nerosrevenge

+1 on the top right. Love the idea, can't wait to see it finished!

STV.

Yup you plane it even.

Well I have had a touch of luck this week. I managed to find some hardware. When I bought the hardware that I intended to use for this build, I actually bought 2 sets, one chrome and one gold. I have wanted to use the gold hardware with the P90's on this build. Anyway...I found the chrome set. So now I have the bridge, and the tuners. I also have a set of Seymour Duncan humbuckers that were part of that set, but I don't intend to use them for this build. I am likely going to wind up a set of my own pick ups now, I have started another thread about this here. I may put the humbuckers up on Ebay to raise money to buy a top for this thing.

I hope to get at the headstock later this week, now all I need are pots, an input jack, strap buttons, fretwire, and a truss rod, oh and a fret saw, and I guess I still haven't made any decision on inlays yet either. Hmm...I felt closer to having what I need before I wrote it out. oh well, one step at a time.

STV.

What a unique design. I love it! As for accentuating the grain of the ash, perhaps sanding back would work. You could use a stain that is only sightly darker than the natural wood so as not to detract too much from the natural look you are going for.

Peter - I have pm'd you.

Sock Puppet, thanks for the link. I have seen several kits around but I think I would rather make them from scratch if I can.

Thanks to everyone for their contributions, this is definitely a learning experience.

STV.

With reference to the bar magnets, I realized that about half way into this. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information out there on the exact construction of the original P-90's (by information, I mean photographs, dimensions, etc.) that is not to say that there is no information out there, just not an abundance. Without having one to look at (or two, like I originally had ) it made the whole experience a little frustrating.

Just for kicks, if anyone has an original P-90 and would like to share some photographs of the top, bottom and sides of the pickup with the cover off, along with dimensions (lol, not asking too much huh?!) I would be more than happy to do up another model based on the original design.

Just a thought.

Anyhow, I got my RE magnets today, as I said I am going to wind one up with those just for kicks, I am starting the bobbin tomorrow (I hope) now I just need to find somewhere nearby (Toronto perhaps) where I can get some wire!

Cheers!

STV.

NICE - Seems I spoke too soon, just after I posted this I found this image:

That should help!

Thanks for the advice Peter. I am having difficulty sourcing Alnico magnets in my area (although I was searching for the rod type, not the bars) I will dig around again and see it I can find some. I think I am going to build one based on the drawing anyhow and see how it turns out, but your advice is well heeded. Thank you very much for contributing!

This is so much fun!

STV.

Do you know if I can I get FEMM for Mac? I gave done a quick search just now but I'm not having any luck.

Forgive me if this is a newbie type of question but I am...well...new to this is there a way to accurately calculate this in advance of building?

Hi Otzelpeitz, I am going through this now as well. I assume you have seen this drawing if you have been cruising around the net looking for info:

scaled the coil based on those dimension and is about 1/4" (0.246" to be exact) 1/4" for mine.

I hope this helps!

STV

Hi there. I have decided that I want to wind my own pick ups for my current build. I had a set of Seymour Duncan P-90's and somehow I have misplaced the box that they were in.

So here's is my dilemma, I can't seem to find a supplier up here in Canada for the Alnico 5's, so I did some digging around and found a few posts regarding neodymium (rare earth) magnets. Considering the strength of these little suckers, I felt that using something rather small might work. So...I have prepared this drawing in Sketchup to see how I might assemble one:

The magnets are indicated on the bottom in blue, they are 1/8" x 1/8", I am planning to wind them at about 8000 turns.

Can anyone offer any experience or advice on this idea?

Thanks so much,

STV.

Man, it seems that the trouble gremlin has cast his evil spell on this build! No luck at the mill, well, I should say that they didn't have anything that was in the budget. So that's a bummer. I just checked my tuners again and it seems that I neglected to check what the required thickness of the headstock would need to be for those tuners. They need 1/2" and the headstock is almost 3/4!

I almost want to rebuild the neck at this point, but it seems it would be an awful waste. I will likely thin down the headstock, and see what effect that has on the shape. Considering the carve my feeling is that it may end looking too skinny and long, I guess we'll see!

STV.

