toneseeker

Justa wacky thought...matte black pickup truck bed liner from a can...seriously.

I'm still looking for a source for some thick single ply brown tortoise pickguard material to complete my build. Anyone have a source or link? Thanks. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

INCREDIBLE!!! Hail to thee. Very nice wood choices and execution. A thing of real beauty.

I found an article regarding compensating a nut. It's by Stephen Delft. It's very informative. After reading it some I realized a couple of things I need to look at before even determining that I need to make one in the first place. The article is based on acoustics primarily, but also applies to electrics. The link is... http://www.mimf.com/nutcomp/ I also found a good article on wound and soild G strings and wraparound bridges. http://images.onstagemag.com/files/46/0202Setuptxt.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/ After 2 months of weekend(and some weekday nights), my Junior is nearly finished. I still have to apply a few more coats of nitro and let it cure for a long time and then wet-sand and buff. I'll be supplying better pics and some sound wavs as soon as I can. I hope this inspires others to attempt a build. Best wishes from SC-Lowatter

Yeah WezV...the color indoors under incondescent light looks more like red chestnut. I probably applied too much color spray coating. It's fine though, I can live with it. I'm happy just to get it to this point. I assembled everything today and strung it. I have a couple of buzzing issues, but very minor(12th and 13th fret leveling will take care of it). The neck still came out a little thick, but that's fine too. She plays like a dream and very resonant. It's been a ton of work, but it's paying off. Hey pukko...thanks for the link to Greven guitars. I contacted him and he has what I'm looking for in brown tort. He'll get back with a price soon. I hope it's not too high. Greven guitars are INCREDIBLE ACOUSTICS!. John is a great luthier. I'll be borrowing a good digital camera in the next day or so and taking some money shots of my Junior. Best wishes and thanks again guys-Lowatter http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

I know that I'm probably deviating from the original design somewhat, but I was hoping not too far...I posted some pics of an aged original 1959 Junior double cut on my pic site for comparison. I hope that I haven't missed my mark by too much in my re-creation for a first-time builder. Am I missing something?...anyone?...anyone? http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

PROGRESS UPDATE...After MANY hours trying to make the epoxy pickguard turn out right, it's definately not not nitro-celluloid quality or durability so I decided to just order some 3 ply brown tortoise pickguard material from www.grizzly.com . Although the color and transparency was exactly what I was hoping for, it's hardness and the fact that the difference in swirls keeps raising a grain on the surface, I decided to cut-bait and abandon it. I looked EVERYWHERE for some real .090" single ply nitro-cellulose brown tort blanks but to no avail. Does anyone(please!) have a source on some that won't cost me more than $40? I only need a 8" X 8" piece. I posted more pics on my site of the pickguard and of how the 3 light uniform color spray coats came out. I now have 7 coats of finish on soo far including the initial vinyl sealer. I didn't use a grain sealer as it's not the look I was after. I want it to be a player's guitar without a mirror high gloss finish that I have to constantly worry about scratching or fussing with. I basically want it to look like dookie(finish wise) in a few years and just enough coating to protect the color but not take away much resonance. I'll be appying 3 or 4 more coats this weekend and waiting 2 weeks before I do my polish sanding schedule and buffing. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks guys-Lowatter http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

Headstock logo was applied. I stenciled and spray-bombed it metallic gold on the headstock face. Now it's on to applying the nitro finish. I'm getting closer. Also I made up some brown tortoise pickguard material from 2 part epoxy and stain. Here's some more pics... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

Hey all...I made some major progress and I thought I share what has been done. Junior's all stained up and waiting to put his coat on. I'm getting closer. I got tired of trying to find some single ply tortoise pickguard material so I made up some on my own with epoxy and stain. I'll be working the cured blank tomorrow and I'll post the result. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

