D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 (edited) Pictured are two telecaster type guitars I just finished last week. The guitar on the right does have a purchased neck (the first one I've used, and probably the last). I build with minimal tools, so the internals of my guitars don't often look like they were routed on a CNC if I don't have a router template. The guitar on the left is khaya with indian rosewood neck, and the guitar on the right is limba with a WD maple neck. Both are finished french polish with buttonlac. The dullness on the necks is from following up the finish process with #0000 steel wool to make the neck and fingerboard feel more slick. The right guitar has fender tele vintera (the baja style hardware with an S1 switch and 4 way), and the one on the left has duncan p-rails. There are still nits here and there to finish (I need to put the rest of the pickguard screws in the mahogany guitar, etc). I am a planemaker on the side, so I generally have pretty good luck cutting the neck pockets a little bit small and then tuning them like a hand plane bed so that there's no shimming. It doesn't take much time and the bedding quality between the bottom of the neck and the bottom of the pocket is always a little better. Folks with a keen eye will notice one of the tuner holes wandered on the peghead on the rosewood neck (crap happens, i guess). Each time something like this occurs, I'm motivated to buy or make a drilling jig to prevent the wood from allowing bits to wander. Apologies for the gross orange carpet - this is my basement. The mrs. gets cranky if I take guitars or other such things up into the nice part of the house. I've been a woodworker for a while and started with the typical full garage shop with a bunch of large stationary tools, but have gone to working mostly with hand tools over time for several reasons (more of a challenge, more engaging, less constriction on space, and you can pretty much build anything you can mark within reason without buying more stuff. https://imgur.com/gallery/qdUW01k/comment/1817390447 Edited March 11, 2020 by D_W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 (the strat parts are a different guitar) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 Solid looking work! I love the dark neck, what is that wood? SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayT Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 Awesome work, is that scratch plate shape your design? Pick guards that don't closely follow the body shape really add extra visual interest IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 1 hour ago, ScottR said: Solid looking work! I love the dark neck, what is that wood? SR It's indian rosewood - from some vendor on ebay who managed to saw (or find) rosewood blanks properly quartersawn. The buttonlac makes the color more predominantly brown and deep looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 40 minutes ago, JayT said: Awesome work, is that scratch plate shape your design? Pick guards that don't closely follow the body shape really add extra visual interest IMO. I wish I had design sense! It's, as far as I can tell, similar to the fender thinline telecaster HH style (or a copy of). I've only made half a dozen guitars so far, but have figured out over time that I can usually find a "loaded pickguard" cheaper than I can find the pickups in the pickguard if I'm patient, which is the case here. I wanted to try the duncan p-rails (they're surprisingly good in all three modes - single coil, p-90 type and both combined sound like any other humbucker), but wasn't interested in wiring them, so I waited until someone else was dumping them already in a pickguard. Doesn't quite fit right on a regular telecaster body pattern, and it doesn't match a deluxe, so I forced it to fit on a regular telecaster pattern body that I cut from a khaya blank and traced locations of pickups and pots onto a piece of paper and then hacked out the cavities with a drill and gouge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 10 minutes ago, D_W said: It's indian rosewood - from some vendor on ebay who managed to saw (or find) rosewood blanks properly quartersawn. The buttonlac makes the color more predominantly brown and deep looking. I thought that might be the case from the unfinished shots. I'm currently working on my second build with an Indian Rosewood neck. It makes for a great neck! SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 nice clean builds. like the dark wood choice. I really like that you did an s1 w 4 way - cudos for getting interesting w the wiring. am gonna have to ding you a point for having what appears to be a valvestate (hehe). look fwd to seeing more of your work. cheers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 Love the rosewood neck, they're great looking builds, especially for someone with minimal tools, though I think I can see more saws than they had a Waterloo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 36 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: Love the rosewood neck, they're great looking builds, especially for someone with minimal tools, though I think I can see more saws than they had a Waterloo There are a lot of saws! The back story here is that I like two things, before coming to guitars: * working entirely by hand when possible * making tools (which puts a lot of things in hand already that are nice for building guitars by hand) When you work larger pieces by hand, like cabinets, etc, it's helpful to have a bunch of different saws. Hardwood likes a different tooth profile than softwood and thin and thick like different. I did end up finding a used ridgid oss, though, which is pretty progressive for a luddite like me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 48 minutes ago, mistermikev said: nice clean builds. like the dark wood choice. I really like that you did an s1 w 4 way - cudos for getting interesting w the wiring. am gonna have to ding you a point for having what appears to be a valvestate (hehe). look fwd to seeing more of your work. cheers Good eye! I like the 80s Marshall solid state stuff, and that's actually a mosfet 100. But it's dead and waiting to be taken apart to steal the speaker and reverb tank. I like fender's princeton chorus, too (teenage nostalgia for me), but the majority of stuff in that large mess is tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 1 hour ago, D_W said: Good eye! I like the 80s Marshall solid state stuff, and that's actually a mosfet 100. But it's dead and waiting to be taken apart to steal the speaker and reverb tank. I like fender's princeton chorus, too (teenage nostalgia for me), but the majority of stuff in that large mess is tube. must be a lead mosfet 100 then? I really kind of like those. miles ahead of the valvestate imo. have built a pedal based on that amp and it really screams... going into a tube amp that is! haha! well... the princeton chorus does do two things pretty good: clean chorus, and a sort of oversat lead chorus. not very versatile... but those two things would be worth the price of admission. that said... long live the tube! