Get Cha' Pull,... This Floyd Rose Right Off Of This Guitar, Part 2

Here are the previous posts about this guitar so you know what I'm talking about.

Get Cha' Pull:  New Guitar Day: Dixie Rebel

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2017/08/get-cha-pull-new-guitar-day-dixie-rebel.html

Get Cha' Pull,... This Floyd Rose Right Off Of This Guitar

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2018/07/get-cha-pull-this-floyd-rose-right-off.html

So here's where I was at with the Dean Dixie Rebel.  I managed to install the new Floyd Rose Tremolo on the Dean, but I wasn't happy with how it stuck out the back of the guitar.

After some reading on the web, I decided to change the brass block.  (That piece you see sticking out the back in the photo above.)  Everyone tends to sell these giant brass blocks for more sustain, tone, etc.  But I needed a smaller one.  

This lead to a series of really irritating mistakes.  I'll try to explain the best and shortest way I can.

First, I took apart my Gotoh Floyd Rose.  It seems they put extremely cheap screws in it, and I stripped out one of them.  I'm sure they used Lock-Tite on all of them.  I had to use all sorts of tools to get the stupid thing out, but with a drill, extractor, help from my Father, another drill, and an hour of working on it, I finally managed to get the stripped screw out without damaging the Floyd Rose.

I then ordered the smallest brass block I could find.  What I didn't count on was that the outside holes were 1mm off.  That doesn't sound like much, but metal isn't forgiving.  Also, it took 4M screws instead of 3M screws.  

So I searched the web and found a shorter brass block for the Gotoh (through Philadelphia Luthier.)  It wasn't as short as I wanted (33MM) but it was the shortest I could find for the Gotoh.  

Here you can see the difference between them.

I know some folks say to just cut the brass block, but I don't have that kind of metal machinery.  I'm also scared of screwing this up more than I already have.  But I managed to change them out without too many problems.

Here I am trying to keep all my brass blocks straight.

The original one still has a piece of screw stuck in it.

After a little finagling I was able to put the Floyd Rose back on.

But this lead to a problem I've never had.  The springs kept popping out of the brass block.  I've never had to use screws to hold one down, but it looked like I was going to have to do just that.  So back to Ace Hardware for more screws.

The good news, is that, it managed to hold the springs down.  But now it came down to, "Did all this work pan out?"  Kinda.

If I wasn't using the Floyd, it would stay behind the back plate.  If I used the Floyd, it still stuck out the back.  If I didn't have the screws in there I would be close.  But for now I'm going to have to play it without a cover on the back.  But at least it plays pretty good.  And I can still do all those Dimebag squeelies.   

Get Cha' Pull,... This Floyd Rose Right Off Of This Guitar

To understand this post a little better, here's the original post I wrote when I bought this guitar:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2017/08/get-cha-pull-new-guitar-day-dixie-rebel.html

I like my Dean Dixie Rebel.  It's surprisingly lightweight, it has an awesome neck profile, and the pickups are awesome.  There is something that I really hate about it.  I don't like using the word, "hate," but I really hate the Floyd Rose tremolo that came on it.  I just can not keep the guitar in tune.

The Floyd Rose that comes standard on it is a "Licensed Floyd Rose" instead of a real one.  It also doesn't have a manufacturer's name on it, so that tells you how generic it is.  The one neat thing about the hardware on the Dixie Rebel is that, it comes in Black Chrome.  You don't see that very often.  

So I start searching the web about a replacement Floyd Rose.  I remember members of the Dean Guitars Forum saying how they really liked the Gotoh tremolos.  After searching Reverb.com I was lucky enough to stumble across a Gotoh Floyd Rose in "Cosmo Black."  I'm guessing "Black Chrome" is trademarked so they couldn't call it that.  But it was the same color.

I took a chance and ordered it, and this is what I received.

It's a perfect color match.  The kit came with posts, springs, and all the little parts.  Luckily, the Gotoh tremolo was a drop in replacement on the Dixie Rebel.  I didn't need to change out any of the other parts.  

There was one problem though.

The Dixie Rebel is a thin bodied guitar so the Floyd Rose stuck out the back too far.  I checked the Gotoh website, and found out they offer this Floyd Rose with smaller block.

https://g-gotoh.com/international/product/ge1996t.html

So I'm kind of stuck with this for now.

Let me think about this for a bit.  I may get back to you in …. Part 2!!!!  But for the time being the guitar is pretty cool.  It stays in tune much better, and I can do all sorts of Dimebag squealies.  

Get Cha' Pull!!! New Guitar Day: The Dixie Rebel

I hadn't bought a guitar in a while.  This has mainly been due to the market becoming completely stale.  Nothing is selling on Craigslist, and the same instruments are being posted again and again.  This problem is also exacerbated due to the fact that everything is completely overpriced.  So this feeds the problem.  Nothing is moving since everything is overpriced.  Since sellers won't lower their prices nothing is moving.  And the cycle continues. 

However, I spotted something new on Craigslist.  A seller was selling two Dean guitars.  (For those who know me or read my blog, you know I am a huge Dean guitar fan/player.  He was selling the overseas modern reproduction of the Dean From Hell.  That's the blue on with the lightening bolt that Dimebag Darrell played most of his career. 

The seller was also selling a Dean Dixie Rebel.  I have to be honest, I have always wanted one, but back then I didn't have the money to buy one.  The seller said he was a lawyer, and without actually saying it, I think a client paid him in guitars, and he was selling them to get his money back.  Long story short, I bought it. 

Here's the pics:

Of course, I had to put new strings on it, set it up for half tuning, and make sure everything was set up as I like.  The new strings were really giving me trouble by taking so long to stretch out.  I actually waited a day for them to stretch out before I continued my set-up.

Now I figure some of you might be asking, "Do you think it's okay to promote the use of the Confederate Battle Flag?"

I say, "I have no opinion on that.  I just like the guitar."

"But don't you think that represents a racist government and doctrine?"

"Well, I don't really have an opinion on that.  The guitar has a really nice neck.  In fact, it's about the thinnest Dean guitar neck I've ever played.  For such a large guitar, it is really lightweight."

"Don't you think that some people will be offended by that guitar if you play it on stage?"

"Well, I think this guitar will sound really good, and my songs will sound good because of it.  I don't really have an opinion on the graphics except that I like that particular shade of red."

"Well, only a racist would own something like that."

"You know, I once saw this stage musical called, "Avenue Q."  They had this song called, "Everybody's a little bit racist."  I thought it was pretty damn funny.  Oh, and I really like playing this guitar." 

"I'm going to complain about you on the internet."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."


So I have this friend Nick.  He has an opinion about, "that flag."  So I sent him this picture.

Even he had to laugh.  Anyway, have fun playing out there.  Get Cha' Pull!!!