is great. Sometimes short answers don't help, but I understand.
Best to you and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!