guitarnut Posted June 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 It's looking great. How do you plan to address the two tearout spots on that top? That top really is gorgeous, though. Thanks. The one on the upper horn is no problem. I'll fill it and the burst will cover it. The one above the PG is a bit tricky. I have plenty of scrap to patch it with. I need to do some testing with various adhesives. My hope is that it will be far less obvious after bleaching. I can drop fill any remaining spots with clear. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2011 I have all the goodies in to start loading the PG. It just occurred to me that I didn't list the PUs in my first post with the rest of the specs. I was going to use an on/on/on bridge PU switch for series, coil cut, parallel but then I realized the bridge PU would always be on in some form. So, I need to look at doing a series, off, coil cut instead. Bridge: Seymour Duncan SH-6B Dist Middle: Seymour Duncan SSL-52 RWRP Neck: Seymour Duncan SSL-5T Custom Tapped This weekend I'll get the thru holes drilled, bridge mounted and the neck carved...maybe even start on the bleaching of the top. I'll do some tests on scrap first. I need to shorten the HB screws a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2011 I've had the SD PUs sitting around for a year or so and didn't remember the specs on them so I put a meter on them and got the following DC readings. Bridge:16.3K 8.8K Middle: 6.6K Neck: 12.8K, 6.8K Now, I now DC resistance doesn't tell me what the PU will sound like but it's a good indicator of output. So, I'm rethinking the wiring yet again. To get the most out of this set of PUs, I'm going to use this setup...at least if I have it diagrammed correctly, I will. It should give me: Bridge: HB, Off, Coil Cut Middle: RWRP, Off, Phase Reverse Neck: Full, Off, Tap With volume, bridge tone and neck tone added. I'm not sure about how I'm feeding the tone controls. Any input or corrections welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2011 An alternate on the tone controls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kammo1 Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 Mark if it helps at all when I carve the forearm contour or the back belly cut I use a small angle grinder with a sanding disk with an 80 grit paper and can literally do that cut in less than 5 mins. When I have gotten to where I need it I then finesse it with a small rasp and the follow up with some 320 grit and its job done. Doing this by hand is fatiguing and laborious but thats not to say that this is wrong its just a quick way of doing a otherwise tedious job, hope it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 Mark if it helps at all when I carve the forearm contour or the back belly cut I use a small angle grinder with a sanding disk with an 80 grit paper and can literally do that cut in less than 5 mins. When I have gotten to where I need it I then finesse it with a small rasp and the follow up with some 320 grit and its job done. Doing this by hand is fatiguing and laborious but thats not to say that this is wrong its just a quick way of doing a otherwise tedious job, hope it helps Thanks Kammo1. Gotta be faster for sure. I don't currently own an angle grinder but it's on my list. This time around, since I haven't done one of these cuts in years, was better by hand but I will use a faster means in the future...most likely as you suggested. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 After posting my control layout over in the Electronics forum, Ripthorn was good enough to confirm my suspicions about how I was feeding the tone controls. Feeding them from the output side of the switches placed the 2 circuits in parallel which meant they would combine their results, as well as affect all pickups...not good. So, I created paths from the input side (green traces) of the respective switch to feed each tone circuit independent of the other. This is how it's done with a 5-way blade switch which has 2 banks, each with 3 inputs and 1 output. The output feeds the vol control but the tone feeds are taken from the input side thru internal connections in the switch. So, applying this to my setup...The North coil of the bridge PU is always in play when the bridge PU is being used, so I took a path from the input side of it's switch location. The second pole on the coil tap switch of the neck PU was unused so I jumped each state of the PU across and used the output of the switch to feed the tone circuit. I think I'm on the right path here...comments and corrections welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 Mark if it helps at all when I carve the forearm contour or the back belly cut I use a small angle grinder with a sanding disk with an 80 grit paper and can literally do that cut in less than 5 mins. When I have gotten to where I need it I then finesse it with a small rasp and the follow up with some 320 grit and its job done. Doing this by hand is fatiguing and laborious but thats not to say that this is wrong its just a quick way of doing a otherwise tedious job, hope it helps Thanks Kammo1. Gotta be faster for sure. I don't currently own an angle grinder but it's on my list. This time around, since I haven't done one of these cuts in years, was better by hand but I will use a faster means in the future...most likely as you suggested. Peace, Mark +1 to the angle grinder. I knew I'd be putting the grinder to only light and occasional use, so I got a fairly low-end Ryobi. angle grinder link I don't need to worry about it breaking from over-use. IIRC, the sanding flap-wheel disks are only about $5 or so. I use a 40-grit to grind away the material, then finesse the shape with a rasp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 +1 to the angle grinder. I knew I'd be putting the grinder to only light and occasional use, so I got a fairly low-end Ryobi. angle grinder link I don't need to worry about it breaking from over-use. IIRC, the sanding flap-wheel disks are only about $5 or so. I use a 40-grit to grind away the material, then finesse the shape with a rasp. Thanks for the link John. At $40, that tool just moved up the list. