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Project completed - Padauk w/P90s


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Just finished my second solidbody project:

Padauk body

Gibson P90 pickups

Carvin Neck

Tru-Oil finish

Here's a pic (with more at:

Padauk P90

bodyside.jpg

Even tho I messed up the pickup alignment somehow (displaced from the centerline), the guitar sounds & plays great.

A few things learned:

1) Tru Oil produces a really good finish - easy & fast to apply, lets the natural wood show through, produces a gloss (but not plastic looking) finish & is supposed to be quite durable. I liked the results much better than with tung oil

2) Putting the extra effort in to totally shield everything & ground properly (star grounding) - is well worth it. Even with all the reputation that P90s have for hum, this guitar is almost totally quiet.

Rich

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SweeT!

That turned out real nice :D I bet it sounds good too. :D

A minor bit of constructive criticism:

The upper strap pin looks like it's angled too much. Seems like the strap might fall off the pin and the guitar might hit the ground.

This is more of a preference but I like the controls spread out just a little bit more.

These are just very small issues but I like the guitar alot!

Tight looking pickup & neck routes! Well done. B):D

I'd like to see how the padauk color changes over time. Maybe you could post some pics later on? :D

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Thanks for all the comments. I mostly play sitting down & use strap locks when standing, so I don't think the placement of the upper mount will be a problem (I have to admit that I did it by eye, without thinking too much). In a past life, I used to "play" transmission electron microscopes, so got very used to tightly placed controls.

Still getting used to the shape - I like it visually, but the guitar balances a little differently, so takes some adjustment.

I'm now starting to plan out my next one - semi-hollow telecaster shape, but want to play around with pickups - probably going to at least add a piezo & some form of active electronics (cobble together my own circuits).

Rich

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I love Paduak, I love P90's, I love Jazzmasters' -I love this guitar! Very tidy indeed. :D

Congratulations! I bet its a bright sounding beast though eh? I know the Padauk I used was very heavy and dense, but I've seen some that is much less so.

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Fantastique!

I love Paduak, even tho it's a bit on the heavy side, I bet your body is just the right thickness to make it 'just right' by the looks of it.

Verry sweet!

1) How do you like the Warmoth neck? (I love them, they're my favorite)

2) How did you decide on Gibson P-90's instead of, say, Fralin P-90's or Rio Grande P-90's?

B):D:D

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The weight isn't too bad - considerably less than a Les Paul. Brightness isn't an issue either - sound seems to be nicely balanced. I went with the Gibson P-90's partly from a sense of appropriateness (why not go with the folks that created the originals) - also after trying some SGs & Les Pauls out which had them.

I went with a Carvin neck, not Warmoth. I have a Carvin guitar & love the neck. Carvin's pricing is significantly less than Warmoth, so going with this seemed like a natural.

Rich

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Hi MPEG2 :D

Congratulations for this beautiful job, a really nice guitar, the Oil´s finish very good looking. Congratulations again Bro.. Keep rocking!!! :D Bye Bye! B)

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this si really nice....lately ive been thinking abotu making a body out of paduak just for its color and after lookin on ebay it seems to be relatively cheap, and i was also considering an oil finnish for its ease of application and tru-oil was was i planed on using casue i read that it was pretty durable, so it looks liek youve sold me on the idea with this beauty

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Very nice work! I'd love to hear a clip or two of it to see how it sounds. I have been working on a padauk semi-hollow (chambered Cuban mahogany body with padauk top and back) guitar using a mahogany Carvin neck with stainless frets and Holdsworth head stock. I have the body core done and the two halves of the padauk tops and backs mirror imaged and glued together. Shouldn't be too much longer now. The finishing will take a while though as I intend to go with a French polish. Padauk is nice wood, for sure! Excellent choice! Boggs

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Interesting - my next project will be a tele-shaped semihollow - I have a blank cut out with Padauk on top & Poplar below - the bottom will be some kind of 1/4" thick wood (I have a few candidates around the shop). I'm going to try my hand at a neck for the 1st time (I found a nice chunk of mahogany big enough for 2 - managed to get the truss rod channel cut perfectly).

I'm going to try to get a bit creative with the electronics on this one - probably humbuckers with coil splits, active electronics (my own design) and maybe a Tube Screamer clone circuit built in (lots of room in a semi-hollow for circutiry). I'm also thinking of putting on a piezo bridge for the acoustic tones.

It'll be interesting to see if it all comes together...

Rich

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