Post by fobits on Jun 14, 2006 18:42:40 GMT -5
I finally got my guitar back together and took some pictures of it.
The photos aren't very good. In order to show any detail on a black-on-black guitar, the brightness had to be cranked up until every smudge and reflection sticks out like a sore thumb. You'll have to take my word that it looks a lot better in real life.
It's a Beringer, which fortified my courage. I wouldn't have the nerve to practice my amateur hacking on an expensive guitar.
This is mostly the fault of GuitarFetish.com. The original plan wasn't nearly so ambitious. Then I visited their site and saw a pair of full-sized gold humbuckers at an amazingly low price. Checking further I saw a gold-colored solid bridge. Hummmm. Big gold humbuckers and a gold bridge on an all-black guitar? That might look pretty sharp.
By far the hardest part of the job was mounting the bridge, which has already been the subject of a couple of threads here. By the time the $14 bridge was mounted, it had cost more in tools and materials than the whole guitar had cost originally, with an amplifier and gig bag thrown in. That's not to mention a few more gray hairs.
Oh, well. It was an interesting learning experience, and now I have a router and some bits to play with in the future.
In keeping with the all-black theme, the pickguard was extended downward and backward to cover the output jack cavity. As an added bonus, the pickguard covers most of the plug under the bridge.
The jack is now tucked away on the rear edge, held in a black (naturally) curved plate.
There are some cosmetic problems, all my own fault, and one that affects the playability.
The neck pickup, for some unknown reason, doesn't want to stay level. The edge toward the neck tilts up and the opposite side tilts down. It's easy to push it back level, but it doesn't stay there for long.
It has a bit more clearance around it than necessary, but that shouldn't cause it to tilt. I suspect that I cut the leads too short, and they are pulling on it, but the only way to find out is to take it apart again.
All in all, considering that it was my first effort, I'm quite pleased with the appearance. Depending on your tastes, I've got the most elegant Beringer in town.
It's wired as a Big Fat Ten, as shown in the schematics section. After I've gotten some playing time on it, I'll give an evaluation of the switching scheme. All of the combinations work, but position #2 (outer coils) and #4 (inner coils) sound almost identical. The next time it comes apart (which probably won't be long), I'll swap one of those for something more distinctive, probably an oop combination.
Frank
The photos aren't very good. In order to show any detail on a black-on-black guitar, the brightness had to be cranked up until every smudge and reflection sticks out like a sore thumb. You'll have to take my word that it looks a lot better in real life.
It's a Beringer, which fortified my courage. I wouldn't have the nerve to practice my amateur hacking on an expensive guitar.
This is mostly the fault of GuitarFetish.com. The original plan wasn't nearly so ambitious. Then I visited their site and saw a pair of full-sized gold humbuckers at an amazingly low price. Checking further I saw a gold-colored solid bridge. Hummmm. Big gold humbuckers and a gold bridge on an all-black guitar? That might look pretty sharp.
By far the hardest part of the job was mounting the bridge, which has already been the subject of a couple of threads here. By the time the $14 bridge was mounted, it had cost more in tools and materials than the whole guitar had cost originally, with an amplifier and gig bag thrown in. That's not to mention a few more gray hairs.
Oh, well. It was an interesting learning experience, and now I have a router and some bits to play with in the future.
In keeping with the all-black theme, the pickguard was extended downward and backward to cover the output jack cavity. As an added bonus, the pickguard covers most of the plug under the bridge.
The jack is now tucked away on the rear edge, held in a black (naturally) curved plate.
There are some cosmetic problems, all my own fault, and one that affects the playability.
The neck pickup, for some unknown reason, doesn't want to stay level. The edge toward the neck tilts up and the opposite side tilts down. It's easy to push it back level, but it doesn't stay there for long.
It has a bit more clearance around it than necessary, but that shouldn't cause it to tilt. I suspect that I cut the leads too short, and they are pulling on it, but the only way to find out is to take it apart again.
All in all, considering that it was my first effort, I'm quite pleased with the appearance. Depending on your tastes, I've got the most elegant Beringer in town.
It's wired as a Big Fat Ten, as shown in the schematics section. After I've gotten some playing time on it, I'll give an evaluation of the switching scheme. All of the combinations work, but position #2 (outer coils) and #4 (inner coils) sound almost identical. The next time it comes apart (which probably won't be long), I'll swap one of those for something more distinctive, probably an oop combination.
Frank