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Mirage 1 Mods


Dutchman

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Hey Guy's and Gal's. I just received a 95' Mirage 1 and it is beautiful and acoustically it sounds great. The Duncan's leave me kinda flat tho. I reworked the tremolo and I gotta say I was not to impressed w that either.  I had a difficult time finding the balance of string vs spring to keep it in tune as a floater so I pulled it down and it's in down pitch mode only. Has anyone changed out the tremolo and got improvement in tone and playability? I have a feeling this one is not going to be a keeper.

The Sperzel's are all loose when not under tension but seem to tighten up w tension and so far are keeping it in tune. I have 2 other guitars w locking tuners of another manufacture and they have no play in them at all, the Sperzel's gave me the impression on the 1st string change that hey where about to fall apart.

I've already ordered Mojotone Quiet Coil 58's w hot bridge set for the pickup change.

I would like to use the blower switch to put the neck and bridge pup's together for another tonality. If anyone has done this I'd greatly appreciate advice on what you though sounded best parallel or series and how you wired it.

The pots in the guitar don't say hamer but they are CTS from 1994 (p1379434 and TM 316) there's a treble bleed circuit, (doesn't look stock) the tone cap is a mf181k, and It's some sloppy wiring.

The pots measure 525k.

So if anyone has any ideas to get this awesome guitar more awesomer I'd appreciate the info. It plays great and just needs some love !!

 

Thanks,

Jeff

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Not so long-winded. Looks like the wiring was redone...that's not the typical, Hamer wiring cavity, LOL!

I've owned three MirageIIs (humbucker models). I didn't care for the plinky, corroded Wilky tremolos, either. I replaced one with a Gotoh model that was very similar to the Mann-made tremelos (or PRS). I can't for the life of me find a pic of one, and Gotoh has discontinued them.

On my koa Mirage, I used a Callaham tremolo. I set it up as a decked trem and it was perfect for that guitar.

The Mann-made tremolo is a great option. An expensive one, but great all the same

Here are a couple of options from Gotoh's 2014 catalog. I don't know if these are still in production or not:
 

Gotoh510_2.jpg

Gotoh510.jpg

 

As to the Sperzels, they may just worn out from years of misuse. You might email Sperzel and see if they have any suggestions to fix them before you buy another set. A set of six is well under $100, so that may be the easiest option.

Can't help you with the wiring. That snakepit needs a complete teardown/rebuild for what you want to do. 

Happy hunting!

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