ScottR Posted June 9, 2019 Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 I picked up some lumber a week or so ago, with just the barest of ideas of what I wanted to build. Guitars have bodies and necks, though, So I was able to clean up some edges and glue some pieces together, whilst I figure out where this is going. For the body I got some of the lightest black limba I've ever found. I scribbled up some body ideas and came up with one I like. This borrows quite a bit from an electric mandolin I made a few years back. SR 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 I also had it in my head I wanted to a make a pau ferro neck, as I was really enamored with the one @komodo made for his metal tele build. My wood store did not have any pau ferro. It did have some nice big East Indian rosewood timbers though, so I went that route. It should have a similar look, and I've always wanted a rosewood neck.......or two. SR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 I've mentioned a couple of times that I plan to set up two P-90s and a strat middle pickup in a typical strat configuration.....because I really want to hear how the number two and four selector positions sound. I've got a couple of questions along those lines. I presume that to get the canceling effect, I need to insure all three pickups need to be wound in the same direction. Correct? The typical guide lines for pickups and pots is 250K for single coils, 500k for humbuckers, and P-90s often get 500k as well, even though they are single coils. In the two tone pot strat configuration, would there be any value to using a 500K for the neck tone, and a 250K for the bridge/middle tone? Or vice versa? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 Oh, and I can't wait till my top wood arrives! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted June 9, 2019 Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 8 minutes ago, ScottR said: I've got a couple of questions along those lines. I presume that to get the canceling effect, I need to insure all three pickups need to be wound in the same direction. Correct? Negative, Houston. The middle pickup is reverse wound/reverse magnetic polarity for that Strat 'quack'. Most manufacturers offer them as one-off products though, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting your hands on one. 11 minutes ago, ScottR said: The typical guide lines for pickups and pots is 250K for single coils, 500k for humbuckers, and P-90s often get 500k as well, even though they are single coils. In the two tone pot strat configuration, would there be any value to using a 500K for the neck tone, and a 250K for the bridge/middle tone? Or vice versa? If you change nothing else (pickups, tone caps, volume pots), a 500K tone pot will make the roll off of the treble begin higher up the spectrum than an equivalent 250K tone setup. Depending if you're a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person, you may consider this as 'more transparent' or 'less effective' at taming the highs. But then you could also change the value of each tone cap and get different results yet again,. Slippery slope. My suggestion would be to roll with 500K pots for the lot, unless you're after a particularly darker tonal result overall. You may even wish to install an overwound single in the middle so that it can keep up with the hotter P90s, in which case you may be grateful of the extra highs afforded on the single coil by using 500K pots. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 9, 2019 Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 18 minutes ago, ScottR said: I've mentioned a couple of times that I plan to set up two P-90s and a strat middle pickup in a typical strat configuration.....because I really want to hear how the number two and four selector positions sound. I've got a couple of questions along those lines. I presume that to get the canceling effect, I need to insure all three pickups need to be wound in the same direction. Correct? The typical guide lines for pickups and pots is 250K for single coils, 500k for humbuckers, and P-90s often get 500k as well, even though they are single coils. In the two tone pot strat configuration, would there be any value to using a 500K for the neck tone, and a 250K for the bridge/middle tone? Or vice versa? SR so this will be a mando-strat? love this idea. afa winding... no, you need the middle pickup to be both rev winding and rev polarity to the other two. so you wouldn't want to buy the typical p90 pickup set as this will be 1 fwd and 1 rev. you COULD use a strong magnet to rev polarity on one and then rev the wires... but if you haven't bought them you just need two w the sm winding. then you get a rwrp middle pickup for the strat. again... dif mfg use dif polarity/winding as stock so you might have to rev the polarity and wire on the middle if you don't get a match... not hard at all. get a c clamp... and two n50 magnets. put the magnets so they are attracting and attach them to either side of the c clamp. screw the c clamp closed until you have just enough room to slip the single in. pass it through. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 Thank you, gentlemen. I will go with 500K pots. I nearly always go with Klein Pickups. I'll discuss my plans with them first. You can mix and match and buy individual pickups from them, so I'll likely end up buying two neck P-90s and one strat middle. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 9, 2019 Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 sounds like a great plan. as curtisa mentioned... you'll get better hum cancellation if you match the output on the single coil fairly close to the p90s. also won't have issues with vol drop in various positions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 Since reverse wind is pretty common for single coil pairs, can I assume that it is the reverse polarity of the middle pickup that creates that characteristic hollow sound you get from the second and fourth selector positions of a strat? How does that work? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 I don't think the wind direction or polarity has an impact on sound at all but more the combining of two coils that are opposite wind and polarity to each other. hum canceling also cancels and reinforces freq and this is why the 2 and 4 sound a bit dif. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 I perhaps wasn't completely clear in explaining my thought. I did mean the reverse polarity in combination with another pickup that creates that sound. I have a couple guitars with P-90 sets and I definitely get hum canceling when playing them together, but there is not the strat like hollow sound. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 1 minute ago, ScottR said: I perhaps wasn't completely clear in explaining my thought. I did mean the reverse polarity in combination with another pickup that creates that sound. I have a couple guitars with P-90 sets and I definitely get hum canceling when playing them together, but there is not the strat like hollow sound. SR well, comparing p90 to strat pickup... there's a lot of differences... most p90s use bar magnets so the poles aren't magnetic... making them more like a humbucker in that sense... and singles use mangetic poles. obviously the footprint has a lot to do with the sound to. all that said I think a lower output p90 sounds a lot like a higher output strat style. p90s tend to be fat sounding... but if you get a lower wind p90 they can be pretty chimey. another difference of note is the placement. even comparing a tele with singles combined to a strat 2 4 is a world of difference to me. most p90 setups are closer to the tele. At the end of the day there's only one way to find out... but g&l has been putting 3 p90-like pickups in their guitars for years. I suspect it's going to be different and awesome. have been thinking about a 3 p90 tele myself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 Damn that's pretty already. rosewood and limba look like they'll make a fantastic combo. What are you using for the fretboard? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 10, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 6 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: Damn that's pretty already. rosewood and limba look like they'll make a fantastic combo. What are you using for the fretboard? Hey Ash. It's getting a Gaboon ebony fretboard. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Er.....it was. Till I made this newbie mistake. I've never done that before and have no idea how I did it this time....but obviously the template came out of the guide..I'm out of ebony, but I do have a nice piece of cocobolo that's been waiting for years to become a fretboard. So a rosewood board on a rosewood neck.....might end up looking like a one piece , if I'm not careful. Also my body wood came in. A nice maple burl., dry.... and wet with mineral spirits. SR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 The off-cuts are cool. It looks like drops of thick mud were piled up and then hardened into wood. The tops is 1.75 inches thick. I'm seriously temped to do some really deep carving...but I'd be starting with a body 3.5 inches thick. That would leave a bunch of highly figured wood chips on the floor. That's the first time I ever did that. Book matched one piece tops.... Using water makes this figured wood much easier to plane.... And it makes it look good too. SR 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 wowwy wow wow... that burl... mylton burl up in here... u r a reg burl reynolds... burly temple... noice. I love the second choice for fretboard. beauty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 9 minutes ago, mistermikev said: love the second choice for fretboard. beauty. Cocobolo rocks! And it ties in nicely with the colcobolo fretboard on its baby brother. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 def, that's a beauty... think I've seen it once before. that fb would have been a great first option! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lwguitar Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 1 hour ago, ScottR said: I love how you have that held down! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 32 minutes ago, Lwguitar said: I love how you have that held down! It ain't elegant, but it do get the job done. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 For a first timer you did a magnificent job splitting that piece of burlesque! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 9 hours ago, Bizman62 said: For a first timer you did a magnificent job splitting that piece of burlesque! I'm not sure I want to ever do it again, but it is good to know that I can pull it off if I have to. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 Every single time I see someone resaw with a handsaw, I have an anxiety attack. Nice job! Do you have your P90s already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 17 hours ago, komodo said: Every single time I see someone resaw with a handsaw, I have an anxiety attack. Nice job! Do you have your P90s already? I never expected to be in a position to need to do that.... I do not have my P-90s yet. I've opened a dialogue with Klein to make sure what I'm ordering is configured correctly to do what I want. I do love their pick ups. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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