Hey BlackDog...thanks soo much for the compliments. After looking at your endevours, I'm VERY complimented by your words. As far as pups go, I just ordered a front and rear dogear P-90 set from GFS ($40 for the pair delivered on clearance without covers(got any?)). The rear pup is 8.8K ohms. I wanted to try a hotter bridge, but this is the deal I came up with until something else comes available. My single pup Melody Maker RI ohms out at 13+K and sounds incredible(it's a little known secret) so I appreciate the value of the higher resistance. I may putz around with caps and resistors to see what I can get out of them however. I'm really torn at this point about adding the neck pup with the 2 control knobs(push-pull volume set-up like the Squier '51), and make it a cross-between a junior and a special. I guess that the more I tweak however, the further I'm getting away from the original simplistic splender of the '59 Junior DC that took be there from the begining. Again...thanks.

Have any of you guys tried one of the Gotoh P-90 bridge pups? They are used in Tokai Japanese guitars. I listened to a couple of soundbites and they seemed good for the price. Any help would be appreciated-Thanks...Toneseeker Here's my Junior build: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

Have any of you guys tried one of the Gotoh P-90 bridge pups? They are used in Tokai Japanese guitars. I listened to a couple of soundbites and they seemed good for the price. Any help would be appreciated-Thanks...Toneseeker http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

I'm at the point were I had to put some strings on for the first time just to see if I was even close to making a playable guitar out of this hunk of wood. After a minor neck adjustment and raising the bridge slightly, the intonation is very close. I may have to do a little leveling and dressing, but I'm going to finish everything else first now that I know I'm on the right track. The neck is a little thick. I may end up taking the profile of my Melody Maker and shaving some more off it. I believe the '59 Juniors necks were a little thick, but I'm not certain of that. I posted some more pics of the progress. Next I have to find a P-90 and rout for it, then make the pickguard and finally stain and finish. Thanks for all the compliments and encouragement guys, it's getting there. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

My drum sander is a must have tool in my little modest garage/woodshop. It was well worth the effort to build it. There are lots of guys with tutorials out there to build one. After looking some of them over, I kinda let my sander design itself with the materials I had available to me. It really wasn't that hard to do and I encourage anyone with some mechanical skills who does woodworking to build one. For the drum(which is the most important part), I simply took a 22" piece of 4" PVC and made inner diameter caps for the ends with 3/4" plywood discs. Then, drill holes EXACTLY in the center of the dics the diameter of your axle. Then I bought 2 galvie pipe flanges(used to secure threaded pipes to flat surfaces), and drilled out the threads so that they would slip over a 1" axle. Put the axle, flange and disc through one end of the PVC and simply fill the PVC with concrete. Then cap the other end, add the other flange and let it set up. Then slip the assembly through (2) 1" pillow block bearings and add a pulley on one end. Then take a piece of 3/4" plywood(22"X22") and glue a 2"X2" along 1 edge that has a bevel cut perpendicular the the PVC drum cylinder. Then glue some 120 grit sandpaper to that beveled surface. Use this to true up the PVC drum cylinder so that it is true and parallel to the feed surface. I hope this helps. BTW...I GLUED THE NECK TO THE BODY TONIGHT ON MY JUNIOR BUILD!!!!! A milestone moment. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

I got the body sanded and thought I'd bump and show you guys...I'll probably set the neck tomorrow after drilling for the input jack and wires. I still need a used P-90-ANYONE GOT ONE TO SELL? http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

More progress made on my build. The neck will be set this weekend. I'm way ahead of the schedule I thought I was looking at. Check it out at.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

I decided on getting a used Epiphone P-100($20-delivered) and adding a push-pull volume control that will switch the dumby load coil in and out. I think it's from the '57 Jr. resissue model. I thought that it may add some tonal possibilities to the build. I didn't want to change the simplicity of the Jr. at all. Another reason is that the pickup(from what I read) ohms out at 19K without the dumby load. That's probably wrong and it's just a little more than double the vintage correct resistance. At nearly $20.00 cheaper than what I was going to pay, that's brings my project total for my build to $130.00 with a tort guard and amber knobs. Not too shabby. not too shabby. I made some more progress today and if things go well today, I may be able to set the neck today(a milestone moment). I hand made a trussrod cover and stamped 'MADE IN-USA' on back of the headstock. Check my progress at... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

