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Author Message Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 2:11 am:    Ace just sent me a beautiful '81 AS200. It's got some damage, but it still sounds awesome. How can you tell if the tone knobs are working correctly? I dont notice any change when I turn them, but the pickup selector is partially damaged (i won't stay in the middle setting) so might it have something to do with this? Also, how do I replace that pickup selector? I put some pictures up in the next day or so. Thanks Justin Funkle (Funkle) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 3:07 pm:    Justin, With the tone knobs turned down all the way, the sound will be pretty muffled - you'll notice a difference. If they are not working, you'll have to access the pots. This is tricky on a 335 style guitar. After removing the knobs, nuts ant washers, you need to fish the pots out through the f-hole - More importantly, you need to be able to put them back when you're done! I securely tie one end of a piece of unwaxed dentil floss to the shaft, and the other end to the washer/nuts so that when I pull the pot, I can get it back in place again, and the washers on the end ensure that you won't lose the piece of dentil floss. If you're comfortable with soldering, you can fix the electronics yourself. I'd recommend getting a book that covers guitar electronics and repair. Melvyn Hiscock's book on guitar building is good. There are books devoted to electronics as well. You'll then be able to inspect the tone control, and figure out what's wrong. the All these books, and the replacement PU selector switch are available at stewmac.com As far as fixing the finish damage, and electronics. It may be wise to have someone who knows what there doing fix it. Especilly the cracks in the body. But there are plenty of folks here who restore, fix and build guitars themselves. If you're relitively handy, you can do it yourelf, just do your research. -Sven Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 4:52 pm:    Thanks for the help, Sven. I'm a pretty handy guy, but this would be new territory for me. We have a soldering iron around her somewhere, but I've never used it before. Would it be wise to take it to someone else? How much do you think it would cost me to do that? thanks Justin Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 5:50 pm:    And also, I'm not really sure how to lower the action on this guitar...got any tips? Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 6:13 pm:    So now I think that the problems with the knobs are just being caused by the pickup selector switch issue...hopefully. Justin Acetan (Acetan) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 8:03 pm:    Hi Justin, The action on the guitar is set fairly fast. Unless the truss rod tension changed due to the climate difference when shipping to PA from Nevada or you are using a different gauge of strings, it should be quite playable. At any rate, the action is really a net result of neck relief, nut set up and the bridge set up. Experiment with adjusting the truss rod and the bridge as I remember the nut is in very good shape. Funkle (Funkle) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 8:31 pm:    There is a really good tutorial here: http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/action.htm Funkle (Funkle) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 8:39 pm:    For what it's worth, here's how I do it: Never do more than a quarter turn of the trus rod nut at a time. I usually start with very slight relief, then start lowering the action at the bridge. If I start getting buzz near the nut, I add more relief. If the buzz is towards the bridge, I use less. These adjustments may take a day or two to settle in, so you may need to readjust it later. At a certain point, the buzz will be uniformly distributed, and I adjust the bridge/saddle height until it's tolerable. If you are having problems getting it low enough, or are encountering buzz at high frets, it's probably time to take it in to the shop for a professional fret dress. There are many factors effecting action. Neck relief, nut height, bridge height all have to be in balance. Things like high frets, loose frets, and neck deformations will make it harder to get lower action. The string height at the nut must be low enough. Individual preference, playing style and string gauge are factors too. I play pretty light and legato, So I set it pretty low - heavier players may like it higher. -Sven Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 8:53 pm:    Thanks for the advice! I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out Ace, the action is a little bit high, maybe it was a change during shipping. I plan on giving you a call as soon as I have a few minutes (and that three hour time difference works out) Justin Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 11:55 am:    So I went in to replace the pickup selector, and I actually managed to just fix the one that was in there. One of the contacts had been bent up, so I bent it back down, and now it appears to be working. My only question is about how the middle setting works. There has to be volume on both of the pickups for any sound to come out. Is this normal? Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 5:21 pm:    Does the AS200 have a truss rod? And that article was confusing...I still don't even know what to adjust Justin Acetan (Acetan) Posted on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 9:31 pm:    The truss rod adjustment nut can be found under the bell shaped piece of plastic with "Artist" inscribed on it on the head stock as shown in the picture. You may want to take it to a guitar store to get some pointers and you will need a $2 adjustment tool. Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 2:23 am:    Thanks Ace...I had actually just discovered that right after I posted that question...what were those binding pieces that are pictured next to the head? I couldn't find any place on the guitar where they would fit. Justin Jcrowell (Jcrowell) Posted on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 2:25 am:    Oh and a few more minor irritants I've discovered...someone has obviously adjusted this truss rod with a pair of plyers or something because its pretty nicked up under the cover...also, a second hole for the cover has been drilled, making the thing crooked. Still a wonderful guitar, though. Fixing this switch has given me so many amazing sound options. Thanks again. Justin Acetan (Acetan) Posted on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 3:00 am:    The binding is from the pick guard.

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