avengers63 Posted June 13, 2022 Report Share Posted June 13, 2022 I'm a regional truck driver. This means I live in my rig M-F. My life for 5 days/week is in that damn truck. Now, I am WELL compensated for this time, but that's not the point. Time to spend doing just anything hobby related is virtually non-existent. Available space in the sleeper berth is also at an extreme premium, so spending it on anything other than life necessities must be considered carefully. Now that I'm finding my groove out there, I'm going to be taking a travel guitar with me, along with a rechargeable headphone amp. Originally, I was going to take my Steinberger. On further consideration, I decided not to as it was a very expensive high school graduation present. Theft from the truck is rare, but I'd rather not risk it. As my available home time is extremely limited, I just don't have the time to make one. I managed to find this yesterday.... ...which should fit the bill quite nicely. The whole thing was $108.50. The bridge trem unit goes for $60-90 all by itself. Not having to make the basswood body or maple neck, much less the current price of wood, and this is really quite reasonable. It's a calculated risk with the neck grain orientation, but this is part of the package when you get a Chinese kit like this. The pickups are obviously going to be garbage. They're likely to be ceramic (nothing wrong with that, but they're cheaper to make), and probably not potted. Likewise the wiring harness is crap. It will all be thrown away. I couldn't even put them on eBay with a clear conscience knowing what they are. I've bought Artec pickups before. For the money, they overproduce. They're currently advertised as being made in Korea, not China, so that makes me feel a little better. So I bought a set of oddball pups to drop into this thing. The neck is a twin blade with A5 magnets. The middle is a hybrid. Half of the slugs are A5, half are A2. The bridge is the the real oddball, as you can see for yourself... This will have some real potential for odd switching options. My wife is an amazing artist, so long as you fall into her wheelhouse. I talked her into painting the body for me. Right now, we're looking at the cover of Rush's third album: Caress Of Steel. Convincing her to put this on the back will take a little more effort... So the whole thing will be in sometime this week. We'll see how it goes. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 13, 2022 Report Share Posted June 13, 2022 I have a relative that is also a truck driver. can't imagine gas prices are fun for you folks right now! Can't imagine how you have time to build guitars. i know you aren't asking but... you might consider the ruby amp over at runoff groove. it's easy to build, very small... you can get a couple of 2" speakers for less than $10 over at taydaelec... less pieces to put in the truck anyway and would be interesting to see it all fit in there. anywho, rawk on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2022 1 hour ago, mistermikev said: I have a relative that is also a truck driver. can't imagine gas prices are fun for you folks right now! Can't imagine how you have time to build guitars. i know you aren't asking but... you might consider the ruby amp over at runoff groove. it's easy to build, very small... you can get a couple of 2" speakers for less than $10 over at taydaelec... less pieces to put in the truck anyway and would be interesting to see it all fit in there. anywho, rawk on. GAS: It turns out my company gas card has a $1000 limit. I found this out by taking it down to less than 1/4 tank. It wasn't enough to fill it up. I now hit the fuel station at about 1/2 tank. That gives me room to fill up the reefer tank and top off the DEF tank as well. It usually hits $600-700. AMP: Suggestions are always welcomed. They might not be followed up on, but they're welcomed nonetheless. I'm trying one of those cheap headphone units on Amazon for about $35. It'll fit into the pocket of the gig bag, charged by USB cable, and has bluetooth. This SHOULD let it pair with a little Altec Lansing speaker I have. I was initially looking at the 7w Boss Katana, but I wanted to try this first. Less out of pocket initially. TIME: I'm limited to about 4 hours on Saturday afternoon. It sucks, but it's what it is. This is part of the time sacrifice truckers make. Wifey & I are going through a rough patch while we're trying things to figure out how this lifestyle works for the both of us. On the good side, we both understand WHY we're crabbing at each other, but that doesn't make it any better right now. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 13, 2022 Report Share Posted June 13, 2022 2 minutes ago, avengers63 said: GAS: It turns out my company gas card has a $1000 limit. I found this out by taking it down to less than 1/4 tank. It wasn't enough to fill it up. I now hit the fuel station at about 1/2 tank. That gives me room to fill up the reefer tank and top off the DEF tank as well. It usually hits $600-700. AMP: Suggestions are always welcomed. They might not be followed up on, but they're welcomed nonetheless. I'm trying one of those cheap headphone units on Amazon for about $35. It'll fit into the pocket of the gig bag, charged by USB cable, and has bluetooth. This SHOULD let it pair with a little Altec Lansing speaker I have. I was initially looking at the 7w Boss Katana, but I wanted to try this first. Less out of pocket initially. TIME: I'm limited to about 4 hours on Saturday afternoon. It sucks, but it's what it is. This is part of the time sacrifice truckers make. Wifey & I are going through a rough patch while we're trying things to figure out how this lifestyle works for the both of us. On the good side, we both understand WHY we're crabbing at each other, but that doesn't make it any better right now. suddenly feeling better about $85 fill up this morn lol. afa time... well if it makes you feel any better... I'm limited to 10 minutes at a time... cause that's all I can stand it in my garage when it's 115 degrees out! crabbing... I'm sorry to hear that. can't be easy. there have been a lot of off-roads on my way to 27 years w my wife... but you just stay on the highway no matter what! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2022 The CNC work on the body & neck are what you'd expect. The neck itself is better than what I expected. The maple is more flat sawn than rift, but not perfect. The body has a dirty smudge near the trem cavity, and overall needs some basic sanding prep before sealing and priming it. Ao again, considering it's from a Chinese sweatshop, it is what it is. The bridge seems quite a clever design. It's fairly similar to the unit I used on the headless V I made more than 10 years ago. Mine seems to need a proper cleaning. Spoiler: it's not getting one any time soon. The other electronics and hardware are ALSO exactly what you'd expect from a cheap-ass kit. It's all low budget crap. The hardware is salvageable, like the screws, HB ring, knobs, plates, and strap buttons. The pups and wiring harness are all going in the trash. As for the replacement pups... The body isn't routed for a traditional s/c base plate. This is, of course, very easily remedied. I bought some black metal s/c pup rings as well. There's something I just don't like about body-mounted pups. Whenever I get around to putting together a P90 guitar I'll have to get over it. Till then, it's rings for all. My HOPE for the wiring is semi-complicated. It'll be a standard Strat 5-way, taking the extra bridge blade HB out of it. The neck rails will have a tap on it. The extra bridge rails are getting an on-off-tap. This should give a hellofalot of switching options that will be completely useless anywhere but my music room. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2022 I was finally able to get a little done on this today. The s/c routes were expanded to accommodate a normal s/c base plate. Also, all of the pickup covers and rings DON'T F'ING FIT. The covers are too small to go over the bobbins, the opening in the s/c rings are too small, AND none of the screw holes line up. In other news, wifey just doesn't have the time to paint the body for me. So I'm thinking of putting lipstick on a pig and dress this thing up a bit. I've had this piece of oddball burl lying around for at least a decade. I'm REALLY thinking about bookmatching a couple of slices into a drop top, planing the top of the body down a little to match the thickness, then just dyeing the rest of the body black. The burl isn't wide enough to cover the body, so I'm thinking fill the center with just anything dyed black. Nearly all of the real estate of the filler is the pickups anyway, and there's nothing beyond the trem, so anything put there will be lost anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 Now this is turning more exciting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 2 hours ago, Bizman62 said: Now this is turning more exciting! And then it fights back. SHOCKER! I thought I measured the depth of the forearm contour at 1/4". So this afternoon I cut off a pair of +/- 5/16" fillets from the burl and planed them down to 1/4". The actual depth is 1/2". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2022 We took a weekend off to go on our honeymoon. We were married in the heights of C19 insanity, so a honeymoon was out of the question at that time, so we did it now. We had a 3-day weekend in Memphis. I actually got to play Scotty Moore's guitar - the one he used on all those early Elvis recordings at Sun Studio. WAY kewl. Today I split and flattened the remaining pistachio burl. It came up to 3/16" under 1/2", so I'm mounting it on what will be a pinstripe of Spanish cedar. Why did I use SC? Was it because of the beautiful tonal properties it'll add? was it because of the wonderful color the pinstripe will have? NO! It's because it was handy and already the right thickness! Screw your tone voodoo. The center piece was chosen for a similar reason. I needed something that was dark, about 1/2" thick, and fit the size I needed. What I found was some flatsawn (useless) cocobolo that had turned dead black under whatever finish I had put on it years ago. When it's planed down it'll come back to life, but since I'm NOT going to attempt to seal in the oils at all, it'll turn black again over time, which is exactly what I want. It seems more than a little decadent taking a $106 Chinese basswood kit guitar and not only throwing pickup upgrade at it but jazzing up the top with burl and cocobolo. It also seems like a little bit of a waste of resources. This leads us back to the decadence. Anyway, I can't offer a pic right now because of the clamping cauls. I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 28, 2022 Report Share Posted July 28, 2022 On 7/23/2022 at 1:28 PM, avengers63 said: We took a weekend off to go on our honeymoon. We were married in the heights of C19 insanity, so a honeymoon was out of the question at that time, so we did it now. We had a 3-day weekend in Memphis. I actually got to play Scotty Moore's guitar - the one he used on all those early Elvis recordings at Sun Studio. WAY kewl. Niiice. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted July 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2022 Drop top after gluing drop top after planing It revealed that the center piece is cocobolo. Still kind of a shame to "waste" it like this. body planed down an amount equal to the thickness of the top There isn't much left for a bottom bearing to follow, so it's prudent to make a rubbing so that I can make a template from it if needed in the clamps you gotta be f'ing kidding me..... The top was rough cut before gluing it on so that I could actually get it centered. It moved a bit in the process. Then, when trimming it to the body, I followed into the jack hole. Well shit. The only option now is to carve the top a bit and bind it. Bit first, I have to finish cussing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted July 30, 2022 Report Share Posted July 30, 2022 Oh crap! Then again, that top might look even better with a binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted August 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2022 Nervous about how this will turn out.... But it all worked out fine. I routed down pretty deep for the binding channel. I'm definitely foing to have to do some epoxy fill. On one side - it's just a $108 Chinese kit that I'm screwing with. On the other side, I know I can do better than this. The chanel is pretty low, so there's plenty of room to carve the top. Not that I really wanted to. Or like carving it. Or that this kit is worthy of that much work. But I did this to myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 19, 2022 Report Share Posted August 19, 2022 I'd probably just subtly modify the curves enough to disappear those bite marks, then go back to plan A. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted August 27, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2022 Binding looks great when it's done, but I do not care for the process. It's not difficult... I just don't like it. For the carve, I'm going to start it with a few different sizes of cove bits. This SHOULD set the edge and start the carve, greatly facilitating the actual carve. Or I could completely monkey up the entire thing. Either will be an adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted August 27, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2022 So I no longer have any cove bits. This is quite irritating. While looking at the box stores we have here to see if they have any in stock or if I'll have to order them and wait till next week, I came across a raised panel bit As I was thinking of doing a preliminary rough-out for a guitar carve, this immediately got my mind racing at the possibilities.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 29, 2022 Report Share Posted August 29, 2022 On 8/27/2022 at 10:36 AM, avengers63 said: Binding looks great when it's done, but I do not care for the process. It's not difficult... I just don't like it. I take exactly the same position on the subject. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted September 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2022 I've had the cove bits in for a few weeks. Let's see what happens. I'm wanting to step up the coves to simulate a deepening "carve". Remember that I'm only trying to rough out the edges. The smallest bit did basically nothing. I skipped the 2nd bit altogether and went straight to the 3rd. Finishing the step-up with the last two was simple enough. It might not have made as much of a gradient as I'd have wanted, but that's what happens when you experiment. IDK how I'm going to finish it out yet. I'm making this up as I go along. Next step is to fill in the voids with epooxy and hope for the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 30, 2022 Report Share Posted September 30, 2022 I did that on a couple of early builds. It's a great way to get an even thickness on the edge of the carve. Now you just need to use some gouges to blend the cove into the rest of the top. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted September 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2022 1 hour ago, ScottR said: I did that on a couple of early builds. It's a great way to get an even thickness on the edge of the carve. Now you just need to use some gouges to blend the cove into the rest of the top. SR Yea........ I can't do hammer & chisel stuff. Maybe I can mail it to you and let you have a go at it. I was seriously thinking files, rasps, and curved scrapers. This burl is pretty soft and would prolly respond well to hand tools. There might even be room for a Dremel or the Wagner Saf-T-Planer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 4, 2022 Report Share Posted October 4, 2022 On 9/30/2022 at 4:15 PM, avengers63 said: I was seriously thinking files, rasps, and curved scrapers. This burl is pretty soft and would prolly respond well to hand tools. There might even be room for a Dremel or the Wagner Saf-T-Planer. That should do nicely. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted October 13, 2022 Report Share Posted October 13, 2022 On 7/31/2022 at 1:35 AM, avengers63 said: ..........But first, I have to finish cussing. Oh yeah I've been down that path too many times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted February 6, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2023 4 months later, it's warm enough for several consecutive day to allow me to get several things done. Among them, I put a mild carve onto the body of this thing. Later, I'll take the curved scraper to it and scrape the recurve into it. But for now, this knocks out the majority of the hard work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted May 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2023 3 1/2 months later, I finally decide to get back to this thing. I'm just going to oil the body & neck and call it a day. This was a cheap kit that spiraled WAY out of control. Too much time & effort has already gone into it, and there's no way I'm going to waste my time buffing out a finish that I really don't want to put on it in the first place. Just so the body wouldn't look like crap, I decided to dye it dark brown. I should have left it the hell alone. This Chinese POS has a TOP of filler spots on the body that I couldn't see. Spoiler: filler doesn't absorb dye. Screw it. I'm still just going to oil it as is and be done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted May 23, 2023 Report Share Posted May 23, 2023 17 minutes ago, avengers63 said: filler doesn't absorb dye. How about Sharpie before the final coats? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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