Billy Bones

I have been thinking about this too. I wanted to have one neck that worked for singles, doubles and sg's. No good answers yet. The heel is fairly integral to the instrument and it is totally different from one to the next. If you've spent any time in a repair shop, you've seen a million Gibson specials that snapped their necks off because there was not enough meet left after routing in the neck pickup. I think the way around that is a deepl thick rennin or a thin profile pickup. Neither of which work for you. If you are hand building these guitars, you way have to build them all for single cuts and then shape the double cut. When that comes up. Is this because you wann to have a bunch of necks on the wall and grab one when you need one? You could rough in the single cut and then finish the heel when you know what type guitar it's going on. Is it mainly for the concept of universality?

I have been getting my thickness with my overhead router by putting a shim under my 1st fret that is the difference between the desired thickness of my first and twelfth frets. Then I am using the same router with a 3/4" radius bit to ge the basic curve on the back of the neck. After that I have been going at the transitions with rasps and files. Today for the first time I took an air tool with a sanding drum on it and it was amazingly quick. After that I'm just using a flat block to smooth it all out. It usually takes me a few hours to get a neck shaped. With the new tools, it is more like a half hour and it's sanded and ready to paint. With those hair curlers, can you clearly see the profile? I would think that they'd be tricky because they're thick.

Excellent work Dave!!!!!! You just saved me hours of sock research!!!! I can not beat this hum. I was aware of most of the responses I've gotten here. When I play a different guitar through the same amp in the same room, I get no hum. I'm trying the guitar through a different amp now in a different room, after having switched out the pot and redoing the wiring for the third time, and the hum is gone at full volume, but when I turn it down to about 7 or 8, there's a lot of noise and hum going on. Billy

I've got what should be the simplest circuit in the world. 1 Pickup (humbucker - TV Jones Classic 12 Pole) 3 wires. Black and braided wires to the back of the volume pot. White to the middle lug of volume pot. 1 Volume Pot Ground goes from back of volume pot to ground under bigsby. Ground goes from back of volume pot to output jack. Hot goes from left (non grounded) lug to output jack. 1 Output jack Takes hot and ground from volume pot. And I've got hum!!!! Touch the strings, Bridge, pickup, top of the volume pot and the hum goes away. What are the possible causes? I've got continuity when I check with my voltometer between all those places. Do I have a ground loop? Are my wires not shielded properly? I've turned out all the lights, and it doesn't affect it. Any ideas appreciated.

I've got an old Sound City cab (Hiwatt before Hiwatt) that I believe is built out of 1 1/4" Baltic Burch. It's got two holes in the front that are about 2" each, one at the top and one at the bottom. As far as four 12's go, this has been my favourite sounding cab of all time. I'm looking to build something with 10's though. I know the old Orange cabs were made out of some pretty thick wood. I've always had it in my head that Hiwatts and Orange cabs sound so good because the wood was so thick. Don't know where I got that from, but hearing everybody talk about mdf has got me interested. This cab is crazy heavy. Billy

Sorry to continue the off topic, but I had to add my two cents about bathroom acoustics. There's this public bathroom on the coquihalla (mountainous hiway in BC Canada) that has for 10 years had the best acoustics of any room I've ever been in. I even brought a tape recorder along with me one time to record myself whistling in that bathroom. So our band just got back from tour, and I'd been telling everybody about the acoustics in this bathroom. We got there, and they'd put up little privacy walls between the urinals completely destroying the acoustics in the room. I was shattered! And our band is called "Raised By Wolves." We make Wolf Tones sometimes. Mostly, we make a lotta noise. Billy

Thanks Folks. Billy

Hi Folks, My first Tele. Neck position hums. (Sounds like B flat, so 60 cycle?) Bridge Position hums. Selector in middle so both pickups on. Very small hum. Is this because the single coils are getting together and making a humbucker? The bridge position is reverse wound. Thanks, Billy

Man, I just read all 7 pages, and it was really fun. reminded me a lot of all the questions I had going into my first guitar. A couple quick comments. Pickups : Coolest (opinion obviously) lookin, and best sounding for a les paul = P90's. Try one out if you get the chance, they are great. When you read "single coil" don't think "strat sounding." P90's are mean! Les Paul Jr's are the coolest guitars on the planet and make easier projects with only one pickup and no carved top. Joan Jet played a Jr that sounded amazing. So did Johnny Thunders. My first guitar, I built the neck, and the truss rod. I had help (I wouldn't have known I had to temper the thing after brazing the head on it), but this board is a really incredible resource. If you've got your heart set on building something that'll be dificult, there's no reason you can't do it. Good luck and best wishes. You've really got the treatment here. Sometimes people will only get answers that say "use the search function." Can't wait to see pictures. Billy Bones

That was my thought too, that the top knob would get hit all the time being so close to that pickup. Tough crowd. That guitar will be fantastic. Billy Bones

So here's a picture of what the logos look like screenprinted on the headstocks. Sorry it's a bit fuzzy. I think this is gonna work fine. I haven't cleared over em yet. I was sketchy about a jig to hold the guitars in place, but I rigged one up that seems to work just fine. Billy

My two cents is that a p-90 in a jr (les paul or sg) is the best sounding guitar going. Of course it depends what it's running through. I used to play with a guy who ran it through a hot rodded Hiwatt, and I haven't heard a better tone anywhere. I even put a p-90 in an old Airline archtop thinking I would have to take it out, but I was just fooling around, and it sounds great. I think they're the best sounding pickups around. Billy Bones

The test logo I printed on the one headstock looks OK. I also tried a test piece of water transfer decal stuff, and cleared over it, and it looks like it will work too. The lines on the edge of the clear decal cover up nicely. I was worried that maybe the material in the decal would react to the 2-part clear. I'm just learning this stuff. I've had the one-shot "craze" up on me when I've sprayed lacquer, but we let it sit for a couple days before clearing, and it has sat down real nice. Haven't learnt anything about those dry transfer decals yet. Are they easier to apply than the wet ones? What are the advantages with em? Billy

That dry transfer brit flag looks great. Was it one sheet that covers the whole body? I've got some water transfer samples to try out to see if they work with the clear I'm using. Know nothing about the dry transfers. Will look it up now. Billy

I don't follow you. do you mean like a stencil? I'm trying screenprinting because I want to do a bunch, and stencils can take forever, and if you've got more than a couple, the stencils break down, and you can never get em right. But maybe I don't understand what you mean. I'll find out what the brand is on the clear. I have used it over One Shot and it's been all cool. Lacquer (man I can not spell that word) over one shot gave me a big surprise! I'm glad I was doing test stuff. I'm not usually that kind of guy Billy