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Pointy Stick


Muzz

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Go for it, at that price how could you not.

Exactly what I was thinking! One problem, though. I've always had problems with guitars that are black and they are cheap. It's a project anyway, so who gives!?

Yep, I agree, go for it, all your bad luck with black guitars has been used up B) so you will be fine for now on. Black guitars are a necessity of life. If you want't to use the body for tracing out a body shape, block of wood with a hole drilled in it works for that too it's a very versatile invention.

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Although, I have found, guitar building is so much more fun when you don't trace a body shape and draw your own, even if it is not hugely original.

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I had a terrific day today, but only squeezed in about 20 mins of woodwork on a humbucker template, thanks http://www.flatearthguitars.com if you haven't checked out their site do yourself a favour, fantastic guitars, and helpful files like a humbucker routing diagram

Does anyone else, remember their guitar making epiphany, you know the moment when you thought, *%^& me, I think I can make a guitar :D mine was just after finding Jon Fisher's tutorial How to build a Les Paul the hard way

Must order my stain tomorrow, and a shorter router bit, now I am off to Avengers thread to check out his twins :D

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I drilled the middle out of 10 mm dowels to serve as post holders, when the real ones go in, it's going to be a one way journey.

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and strung the guitar up with fishing line to check the levels, I can not stand bridges sitting way up in the air,

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I like the strings to be just off the frets in the lowest position. This allows you to easily to get to a good action, for me thats 2 mm in between the 12th fret and the string above it.

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Everything looks OK

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Enjoying your thread. Just thought I'd add a +1 to the WSC pickups that were mentioned many pages ago. I had one that was louder/better than my Dimarzio SuperD, very nice for the $20 I paid for it.

Fantastic, wow you got a bargain, I like the way they get the Zack squeal thing going without using a tiny transistor, battery powered, preamp :D

Making the humbucker template.

Holes

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Hack

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Route along edges

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Time to tool up this week, my shorter pattern following router bits arrived, so I don't have to make such thick templates

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And I was sick of burning rubber going up to the hardware store every time I discovered I needed a drill bit I didn't have, I started making grunting noises like Tim the toolman when I saw this

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One of the next jobs is to make the scratchplate, my blank canvas on top of one of my other projects

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a Woo Sung Chorus humbucker, find one of these and find out what your tubes can do when they are serviced properly :D

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It's supposed to be raining this weekend, good weather for a bit of Resident Evil Dead Aim with the light gun and some progress on the pointy stick.

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Those router bits look a bit of alright. Did you source them in Aus?

Oh, excellent looking template. I wanna see that hole in the guitar though! Chop chop. :-)

Yes, I tried the bigger one yesterday, it went well. It took ages to find a source in :D I thought I was going to have to send of OS, but then I found www.mcjing.com.au

I put my order in Sunday, bits arrived Tuesday B) happiness

I'm going to chop holes in the scratchplate first for the pickups, made a start with the design

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I was feeling good about that until I realised I was dreaming, that is never going to fit on the blank :D

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I've got a little bit of shortening to do on the tail, and I have to take a sliver off the trem template where the tuners are.

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I printed out a template on clear sticky plastic to help align the template for the trem.

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and routed down 5.5 mm all round. Then clamped an offcut of ash to stop the router going onto the post holder shelf and routed the rest down to 12 mm. The block hits wood before it reaches that depth so no point routing any deeper.

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Tested the fit, all OK

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next step make the scratch plate template

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oh Beware Muzz of the cheap drillbits! My experience has taught me that cheap tools end up costing me alot more heartache than pinching a penny, anyway Goodluck!

Oh yeah and the build looks great mate!

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oh Beware Muzz of the cheap drillbits! My experience has taught me that cheap tools end up costing me alot more heartache than pinching a penny, anyway Goodluck!

Oh yeah and the build looks great mate!

So right, I have had a cheap masonry drill bit turn into a pretzel when I was drilling into a wall, matching the quality of the hardware with what you expect from it is an art.

I am looking forward to trying out my stains and choosing a colour, they arrived in B) and I should get them tomorrow :D

Thats a really clean route! Better than I could do, probably. Haven't used a router yet. Is it hard?

