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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:21 am
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moochy13 wrote:
ill be able to fill the imperfections, ive been using filler on my car for ages, im a pro :lol:

Mm: the problem there is that body filler is formulated for going on car bodies, not wood. When you put it on timber and then spray over it the paint can sink differently and even under a solid finish you can often see where the filler is.

Still, as a car restorer I'm looking forward to seeing you pinstripe masking the faux binding. That's going to be cool. 8)


moochy13 wrote:
the hard work has been done if you ask me.

God bless your spirit! :D Please take plenty of photos for us to watch you sanding out that tummy cut.

Way to go - C

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:16 am
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Aspiring Musician
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haha there will be plenty of photos.

as with the fitting of a bigsby to my JA90 thinline tele, the construction of this guitar will make purists wince and luthiers s**t a brick. i will demonstrate what can - and probably cant - be achieved with the most basic of hand tools. 95% of my garage is kitted out to fix old cars, not create glorious guitars.

having said that, im also going to attempt to chamfer the heel for better upper fret access, should be interesting.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 1:31 pm
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You could always fill the holes and laminate veneer to it since your going to paint the binding in place. Sanding of the ridges isn't bad as long as you don't get in a hurry and the output jack could just be one like this drilled next to the electronics cavity on the edge of the body.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chrome-OVAL-Ele ... 0427106694


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 11:14 am
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bit of an update.

ordered a neck today. nothing special, just a cheap tele type neck, 22 frets satin nitro finish, slight vintage tint. im not expecting it to be great, but it does mean i can start the real work now i have a neck to build with. i can always replace the neck at a later date with something better.

started having a look at the body today. went and brought some wood filler and sandpaper. heres my pristine work area :

Image

10 minutes later ive applied some filler and got the ridges out of the forearm contour (with my sanding plug :lol: ). its smooth to the touch, though where the contour changes to the main face of the body is still a bit too pronounced, as are various other edges.

Image

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then this arrived :

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and i started watching this :

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gotta watch the F.A Cup final.

now going to go out and do some more sanding.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 1:42 pm
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moochy13 wrote:
hmmm food for thought, thanks.

it is some pukka grain, but as i said the first thing that jumped out at me was the off centre, very obvious join. and with no scratchplate, it will be very visible. but, with solid paint id probably end up putting a scratchplate on.

ive always liked those anodised plates, but im not sure its going to look too good with a daphne blue guitar. the colour is not something ive put much thought into. im going to paint the headstock aswell i think, maybe ill look for a colour not normally on guitars.

im going to go with a maple fretboard, so at least i can base my colour/scratchplate choices around that.

ive found a UK company making pickups which seem to have been well recieved, and they're at a price in line with what i want to put into this guitar.

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_032.htm

not sure which ones yet, nothing too hot though.

im also going to fit some split post kluson style tuners, i think they look great.


If you've Hotch G pickups in your Epi, use them with 1meg tone pots and 750K volume pots. They sound utterly killer. As chirpy as a PAF with the bottom end of a SD Invader. All the murkiness of that pickup disappears.

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 3:51 pm
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one of my mates wants to buy the LP after i let him borrow it for a little while. he loves it.

just been and rubbed down the filler, 99% of it came out fine.

here you can see the worst bit of the wood damage. i chipped a little bit of the filler off at each end, partly due to it being thickest there and probably could have done with more drying time. also because its 11:45pm and ive had a few bevvies.

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ill put another skim on that area, and use finer sandpaper on it next time. after that any imperfections will be filled with paint. the 'ridge' on the body at the forearm cut i mentioned earlier is a bit more substantial than i initially thought. to get it as i 'vision' it should be requires considerable sanding. i expect that if the body had have passed the inspection stage it failed, it would have received dressing when the actual forearm cut did.

ive dug my MIM strat out to compare tomorrow. from the feel of it, i think the new body is a touch thicker than a fender body. i shall investigate.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 12:08 pm
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not been making loads of progress recently as both my classic cars are in bits right now, which take priority as they're the only cars I own :?

pretty much finished prepping the wood for its first layer of sealer/primer. my cheap neck turned up. it feels nice and for 50 quid is nicely finished, but to call it 'vintage tint' is using some degree of artistic license :lol: :lol: its very yellow :shock:

however, it was cheap, and feels nice enough to play until I can find a neck that matches either my 62 or 72 custom tele's but with bigger frets. and more importantly it lets me carry on with the build.

after much head scratching and idea storming, I have decided to finish the guitar by sticking fabric to it and lacquering over it. not only does this negate my almost certainly less than impressive wood painting skills, its also quicker and cheaper. and will give me a totally unique guitar. and I like doing things a bit funky.

strolled into the local fabric shop which was filled with old women - and smelled like it - and straight away noticed the colours of this fabric, I had to have it. a fiver got me enough to do about 3 guitars.

ive certainly got enough to do a matching tele :P :P :P

here is the fabric, and a very, very badly drawn idea of where the hardware will go, bearing in mind this guitar doesn't need a scratchplate.

