Paul Reed Smith Roland Ready Conversion

I had been evaluating Roland Guitar Synth Pedals and determined I was in the market for one. The GR-55 was revealed at NAMM'11 and I had to have one. But, then the question was how to play into it. Do I buy a new guitar like a Carvin with an already built in Hexaphonic pickup? I favored the Tele-Thinline style. That was certainly attractive. Do I buy a Roland-Ready Strat? Not an option because of scale length. I am a accustomed to 25 to 24 5/8 inch scales; like Gibson, PRS, Taylor, Carvin and others. Or, I could go with the Roland solution: the GK-3, the black blob that attaches to the rear strap button, with the pickup cable hanging loose over to the hexaphonic pickup you screw to your guitar. Well, I didn't like the black blob, or the external cable. I was sure it would get caught on something and damage the connection on one end or the other. The solution I favored for the end result was a custom install. I looked at the Roland GK-KIT-GT3 custom install kit. I looked at solutions from Graph Tech like the Hexpander Midi Interface also a custom install. Custom Install implies major work on your guitar. But, the end result of a custom install is definitely worth the effort if done by a qualified luthier. It's more esthetically pleasing and practical. Everything is protected inside the guitar control cavity. I finally settled on the Roland Custom Install.

I'll show you the end result now and post the construction details later. The subject Guitar is a 1994 PRS Custom 24 Top 10: