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Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:08 pm
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Thanks guys! :D

Hopefully something a bit more interesting to show tomorrow...

'Night all - C

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Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:12 pm
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Ceri wrote:
Thanks guys! :D

Hopefully something a bit more interesting to show tomorrow...

'Night all - C

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I really liked the idea with the leather punch. I have one of them in the basement that my Dad had and never thought to use for something like that. Great Idea!!!!

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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:31 am
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Looking great! I for one, have no real clue what you are going to throw in this one. Will we see a ceri vg ?


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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:59 am
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nikininja wrote:
Cmon then lads I need some input.

I cant finish this neck anytime soon. Its the wrong time of year, funds aint great, I'm struggling for a place to work on it.

The blues jr is going on ebay, so what neck shall we have on the guitar? I was thinking a phoenix at the 11'th, 12'th, and 13'th frets would look good. I saw a scorpion on a all black showmaster once. It looked great.

How about hardware Ceri isnt the biggest fan of gold bits (i assume he prefers bars made out of the stuff). I just dont think silver or black would suit a flamed paintjob.


Phoenix Rising - on the 12th fret sounds good.

I like black hardware with a flamed finish, but that's just me.

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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 12:46 pm
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[Wednesday evening] Picking up where we left off...

It's obvious we're going to access the control cavity from the back of the guitar from now on. I don't need a trem cover, but a cover for the control cavity seems more sensible. Don't want clothes getting hooked on wiring or whatever:
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In that pic I've drawn a line to indicate where the cover should go, allowing space for five fixing screws. I've inked it in to make it easier to photograph. Next, score around the line with a sharp knife so that the grain on the surface doesn't split beyond that point when we start to excavate:
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Now a normal process here would be to put the Dremel in a router base and carefully carve the cover lip out, like a bumper sized inlay job. However, round at the edge of the body there is nowhere for a router plate to lie flat, so that is not going to fly.

Instead, I put a smallish 6 mil / 1/4 inch router cutter in the pillar drill, lowered to the right depth and then carved by moving the guitar instead of the cutting head:
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That worked pretty well, but it was fierce work and the result was a little rough. At that point I suddenly had a slightly neat idea (well I thought so) of putting a Dremel grinding bit into the pillar drill and tidying up the lines like that:
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Never done that before, but I will again. It works!

A final little trim into the corners with the tip of a small chisel:
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And we're done! One rear access control cavity, ladies and gentlemen. We'll cut a cover for it later:
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Now then. Tired of that "where shall I shove my nine volt battery" misery? Orville was not far off the mark when he predicted active electronics in this guitar, so let's sort out some sensible quick access storage space for the battery:
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There's a battery holder. You can see I've used my pickup routing jig to map the positions of pickup cavities onto the back of the guitar so that I can avoid running into them, and have chosen a position for the battery box nice and close to the control cavity for ease of joining 'em up.

I guess I could make a jig for routing out the cavity - well, two in fact: one for the bulk of the box and one to rebate the top surface. But in the time it would take to do that I might as well just do the job by hand. I don't plan on doing a lot of battery cavities... Here's the cavity halfway through chiselling it out:
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Took me longer than you might think - I'm really not much of a carpenter! When done I used a long bit holder to drill a hole through to the control cavity for the wires, so as not to risk damaging the wood with the drill's chuck (done that before :oops: ):
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Even so, the clearance was too close for comfort. Oops - a near thing!:
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And here's the completed cavity:
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The black dots indicate where the fixing screws go, so you can see there is no room for error in shaping that space. That little worm route leading down to the wire hole is kind of aesthetically displeasing to me. But it has to be there (I discovered) because otherwise there is simply nowhere for the wires to go as you lower the box into position - the fit is that tight:
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And here it is with the box in place. Nice and flush with the surrounding surface:
Image

That's all for now. I have a couple of little details to take care of tomorrow, and then all being well we have a major plot development coming up on Friday.

Toon in, same time, same place...

Cheers - C


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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:06 pm
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I'm running out of superlatives to describe your work, so I'll just say "Thanks" Ceri. Enjoyed! :)


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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:06 pm
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Wow. :shock: Your work continues to astound and impress me.

When you're done with this guitar, you'll have to be sure and post a video of yourself or nikininja playing it. I'm not sure I even know what a guitar with active pickups sounds like.

Excellent work, dear sir! 8)

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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:17 pm
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russianracehorse wrote:
I'm not sure I even know what a guitar with active pickups sounds like.


Well, most recordings of Dave Gilmour live would give a clue: he used active EMG SA pickups in his stage guitars for years. And the midboost that Clapton has used for a long time is also an active circuit.

But I've never owned any kind of active electrickery before - because I hate all the makeshift solutions to housing the 9v battery. Problem solved! :D

And to F Hopkins: no superlatives required, I do assure you. You'd be far less impressed if you saw that chiselling taking place in real time. Slow but steady is the best I could claim.

But keep your powder dry. The real nuttiness starts Friday! (I hope...)

Cheers - C


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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:31 pm
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Quote:
The real nuttiness starts Friday! (I hope...)


Hurray for nuttiness! Can't wait :P


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Post subject: axe
Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:35 pm
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i believe ceri is as hooked on the project just as much as we all are.

great job ceri.


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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:50 pm
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I have a USA BC Rich Mockingbird Supreme with active circuitry. All I can say is that it will be a different sound. The active boost will get you noticed.


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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:02 pm
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Fantastic. Just fantastic.

Ceri, you make it look too easy. I think anybody who has done anything with wood, would see the fit and finish of your work is really something to be proud of. Really good work, your inspiring me to pick up a couple projects I abandoned years ago.

Can't wait till Friday.

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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:59 pm
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:shock: Ok I've come to the party a little late (reminds me of a joke tell you later). I remember this poor hunk of wood. First Niki tried his hand at painting it on one thread then he torched it on another.

Ceri this is a great read... I'm hooked guess I'll have to visit the forum more often. Perhaps this could be auctioned off for a worthy charity if Ceri could stand to part with it after he finishes.

I like Toastercaster flames with flying toasters.
Danny

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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:40 pm
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Ceri's work on this Pyrocaster continues to amaze. Thanks for the update.

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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:40 pm
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This is great!

I can only imagine what ceri has in store for the top of that guitar ...

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