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 Next thing was to mount the bridge and drill the string thru holes. After drilling the tuner holes in the neck, I started by installing the E string tuners and setting up a simple jig that lets me put tension on the strings while I slide the bridge into place. The piece of MDF is drilled at Strat string spacing if you continued the lines past the bridge, and countersunk on one side to keep the string balls from digging into the top. The neck is clamped into the pocket. I line it up so it looks best visually to start. If all works from there, then I know I'm good later on without having to wiggle the neck around in the pocket to line things up. After locating the bridge, I remove the jig and drill the mounting holes for the bridge. Before screwing it down, I open up the string holes to make sure I can get an 1/8" bit thru them. Then screw the bridge down. At the drill press I can use the bridge as a drill guide and drill the thru holes half way thru the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 I used the pin register method of lining up front to back. I always place tape over the mounting holes to keep the pin from settling in one of them by mistake. Still using the pin in the front holes, I widened the back for the ferrules. I also took care of the HB screw issue by cutting 2 pockets under the screws with a Forstner bit. You can see them in the last pic below. I also drilled paths for the output wiring and bridge ground wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 I like the bridge lining jig thing. Simple, but it works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 I have the rough carve of the neck done. This one's getting close to prep for finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Not much to report on this one but it's ready for finish prep. I have made some changes to the electronics design. With the help of some very knowledgeable folks, I've corrected some major design flaws. First, I decided there would be functionality in 2 volumes and a master tone. So, I have a volume on the bridge PU and a shared volume for the mid/neck PUs. Here's the first revision of this approach. The biggest issue I had was the 2 volume pots were inteacting to the point that if one was turned all the way down, the other would be at zero also...not good...guitars are supposed to make noise. Second revision... The bridge volume pot was placed before the switch to eliminate the interaction with the other pot. Next issue: the way the tone is connected, it was shorting the volume pots together. So, the tone is now fed from the output jack which is after both volume pots. Other than the possible addition of a treble bleed on the HB, I think this is the final revision...Of course, now that I said that, I'll get some bad news. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davieboy Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Great work. I can't wait to see the grey stain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Great work. I can't wait to see the grey stain. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 This will be a nice strat. I would have preferred to see it without the pick guard but neat anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 This will be a nice strat. I would have preferred to see it without the pick guard but neat anyways. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 I simplified the wiring a bit. The connection of the HB before the switch was problematic so I did away with trying for two independent volumes. Thinking thru it, it would have been tough to do volume swells with two separate controls. This config will be like a LP in the middle switch position...but with a master tone connected at the output. The latest (final) diagram. I installed the frets and applied the first few coats of Tru-Oil. I love the color that TO gives to maple...and it makes the flame pop! Looks like the camera caught some scratches on the HS face that need to be dealt with. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted July 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 The heat has been a bear lately and the shop has uninhabitable so I have made any progress on finishing. I've been able to spend a few hours in the mornings working on getting all my builds ready for finish. Here's the state of things. This build and the others are ready for grain filling (as needed) and finish. More soon. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted May 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Edit: What the heck has happened to the posting options? I had to type HTML code to get pics to show up. After a long break from building, I'm back at it. I've changed direction on this one. The top had a fair amount of tear out in it so I ended up laminating some nice figured maple veneer on the top. Since I was doing this, I also added an arm contour. I ended up going with a darker burst. Sort of a smokey, root beer look. It's a field of vintage amber with tobacco brown burst. Black back and sides. It has a few clear coats on it now but needs a few coats of sanding sealer to level out the figure in the veneer. </p> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted September 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 I finally got this one finished up. I had a "rash" of Strat builds and I tagged this on to the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 19, 2012 Report Share Posted September 19, 2012 Beautiful.Totally pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted September 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2012 Beautiful.Totally pro Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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