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

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

Just wanted to toss in: hope all is well after the cataract work.

[dubkitty]

it’s going OK. at first my vision in the fixed right eye was hazy, but that cleared up and i seem to be healing well. what’s really strange is comparing the vision in the fixed/un-fixed eyes…the new one is clear with a slight bluish tinge that’s probably just me seeing normal light, while the un-fixed eye is dimmer and has a brown tint as if it was coated with cigarette smoke residue or using a sepiatone filter. i had no idea my vision was that fucked until yesterday. the other eye gets done in a week and a half.

i was deathly ill in hospitals for much of my first 2 years of life; i don’t remember anything, but it left me with a visceral fear of doctors, hospitals, and anything medical. when i go to visit Becky when she’s in the hospital i always have to take a moment to tell myself it’s OK before i go in. accordingly i was fucking terrified when i went for the procedure and wound up in an ugly depressive episode that took a couple of days to work through. i won’t be scared when they do the other one, not only from experience but because they ply you
with propofol, Michael Jackson’s sleep drug of choice. i don’t remember a thing from the procedure though they said i wouldn’t fall asleep. still, i’ll be glad when everything’s done…i have so many medical appointments in the next month and a half that it boggles my mind.

[dubkitty]

i managed to squeeze the Firebird pickups into the M-77T’s routs, but i’m going to have to take them back out and do some artful work with one of the thinner StewMac chisels because the tabs the adjustment screws go into are about 1-2 mm too wide and bind up against the sides of the cavity. they’re otherwise OK…the screw holes from the factory DeArmond 2K pickups are slightly closer together than the ones in the metal Firebird rings, but the mounting screws work with a bit of coaxing. i managed to find exactly 8 matching screws for the pickup rings that fit the covers and screw holes in the parts box. the metal rings were flat when i got them, but a bit of bending helped the screws to nail it down to fit the slightly curved top.

i’m probably going to replace the switch, which is a weird thing with the guts inside a rectangular can and confusing terminals. i have multiple normal selector switches to swap in.

i have the #6 washers to shim the DeArmsby, but need to get the pickup mounts sorted before putting strings on. i should have everything sorted tomorrow, and will order a M-77T pickguard from Pickguardian with the pickup cutouts a couple of millimeters deeper to accommodate the pickup height adjustment screws. i’m getting a clear guard because a black guard would be visually dull and just disappear into the body color while the clear guard will sparkle around the rounded edges.

so we’re within pissing distance of having this one done. i have to see what my finances are like when i get paid next week to see what parts i can afford. the next purchase i want to do is a Telecaster neck that’s exactly what i want for my Tele with the Gemini pickups: mahogany with rosewood board, carbon fiber reinforcing rods, and a wheel truss rod adjuster at the high end of the fingerboard. i’ve been watching it for weeks and don’t want it to get away. if i’m absolutely rolling in dough i’ll also order the Bigsby pickups for the Supro, but that’s likely to take another month. i might get the B3 for the Double Jet instead which would let me move ahead with it. we’ll see. i’d better get whatever i can before the bills from the cataract surgeries come in because i’m going to get absolutely clobbered before i reach the health insurance deductible for the benefits year that ends October 1. after the Supro and Double Jet are done it’ll be Galaxiemaster time…since it has a million small parts and circuits to piece together the acquisitions will be small and progress gradual.