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Post by vladimirmijailovic on Feb 21, 2023 20:18:10 GMT
Regards to all!
I have an HB 35 plus and would like to modify it. I would replace the tuners, pickup, bridge and stopbar. Many of you have probably done it or would like to. I would like to ask those who have successfully done this, to list here which parts are suitable for this model of guitar. First of all, I mean the dimensions, but also the quality.
I think it will be useful for many.
Thank you all!
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Feb 26, 2023 18:18:43 GMT
Hi Vladimir, and welcome.
I have a black HB-35. I have kept the bridge and stopbar as they seem (on my one) to be ok. I found Vanson tuners to be a pretty good replacement, although I have since fitted an old Gibson Robotune unit so I can easily dial in alternative tunings. If you are thinking about this, my advice is don't bother. I only did it as an experiment and because the unit was sitting in a drawer unused. For replacement pickups, you can't go far wrong with toneriders, but Irongear blues engines are a great pickup. For a really impressive budget pickup try Fleor off Amazon. You'll need to fit your own covers, but that's not too difficult if you are handy with a soldering iron.
Biggest thing you can do to improve this guitar is to replace the pickup selector with a switchcraft toggle - it is night and day better. Also the pushpull pots would be a good upgrade too. I have fitted a bourne one to my HB-35, which phase reverses the neck pickup. Dependant upon which pickups you go for, look into using a variable resistor to partially coil split the pickups. Google it. If the pickups sound too thin and week in coil split mode, you can improve slightly by introducing a small amount of the second coil through the resistor. Use the adjuster on the resistor to fine tune things.
Good luck mate, and report back on how you got on.
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kz
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by kz on Feb 28, 2023 19:16:15 GMT
I have upgraded my HB-35 with: Bone nut (cut form a HB Bone Nut Blank 45), There should be equivalent in Tusq production for pre-made one, just needs to measure the original and fits the best match)
Gotoh GE104B bridge (positioned on with M4/M8 brass conversion posts or Göldo Bridge Adapter M4/M8), (with Gotoh GE103 variant of the bridge you can put the bridge to standard M8 inserts in the guitar body)
Gotoh GE101A aluminum tailpiece, Grover 135 tuning machines. (These fits to the 10mm hole in the head stock and are vintage looking, for pressed in tuners the holes are too large) Possibly could match the screw holes, but it is not that hard to plug the old ones with toothpick and drill new ones...
Custom hand-wound Slug PAF style Humbucker Set (8.2KΩ bridge and 7.6 KΩ neck)
I have removed the pickguard, replaced the knobs, truss-rod cover, leveled the frets, seated loose tailpiece bushing and replaced the wiring with new pots in 50’s style with Tesla TC207 22nF capacitors and Hosco YM-T20 switch. It is a pain to upgrade the wiring, because only access is through the f-hole. The output jack has a little longer thread than usual - standard jacks are smaller and it might be difficult to put a washer on them (due to thickness of the guitar side).
PS: The original bridge hardware on mine was Sung-il BM 003 bridge and Sung-il TS 001 tailpiece, so they are still cheap, but not that bad...
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