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and also on the headstock

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fortunately the colour of the fabric helps to reduce the garishness of the neck colour. also the fabric on the headstock is purposely placed to leave me room for a custom logo that will actually be visible, mostly over the white part of the pattern.

some wont like it, im picturing it looking great. ive not decided which colour hardware to use yet, black or gold I think, im hoping gold will also help to mellow the neck colour down aswell. bridge is next to be ordered, than I can start building it.

im also thinking of fitting some Cabronita style pickups, which are gold anyway.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:14 pm
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moochy13 wrote:
I'm also thinking of fitting some Cabronita style pickups, which are good anyway.


Throw in a set of Fidelitrons on that bad guy and keep rockin', dude! :roll:

If you want more power with lots of aggressive bite and punch into the mix, you can't go wrong with a fiery pair of higher-output Powertrons.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:14 am
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Aspiring Musician
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so the bridge arrived after some help from the forum, a Wilkinson trem. very pleased with it so far, looks great, feels great, and looks comfortable to play. im digging the more modern look. I went with gold in the end, and first impressions up against the fabric are good.

Image

ive spotted the gold split post klusons im fitting, almost decided on pickups, already got some gold strap buttons. so just need to decide on what type of knobs to fit. do I go gold, or do I go for something else ?

unfortunately my car is broke at the moment so I cant get out down the shop to get wood primer or adhesive.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:57 am
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moochy13 wrote:
ive found a UK company making pickups which seem to have been well recieved, and they're at a price in line with what i want to put into this guitar.

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_032.htm


I'll have to check that out!

I am a pretty big fan of the Bare Knuckle Pickups. I've bought Black Dogs and Mules. Both are amazing and versatile.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 2:55 am
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I like your idea, very different! Are you going to wrap the whole thing in fabric, or just a 'veneer' on the front? It looks like it will be fiddly to wrap it. Killer pattern though - I've a body lying around that might be in for some airbrushing thanks to that!

As for the jack socket, I'd +1 the idea someone else suggested for an telecaster type socket on the edge. It will be much easier to do than routing for a strat-type plate will be.

Did the neck pocket filler hold? If not, if I were you I would splice a new bit of wood in there like Ceri suggested, particularly if the neck is going to be a snug fit in the socket. I think you'll be surprised how easy it is to do and I am convinced you would be happier with the results.

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:36 am
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bit of an update as i havnt really done anything until today, when i noticed maybe a bit of a problem.

the neck is in place as far as the screws go. scale is good. the pocket has a bit of a gap round the top, but it is snug in the bottom. this is something i will probably remedy when i eventually get a proper neck for it that isn't a dubious shade of 'vintage tint' :?

however im a bit concerned about the string spacing, my first impression was that it wa a bit close, but the more i think about it im starting to think its ok. theres about an 8th of an inch, maybe hair under between string and edge of neck.

bear in mind my strings are actually just fishing line and cotton thread. :lol: :lol: also the trussrod needs some adjustment to bring the headstock forwards. ive had the guitar side by side with my mim strat, and there is a difference but its absolutely minute, and i think partly optical illusion and because the neck is not set up with real strings.

expect some more parts questions to come. its xmas and i need to spend some money on something 8) 8)

im trying to post pictures but when i include them in my post i get a forum technical error screen come up :shock:


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 3:55 am
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Image

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only 3 photos allowed in one post ??


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:16 am
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i have a couple of questions about the electrics.

i guess i need humbuckers that fit with pickup rings that i need to drill the holes for ?

im looking at wiring kits with 500k pots, .22 caps. however im not sure what pots i need. the body is about 5-7mm thick where the holes are drilled for the pots to come through. i keep seeing lots of different lengths and it confuses me :lol:

whats better shielding paint or sticky back copper sheet ?

jack socket - there is no hole drilled for this yet, im not sure the best way to go about it. i need something that fits without me routing the body out like the 'cup' type on teles. this is my ja90 thinline, has the sort of thing im thinking of.

Image

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the space in the build guitar. the jack socket would be easiest to bring through in the usual place in the bottom corner, but would in interfere with the pot in the same area ?

Image


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 4:19 am
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my pickups turned up yesterday. made by a company in the UK called Iron Gear pickups, i read a lot of good reviews about them, including some guitar magazine reviews that were very impressive. for just under 70 quid posted for the matched pair of humbuckers i had to have a go. i evntually went for the 'Rolling Mill' humbuckers.

website is http://www.irongear.co.uk.

the pickups are actually purchased through a distributor, who impressed me greatly with the quickness of delivery over xmas. i ordered them on the 23rd, they turned up yesterday. if the pickups are good i certainly wont hesitate in putting them in any of my other guitars, my 72 custom tele is begging for a good bridge pup.......

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however having got the pickups, it made me realise theres no 'passage' for the pickup wires to run to the control cavity :shock: this is going to be probably my biggest problem to overcome i think, im not sure how im going to drill the 'tunnels' required with my limited amount of tools. i have to go from neck cavity to bridge cavity, then bridge cavity to control cavity.

Image

i have also ordered some gold split post kluson style tuners, a gold jack socket like one mentioned earlier in the thread. im still weighing up the electrics as its a bit of an unknown to me. also need to carve the heel to match the neckplate.


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