Thanks, and no, to quote Our Souls, if I can do it, anyone can (he wasn't talking about me when he said that B)) I hope I have shown enough detail in the pictures to give some tips. If you take your time and make good templates and you just route out a thin layer at a time the odds will be on your side. Most of the tear outs you see are when people set the router bit too low and try and take out too much wood in one go. Your router should glide over the job like a ouija board on Halloween's day, if it is shuddering and grinding, stop and adjust the depth. And get a router that has a dust extractor, you do not want to be cleaning up after one that doesn't have one. But above all, give the router lots of respect, it spins at 22, 000 rpm :D be safe.

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good solid advice. :D

As for drill bits - Rodman bits have no equal in my eyes. One bit can do steel , masonry , GLASS , tile and more. I absolutely love them , too bad I only have them at work and not home where I build.......... :D

Wow, glass is something I have never drilled into before, I must check those drill bits out.

My stains arrived this week

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I'll try them out soon.

I made a template for the single coil, I used this pic as a guide

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For the edges, I drilled an 18 mm hole with a spade bit in mdf and cut the piece in half

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Positioned edges and routed out the shape

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I got a start on the scratchplate template and the plate itself. Straight edges first, I used the trem template on the rear and used the guitar as a template fro the neck pocket route.

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The template isn't complete but I got a start on the plate. I made a sandwich of mdf on either side of the plate blank.

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And routed down until I could see the plastic was cut right through.

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Plate so far

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Here's the two colours on ash offcuts

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I finished shaping the scratchplate, it needed a sliver taken of the bottom of the forward horn

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So I rasped and sanded the template then shaved the plate

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While listening to Shadows Fall, love 'Redemption' and 'Another Hero Lost'

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Is that the final shape of the insides of the cutaways, near the neck pocket? They look REALLY wide and cumbersome to play around.

On the top there is going to be a bit taken away, the bottom may or may not, still deciding on that one. As it is restriction on the pinky starts at fret 23, and both fret 23 and 24 can be played with the ring finger without any problem.

You have to do it blue man. then it will win GOTM, koz geets win GOTM on acount of bein blue :D

I definitely like the blue stain on the ash better than the red, it looks rust coloured on that wood, I guess the 'cherry red' stain needs some red in the wood to really work. I am getting some non stained bits in the grain though. I am hoping grain filling solves that problem.

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mine wont!! hehe.

and ponyo!!!!!! yay!!!!!

Your blue guitar is a winner anyway you look at it, ponyo is such a great movie, loved the bit when the mum is driving home in the storm, so surreal.

I used this bit to put a slope on the edges of the plate

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and used the technique explained at Stew Mac, put the plate up on a template with anti wobble scrap around it

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Inserts in the trem cut out and neck so they don't get slopped.

and did a bit of routing around :D

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Man, I was liking this so much until you put the pickguard on it... Now i hate it. It makes it look like those super cheap ibanez guitars that come in those beginner kits.

:D Well bugger off then killemall, coz your really gonna hate whats coming up :D

Found an old plate template that had a good single coil outline on it a

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and used that to cut the space in the present plate, started spacing out where the knobs are going to go

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Made an outline for the humbucker, this is an easy technique

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and finished the template

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Hey I am really missing Moth, I hope she sorts the drama out and comes back to the forum.

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Hey SB, those photos are AWESOME :D thanks for sharing them. So it was a great night, those guys sure know how to put on a show. Hope they played some songs from Sonic BOOM :D

I routed out the bucker hole

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Next stage is to put the holes around the perimeter and screw the plate to the body

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and mark out the pickup routes. I think I am going to do the counter-sinking by hand rather than use a power drill, it is very easy to overdo it on 2mm of plastic. I decided to go with Gibson style/size scratchplate screws in stainless steel rather than Fender style in chrome.

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Aaahhh, now I understand your comment on the other thread.

FWIW, I don't think I've ever ordered all the parts for anything in one go!

Your build is lookin great, man. Nice thread as well.

Cheers

Buter

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