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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:04 pm
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Andy

Honestly mate don't waste your money on expensive nut files. Those Normans Nuts ones are better.

I cut bone with em all the time, no problems at all. I simply cut my initial slot position with a razor saw first. After that the file is simple.

If you look at the base of your nut slot cut with those files through a magnifying glass. It's far better than a traditional files floor shape.
No hard triangular cut in shape. You get a real nice gentle curve.

Can you tell how much I think of em?

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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:55 pm
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Damn, stuck in the bush and I miss all this awesome activity!

Can't wait to see and hear the final product Andy. Hendricks, good choice, super dry though :)

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Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 2:50 am
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Impulse7 wrote:
Damn, stuck in the bush and I miss all this awesome activity!

Impulse is Australian, ladies and gentlemen. So that's not what you thought. Well, not necessarily... :wink:

(Translation curtesy of my Babel Fish.)

Anyhow. Nice nuts, Andy! Good work - after adjusting the bottom of the Graph Tech nut to height did you even need to do any work at all to the slots? I've sometimes had those Graph Tech nuts go in without any need for adjustment whatsoever. Excellent product.

Waiting patiently for the finale, breath bated (slightly red in the face as a result)...

Cheers - C

PS Oh, and yes, lime is much nicer than lemon in a G&T, isn't it? 8)


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Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 7:43 am
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Howdy!

Eeeek! :shock:

Really sorry to do this to you all but any chance we can rap this up tomorrow? Something has come up that needs my attention and I haven't had time to finish the final post.

I feel really bad, so as to not be a total tease, here's a taste of things to come...

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Enjoy!

:D

Andy & Randel the Cat

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Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:16 pm
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Andy -- great work. A real treat to watch you build this guitar.

Big time praise!!

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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:49 am
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Howdy!

Thanks for all the post folks! And your quite right Rip, we made all the way through with out any volcanic excitement. :D

WARNING! LOTS OF PICS!

Finished!

Right then, a quick Ceri style re-cap on how one goes about making a Big Hairy Strat!

We started out with our nice one piece African Mahogany body blank and I'd built the Big Hairy Router Table which saw quite a lot of use thought out the build. Cracking bit of kit considering its made form junk!

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First we made some pretty decent Perspex Strat Templates

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Then we roughly cut out the body shape and then routed back to the template to give us our Strat shape.

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Cavity routing..this is where is all went a bit “Pete Tong” when a router bit malfunction ruined a template and the topside bridge cavity.

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But we did have some interesting Router Table Art.....

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….and a cunning plan to solve the problem. I'm very pleased with how well the inlay worked out. Best mistake ever!

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Body shaping, made easy with the Big Hairy Drill Gig!

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There's no room for a battery in the control cavity so we made a special place for that.

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Then we did some tests for the grain filler colour and to find out which is best Tung or Danish Oil

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Followed by some wonky drilling!

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And some more wonky drilling! Slightly over did it with the drill and had to cover it up with some of the free veneers. :lol:

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Then we made a pickguard.

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The headstock veneer was another part of this build that turned out far better than I expected!

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Then we moved back to the body. Prep Work is key!

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Then we applied the Danish oil finish.

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While the Danish Oil was curing we did some seriously Big and Hairy Wiring using a set of “Weapon X Pickups” supplied by forum user Xhefri.

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Once the body had cured we gave it a wax finish which was buffed to a nice satin sheen.

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Accessories are important right? :D

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Then we installed the hardware....

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….and got a good look at my Big Hairy Nut Job! :D

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Of course I could have done any of the above with out the help of my Technical Director and QC Manager, Randel the Cat

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All that's left to do now is show you all what the final product looks like!

Back in a second with those!

Enjoy! :D

Andy & Randel the Cat

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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:58 am
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Howdy!

Thankyou's

I think I've thanked everyone I needed to as I've gone along but I'd just like to say HUGE thankyou to everyone who posted here. I took a good look back through all 33 pages and there are so many kind words. Thank you! :D

Now, I'm not much of a photographer and out of the 200 pics taken these where the best. So.....

.... Introducing...

***** Andybighair's Big Hairy “Tone-caster” 001 *****

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I reckon it turned out all right in the end. :D

Spec. Sheet

Body – Once piece Mahogany with Birds Eye Maple, Walnut and Malcolm inlay, Strat Body Contours and a Custom Big Hairy Heel Contour. Finished with Danish Oil and Wax Buffed.

Neck – Birds Eye Maple with Walnut Skunk Stripe, 22 Medium Jumbo Frets, 9.5 Fret Board Radius, Graph-tech Nut, Mahogany Veneered Headstock and Sperzel Staggered Locking Tuners.

Bridge - Wilkinson WVP Two Point Tremolo with Steel Block

Pickguard - Custom made, Black 3 Ply.

Pickups – Weapon X pickups, supplied by forum user Xhefri. (Blue & Silver Lace Sensors and a Red Dually in the bridge)

Controls – Master Volume, Neck & Middle pickup Tone Control, Bridge pickup Tone Control, 3 way Coil Spit for the Bridge Pickups, Standard Strat 5 way Switching, Fender S-1 Switching System (via Volume S-1, switch), Wilkinson Active Mid-Boost (via Tone 1, S-1 switch), Bridge On Switch. (via Tone 2, S-1 switch).

