retro_10s Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 (edited) Hey dudes, I'm Mike, I'm in the UK and this is gonna document my efforts to get a complete shocker of a guitar into good playing nick: The story begins: So... I was bored, fancied a New guitar project... not being in the mood for a simple project i.e. throwing in some new pickups and leaving it at that, I went onto (cue lightning strikes and rain) Ebay. What i wanted to find was a terrible terrible guitar that only had one thing going for it... hopefully, the neck. And, It's exactly what i found! I recieved the guitar (branded as Fitnesst) in an unpadded cardboard box (no newspaper inside or anything to pad it out hmmm.) First thing I did was to Plug it in. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ twang. Not impressed, this guitar had NO tone, nothing, dead as a dodo..... also noticed it had the wrong size Topnut (now attatched a proper LP one).. I decided to open her up and see what i could see... Revelations: On removal of the backplate I nearly decided to scrap the guitar, straightaway I found 4 'ground loops', One of these earths was not even attatched and needed re-soldering, the jack socket was held on the inside with 'duck tape' washers, NO shielding of any kind anywhere, Wires so thin they weren't even worthy of being used on a calculator, the pots were 100k's and Teeny! The Rhythm/Treble switch is at the end of it's life (despite being brand new) due to massive corrosion! All or nothing: I decided to keep it... and to get on with the project, mainly because it gives me something to do, but because I relaised I was back in my element.... tearing things to pieces Right I'll get some pics up soon, But... for the time being, progress so far (had the guitar for a week now) is as follows: All of the cruddy Gold hardware (tunomatic etc..) has been removed and replaced with TGI replacement silver parts (noticeably heavier... must be a good thing), Old wiring loom and components removed and laid out on a labelled up board ready for a total wire for wire re-build, I have started thoroughly sheilding the inside cavities, Headstock De-badged with wet and dry then T-cut. As it stands It's just a bare Body and neck now. Started adding some very thick sheilding tonight in all the cavaties. Will get pics up soon, Have ordered a P90 for the neck P/U and a 'Hot rail' type 'blade' humbucker for the bridge P/U which I'm going to fit a coil tap on. also ordered 4x 500k pots (I like the sound of the 500's even though the 250's are meant to be warmer...) PICS TO COME! **edit.... just to say... this was a BRAND NEW guitar!** Edited June 4, 2007 by retro_10s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 Oooh, this sounds good. I'd LOVE to see some pics, in progress, before/after, whatever. And after that, would you mind taking a look at my PRS Saga kit that I just assembled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 Cool!, thanks for the reply, as said, pics to come, probably tomorrow,.. kinda been thinking about maybe refinishing it too as I'm pretty handy with paint Quick update already folks, just ordered a real of some Nice thick wire to totally replace the internals with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Pictures! Here's a quick mock up (as I coudln't be bothered to re-assemble it prooperly to it's former 'glory') you ge the idea... Note all the crappy gold hardware Pulled the wiring out, here it is on a piece of card i labelled up to keep it all in place... I've removed a couple of ground loops I found... in any case... ALL the parts you see here... will be removed, so I'm building a totally new loom for it. you can also see my little coil tap switch in the corner, not sure if i'll use this yet or buy a new one. Any ideas what the yellow wire is? Here's a rough mock up of the part finished Idea... i might not put the scratch plate back on... I bought some Qparts perloid knobs which really do look good against the new tunomatic bridge etc. Silver hardware is a nice change on an LP I think. I've laid the P90 out just to see how it will fit, I love the look of the soapbar To get the P90 in I'm only going to have to square off the rounded corners of the old chambers that the terrible terrible buckers were in. Started sheilding with some thick aluminium: Does sheilding have to be a complete 'circuit' so no gaps? note the crappy worksmanship on the inside!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 (edited) Ooh! The postman is fast becoming my fave person look what he just bought me! sorry about image quality,... i was a bit rushed and excited well... got me bladebucker then!!! now... how to Coil tap it.. **and yes those are my pants in the background Edited June 5, 2007 by retro_10s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 that's a funny shaped LP, should look quite "custom" when the new parts are fitted I bought a £49 SG for parts a while back & the pots were all corroded in that too...where the hell do they store them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_ado Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 i hear they fill the cavities with rat piss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova9 Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I'd be interested in before and after sound clips, to see if there is any point in this exercise, it does seem a bit like polishing a turd though. Why not build a new body? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_ado Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 i really dont thing the body looks that bad....did it play nice in regaurd to action and stuff if so i really think it will just come down to hardware and pickups and if you fit it nice i rekone it will come out pretty good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 The humbucker looks hot, I like the the new body idea, single coil at the neck, could lead to just a suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 (edited) I'd be interested in before and after sound clips, to see if there is any point in this exercise, Why not build a new body? How about you build one for me? Seeing as I'm fitting an entirely new, upgraded and differnt wiring loom including Two totally different Pick-ups to those fitted as standard all correctly sheilded and built up.... I fail to see how it couldn't make a difference. Also better hardware will undoubtedly make a difference.. though I suspect it would make more difference to the playability of the guitar rather than the sound, the bridge was shocking and rattly, the Topnut was shocking, not even profiled correctly, and was about 2mm short of width across the neck. With regards to building a new body... I don't have the time or room to build my own guitar body. I'm currently restoring a 1980 Austin Mini clubman... which takes up all my room in the garage and most of my time also. Polishing a turd,... nah...I dont see how Maple and spruce can be called turd.. MDF perhaps It could be much worse.