benjammin420 Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 Frank Zappa had 2 main SGs, in the 70s: the "Roxy", and the "Baby Snakes." It's my understanding at they were both wired similarly, but according the Dweezil the "Baby Snakes" SG features: -onboard preamp w/18db output -coil taps -in/out phase taps -built in Dan Armstrong Green Ringer http://truefire.com/gptv/index.html?channel=dweezil&videofile=dweezil/dweezilsnakes Curious if anyone has tried to mod an SG like this, and what the end result was like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 I haven't tried this mod, but damn . . . thanks for the link. Very interesting ideas for modding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameswithesg Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 ive always loved zappa's sg's, that vid was great, im gonna have to look into some of those mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjammin420 Posted May 16, 2009 Author Share Posted May 16, 2009 I have a 61ri that i wanna put some pearly gates into, 4-way for coil tapping and phasing. But since im getting it modded, that preamp seems pretty cool. In the video he demonstrates how hard it can push a pignose, id like to see what it can do with my hot rod deville. The green ringer is cool, but i have an octaver, so i have that end covered. I wonder though how much signal loss there is from having that many extra switches, gadgets and wires Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twiz Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I wanted to find out more about Frank Zappa's guitars, and I found out a weird bit of info. -According to this article (interviewing Dweezil) the "Baby Snakes" SG wasn't really a Gibson: http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/the-guitars-frank/Jul-06/21622 Bummer, I always thought it was. That doesn't take away from how cool of a guitar it was. Anyway, I don't think I could handle any more switches or knobs on my guitars. I'd just take the lazy way out and use pedals to get some of those sounds. I guess maybe a coil tap, or switch to get the pickups out of phase would be cool. I think it's a neat idea though. You should put up some photos if you do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjammin420 Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 <bump> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fool on The Hill Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Wasn't Zappas SG a Fake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjammin420 Posted May 26, 2009 Author Share Posted May 26, 2009 Yes, the "baby snakes" sg is not a gibson. It has 23 frets, mostly dot but a few odd inlays, and some sort of pin stripe running along the top edge of the bevel. I read somewhere online that is 25" scale, but not sure about that. The "roxy" sg i think was a genuine gibson sg special that was was fitted with buckers and switches and stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucke99 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I just created this guitar over the past week or so. It approximates the Baby Snakes SG. Started with a Gibson Faded SG, then dropped in hot pickups, split coil wiring, and an onboard preamp/EQ (all from GFS). It's a monster. I call it the FZSG: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I just created this guitar over the past week or so. It approximates the Baby Snakes SG. Started with a Gibson Faded SG' date=' then dropped in hot pickups, split coil wiring, and an onboard preamp/EQ (all from GFS). It's a monster. I call it the FZSG:[/quote'] Cool! That looks awesome. Is that the woodgrain around the stopbar posts and on the left side of the waist? That looks awesome. Did you put any clearcoat finish on it? I'd love to hear about the process of modding it. I don't want to copy you, Im just interested in exactly what you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidanBax Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Dweezil Zappa talks about Frank's SG copy in this video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 chucke99 - nice looking mod I'd love to hear a sound clip if you've got one. BTW, nice job digging up this old thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucke99 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Re: the dark areas, those are actually burned in using the edge of my soldering iron. The mods: First, I sanded down the neck a bit. It was too fat and I didn't like the feel of the faded finish on it. I may have not taken any actual wood off it, but I got rid of the finish and smoothed it out quite a bit. Next, I took out all the guts and sanded the top and visible sides down to bare wood. After that, I took a dremel and freehanded the bead, creating a 2mm wide by 2mm deep trough around the perimiter, and then filling it with light-colored wood filler. I then put on a thin top coating of red mahogany colored lacquer (StewMac) but it was too dark, so I sanded off most of it. I had to pick the lacquer out of the bead area to reveal the light color again. After burning in the character marks to approximate Frank's SG, the only other finishing touch I did was to put some semi-gloss tongue oil on the top and back of the neck, just one coat. For the electronics, I replaced all of it except the grounding wire. I purchased two GFS Fat PAF humbuckers, ran them through tri-sound switches so I could get Humbucker/Single Coil/Parallel Humbucker, then into the pickup switch. Out from the switch, I went into a GFS preamp/EQ circuit board. The knobs you see now are as follows: The old neck volume is now the Master Volume for the circuit. The old bridge volume is the Low end EQ adjuster. The bridge tone is the Middle EQ, and the neck tone is the Hi end EQ. They all have dampen points at the middle setting. I kept the original bridge and tail. I installed the preamp/EQ for two reasons: First, Frank's SG had an onboard preamp (according to Dweezil) that boosted its signal by 18db. With my master volume at about 6, I get what a normal