Turtle Juice

Guitar Workshop and Recording Studio

Author: TJ

  • White Elephant

    White Elephant

    Fender P-Bass w/ Active Pickups

    Hardware Mods:
    EMG Pachyderm Les Claypool pickups
    Gold knobs
    9v Battery Compartment

  • Greenie

    Greenie


    Custom Shop Telecaster

    Took a smashed guitar body, glued it back together, and gave it a liquid art treatment. Hardware was put together from discarded parts. Half art. Half garbage. Plays beautifully.

    Hardware mods:
    Custom body
    Roasted pine neck (natural tung oil finish)
    Hand-wired tone volume/pots (orange drop)
    Locking tuners
    Electrosocket jack

    Wiring mods:
    3-way switch mod (neck, bridge, off)

  • Beast

    Beast

    Hybrid Multiscale Bass/Guitar

    Bought a 7-string guitar from eBay, took off the bottom three baritone strings (B-E-A) and replaced them with 2 legit bass strings (E-A).

    The guitar was already wired with the split bass/guitar pickup mods.

    String Gauges: 100 – 80 – 24w – 16 – 11 – 9

    Hardware Mods:
    Bass pickups (E-A strings)
    Guitar pickups (D-G-B-E strings)
    Upgrade bridge for bass strings
    File nut for bass strings
    Upgrade knobs

    Wiring Mods:
    Bass volume/tone
    Guitar volume/tone
    Guitar pickup selector (neck/bridge)

  • Turtlesonic

    Turtlesonic

    Fender Acoustasonic w/ EMG Afterburner Boost

    Inspired by the Jack White Triplesonic (but saddened by the $3k price), I modded the cheaper $600 Acoustasonic to suit my own needs.

    I added a Gibson style knob to switch between the built-in Fender electronics (for acoustic playing) and the Humbucker with EMG Afterburner Boost (for bluesy lead solos).

    Wiring mods:
    Pickup selector switch
    EMG Afterburner Boost

  • Marshmallow Amp

    Marshmallow Amp

    Custom Amp/Cabinet

    I wanted a Marshall stack that wouldn’t vibrate the entire house. Even the mighty 1W was still pretty formidable window-shaker, so I added a power soak. Now I can crank up the gain without blowing out my ears.

    Marshall DSL1HR 1w Tube Head
    Seismic 2×12 Cabinet
    2x 12″ Celestion VIntage 30 (8ohm)
    Bugera Power Soak

  • Red Devil Amp

    Red Devil Amp

    Custom Amp/Cabinet

    Bugera G5 Infinium 5w Tube Amp
    1×12 Seismic Audio Cabinet (Red)
    1×12 Celestion Vintage 30 (8ohm)

  • Jerry Rig (Amp)

    Jerry Rig (Amp)

    Custom Amp/Cabinet

    I made a new-fangled hybrid digital/analog guitar rig to get a classic Jerry Sound.

    Helix HX Rack > 100w Tube Amp > Custom 2×12 Modeling Cab

    Hardware Specs:
    Dayton Audio HTA 100 Tube Amp
    2×12 Custom Birch Guitar Cabinet
    2×12 Celestion Triple Cone Full Range (8ohm)

  • Stratoblaster

    Stratoblaster

    Fender Stratocaster w/ Alembic Blaster

    Hardware Mods:
    Alembic Blaster Boost Switch

    Wiring Mods:
    Fishman 9v Battery Pack

  • Jerry 2.0

    Jerry 2.0

    Custom Shop Stratocaster w/ EMG Pickups & Afterburner Boost

    Inspired by first botched mod attempt, built a new strat with active pickups and an onboard boost switch to get that classic Jerry Tone.

    Hardware Mods:
    EMG Active Pickups
    Battery compartment

    Wiring Mods:
    EMG Afterburner Boost Knob

  • Blondie

    Blondie

    SRX Telecaster w/ Active Pickups

    Hardware Mods:
    EMG Active Pickups
    Locking tuners
    Abalone pickguard
    Battery compartment
    Electrosocket output jack

  • Jerry

    Jerry

    Squier Strat w/ EMG Active Pickups

    Inspired by Jerry Garcia’s Alligator and the JerryToneStore, I bought a cheap strat and modded with active pickups and an onboard boost switch to get that classic Jerry Tone.

    Hardware Mods:
    EMG Active Pickups
    Battery compartment

    Wiring Mods:
    EMG Afterburner Boost Knob

  • Sunburst

    Sunburst

    Custom Shop Telecaster

    Custom body
    Custom maple neck with rosewood fretboard

    Hardware mods:
    Locking tuners
    Electrosocket jack

  • Flame

    Flame

    Custom Shop Telecaster


    Genuine Squier body w/ humbucker
    Genuine Fender neck w/ abalone inlays

    Hardware mods:
    Locking tuners
    Electrosocket jack

  • Black Dog

    Black Dog

    Custom Shop Telecaster

    Relic body
    Canadian maple neck

    Hardware Mods:
    ’64 Vintage pickups
    Rust hardware
    Locking tuners
    Electrosocket output jack
    Through-body bridge

    Wiring Mods:
    2 Volume Knobs (no tone)

  • Sweet Knobs

    Sweet Knobs

    Epiphone LP-100 Mod

    For my first project I refurbished my old LP100. It had noisy electronics, loose/broken knobs and the hardware had begun to rust. This is what inspired my foray into guitar modding and refurbishing.

    Hardware Mods:
    – Locking tuners
    – Pearly Gates Humbuckers
    – New pots, switches, wiring

    Wiring Mods:
    – Push-pull tone pots (coil-splitting)