PT SG (USA) Question

[Triplet]

I picked up a PT SG USA about a year or so from a fellow LPF’r (thanks GW - his pics, too) and, unfortunately, is too neck heavy. Already having a couple SGs I knew it might be with the Grovers.
My quandary is this:
Do I pull the Grovers for some tulips I have laying around and therefore ruin the faux (not faux?) look of the original PT SG? I’d hate to ruin the faux (not faux?) look. That must have been their intention, right? I mean no tulip or trem holes, wrong heel …
It’s a keeper if I can negate the unbalance (already have a suede wide strap). It has decent P-90s, RS kit and intonates pretty well, too.
Anybody suspect these might gain in popularity where I shouldn’t add non-faux tulip holes?
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[johnny73]

Get a leather strap with a suede backing.

 

[DanD]

Do you want to play it or add it to your collection?

As far as resale goes, the extra holes and footprint imprints from the tulips will hurt resale. By how much really depends on the prospective buyer. As you've said it's already been modded with the RS kit. Even though it's an improvement, it probably will hurt resale on down the road.

A new faded Classic is $699. Replace the Nashville on a Classic with a lightning bar and your there as far replicating the PT set up minus the Grovers. My new Classic Faded is a pretty nice axe for the cash.

If you're not concerned with resale then I'd do whatever I wanted to make the PT more comfortable. Playing an USA PT is going to decrease the value regardless as the PT finish will not stand up over time as well as say a gloss finished SG Standard.

If'n it were mine I'd just keep it as is and deal with neck heaviness with a strap change. I'm pretty sure there are some lighter mini Grovers with the same footprint as the Grovers on there now. I know for a fact that Gotoh makes the Delta 510 series tuners with the same footprint. They are lighter (and a whole lot nicer) than full sized Grovers.

Are the Delta series light enough to counteract the neck heaviness? IDK, but it's worth a try. If I were going to play it I'd definitely try those prior to drilling holes.

FWIW, Luthiers Mercantile has the Gotohs and they carry optional wood tuner buttons to replace the heavier factory chrome buttons. I'm using a set of the the Delta 510s with Mad Rosewood buttons on my Washburn Pilsen.

The weight difference on just the buttons alone is pretty significant. Just a thought. :2zone