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You should have done all your filling/routing/cutting whatever BEFORE you did the stain. Not that you can't still do it now but you run the risk of having to re-sand and re-stain if you eff anything up. You can always design a pickguard for it... then you'll be able to cut as you please and drop in any type of pup you like.

McSpunckle wrote:Fuckin' bondo it and call it day.

elbandito wrote:You should have done all your filling/routing/cutting whatever BEFORE you did the stain. Not that you can't still do it now but you run the risk of having to re-sand and re-stain if you eff anything up. You can always design a pickguard for it... then you'll be able to cut as you please and drop in any type of pup you like.

Yeah, That's the Ticket


They make these by the way

after working in a guitar store, I can tell you that a lot of those dean vendetta's had some really soft maple in the necks. watch out. what guage strings did you have on it and did you ever notice the neck dive on yours? some of them are ok thats why its good to check it and see if you got a good one. even if its crap, at that price, its worth the experience and fun to tear it down and rebuild. thats the best way to learn.

eatyourguitar wrote:after working in a guitar store, I can tell you that a lot of those dean vendetta's had some really soft maple in the necks. watch out. what guage strings did you have on it and did you ever notice the neck dive on yours? some of them are ok thats why its good to check it and see if you got a good one. even if its crap, at that price, its worth the experience and fun to tear it down and rebuild. thats the best way to learn.

i tossed the neck. i couldnt stand it, so now i'm looking for a replacement neck and i have no clue where to start looking for those.

First thing to know is how many frets did the original neck have. That is like supper important, it has to be the same. Well in less you feel like moving where the bridge is...

Then you ask... what do you want to pay.....

If it is a 24 fret neck your options are more limited, personally I'd cruse e-bay for a old Jackson if it is a 24 fret neck. If it is a 21 or 22 you will have a lot more to choose from.

Maybe I'm so crazy that I'm back around to boring, but I'd keep the existing neck and leave the string-through setup alone. And, I don't know, but a pair of better humbuckers in there?

It might be a real pain in the ass to find a neck that will fit without doing quite a bit of "adjustment". Unless the neck has a noticeable twist or something, I don't see why you couldn't keep it. Maybe you could level and dress the frets? Might be a nice neck to learn on.

I'd put locking tuners in, maybe a roller tune-o-matic, and drop some medium-hot Dimarzio pickups in there. If you really want P90s without dicking around with routing or funky pickguards, get some of the GFS bucker-sized P90s.

culturejam wrote: If you really want P90s without dicking around with routing or funky pickguards, get some of the GFS bucker-sized P90s.

The dream180s are great

culturejam wrote:I'd keep the existing neck

I think he tossed it after coming to the same conclusion. dean vendetta has soft poopy maple.

dean uses the fender pocket so there are a lot of necks that will bolt on. charvel, esp, kramer, OLD Ibanez etc.. 22 to 24 and 24 to 22 conversions are usually no problem for a luthier if its a hard tail. if it was me, I would buy 22 or 24 and make it fit regardless. its just moving the bridge up or down the string a 1/4" or so.

I hope he didn't toss the neck already... if it's still kicking around, measure the distance between the nut and the middle of the 12th fret. Multiply that by two and you'll have your scale length. From there, you can find appropriate necks. Conversion necks are an option and can be found with options for different frets and scale lengths, or if you want short scale fender (24"), long scale fender (25.5"), Gibson (24 3/4"), PRS (25"). The pocket size doesn't really matter, as it can be altered to accomodate the replacement neck.

Just remember that the scale length is the most important factor. If it's off even 1/8", your guitar will NEVER be in tune.

elbandito wrote:Just remember that the scale length is the most important factor. If it's off even 1/8", your guitar will NEVER be in tune.

Just want to reiterate the importance of that

Id rather move a bridge then remove wood from the pocket. I dont even own a router. Even if i did, i think its easier to measure and do math than make the pocket straight, centered and at the right neck angle. That takes experience. And bolt holes slightly off is another nightmare. You need a lot of solid wood where your bolts are. Its all about surface area, consistent density, straight neck. Thats what makes it really sing

you should be able to look up the scale length on the Dean website. if it's standard Fender 25.5" scale, you have more options than a Chinese restaurant menu. if it's Gibson scale, i would look for a bolt-on neck from one of the budget Epiphones or Gretsches on eBay or suchlike. there's also the option of the Warmoth-type "conversion necks," but do you really want to spend that much on a neck for a guitar that cost less than $150 to start with?

i love Grover tuners, always have. probably 90% of the replacement necks you'll see will be maple; that's not a bad thing, but if you prefer a different wood you'll likely be ordering custom and paying more unless you luck out and find something in stock. since you've got the studs pulled out of the body, you have lots of options for the bridge. since the Tunomatic stud holes are already drilled my tendency would be to go with some kind of long-travel Tuna like the Gotoh ones that Stewart-MacDonald sells. the other easy option is a top-loading Tele or hardtail Strat bridge, i.e. a Fender bridge that doesn't string through the back of the guitar but rather through the bridge plate. in any case, i would use metal ferrules (which you can also get from StewMac) on the string holes in the top if you're going to use them because paulownia is a soft wood and the strings will cut into the wood.

for P90s, everybody i know who's used the GFS P90s in the humbucker-sized shell has been very happy with them. if you want to stick with the traditional P90, dogear P90 covers will near-as-dammit cover a humbucker rout if carefully positioned; however, this might cause string-clearance issues depending on the bridge height/neck angle on the Dean. FilterTrons are good; you could go with a FilterTron/P90 combo for the Eddie Cochran from Hell effect. i like 500K pots, and honestly have no idea what cap value i'd choose since i've never wired a P90 guitar.

ok so other than the grovers, i've decided on going traditional humbucker. i don't wanna buy any custom wounds just because this is my first attempt at anything like this, so i was thinking of going GFS, and finding a neck on ebay. this project is really just an experiment/learning experience in me learning how to work on guitars. i'm gonna be doing alot of standard stuff except for the pickups, pots, bridge etc. so my next question is if pickups are hard to wire. i have soldering experience, but never with guitars

In short.... no, no they are not.

don't trim the pickup leads off too short before installation. it's a pain in the ass to splice more wire on, and you feel really stupid.