FAT-210 Sunburst Modded - Stevie II

[Aoresteen]

I finished this Epi a couple of years ago and forgot to post it here. I came across an Epi FAT-210 Sunburst on eBay and bought for the princely price of $35 plus shipping ($20). Since it's a FAT-210 batwing headstock it was made somewhere between 1999 and 2004. Serial # doesn't give a clue - MC22080xxx. Now most folks pass on the FAT-210 as it was the low end of the Epi line at the time. It has an alder LAMINATED body - some call them "plywood" but they are not plywood. Plywood has gaps in the wood layers, true laminates do not. Most jazz archtop guitars have laminated tops and can cost $20,000 or more. Ditto for high-end cellos - laminated tops.

 

The only way to tell how a laminated solid body guitar sounds is to PLAY it. OK, rant off.

 

First order of business was to strip it down and dump the stock pickups. I had heard good things about a custom pickup maker Kerry Learned- Onamac Windery. I bought a set of his Texas Magic single coils for this sunburst Epi with hopes of an SRV type tone.

 

Next I sent the pick guard off to Terrapin Guitars and had an SSS tortoise shell one made along with a custom truss rod cover engraved "Stevie II". I already had a 1995 Squire called Stevie:

 

http://www.squier-talk.com/threads/1995-korean-squier-stevie.8114/

 

I dumped the stock tuners and replaced them with sealed Wilkinson tunners. I put it all together and dropped it off at my tech's shop for a bone nut and setup with .011-.049 strings tuned to Eb.

 

WoW!!! The Texas magic pups are the ticket for Texax Blues al la SRV, Los Lonely Boys etc!

 

Front wiew:

 

 

Body:

 

 

Headstock:

 

 

Back Headstock:

 

 

Back:

 

 

Trem Cover:

 

 

I put a label on the headstock that tells me the string size and tuning. I also label the trem cover with the pickups installed.

 

Overall, this is one rocking guitar that was well worth the cost of the mods. In spite of (or because of) it's laminated body, it really sounds sweet. If you are in the market for some new single coil pickups, check out Kerry Learned's line.

 

Oh, BTW I'm just a happy customer of Kerry's. I've never met or spoken with him. No connection other than I send him cash, he sends me fantastic pickups.

[Parabar]

Rave On, Stevie II! Ain't it cool when a project turns out like you hoped (or even better)?

 

Nice work, btw!

[Steve112]

Hey, nice job on StevieII, Aoresteen. You've made a great player and got the results you wanted. A very personal FAT-210 that looks very good. I'll bet those pups sound nice and bluesy!