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

[dubkitty]

got the Lead II fretboard done, much to my relief. seems not to have aggravated the existing reaction, which is still a bit bothersome. so that's another one done. if i want to be thorough i should do the Jazz Bass neck shim(s) which is relatively simple. then it's back to regular projects. this weekend would be the perfect time to unpack the soldering station and practice a bit. on deck: Jetstar painting, fine-tuning the Galaxiemaster pickguard template and working out the spring chamber, wiring the Esquire and M-77T.

[dubkitty]

i think the FJB is now about as good as it’s going to get without professional intervention. two shims allowed me to loosen the truss rod a bit…though it went most of the way back during the process, there’s still room to adjust it a bit. the action is now ~3 mm off the fingerboard, which isn’t marvelous but is about as good as i think i can expect with that long, long neck, and it doesn’t buzz anywhere. it’s reasonably comfortable for a fretless Jazz Bass, and i’ll leave it for awhile before adjusting it any more.

i got the switch tip for the Telecaster in the mail, but lost it. it’s OK, because i found a Tone Ninja tortoise tip that’s the nicest of the three i’ve seen. since i was being charged for shipping i got a set of compensated saddles for the Duo Sonic as well.

i think i’ve done enough for today. tomorrow, other stuff.

[dubkitty]

turns out that i let the truss rod on the JB way out when i put the low-tension flats on, so there was a ton of adjustment room. i got the neck quite a bit straighter and there’s still adjustment room. it’s almost comfortable to play now, which may be the best i can expect from a fretless bass with such a long, thin neck. it came out much better than i expected. sometime soon i’ll get out the Squier CV Mustang bass and optimize it, too.

[dubkitty]

after sittting for a bit i can take at least one shim out of the Jazz Bass neck. the action is now too low at the high end of the neck, the exact opposite of the original problem.

curiosity got the best of me and i got out the Mr.Base primer. as a test i used it on the Dremel dings on the Duo Sonic. it's perfect for my uses. it's apparently solvent-based acrylic, is nice and thick, and dries almost instantaneously. later today i'm going to try to sand down the primer with very careful use of 2000 grit to level the surface. after that i'll either try cobbling together a tint from the lacquer pens or order some Mr.Hobby paints to color-match. i'm not going to do any more nitro on the Jetstar because the time expended doesn't justify the results, and will definitely do Mr.Hobby tints for that.

parenthetically, when i had the neck off the JB i was astounded by how yellowed the paint is compared to its original shade. i remember when people used to say, back in the 70s, that poly finishes wouldn't color-age any more than they'd let the wood age. all i can say 50 years on is: LOL.

[dubkitty]

the Mr.Base does pretty much exactly what i wanted it to do, actually help fill the areas it’s used on. i didn’t want to do too much on the Duo Sonic because the satin faded Sonic Blue finish is so thin it’d scrub off with an alcohol sponge, so it’s not perfectly flat in the dings. it’s much better, though, not as deep or as obvious. you can’t see the bare wood dings across the room any more. i think i can come up with a tint from the Sonic Blue and Amber markers that’ll do, maybe with a bit of white if that’s available.

so tomorrow or Wednesday i’ll tape off the fingerboard edges and headstock and set Mr.Base on the neck. i’ll probably wait a day before doing the body…it’ll dry quickly enough that i could get it into one day, but there’s no point in rushing. i have high hopes for the results of 2 coats of primer and judicious sanding.

[dubkitty]

i got the two offset bodies from Charlie and they’re peculiar. one is a white blonde Telemaster with a six-saddle Tele bridge and a mini-humbucker already in the neck position. i think it’s made of that ungodly heavy ash like Peavey used for their early basses and guitars, and is the heaviest body i’ve ever seen, quite possibly seven pounds or more by itself. to make it useable i’d have to rout out the areas under the pickguard, and it’d probably still be a boat anchor.

as far as i can tell the other is a black Jaguar/Mustang-sized body with a cheap JM trem. i could be wrong, though, because the bridge pickup rout has indents for the tabs on JM pickup covers. it’s a lot more my speed than the Telemaster, but probably doesn’t do a thing for the baritone project. these will probably get back-burnered until some use for them comes up.

sorry for the crappy office lighting.

[Blackened Soul]

Not saying it’s a good idea or I would have already done this to my lucite mockingbird body but.. I’ve always wanted to lighten a guitar body by “drilling” a 3”wide hole in the bass bout kinda where the contour is

[dubkitty]

it also occurred to me that if i knew someone with a router i could have them take whole areas out from the back like was done to the sparkly blue DeArmond M-75T upthread and cover the back with a plate of pickguard material. but i don’t know any woodworkers. so god only knows when i’ll do something with it. i’ve never been interested in Telemasters, but this thing has a vibe, an identity in there somewhere.

upon examination the black body does appear to be 25.5” scale, but it’s visibly smaller than the Jazzmaster bodies i have here. this can be a positive because smaller bodies are always ergonomically better for little me. i’ll have to think about what kind of non-redundant pickups i might use and what might work sonically and aesthetically with the body. my perverse little brain wants something more peculiar, a less predictable choice.

i have no idea why there are two flat blocks screwed into the bathtub rout. probably to support some kind of more shallow pickup.

