Modernizing a GR707

[badpenguin]

Hey all. In a couple of weeks, I will have in my greedy little paws a 1986 or so Roland GR707 guitar! Yep, the one that looks like a spaceship with the arm thingy on it. Had one when the system was new, using the GR700 and the GR 300, and loved the 300. Couldn't make it mis-track if you tried. But alas, it was monophonic. (no chords) Then with the 700, yippee! Chords were possible, but you couldn't make it track properly. Lots of in between notes that inspired a great LP from Adrian Belew. (White Rhino)

 

Well over time, I sold off the system, and last week while in a GC in Orlando, my wife handed me one that was on the wall. Plays wonderfully, had a mid single coil added, and was just heavenly! I had forgotten how great the guitar was on it's own. So.........

 

I am going to convert it to a 13 pin modern system. I see 3 ways of doing this.

1) Removing the 24 pin plug, and replacing it with a 13 pin plug. I lose the 3 knobs and the touch sensitive buttons on the bridge pickup, but I have it looking stock.

2) Gutting the electronics completely and replacing it with a top mounted GK2A.

3) Same as #2, but installing the GK2A assembly internally, leaving me with holes for knobs for the guitar extra tone and volume controls.

 

Anyone do this before? Anything I should be scared off? Let me know your thoughts please.

[aliensporebomb]

You might want to visit vguitarforums.com (I'm a global moderator there) where there are actually people who have done exactly what you propose to do and in one case they had a 24-pin to 13-pin converter so all the knobs and buttons on the GR guitar worked to trigger the options on the synth module. You could ask for advice on what the best method would be to make it work for your purposes.

 

Good luck!

 

-T