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Post by thetragichero on Apr 22, 2020 22:51:50 GMT -5
yup! so we've reached the point in quarantine where I've cut up an OLLLDDDDD hardwood cabinet door that was on some built ins I've removed, glued em together, and am gonna try to make a tele body with it. will be sorta on the thin side (inch and a half) but that's okay because this is on the heavy side. may have to ditch the super switch and fancy switching as i may not have enough control cavity depth this also might be a total failure but ya never know until you try, right?
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Post by sumgai on Apr 23, 2020 11:55:12 GMT -5
trag, Geez man, I would've suggested that you consider "chambering" the assembly, before assembling it. Lighten the overall weight a bit, but some folks think that it makes for a nice tone. Resonance and all that, ya know. But seriously, good luck. If you're half as meticulous with this as you are with your amp builds, then I have no doubt this will also turn out to be a thing of beauty, and a joy forever. sumgai
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 23, 2020 12:29:26 GMT -5
thought about chambering but with no access to a planer and not the flattest boards I'm on a good glue joint to keep them together if this works I've gotten permission from the boss to build another guitar since i have a killer mighty mite strat neck and a p90 i had wound for me that i could only sell for pennies on the dollar... so with the purchase of a tunematic bridge and some tuners I'd have the stuff on hand for something new and odd first build definitely tele or telemaster with no pickguard. I'm really liking the look of the fender coronado. maybe instead of pickup slanted like i have here I'll just have it middle bridge? thoughts?
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Post by sumgai on Apr 23, 2020 14:21:44 GMT -5
trag, I've always been an offset-waist player myself. It doesn't make much difference when standing up, but when you're sitting down, it's the difference between holding onto a pillow versus attempting to hold onto a squirming cat. At my age, (literally) sitting in at a jam session is more my style than prancing around a stage. You aren't a fan of paper-thin strings, so I'd hesitate to install the P90 slanchwise, straight across should do just fine. To maintain string spacing over the pole pieces, that's likely the only way it's going to fit anyway. (Assuming that P90 in question exactly duplicates the Gibson design in all respects, and assuming that your ToM bridge is meant for a Gibson spacing.) HTH sumgai
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 23, 2020 14:50:43 GMT -5
i think I'm definitely in on the telemaster. wife likes the firebird but I'm digging the simplicity of the coronado (bottom right) but having the p90 in between the bridge and middle positions (and parallel to the bridge... don't dig the slant look). asked one of the facebook groups I'm in and one guy said to make em all. my kinda folks
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 24, 2020 10:58:55 GMT -5
guyyyyssssss this might actually work keep it clamped for like 36 hours or so so it seems to be holding together why I've printed out and started build#2 before the tree is anyone's guess but I'm going for it
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 24, 2020 15:52:27 GMT -5
I'm using pretty much all of the wrong tools for the job but this is what i have submini bandsaw (great for cutting conduit, bolts, etc) is a lot less easier to use than your standard tabletop model but i will say it's performing admirably I've done a tiny bit of cleanup work/finer shaping with my trusty half inch chisel (just like my cooking knives it's a softer steel so while it doesn't hold an edge forever as long as a give it a pass or two on the whetstone every once in awhile it gets super sharp. one of the oldest tools i have, i purchased it to hack at the squier strat body that originally brought me to this forum to make room for the push pull pot), rasp, and spoke shave. there are a couple of oopsies but I'll just incorporate them into contours so they're a feature rather than a bug body as it stands right now with about six pounds. not bad
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 26, 2020 10:51:45 GMT -5
this was finished late last night but i wanted a picture in the sun. stripped down one of my favorite necks and used analine dye and waterbased poly to refinish and get that aged tint to it. I've never seen birdseye maple like this! not much work on the body yesterday (i promised the wife I'd spend Saturdays working on the house) but i got a chance to use the router to put a quick bevel on everything to help the shaping, and started on the forearm contour (router also showed me spots i need to even out on the sides).... figuring this out as i go I've decided to do a semi transparent wine red dye in the body. the sides will be opaque to hide the body filler. purchased a $10 tunenatic bridge and spent less than thirty bucks on some fender American tuners. besides figuring out jack mounting (tele electro socket cup or just the front of the body? i have a long bushing switchcraft jack that would work for that) and how to cover the control cavity rout (no clue, although i feel like i remember seeing somebody use a black plastic garbage can cut to size. maybe I'll use some of the scrap pickguards i have) okay that's all for now. more work today
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 28, 2020 20:45:33 GMT -5
cut the neck pocket today, figured out where the pickup and bridge will go. pickup will be roughly half an inch closer to the neck than stock almost done body shaping, just the finer stuff. waiting on bridge to get here before i do much more
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Post by thetragichero on Apr 30, 2020 18:46:52 GMT -5
while waiting for the tunematic bridge to arrive tomorrow (first time installing one so i shall wait until it's in my hands to drill) i have glued up another blank for my telemaster build
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Post by thetragichero on May 1, 2020 15:27:00 GMT -5
okay so I'm sure there are more scientific ways to align a tunematic bridge but i went with what i could figure out.... six strands of nylon twine as strings to align it neck pocket will need to go deeper and will need to be angled back so that there is proper downward pressure on the bridge, but now i can drill mounting holes for everything, do some pickup routing, rout the control cavity, and then start dying the body
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Post by thetragichero on May 1, 2020 19:14:10 GMT -5
okay bridge posts drilled, pickup routed out, control cavity drilled (just needs to be cleaned up), wires for pickup and bridge ground have their holes drilled. guess it's just some cleaning up of stuff and i can start dying
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Post by frets on May 2, 2020 8:32:57 GMT -5
Trag, The neck is absolutely beautiful and the grain on the body is quite nice. I want that neck!!