# ** edit, think i'll polish the rails on the HBucker I really dont thing the body looks that bad....did it play nice in regaurd to action and stuff If so i really think it will just come down to hardware and pickups and if you fit it nice i rekone it will come out pretty good The body itself isn't too bad mate. And with regards to the action etc... well,.. it wasn't far off the mark, but by No means the way i like it.. and wasn't intonated at all but that didn't bother me as it will need a setup once built anyway. The neck is really the reason I didn't just scrap the guitar striaght away, it's a Nice comfy neck.... and whilst the fingerboard needs another feed of Lemon oil... it's quite a comfy and fast to play.. and I don't usually like painted necks, My Godin SDXT has a kind of Plain neck and it's just gorgeous. Edited June 5, 2007 by retro_10s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand_Oconner Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 about how much did this project cost you... seems like an interesting way to kill some time if its not to expensive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 So far it's only cost me £70 (I used to run a music shop that i still frequent and work at occasionally hence low prices hehe) And yes it is a good way to kill some time, I work long hours and find coming home to solder and fiddle quite relaxing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 (edited) Got some specs of this Humbucker to help me work out how to wire it in with a Coil split switch. green - 23Kohms. Red/white - 11.5Kohms, Black/open - earth. Inductance is 8.23 Henries. What does all this mean? Could someone help me please... Edited June 5, 2007 by retro_10s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 ok, so now we know a lot about the hardware and electronics in that guitar, but what about the woods? is the guitar built with solid woods? maybe plywood on the body. if it is solid, I think it's worth spending your time on it. I kinda like the shape of that guitar too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 green - 23Kohms. Red/white - 11.5Kohms, Black/open - earth. Inductance is 8.23 Henries. Wow, that's a really high DC resistance. Are you sure you're measuring it right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Looks like a Kramer Quad-Rails humbucker to me, though they usually had "Quad Rails" stamped right on it. There should be specs on the internet somewhere, which might still prove useful even if it's just a clone. Regarding the shielding-- yes, it has to be gapless and continuous to be truly effective. Back to the 'bucker. When you say you want to "split the coils" do you mean reduce down to a single humbucker, or all the way down to a single-coil? Those quad-style buckers always seemed so... "wrong" to me. <chuckle> Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Could also be a Kent Armstrong Motherbucker, they have plenty of grunt with all four coils wired together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 (edited) Looks like a Kramer Quad-Rails humbucker to me, though they usually had "Quad Rails" stamped right on it. There should be specs on the internet somewhere, which might still prove useful even if it's just a clone. I belive it's a clone of the Kramer. But having said that... It could be a clone of any old Quad rail. Regarding the shielding-- yes, it has to be gapless and continuous to be truly effective. Excellent, this is how I've built it so glad i'm doing that right. Back to the 'bucker. When you say you want to "split the coils" do you mean reduce down to a single humbucker, or all the way down to a single-coil? Those quad-style buckers always seemed so... "wrong" to me. <chuckle> Aha.... I see what you mean, I'd never thought of it that way, yes it does have four rails doesn't it... Personally I'd quite like to be able to Have a coil split switch that Will leave me with the bottom two rails on... like a single coil on the bridge, But becuase there are two rails... would this act like a bucker in the space of a single?... confused! is the guitar built with solid woods? maybe plywood on the body Oddly, considering the quality of the rest of the guitar, (which was poor) the Top is maple and the rest seems to be spruce but it's really been butchered into shape..... edit that... just been mentioned maybe it is ply... hmm.. Wow, that's a really high DC resistance. Are you sure you're measuring it right? I haven't measured the Bucker myself but those are the specs it came with... I think I'll get my multimeter out later and explore. As long as it's loud what DC resistance should I be looking at getting? what does a high readout mean? Edited June 6, 2007 by retro_10s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I've just changed an order I placed for parts, instead of getting crap Wire, I've decided to this properly Ordered 40" (to allow for errors) of Wilkinson Hook up wire, yellow and black stuff. Also orderd a 6 terminal On/On switch for Coil switching,... is this right? Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 but what about the woods? is the guitar built with solid woods? maybe plywood on the body. The top is almost certainly veneered plywood bent over a block of wood under the bridge and glued down at the edges to look like a carved top. You can see the plywood rising away from the body base in the shot inside the control cavity. What brand is the humbucker? Some good info on circuits phase switches etc at http://mediawebsource.com/guitar/pickup.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Man, in the time it took me to write my post about three posts appeared, got the answer on the pick up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 but what about the woods? is the guitar built with solid woods? maybe plywood on the body. The top is almost certainly veneered plywood bent over a block of wood under the bridge and glued down at the edges to look like a carved top. You can see the plywood rising away from the body base in the shot inside the control cavity. What brand is the humbucker? Some good info on circuits phase switches etc at http://mediawebsource.com/guitar/pickup.htm I believe you maybe right... I 've just been looking at the top from the inside of the guitar and It looks like ply with veneer,... at least I think it does, I can't physically see where the ply stops and veneer starts so I guess it's super thin and rather cheap lol. Would suit the rest of the guitar then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro_10s Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Ok I've done some research... I believe my bucker is wired as per a Seymour duncan. the red and white wires are a pair and the black and green are a pair. My reasoning behind this is that the red and white are already soldered together at the tips. If this is so.... would this wiring diagram work for a coil split with the 6teminal On/On switch I've bought? Looking at the SEYMOUR DUNCAN example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 some diagrams using the 6 pin on/on for different switching uses at http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-DUNCAN.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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