Marvellous! To any one thinking of making their own Strat body, DO IT! Just make sure you build it Big & Hairy! :D

“The Tame Musician”

Now I'm not really that much of a player and my interest in the instrument itself far exceeds my ability play. So to really put the Tone-caster to the test we need to had it over to our Tame Musician.

Some say his MIJ photo flame Strat is actually on fire and that he's the only person to have actually flown on stage with a Parker fly. All we know is he's called... Uncle Thang!

While were waiting for Uncle Thang's Tone-caster review, Why don't we all have a nice drop of the good stuff!

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Woodford Reserve. My personal favourite!

Thanks again everyone!

Cheers! :D

Andy & Randel The Cat

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:18 am
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Hi Andy

Short and sweet: your sig line now needs to be changed to "greatness attained". 8)

Too much to like and admire on this one. What a fab guitar! Additionally, this thread immediately becomes a serious resource for many things, including template making and also oil finishes. And cats.

Not sure there's much for the likes of me to learn about wiring from this thread - simply because I'm just too stupid to understand all that spaghetti! So for us thickies at the back of the class would you care to draw up a list of all the possible connections/tones your amazing wiring harness makes possible, please? If there's anything it can't do - well, I guess that's a very short list by comparison. Blimey!

Kudos to you, sir. Be my honor to buy you a drink sometime.

Now. Go forth and play! :D

Cheers - C


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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:28 am
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Andy,
Absolutely awesome job. it has been a great learning experience watching it come together. Only thing missing is a Big & Hairy or a Randel The Cat inlay on the headstock!
Thanks for sharing. I'll have a Plymouth Gin martini tonight in your honor.


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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:03 am
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At last we get to see it!

Good work Andy, nice looking guitar you made there.

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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:15 am
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Sir Andy Bighair!

You have built a serious beaut there, and I must say, I can't wait to hear what sweet sweet sounds she'll make once plugged in. A great display of craftsmanship, and, as Ceri rightly says, very instructive indeed! I feel grateful to be allowed to watch from the sidelines - the Big Hairy Build Team has certainly made these past weeks very interesting and entertaining! I wonder what'll fill my spare time next, now this has reached it's conclusion. *sigh*.

I hope you are having fun playing her and aren't too confused with all the possibilities on the switching front. I recently tried one of the new American Deluxes at GAK and was having a hard time figuring out how to work one S1 switch, so I can't possibly fathom the permutations of sonic options you invented there - a very awe-inspiring machine indeed!

Lastly I want to thank you for the ride, and go +1 on the drink buying offer - and last but not least I hereby award you 150 points for this absolutely spiffing project and those awesome photos!!

Cheers to you, Sir!

-Nutter


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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:35 am
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So many people have said so many good things about this guitar. All I can add is that you’ve built a guitar that sets a high standard for design and originality. It’s a wonderful looking instrument. Form and function are so well captured here that it can’t help but perform as good as it looks. When you watch someone make something like this from scratch, it makes the experience all the more spectacular. Now, if only we could reach into our computer monitors and grab that fiddle for a quick jam.

Kudos and Cheers to you! -- Kozy

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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:59 am
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WOW that turned out well! thats one heck of a guitar, do we get to hear how she sounds???

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Post subject: Unclethang's Roadtest
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 10:39 am
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Well, well, well, Afternoon chaps!

As this is my premier appearance may I start by saying what a lovely bunch of peeps you all are, very encouraging, supportive and open when it comes to sharing knowledge - a beautiful thing to see.

Anyhoo, you wanna know how the big hairy guitar sounds and plays yes?

I can't put it any simpler than to say I want one. Badly!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Andy and having a fair old go on his marvellous creation earlier this week. Firstly when you pick it up, you know you've picked something up! It's a solid wee thing! It's a nice guitar to play, be in no doubt of that. It was a testament to my strength of will that I didn't pop it in a bag and bring it back home with me, I have a need to take it down the studio and introduce it to a nice big Framus amp I know.
Various of you have mentioned the range of configurations on offer. I didn't have enough time to fully dive into the, let's face it, numerous combinations available but suffice to it has a lovely sound - and plenty of them (the mid boost is a real treat - mind you I'm biased - I have one in one of my own strats)!
Hopefully I can persuade Andy to bring the beauty down here to Sandpit Studios and we'll record some sweet noise for you all to hear!

Well that's enough from me - it's a pleasure to follow the thread.

In keeping with tradition I'm enjoying an ale and wishing you all a good evening!

Uncle Thang


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Post subject: Re: Unclethang's Roadtest
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:17 am
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Unclethang wrote:
Hopefully I can persuade Andy to bring the beauty down here to Sandpit Studios and we'll record some sweet noise for you all to hear!

Hi Mr Thang, welcome to the Forum! :)

We all hope you can pursuade him too - I bet you can! We'd love to hear the results, and we'd be glad to see pictures of the event too, if it can be managed. Please.

Seems this thread ain't quite finished after all... 8)

Cheers - C


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