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Post by thetragichero on May 2, 2020 11:26:31 GMT -5
have to run errands and do some work around the house but this old tele guard should work for a control cavity cover. and bonus: already copper shielded! first two attempts at drilled the pickup-to-cavity wire hole came out the bottom so they're filled with wood glue and sawdust. I'm not super duper concerned about aesthetics back here we're on an acre and a quarter in unincorporated county land. lots of foliage, too much yard to cut. it's my in-laws' place that got to be too much to take care of for them. too much for us to take care of as everything is falling apart and the 60-70 year old septic system has needed to be replaced for at least a decade (which we were never told until after the toilets stopped flushing....). if i had less stuff I'd love to live in an rv
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Post by sumgai on May 2, 2020 15:28:10 GMT -5
... first two attempts at drilled the pickup-to-cavity wire hole came out the bottom so they're filled with wood glue and sawdust. I'm not super duper concerned about aesthetics back here trag, how is that you don't/didn't know that when the controls are accessed from the rear, then the wire hole in question is always drilled from the jack hole on up, with a very long drill bit? (Unlike one or more of those drawings you included a short while ago that have slots routed from the top, wherein the output jack is mounted on the pickguard itself.) Aesthetics aside, this is simply quicker and easier, since the jack hole is going to have be drilled out at some point anyway. HTH sumgai
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Post by thetragichero on May 2, 2020 15:44:19 GMT -5
used a long bit just at the wrong angle. twice. it'll be okay though. i preferred a miss on the back side to one on the front!
jack will be on the front of the body like an sg
i will use that technique (and drilling from the neck pocket for the neck pickup) on the tele though
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Post by thetragichero on May 2, 2020 15:45:08 GMT -5
also lol you said "jackhole"
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Post by thetragichero on May 3, 2020 12:55:09 GMT -5
dye sand back dye sand back .... and i have started working on its brother
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Post by thetragichero on May 3, 2020 16:06:43 GMT -5
this is one of those cool intermediate steps that is fun to document after dying a bunch, i filled the grain with two part epoxy (West Marine is supposed to have the best stuff but I'm still working off two 4oz bottles i purchased a year or so ago), and then sanded back again. the result is smoooooth and neat coloring. once i dye again and start hitting with clear coats i hope it gives it a 3d quality
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Post by solderburn on May 4, 2020 0:23:17 GMT -5
Great build! The pattern on the neck is extraordinary. This's going to be a super cool guitar, i'm sure.
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Post by thetragichero on May 6, 2020 0:15:30 GMT -5
I'm fairly content how this is looking. final clear coat because the compressor is out of air and 1am is not the time to run it. gonna try to finish sand and assemble tomorrow as i am recording a cover song for my old drummer and I'd like to get a track or two of single p90 to go with the b*m series strat. i never like to spray and hang vertical because it's so easy to get drips but this allowed me to finish in half the time. few drips i mostly mitigated but I'm happy with it
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Post by thetragichero on May 7, 2020 0:12:48 GMT -5
gotta touch up around the sides and i cut the control cavity cover backwards so I'll have to figure out something else. played it for a few hours and a dig it! brighter than my strat since i went 500k volume 250k tone with 47nf cap and actually found myself using the tone control which i never do still need to put strap buttons/strap locks on it
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Post by newey on May 7, 2020 5:17:50 GMT -5
That's a beauty, Tragic! And, I'd say completed in record time. Funny how weeks of quarantine can jump-start projects . . .
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Post by thetragichero on May 18, 2020 20:08:12 GMT -5
i have not abandoned this thread yet most of the shaping is done, including a huge forearm contour (never realized how much extra space is on a jazzmaster without the trem) need to drill pot holes and rout out cavity. I'm thinking 2v2t and a blade switch... either 3 way or 5 way super switch)
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Post by sumgai on May 18, 2020 20:36:29 GMT -5
trag, Do you perchance do builds for other folks? sumgai
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Post by thetragichero on May 18, 2020 21:05:46 GMT -5
i haven't yet. i figured I'd make learning mistakes on builds that I'll play regardless (I'm a function over form guy anyway). first one was to limit the band saw cuts perpendicular to the body (they're such a pain to fill in and blend with the edge when i go too far), and also to physically draw the center line and follow it and not just assume it's straight i have yet to figure out the string through holes since a body this big does not fit under my drill press. might have to consult with the old man about building a jig
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Post by sumgai on May 18, 2020 21:08:31 GMT -5
^^^ Very good. We'll stay in touch, trust me.
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Post by reTrEaD on May 19, 2020 12:19:57 GMT -5
i have yet to figure out the string through holes since a body this big does not fit under my drill press. might have to consult with the old man about building a jig Years ago, Craftsman had an attachment called a 'Portalign'. I'm sure other companies still have similar units. There are also blocks with a number of fixed bushings of various sizes that make it reasonably easy to drill holes that are perpendicular.
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Post by thetragichero on May 19, 2020 13:18:36 GMT -5
reTrEaD i have seen both of those and have considered picking up something like the second one next time I'm at the store
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Post by thetragichero on May 19, 2020 14:27:14 GMT -5
think i have decided on one volume and separate tones, partially for ease of use but also because i won't need as drastic treble cut on the neck as the bridge and this should allow more variation in the in between settings (also because i found 3 domed chrome knobs). time to drill some holes
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