Thanks Wez, I appreciate the offer but I really don't have much to spend. I'm doing this on a shoestring budget so I don't drive my poor wife nuts. I'm just trying to get a playable rendition of the Jr. DC. The Allpart's Razor looks like a great pup tho. 10K ohms for a P-90 must be a real smoker. BTW...you've built some very nice guitars on the other side of the pond.

I made some more progress and I thought I'd bump to share what has been done..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

I made alot of progress this weekend for anyone interested. Again, anyone have a used dogear P-90 bridge pup for sale? http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

BTW...does anyone have a exact scale GFS dogear P-90 footprint? Better yet...does anyone have a used dogear P-90 they can sell cheap(alms for the poor)? Also, I wanted to tell anyone who views my pics that the white tape wrapped around my trussrod is teflon tape. I hadn't heard of anyone doing this, I just thought it was a pretty good idea as titebond won't stick to it and it should move nicely encased in it as well as it's dampening qualities. I know it's too late now, but does anyone think that this was a mistake? P.S. further updates of the build will be added to the pic link as I make progress, so keep checking the link.

Thanks Hector...I appreciate the compliment. It's alot of work for a weekend warrior. I know that the '59 is very plain-jane compared to say a LP custom, but I'm a plain-joe kinda guy. I want the sound but not the grief of a hugely complicated build as well. I'm hoping the the dark cherry base stain and the transparent finish stain on the 3rd finish coat will hide alot of my joining and scarf joint etc. No binding to have to do and very little leveling/dressing as I used a already fretted fingerboard. From what I can see down the fretline, I may only have to level the 12th fret slightly. I know about the neck angle which I believe is 2-2.5 degrees and I have it accounted for on the neck, but the body is flat bottomed in the neck pocket and I'm using a right angle on the back of the heel. I'll have to do some final sanding on the neck's heel bottom and perpendicular back of the heel when I get the bridge(hopefully today) and determine the string height. I probably will wait to get it before I rout the pocket though in case I deviate from the template I made when I go to do this. I'll post more pics as I make progress and if anyone goes to build one, I'll try to help all that I can.

Hey all...I'm in the middle of a '59 LP Jr. double cut build. I'm not going for perfection or purity. I just hope to make a decent playable rendition. I snagged a fretted fingerboard and trussrod off of a new Stagg LP copy neck I got off the 'bay' for $25.00. I removed the fingerboard as per the instructions here at PG and it saved me alot of work. You can check out the current progress at... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/ I had a piece of rosewood around so I thought I would use it on the headstock to be a little bit different, but I'm trying to be as close as possible to the original for what resources and abilities I have. I'm waiting for the bridge to arrive so I can rout for the neck, but I'm going to rout the pocket tomorrow after some more body shaping. Let me know what you think of my build soo far and if you have any suggestions, I would appreciate the input. Best wishes from SC-lowatter. (AKA)-toneseeker

Thanks for the input guys. I didn't mean to come off as disgruntled. I have several years experience cabinet making experience and a fairly well equiped garage shop but little guitar building experience. I built a Tele neck a year or so ago from scratch and found it way beyond what I wanted to invest time wise and it came out mediocre at best. If I do a short LP style tennon I would have to bring the neck down into the body and I wanted to keep to the original look of a JR DC. Tues. I'm going out to a specialty hardware supplier and pick up some Honduras(South American 8/4) and just plan on lifting the fretboard on the neck and using it and the trussrod and nut for a near true '59 JR DC build with a scarf joint and volute. I appreciate your input guys and wish me luck with it. I'll post some picks later, but I'm sure it won't come out as nice as Alberto's. I'm just hoping to make it playable and respectable looking. Thanks guys.