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Post by ashcatlt on Jun 16, 2011 11:04:19 GMT -5
It started out looking like this: We routed for the middle pickup, extended the control cavity, and cut the pickguard and new control plate from mirrored pickguard stock and now it looks like this: Can't really see it in these pics, but things are just a little rough. I'm happy enough with it, though. For discussion of the wiring see this thread.
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Post by sumgai on Jun 16, 2011 11:32:57 GMT -5
ash, Looks nice from this angle, despite your warnings. One thing that might be of interest to newer members here.... did you use a template to chop out the Middle pup's cavity? If so, did you take pictures, or could you take a pic of the template itself, even though it's too late for this particular guitar? I have a feeling that some folks would be better able to "connect the dots" with a real-life example like I'm suggesting. Now if you didn't use a template, you just butchered it all while in a haze, then perhaps a snapshot of the haze-inducing lubricant might work for them too! Still, even without the dirty-work images, this project gets my Squeal Of Approval. Solid +1, no doobt aboot it. sumgai
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Post by cynical1 on Jun 16, 2011 11:46:32 GMT -5
Well, for a template on a pickguard like this one you could use the Tele bridge, a top bearing router bit and few 1" boards with some bar clamps...but I like the mirrored pickguard...and who's gonna notice past 10' anyway.
I'm sure the people in the first row will love the mirrored pickguard, too, during the laser light show...
And +1 for getting all that stuff inside that little cavity.
A very nice functional and aesthetic modification.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by sumgai on Jun 16, 2011 13:21:07 GMT -5
c1, Well, for a template on a pickguard like this one you could use the Tele bridge, a top bearing router bit and few 1" boards with some bar clamps... Yes, but I'm interested in what ash actually did use, not just what someone could use. I trust you're cool with that....
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Post by ashcatlt on Jun 16, 2011 13:50:54 GMT -5
I have answers and illustrations, but I'm at the zoo right now. Might be till after bedtime before I can post.
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Post by sumgai on Jun 16, 2011 19:18:31 GMT -5
I have answers and illustrations, but I'm at the zoo right now. Might be till after bedtime before I can post. So that would be "Bedtime for Bonzo", yes? ;D
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Post by ashcatlt on Jun 16, 2011 22:39:05 GMT -5
Actually, it would be bedtime for Alebane and Argoblast. Bonzo don't come around here much no more. So I took the original pickguard off the guitar, removed the neck pickup, and carefully traced it onto a piece of poster board. I traced around the neck pickup's hole and filled in all the screw holes. Then I went to my Strat and measured the distance between the pickup mounting screws for the neck and middle pickups. On my template I first drew a line between the screw holes for the neck pickup, then drew a line perpendicular to the midpoint of that last. I probably should have used my geometric constructions, but I don't have a reliable compass, so I used a ruler and square. This got me to the center of where the middle pickup needed to be. I measured the pickup itself and the holes I'd butchered into my mini- and full-sized strats to get an idea of how big the actual hole would need to be, and where to place the screw holes and drew it out on the poster board. Then I cut it out with an Xacto knife and it ended up looking like this: Unfortunately, after tracing around the outside of the the pickguard to create the template, and then tracing around the template to transfer to the backside of the pickguard stock, it was a couple of pencil widths bigger than it had started out. This was a bit of an issue in the spots where the original was tight to begin with - the neck and bridge areas, the spot where the control cover fits, and the hole for the neck pickup. A couple test fits and a bit of patience was all it really took to fix it. The area around the neck pickup ended up a bit weird. You can't really see it from more than a couple feet away, but I'm thinking about getting a low-profile black pickup ring to cover that. I figure it might actually look better if the chrome pickup was set off just a bit from the mirrored pickguard. For the control cavity and cover I carefully measured the original parts, then looked up the data sheets for the switches I was going to use, then laid it out in CorelDraw and came up with this: I printed and cut out two of these. The outside line is the control cover, with the crosses showing where to drill the holes. The inside line is for the cavity, showing what we needed to route out. As you can see, that's very tight. I made sure to drill all the holes a size or two bigger than necessary, to give myself some wiggle room. Also, it turned out since the rotaries aren't actually ovals, and are a bit deeper than the toggles, that I could line the rotaries up along the long axis, rather than skewed as shown, and rotate the toggles 90 degrees so that they throw neck-to-bridge rather than up and down. This makes the toggles a little tough to manipulate, but buys precious extra space in the cavity. I still had to be fairly liberal with the electrical tape to keep things from shorting to the grounded foil inside the cavity! The pics above don't really show it, but the control cover bulges outward in the middle because there's so much damn wire in underneath the switches. I'm thinking of adding a screw on either side toward the middle to hold that down. These will have to be off the side of the control plate, though, just overlapping enough for the heads to catch and hold it down. That'll mean that the screw threads are showing for the depth of the control plate itself, so I'll have to figure out some kind of spacer there... Oh! For the actual route for the middle pickup I measured the pickup itself, and marked through the template where the screw holes were to give a center line. It didn't have to be perfect, since there's a pickguard covering that area. It just needed to be at least big enough, and we made it a bit bigger than completely necessary just to be safe. So I don't know how much anybody will benefit from this, but we learned a lot in the process. I've got four more guitars to do now. By the time we're done we should be experts. I say we because I really need to give most of the credit to my friend Luke, who has logged in here once or twice as sanidar. I did all the measuring, but he did most of the cutting!
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sanidar
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 2
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Post by sanidar on Jun 17, 2011 12:28:28 GMT -5
Had a blast doing the work with Ash! Been trying to take steps twards building a custom bass, and ash's custom guitar project got my hands dirtier than they had been so far! A few more templates and measurements and we'll start a from scratch build.
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Post by sumgai on Jun 17, 2011 13:22:12 GMT -5
Had a blast doing the work with Ash! Been trying to take steps twards building a custom bass, and ash's custom guitar project got my hands dirtier than they had been so far! A few more templates and measurements and we'll start a from scratch build. Famous last words! ;D And anyone who can keep up with ash is welcome here in the NutzHouse! sumgai
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Post by ashcatlt on Jun 17, 2011 13:25:33 GMT -5
Like I said, we've got 4 more pickguards to do, plus 2 basses to refinish. Then there's the lap steel. First, though, we MUST get your upright together! Like, this week if possible.
Oh, then there's my booster pedal and the summing mixer!
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Post by Yew on Jun 17, 2011 15:12:24 GMT -5
One day we need to do a NUTz camp, where we start the week with our wood/starter guirar(s) and come out with all/some of our projects finished.
Currently I have frankenstrat, a Epiphoney-gretschy hybrid (that might actually happen) a re-pickuped denelectro, and building some kind of pedal(s) Of course, Then I would need a rack to store these axes in, and maybe a home studio, then maybe a Bass, amp, and bass mic. Then a Drum mic set. somene to teach me how to tune drums. Then new strings/Skins and apolish for all those instruments, then a vocal mic, and singing lessons. Then I would just need 3 clones of myself to give me a band.
Or maybe make the clones first to help me acheive the earlier goals?
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Post by ashcatlt on Jun 17, 2011 18:13:34 GMT -5
As far as I'm concerned the right way to tune drums - especially in a home studio - is to get something like this: and something like this: If you must, though, try this.
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Post by lpf3 on Jun 17, 2011 19:13:59 GMT -5
Looks like you guys did a great job, Ash. This happens to me a lot, actually I often leave the line so I don't end up cutting too much. FYI- if you just need to sand away a pencil width or so, steal your wife's nail files for sanding sticks. They work great. And thanks for posting the link to the geometric constructions- I can really use that. -lpf3
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