Dub's Wacky Project Guitars Thread--we're baaaaaack

[dubkitty]

i decided to go back to .010s on the Hopf. the .011s are a bit stiff on the not-that-short scale and lost a lot of high end comparatively. while i was changing strings i went in and taped off some spots where the wiring was dodgy because i was getting annoying little ground-fault POPs randomly. i also took out the springs on the treble side of the bridge pickup, which were so packed in that i couldn't raise the pickup any more, and replaced them with plastic tubing a la the way folks do Strat pickups. this allowed me to raise the treble end of the pickup and back the polepieces down more into the body of the pickup, which i believe is better for preventing noise. i tried to use a different washer in the tremolo, but its inside diameter was too small to fit over the collet. and that really is it. i suppose if i was super picky i could rewire the pickup switch which i did backwards so the first position from OFF is the bridge pickup, but i mostly play the bridge pickup anyway so it's a functional mistake. hopefully i can get the odd synth-and-606 loop recorded so i can move on to the Kondor.

[dubkitty]

i want to note for the record that though metal pickguards are cool and durable, the wiring needs to be done better than the standard German 60s practice. i had to tape off wires with only enamel insulation on them that had flaked away. i understand why they did it--it's hard to get wiring to fit around the footprints of large rotary switches--and i suppose they could get away with it in places wiring never gets handled after construction, e.g. in measuring equipment or television sets. and to be fair, this guitar was built way before the era of hog-wild user modifications. but still. come on, guys.

[dubkitty]

way off on a back corner of my mind is a second Hopf Twisty husk off eBay, complete except for the pickups, volume pot, and bridge. its pickguard is routed for large pickups; i've seen Twistys online with similar pickups. they appear to be PAF-sized with a kind of notched blade for a polepiece that has lower areas between the strings. i've seen exactly one of those pickups for sale used in the last 20 years.

assuming that it needs less help that my current Twisty, what in the heck would i do with it? the Hofner pickups are going in the Galaxiemaster, i'm not sure i like the Simeto single-coils from the Musima project enough to devote a guitar to them, and i already have multiple P-90 guitars so the Epi ones in the parts box would be irrelevant. i don't really know that i need another guitar in this format; if i was to do something with it it'd probably be in altered tunings because the 20-fret fingerboard is a real hindrance when you want to play higher than the guitar wants you to. i don't know how suitable it would be for any of the pickups i still want/need. maybe gold foils. the repro Davoli Wandre pickups Goldo sells to Eastwood for their Wandre Soloist are fantastic, but i have my eye on an Eastwood one which you never see used (because i guess either people love 'em or nobody buys them) so that'd be coals to Newcastle. this Twisty has been online for ages, so i feel no compunction to act on it.

(this is not the eBay guitar)

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[dubkitty]

the Hopf still needs a bit of tinkering but i really don’t feel like going back in there today so i got out the Kondor. i pulled the pickguard to see why it wouldn’t lay flat and concluded that it’s because the guard has been bent enough in the last 60 years that it has a generally wavy profile and isn’t flush in other spots. so i screwed it back together and stopped for a rest. next thing is clearcoating the headstock to secure the condor sticker i found on Etsy. i plan a practice session where i experiment with different applicators—i have regular brushes, foam brushes, and maybe others. i’ll see what gives the nicest flat surface result. i figure that to keep dust off while it dries i’ll lay it flat with a shoebox or other cardboard container over it so dust can’t settle. remains to be seen when the headstock will be done. tomorrow is possible, but i was sick all week and am not at 100% at all. last will be sanding the damaged body edges and using the StewMac black lacquer marker.

my plans for the Hopf involve taking the tremolo out again and using a lock washer and/or loctite so the bar doesn’t revert to sloppy after you use it a few times. i’m also still getting random POPs from the wiring. i narrowed it down to the treble pickup, which has been a problem locus throughout. if i have to rewire that pickup’s entire connection i will, but i’d prefer a less drastic solution.

i was prepared to be all mopey about how the Hopf isn’t done to my satisfaction, but it struck me when i got the Kondor out that i’ve been working on it for over a decade. so this isn’t THAT bad.

