Mickguard Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Progress Report: Shaped and fitted the cap, including neck 'pocket': Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted July 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 As I mentioned in the Rocket 350 thread, I decided to re-launch the guitar. I just couldn't feel comfortable playing such a close copy to the Rickenbacker. Might not be an issue with an LP or a tele or a Strat, but the Rick is in a design class all its own. And there were things I didn't like: The finish, for one thing, was a disaster--I'd used rattle can acrylic, and I'd sprayed in the winter, so it just came out all wrong. I'll never use rattle cans again--they're toxic, for one thing. For another, the result just isn't all that-- it's way too fragile for a guitar, I think. Also, this stuff reacts really badly with the rubber on my guitar stand-- I left the guitar on there for a couple of days, and the finish melted where it contacted the rubber. (This hasn't been a problem with my nitro and poly covered guitars). So I'll be using tung oil-based varnish for the new finish. The neck: The width is all right I think, but it's just a bit too round for my taste. And it has jumbo frets, which I've discovered I just don't like at all. I find it really difficult to play on. I'm planning to either refret or reshape the frets. I'm also going to play with an assymmetrical carve (can't take off much though, because I don't know how deep the truss rod has been routed. I'm really tempted to take the fingerboard off and add in carbon fiber rods though. Don't know how possible that is? The heel: right now I've got this big frog-like thing on there...I'd left it thick because I wasn't confident about my neck joint. But it's been strung up for six months now and seems perfectly solid. So I'm going to reshape the heel into something a little, uh, sleeker. The pickups: Just didn't get the sound I wanted, even with the Rickenbacker pickup in there. Probably most of that was in the way I wired it up --and the lack of tone controls. Still, those pickups are so closely associated with the Rickenbacker, they had to go. Instead I'm using a set of GFS Memphis mini-humbuckers on there (I was going to use them for another project, but that's on long-term hold for the moment). I'll probably wire them straight--no split, no fancy reverse polarity etc. But this time I'll add tone knobs. The Memphis still have a lot of the Rick look to them, so eventually I'll look into swapping them for a different set of minis. The bridge: I'm replacing the wraparound with the Schaller 3d6 I bought-- mostly because I paid a lot for this thing, I want to use it . Also because the 3D6 is wider than the wraparound --one of the problems I had with this body shape is that there's not a lot of body behind the bridge --so I couldn't find a good position for the palm of my hand. The wider bridge will give me more options that way. The Schaller will allow me to adjust the string spread too. The body: I'm turning this into a thinline (the body is already heavily chambered), adding a maple cap. Today I fitted the cap: Looks nice and snug around the neck, so I'm pleased with the result. (it's not glued yet). The batteries in my camera just died, I'll post a side view when they're charged up. One issue with adding the cap, of course, is that the edges of the body have already been rounded--luckily I went minimal for that, I can round the edges wider, should look fine. I'd like to find a way to add some kind of binding at the glue line--I'm thinking a thin black stripe would look really great, it would accentuate the layers (and also hide the glue line). I'm not sure what to use for that though. I could possibly add a thin veneer of some sort as an extra layer between the body and the cap... I've also stripped the finish off the body using acetone --still have a lot more to clean up, but that rattle can stuff just melts right off. I plan on sanding the front lightly --mostly to make sure it's level, also to help the glue hold better. (I've been experimenting with gluing the same woods under similar conditions--took a piece of scrap with finish on there, stripped it with acetone, then glued a scrap of maple on there-- there doesn't seem to be any problem with the glue holding). I'll probably end up routing a rear access for the controls. I haven't decided whether I'll add some kind of f-hole...it's tempting of course. In any event, I'll add some kind of archtop/LP-style pickguard --I'm thinking I can take a piece of my scrap body wood and thickness it...should look pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Looking good! I had the same issue with acrylic lacquer and a guitar stand before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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