[dubkitty]

like this.

[Blackened Soul]

Technically that is not hard to do.. just very time consuming and messy… that looks like it was started free hand.. so what you do is.. get a router with a 2 or 3 straight cut bits a different lengths, draw your hole shapes with a sharpie, set the bit depth about 1/2”, remove all the wood in your shapes, from here on you would use a bit with a top bearing, set the depth a bit deeper that the first pass using what you already routed as your “template”, repeat until you reach required depth… note, it is not a fun job.

Personally I wouldn’t do it that way… I’d get a 2” wide drill bit and use a drill press a do individual holes.. kind of like what Billy G has his guy do with the honeycomb pattern..

On the other hand if I was building from scratch I think the way they chambered the Gibson Chet Atkins acoustic electrics were cool, they chambered in the same pattern as the braces on a acoustic top.. I think the channels were about an inch wide..

[dubkitty]

i weighed the white Telemaster body and it’s 7.2 pounds. granted the bridge and pickup add weight, but only a few tenths. i have guitars heavier than the 9.5 or so it’d probably weigh with a maple neck, but it’s so concentrated in the back half of the body that it’s hard to imagine it being very comfortable to hold up. if i wind up with a spare neck i’ll probably try something, but the most likely fate is to be sold off unless the sound blows me away when it’s assembled. lacking a router or any other kind of serious power tools i probably won’t do anything with the weight relief. i’m not drilling 300 1/4” holes with a battery hand drill.

upon inquiry with the offset boffins on Facebook, it appears the black body is a Xaviere from GFS. which means it’s decent wood, but makes it less likely i can find a drop-in pickguard unless GFS has ones adapted to that specific body design. not a huge deal to do another tracing and mail it to Ohio, but i’m trying to make this shit easier on myself.

[dubkitty]

i discovered some money on a prepaid card where i get paid for certain labor i’d forgotten was there. rather than spend all of it, i spent $35 to get the controls stuff for the Telecaster i don’t already have: the Göldo control plate drilled for a Gibson-style toggle switch and two audio taper 500k pots. i have jacks, and the rather wonderful tortoiseshell knobs and switch tip are waiting. all that remains now are the pickups, which i’ll order in a couple of weeks.

the 250k D-shaft pot for the Galaxiemaster volume control
came in, and the RCA knobs fit perfectly. now i need to file down the switch posts on the rotaries so they also fit. presumably after swaddling them in masking tape to keep out aluminum dust, after which i’ll need to cut down the knob shafts. all the stuff is here to wire the GM too, but i still need to do the pickguard template before putting a harness together. i also haven’t done the spring chamber thing.

the Supro should be cleared to go next week. i may get a Chet Atkins wire arm for the Bigsby, but need to measure to see if the bend actually creates useful control clearances.

i don’t see doing anything with the offset bodies for now.

having been impressed with the compensated saddles on the Esquire i ordered a set for the Duo-Sonic which are similarly effective. i need to file a notch for the low E string because it’s still too high with the saddle decked. on the fence about trying to color match the now-primed Dremel dings because there isn’t a lot of room to work with the finish.

and after a fair bit of fiddling the fretless Jazz Bass is now playing better than it ever has. i did not expect such a good result.

that’s it for the moment. having cleared Customs, the Greco Byrdland is somewhere between here and Louisville in the arms of UPS, with no due date. i’m rather pissed.

[dubkitty]

it occurred to me that if i got a whole CVJM i’m watching it’s only $40 more than a loaded body and i can use the extra neck on one of Charlie’s bodies. the Telemaster would make the most sense since it appears to be complete other than a neck and a bridge pickup, but it’s gonna be Garcia/Irwin heavy and i’m really not aesthetically into Telemasters. i might like it better with a JM headstock. if it’s together and sounds great we’ll see.

[dubkitty]

it also occurred to me that the black Xaviere body would work with WRHBs, and since the body was free and it’ll take any JM neck a WRHB guitar could be much more affordable. and i really would like a tremolo with that order. if i go totally wild i could do 3 WRHBs, but i think i’ll wait to see if i use the center pickup on the Galaxiemaster first. no sense in ordering an expensive pickup i won’t play through. so i need to research which WRHBs are 1.) good and 2.) affordable. once again the pickguard will probably be a pain in the ass…i need to check my JM pickguard template and see what alterations to the outline will be needed. we’re just moving forward in leaps and bounds here.

[dubkitty]

well, things have been zipping along since last we spoke. i finished sanding the fingerboard on the baritone neck and got the basics assembled. i sanded the neck and headstock down to 1500 and the satiny neck feel was so nice that i decided to stop there. in the interests of getting this shit done i only did the fingerboard with 1000 grit and then buffed strenuously with lemon oil and a rather coarse terrycloth dish towel. it’s not as nice as the boards i did down to 2000, but it’s acceptable.

the tailpiece and tuners are really impressive, very solin stuff. all the basic bits are here now except the back pickup which is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. i ordered a 12” long 1/4” drill bit from StewMac to make holes to connect the pickup and a ground wire for the tailpiece to the control cavity.

i have wiring ideas, but i don’t feel like going into them at the moment. i’m really happy with how it’s coming along.