[dubkitty]

went through the Hopf one more time and i think i got the remaining issues sorted. i tightened up the tremolo collet and put blue threadlocker on the nut. now the bar goes exactly where i point it and bloody well stays there. i'm really pleased because i hate floppy tremolo arms. then it was time to get to the bottom of the electrical things. first i vacuumed everything with the big household vacuum cleaner...there was a lot of aluminum dust generated by the pickguard mods and some probably got into the works. then i hunted down one more wire with deteriorated enamel insulation and taped it off. put it back together and no more pops. so i got to actually jam out with it for awhile Sunday. the pickups are snappy, kind of like a less trebly Dynasonic. perhaps the similarity is due to the huge magnet polepieces. i love the tone switch options, but the pickups sound best with it bypassed. so it should slot into the lineup somewhere between the Gretsch Dyna/2000 guitars and the DeArmond 2Ks in the sparkly blue guitar. the tone switch options mean it should cover territory the others don't.

so this is now down to adjusting string height etc. so i'm moving on to the Kondor. i already resolved the non-seating pickguard thing so it's all cosmetics from here. first thing will be to use the black lacquer marker on the edges of the headstock face where it's been scraped so there's a consistent edge. then i'll figure out which of the variety of nylon and foam paintbrushes will work best with the consistency of the clearcoat. one coat, then 24 hours hibernating with a cardboard box over the headstock to keep dust off. when that dries i'll consider if it needs a second coat. i don't particularly want to get into polishing it afterwards for fear of wrecking the sticker, but we'll see. starting on that either today or tomorrow. then i'll sand the damaged areas on the edges of the body and lacquer marker over them. a test without sanding turned out well enough that i want to do it right. that's really all there is to do with this guitar. whoopee.

[dubkitty]

had a go at the ragged edges of the peghead. it looks a bit blotchy in spots, but should settle out when it dries with perhaps a dab of polishing compound.

i'm not doing the areas around the tuner holes because they'll be covered by the washers. and as ever i'm not going for perfection, just trying to make it look nicer.

meanwhile, the Hopf is now settling in and acting like a coherent instrument. i lowered the bridge a fair bit, improving the action substantially. i think the neck is accustomed to string pull now, making it easier to get decent action. it could still come down a bit more, but i think it's best to let it sit overnight and acclimate to the current settings.

it strikes me that the other Hopf husk on eBay would be a hilarious home for CuNiFe WRHBs, but i think i'll take the path of least resistance and have them in a Tele instead.

[dubkitty]

i decided the best course would be to coat only the sticker rather than doing the entire face, which is in decent enough shape. water-based poly is nice to work with because everything rinses off in the kitchen sink. i went slightly beyond the edge of the sticker hoping that'll help keep the edges from peeling up.

the instructions say to let it dry for 2 to 3 hours. in my world that means "come back tomorrow." the guitar is currently laying on the coffee table with a cardboard box over the headstock to keep dust off while it dries. when i get home from Becky's tomorrow i'll see if i think this is sufficient. i basically just want to be able to clean the headstock without fucking up the sticker. i like that the clearcoat has darkened and deepened the image a bit, which makes it stand out more.

the edge of the headstock has been taped so it's ready for a full coat on the face if i decide that's needed. i won't do any more painting than i'm forced to do.

[dubkitty]

for the record, this is the Hopf Twisty husk that’s been sitting on eBay forever. lead me not into etc. etc.

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[dubkitty]

as the Hopf gets more properly adjusted, it gains presence. when i first had it assembled i was a little disappointed that the pickups weren't quite as snappy as i've heard in demos in various German guitars. adjusting the action and turning the amp past 2 has it barking like a medium-sized dog--say, a border collie--and it seems like it'll fit in well in my Odd Singlecoil Pickups selection. they're more in the Dynasonic ballpark than they are like a P-90; perhaps the large magnetized polepieces contribute to the similarity. but they have a unique sort of SNAP on the attack that puts it vaguely in the neighborhood of the DeArmond 2Ks in the blue sparkly DeArmond and/or the Davoli repro pickups in the Eastwood Wandre Soloist i'm waiting on. the more i dial it in, the better it gets.

[dubkitty]

i think the sticker is good to go with one coat of poly, so i reglued the nut and put the tuners back in. i’m going to let it sit for a minute and decide whether to forge ahead with the body fixes.