komodo Posted July 5, 2016 Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 Coulda just used a flap sander and no math. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 Well, you know.... Last photo of the night (sorry about the phone camera pic and bad lighting). I did all of the bevelling, including the cutaways. All very straightforward now I have a quantifiable process. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted July 5, 2016 Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 Absolutely spectacular. This will be better than any old Gibson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 I'd like to hope so. I'm going to break with my usual habit of dialing in a neck profile like my main guitar and go for a more traditional feeling LP profile. None of this rubber neck crap like some SGs had (including that neck joint). The sound I associate with JRs is them being little rip roaring beasts. In that respect, I might give it a slightly more complex active circuit with a full bypass to traditional passive. I wouldn't like to increase control count though....the addition of a switch is visually incongruous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Fascinating! At first I thought what a lot of effort to go to vs just doing it by eye...but the results are visually crisp and look so right. Then I thought about what you say - it's quantifiable and repeatable. Hmm....beginning to look well worth the effort all of a sudden. It looks very good indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Thanks Andy. I always go into these things with a mind towards, "how can I make this useful to other people?". It's a roundabout way sometimes, and I often take long time to decide how to do anything, but ultimately it should create more ideas I hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Currently vacillating on the choice of pickup, or possibly "pickups"....this is taking into account the implication of the shortened neck tenon when using a neck pickup. I'm thinking of swinging to Irongear for this one. If we're sticking with a single bridge pickup, then I think a straight "Blues Engine" (their "PAF") which is an AlNiCo IV pickup rather than "AlNiCo random". Odd. The other option is a Rautia 58Smooth, which is a real dyed-in-the-wool AlNiCo II PAF. Not sure if the PAF clone route is really that desirable for an instrument without a neck pickup though. I kind of figure that something which can breathe a little more fire that dials back nicely with the volume is more appropriate. The old-school approach of setting a small valve amp right up into its loud sweet zone and dialling in tone from the instrument.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Maybe one of Veijo's T-Tops would be a better idea. A little more push than an AlNiCo II PAF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 We go about things sooo differently, you and I. You literally create mathematical proof the design will work, the parts will fit and end up with a set of plans anyone can follow and build exactly the same instrument every time. We would literally still be in the dark ages if that formula wasn't followed globally. I build more by feel and work the parts till they fit properly. Even when I go into a design I'll want to reproduce, I like the minor differences, from one to another that makes them unique. Analytical verses artsy.....the world is a more interesting place with booth schools of thought in place and both seem to create decent guitars. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 12 minutes ago, Prostheta said: "Blues Engine" (their "PAF") which is an AlNiCo IV pickup Brett built me a set of A4 PAFs a few years back that are awesome. Vintage PAF sound with a bit more mid-range growl. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Well that's the thing that I gather about PAFs....before T-Tops went A5, PAFs were randomly A2, A3 and A4 weren't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Thanks man, that's really cool of you to say that. I mean, that's my working background though really. Being able to make predictions and engineered calculations without being hands-on with the "field" was my bread and butter as CAD engineer. Interpreting service plans and producing safety recommendations so scientists didn't put an auger through a live petrol line.... Then again, that's what it's all about isn't it? Producing the technical how-to so that anybody can follow it equally? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 So, this is a bass or a 6-string guitar? If it was not a bass I would stick two P90s in it. I've got some custom ones right mow just begging for something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Guitar. Originally the body was sized for a bass however it turns out that it is exactly SG-shaped. The neck, meh, not so much. About a fret shy. Still, guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 5 hours ago, Prostheta said: Well that's the thing that I gather about PAFs....before T-Tops went A5, PAFs were randomly A2, A3 and A4 weren't they? I honestly don't know. I'm pretty sure vintage Gibsons were A2, but I don't know if they progressed from there. I do know the A4 sounds great- to my ear anyway. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 2 hours ago, komodo said: So, this is a bass or a 6-string guitar? If it was not a bass I would stick two P90s in it. I've got some custom ones right mow just begging for something. I've about decided my next one will get a set of P-90s. A P-90 in the neck is just about my favorite sound. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 I was kind of tempted by that idea too....a bucker in the bridge and a hybrid P90 in a bucker case for the neck. Still wouldn't solve the tenon sizing though. That said, I should really get one in the door and measure exactly how shallow I can make the cavity to remove as little as possible. Realistically, I think the flaw is in how close the neck bucker is to the cutaways. Still, this looks perfectly adequate to me. It could be (and probably was) far worse in some examples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 I solve that by making a deeper heel and a long tenon. That leaves plenty of meat in the tenon under the routes. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 The tenon is already very deep since the neck was originally spec'd for a LP. It might even be too deep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted July 7, 2016 Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 ermagerd. I saw the plan in the first page of this thread and thought it was a bass. It was on my phone while I was eating my lunch, so cut me some slack. P90s would be awesome, just a little noisy maybe. They can be mounted pretty shallow, and in a nice small pocket direct to the wood. Another killer option would be a Fenton Weill humbucker called Lucifer. The website (adeson fenton weill) is shut to new orders, which is where I was trying to get those Adeson Trisonics, so it might be unobtanium. The pickup is a very rectangular beast that sounds sort of like Tony Iommi. Though an A5 hot PAF ~9k would be apropos. As would the Pearly Gates from Seymour Duncan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 That would put it in danger of inflating costs too much. Irongear are cheap as anything whilst Veijo Rautia is a friend. We seem to be the world's two go-to guys for Aria Pro II basses, weirdly. Not too interested in weird things really, at least not for this build. I mean, a humbucker-cased P-90 might be fun however a rough n' ready Jr with some balls for rock is the name of the game here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 On 3/21/2016 at 7:55 PM, Prostheta said: I guess that people missed my brainfart here? Tuners oriented the wrong way. No idea how that happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Simply, the tuners were reversed around their locations. This raises an interested subject about marking out the tuner holes....one could happily take the orthogonal distance from the break angle along the centreline to each location (54,5mm, 89,1mm, 126,7mm) and then mark across with a square to each of the three tuner holes (20mm, 21,1mm, 22,2mm) however that isn't 100% reliable. Instead, I marked the outer tuner holes and drew a line between the two, bisecting it for the central tuner location. That ensures that the set of three lines up geometrically instead of being subject to error and tolerance. It's a minor point, but an idea that can make all the difference in the end product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 Its been far too long since I update this with work.... Supersized image (3434px x 2366) showing how a day sanding from 80 through 100, 150, 180 and 240 plays out. Most of the bevels were kept tight through wrapping paper around an oval pencil, an old glue stick and small rubber blocks which conform to the bevel curves instead of rounding them out. Too hot today though....26°C and 65% humidity! I'm going to go cool down in sauna.... In other news (you'll find this amusing, @ScottR), the neck tenon is in fact the exact same thickness as the body (38mm)! I guess that I need to take that down to maybe 30-32mm or so otherwise it's just plain ridiculous. Still, that guarantees we're going to have a strong coupled neck joint. Perfect for that roaring single pup Jr idea we're aiming for.... Veijo Rautia of Rautia Guitars is designing a pickup specifically for this guitar. A rodded (but not massively overwound) PAF with damaging cleans and Marshall-friendly push.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 I've also been playing with some Osmo waxoils as a filler to go over a deep cherry dye, and then finishing off with either shellac or Tru-oil.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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