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 2 hours ago, ScottR said: I thought that might be the case from the unfinished shots. I'm currently working on my second build with an Indian Rosewood neck. It makes for a great neck! SR Agree!! I've got no guitars with rosewood necks until this one, but one heavy strat that also has a bubinga neck. The effect is very subtle through the amp, but I play a lot unplugged and that guitar is heavy and relatively dead feeling (rigid as railroad track, though - the body is white ash). The effect is not similar, though. This one on mahogany is very bright and spanky, but doesn't lose anything (whole guitar is about 8 pounds). The limba, on the other hand, is really mellow (the body is a pound lighter and the maple is dense, almost as heavy as the rosewood neck) and while the unplugged volume of the two guitars is very similar, the limba guitar is far less spanky sounding. Sounds great plugged in, though. Love the 4 way switch. Hoping to move on to much more complicated guitars soon, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 1 minute ago, mistermikev said: must be a lead mosfet 100 then? I really kind of like those. miles ahead of the valvestate imo. have built a pedal based on that amp and it really screams... going into a tube amp that is! haha! well... the princeton chorus does do two things pretty good: clean chorus, and a sort of oversat lead chorus. not very versatile... but those two things would be worth the price of admission. that said... long live the tube! Nailed it right on. The mosfet actually sounds like a marshall, and the higher you can get the levels on them, the more they sound like a real marshall. I'm not gigging and haven't for years, so never should've bought this amp (who could stand the volume in a closed basement if you tried to turn it up) - the fact that it doesn't work right is probably a blessing. I have a marshall TMB chinese clone and will put the speaker in a cherry cabinet and see how it sounds. If it's no good, I'll find a suitable 12 and dump the G15B-100 on ebay. The princeton chorus is a little bit dated, but the chorus with two separate power amps is otherworldly. It could almost make you sick and disoriented if you sit right in front of the amp. Clean is transparent, but usable (better with compressio) - not nasaly. Unfortunately, most of them have a pot or two off and they quickly become unrepairable based on value. The gain channel is suitable for a 1980s flashback for anyone who grew up then (I did). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 11, 2020 Report Share Posted March 11, 2020 Just now, D_W said: Nailed it right on. The mosfet actually sounds like a marshall, and the higher you can get the levels on them, the more they sound like a real marshall. I'm not gigging and haven't for years, so never should've bought this amp (who could stand the volume in a closed basement if you tried to turn it up) - the fact that it doesn't work right is probably a blessing. I have a marshall TMB chinese clone and will put the speaker in a cherry cabinet and see how it sounds. If it's no good, I'll find a suitable 12 and dump the G15B-100 on ebay. The princeton chorus is a little bit dated, but the chorus with two separate power amps is otherworldly. It could almost make you sick and disoriented if you sit right in front of the amp. Clean is transparent, but usable (better with compressio) - not nasaly. Unfortunately, most of them have a pot or two off and they quickly become unrepairable based on value. The gain channel is suitable for a 1980s flashback for anyone who grew up then (I did). so mojotone then? right on. have oft considered getting into one of their kits or similar... but I'm an airhead so keeping one hand in my pocket seems unlikely. well... 80's... we must be about the sm age. yup... def scooped mids on that one, def something to envy if yer stuck using a crate solid state w dod thrash master for all your tones (good times). I agree... the chorus on those is really delightful. takes me back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted March 14, 2020 Report Share Posted March 14, 2020 On 3/11/2020 at 2:38 PM, D_W said: The princeton chorus is a little bit dated, but the chorus with two separate power amps is otherworldly. It could almost make you sick and disoriented if you sit right in front of the amp. Great builds, love the rosewood neck! Ive been on a chorus pedal bender for the last year, and landed on a Kelley Dyno My Roto that has a really thick tri-chorus. Recently I bought the guts of a vintage Ibanez CS-9 (Maxon) for cheap off Ebay and then reboxed it. Holy wow. This is one of those times when all the analog chip cork sniffing really pays off. It's lush but focused, can go from a subtle swirl all the way to pure Boston sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_W Posted March 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 I've never tried the pedals, but am assuming that some of them have two outs so that you can emulate a true stereo type sound? I threw my original princeton chorus away about 15 years ago (they just weren't bringing anything) and I guess I'm having a mid life crisis now, but the strength of the separate amps in the PC (something I never knew when I was younger - didn't ask many questions) makes it so that if you sit right in front of it, you can get somewhat disoriented from being between the speakers. before I bought it, I looked at various pedals and being a simpleton, didn't realize just how many different chorus type sounds there are. Looks like the preferred types go in phases like everything else, so the more metallic 80s kind of chorus is now out and really cheap. the P-C type is more lush and three dimensional (it can lose focus if you use too much depth), but admittedly dated (like the whole amp). I'm dated, too - love it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 17, 2020 Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 not to correct but most pedal analog chorus is not true stereo. ce2 was just mono and pretty sure (depending on version) the cs9 is too. the dod versions that use the mn3007 chip were sold as stereo chrous but really just have a dry out as with most pedal chrous. I thought that in the priceton and peavey classic chorus amps they were actually flipping the phase of the chorus and getting true stereo chorus but I could be wrong on that. Either way... I have tried a lot of chorus both digital and analog... from sad512 based eh memory man to dod performer 512 based, dod performer mn3007 based, ce2, dimension c, ce2b, cs9, eh small clone, ada mp1/2, mxr micro... etc. analog chorus is a whole nutha animal in that it's dirty(beautiful) and lots of warble... the princeton/peavey of that era is very clean and while I've not seen the circuit - I'd be really surprised if it wasn't digital. all probably more than anybody cares about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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