guitar output would be. Cranking it up from there I get a lot of volume and overdrive boost. Second, The EQ knobs let me dial in a wide variety of tones, as do the tri-sound switches. I haven't discovered everything this guitar can do yet. What I do know is that it screams when put through my 15watt Epiphone Valve Sr. head and Mesa/Boogie 1-12" cab. I have the action set as low as I can get it without too much acoustic buzzing (as long as I can't hear it when amplified, I'm happy). I retained the original Gibson Deluxe tuners because, well, why not. I had to keep the Faded pick guard, even though it's not the same as the guard on Frank's SG because the body routing is too extensive under the hood to do it with normal pup surrounds. One thing to note about the preamp/EQ, it comes with a circuit board and LOTS of extra wiring (for the three EQ pots) and the SG control cavity is T-I-N-Y. I had to route out a cavity in the back for the 9V battery the preamp/EQ requires. Parts for this (pups, preamp, switches) ran me about $200 (GFS is a true bargain and has quality stuff). If I were to try to replicate this project again I'd also pay my local tech to wire up the pups and electronics (especially the switches) as I think I did a messy job on mine (though it all works fine). Oh, and I just might add a brass nut, since I have one sitting in my parts drawer. I'll try to record some sound demos and post those too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Beach Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I've thought about it, but that whole adding one fret to get the 23 frets on his guitar would be difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yew Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 It MIGHT be possible though. if you look on the fretobard, there is room for one, maybe if you got an old SG (Not a vintage though) that needed refretting anyway you could do it...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucke99 Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I can't reach that 23rd fret anyway. I'm not worried about putting one on. :- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjammin420 Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Damn I forgot all about this thread, I never come here anymore (I was looking at pics of SGs on google and came across this. Looks great man, real goond attention to detail. Doesnt look too bad with the big pickguard either. Have you thought about adding an out-of-phase switch? I dont know for sure if Frank had that on the Baby Snakes, but Im sure the Roxy did (that 'skanky' tone is all over Overnite Sensation) I have my LP wired OOP and that is my go to Zappa setting now (I no longer have that SG-it was a loaner) I do want to get a SG and Zappa-fy it. I've also thought of getting a Stetsbar, for those Zomby Woof dives I just created this guitar over the past week or so. It approximates the Baby Snakes SG. Started with a Gibson Faded SG' date=' then dropped in hot pickups, split coil wiring, and an onboard preamp/EQ (all from GFS). It's a monster. I call it the FZSG: [img']http://www.chucke.com/pics/fzsg-small.jpg[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjammin420 Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 It MIGHT be possible though. if you look on the fretobard' date=' there is room for one, maybe if you got an old SG (Not a vintage though) that needed refretting anyway you could do it......[/quote'] has anyone actually added extra frets? That would be nice. I had thought about having the whole fretboard replaced with a 23/24 fret one, that seems like it might be a little expensive/excessive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG fan 420 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 has anyone actually added extra frets? That would be nice. I had thought about having the whole fretboard replaced with a 23/24 fret one' date=' that seems like it might be a little expensive/excessive[/quote']Every SG that Tony Iommi owns has 24 frets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjammin420 Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Every SG that Tony Iommi owns has 24 frets. yes, I meant who among us has added an extension to their existing fretboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG fan 420 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 yes' date=' I meant who among us has added an extension to their existing fretboard[/quote']No, i'm pretty sure you'd have to change the fretboard, correct me if i'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
central_scrutinizer Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Here are some pictures of the Roxy SG clone I built: Zappa Roxy SG clone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 . Very nice mod job. Where did you find the wiring details/diagram? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
central_scrutinizer Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 . Very nice mod job. Where did you find the wiring details/diagram? . Thanks. There is no real information available on the net about this guitar, so I am in an interpretation given to the switches and knobs to what I know best corresponds with what is known about this guitar. There is only one photo of this guitar to be found on the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyo Hillbilly Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I had the opportunity to meet Dweezil Zappa last year and I asked him about the possibility of Gibson doing a custom shop version of Frank's special SG. I got the impression Dweezil is open minded to the idea. However, he raised a very important point that the 18DB boost active circuitry would absolutely crush many modern amplifiers (the front end?). While there is a real interest in this guitar (me included), I suspect playing that sucker is going to be like driving a dragster with 90% nitro mix in the tank or riding a wild horse... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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