CV Esquire Hardware Mods

[guitarist232345]

I made the decision to do some hardware mods on my 2019 CV Indo Esquire. My reasoning for this was because I preferred the aesthetic but functionally, these mods are better which is a bonus to me.

The mods are: Vanson brass compensated saddles and Vanson dome top barrel knobs.

These replaced the stock chrome barrel saddles and stock flat top knobs.

The knobs are more sleek and nicer on the hand whereas the compensated saddles sound more bell like, resonant and twangy. Overall, I am happier with my product because it looks more vintage correct (honestly, screw flat-top knobs) and sounds a lot spankier. I am aware compensated saddles aren't 100% vintage correct but it's the colour of the brass vs chrome which I like. Overall these mods set me back about £20 but I basically got them for nothing as I had left over Amazon vouchers.

And here the stock saddles are which are now off this guitar. Notice on the closest saddle the weird ageing - my guitar is like six months old and it looks that torn up. I think I have acidic sweat. Is this normal? I am talking about the 'fog' which won't come off and it isn't dirt. The chrome has permanently gone that foggy colour from my playing (I rest my hand there a lot).

Here is a picture of an old knob next to the newly installed dome top knobs (ugly!) plus the old saddles

And here is a final picture of the full package

I hope you enjoyed my pictures and I would love to hear your thoughts on these alterations. Do you think it looks better or worse?

Disclaimer: yes I need to intonate it a little better but it sounds good as it is and I don't have the time for it right now because it takes a while.

 

[jfgesquire]

I made the decision to do some hardware mods on my 2019 CV Indo Esquire. My reasoning for this was because I preferred the aesthetic but functionally, these mods are better which is a bonus to me.

The mods are: Vanson brass compensated saddles and Vanson dome top barrel knobs.

These replaced the stock chrome barrel saddles and stock flat top knobs.

The knobs are more sleek and nicer on the hand whereas the compensated saddles sound more bell like, resonant and twangy. Overall, I am happier with my product because it looks more vintage correct (honestly, screw flat-top knobs) and sounds a lot spankier. I am aware compensated saddles aren't 100% vintage correct but it's the colour of the brass vs chrome which I like. Overall these mods set me back about £20 but I basically got them for nothing as I had left over Amazon vouchers.

And here the stock saddles are which are now off this guitar. Notice on the closest saddle the weird ageing - my guitar is like six months old and it looks that torn up. I think I have acidic sweat. Is this normal? I am talking about the 'fog' which won't come off and it isn't dirt. The chrome has permanently gone that foggy colour from my playing (I rest my hand there a lot).

Here is a picture of an old knob next to the newly installed dome top knobs (ugly!) plus the old saddles

And here is a final picture of the full package

I hope you enjoyed my pictures and I would love to hear your thoughts on these alterations. Do you think it looks better or worse?

Disclaimer: yes I need to intonate it a little better but it sounds good as it is and I don't have the time for it right now because it takes a while.

Nice upgrades!

Were the pot shafts split or solid? Were the original knobs with a set screw?

My 2017 Classic Vibes 50s Vintage Blonde had press fit knobs on split shafts. I replaced all the electronics, which included new dome knobs, too.

While the flat tops are more 60s correct, your originals do look more like real Fender 60s knobs, whatever that's worth.

I went the other way with the saddles, though. My Classic Vibe came with brass saddles, but I wanted the look of a 1955, so replaced them with saddles that look like the ones you removed. I have not had any problems with the plating on mine... but for some reason my fingers clean guitars. Whenever I play my brother's or my friend's guitars, the plain strings go from all black and cruddy to clean and shiny. Weird.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

 

[guitarist232345]

Nice upgrades!

Were the pot shafts split or solid? Were the original knobs with a set screw?

My 2017 Classic Vibes 50s Vintage Blonde had press fit knobs on split shafts. I replaced all the electronics, which included new dome knobs, too.

While the flat tops are more 60s correct, your originals do look more like real Fender 60s knobs, whatever that's worth.

I went the other way with the saddles, though. My Classic Vibe came with brass saddles, but I wanted the look of a 1955, so replaced them with saddles that look like the ones you removed. I have not had any problems with the plating on mine... but for some reason my fingers clean guitars. Whenever I play my brother's or my friend's guitars, the plain strings go from all black and cruddy to clean and shiny. Weird. View attachment 735298

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

Were the pot shafts split or solid? They were solid.

Were the original knobs with a set screw? Yes they had a set screw. The Vansons have a similar mechanism but has an allen key adjust.

Interesting that they changed this.

In relation to your comment on strings, my fingers make strings filthy. I just replaced some strings because my G string snapped and they're all black.

 

[jfgesquire]

Were the pot shafts split or solid? They were solid.

Were the original knobs with a set screw? Yes they had a set screw. The Vansons have a similar mechanism but has an allen key adjust.

Interesting that they changed this.

In relation to your comment on strings, my fingers make strings filthy. I just replaced some strings because my G string snapped and they're all black.

Let me play your guitar for 20 minutes, strings will be clean and shiny!

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

 

[guitarist232345]

Let me play your guitar for 20 minutes, strings will be clean and shiny!

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

do you charge by the hour?

 

[rockymtnguitar]

Looks great! I made a similar conversion. I'm not a stickler for historically accurate mods, so I've just done what feels right. One of my favorite visual mods was the addition of a w/b/w pickguard. Somehow it just tied the whole thing together for me.

My CV is one of the older ones, and already had brass barrels.

This is my favorite guitar.

 

[guitarist232345]

Looks great! I made a similar conversion. I'm not a stickler for historically accurate mods, so I've just done what feels right. One of my favorite visual mods was the addition of a w/b/w pickguard. Somehow it just tied the whole thing together for me.

My CV is one of the older ones, and already had brass barrels.

This is my favorite guitar.

The white pickguard on the BSB is very interesting - what a great model you have.