Managed to get a set of control knobs turned tonight. I made them from Cocobola:

I have managed to misplace the bridge and the pick ups that I had wanted to use for this guitar

I moved recently and it seems in the chaos, they got packed and now I can't find them. Not sure what I am going to do about that. I have a set of humbuckers from an old Epi-LP that I had but they are not that great. I really wanted to use those P90's...

I guess I just have to keep looking.

Anyway I am off to the lumber mill tomorrow to scare up a piece for the top, I'll keep you all posted! Wish me luck.

STV

well why not just cut the neck pocket more shallow, and use a greater neck angle?

I believe I would have to use less of an angle no? If I increase the angle that will cause the fretboard to sit higher above the top of the guitar, if I do that in conjunction with cutting the neck pocket shallower it will compound the problem.

j.peirce - "Are you working towards a specific neck angle as a target?" No. I calculated the angle based on the bridge I am using relative to the length of the neck. The angle is 2 degrees.

I think that the easiest solution is to angle the body, trim the neck heel parallel with the neck itself and take it from there. Any other solution will require me to change the thickness of the top I plan to use, and in turn the height of the bridge relative to the neck, and in turn the neck angle required, and so on.

Since the neck is made and the body is roughly half done, this seems the best solution.

Thank you to everyone for you comments and advice.

I really should pick up that Hiscock book! Anyone selling a used copy?

STV

Picked up the flush trim router bit for the body today an the one for the neck pocket. I managed to get the body shaped:

(those dark marks appear to be some kind of oil from the pads on two of the clamps that I used, I hope I can get it out. Could cause me trouble when finishing )

I found a mill nearby that sells rough cut lumber, and apparently they have some figured maple in stock so I am hoping to make it there tomorrow. Looks like I'll have to break down and buy the piece for the top after all. Oh well, I'll see what they have in stock and decide from there!

STV.

Well I think that I have decided to angle the top. After reviewing my drawings, I figure that is the easiest solution. I will then reshape the neck heel so that it is at zero angle to the neck itself, and rely on the angle of the body when I route the pocket.

It's interesting to note that I had originally wanted to angle the heel as I though that it was the easiest route, turns out that I was wrong!

I also picked up the router bits for shaping the body and the neck pocket today so I hope to get the body done tonight. Still need a piece of wood for the top...

STV.

I am working on geting the body ready for my current build (which is also my first) and I have run into a snag (at least I think I have).

Based on what I can forsee, when I cut the neck pocket, a portion of the neck and fretboard will sit below the surface of the body. You can see this in the original drawing:

I don't recall seeing this on other guitars, and I can't get near something similar to this design in the near future to check. So here are my questions:

1. Is this normal? I would assume that this is an issue with any build where the neck is at an angle to the body.

2. What is the best solution? I figure I could cut the neck pocket shallow but then the end of the fretboard will sit above the body. I could angle the top from the bridge forward, but then I would have to change the thickness of the neck heel because based on the angle I fear that if I angle the top and cut the neck pocket deeper, I wouldn't have enough material left in the body for a solid joint.

The neck heel is about 1 1/2" thick as it is, is that too thick?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

STV.

Progress report...

I got the body planks rough cut and glued up tonight:

I think I am going to attempt making my own control knobs and tuner heads from the left over mahogany. I haven't done any research on this yet so if anyone has any helpful tips they would be appreciated!

Cheers!

STV.

Can anyone post pics of this procedure?

Thanks,

STV.

Fortunately the scrap pile is located in the shop . The wood is very stable and is left over from a furniture project my Dad did some time ago so I should be ok.

Here is a shot of the first set of boards gluing up:

There will be two of these sets glued one on top of the other. I cut and glued the wood in such a way that the joints are staggered, and the different grains will support one another. As I said earlier not ideal but it will work!

STV.

Well I got lucky (or less lazy!) I finally went out to the garage and raided my Father's scrap wood stash and came up with enough mahogany to get the body started! It will be made up of several different pieces (not ideal, but keeps with whole "recycled" theme of this project).

I will post pics soon.

Cheers!

STV.

Thank you everyone for all of your comments. I am having a blast with this project!

GregP - I measured the tuners and they'll work. I'll be adding those soon.

jmrentis - I had been considering using some poplar that I have laying around to make a laminate body, but I just can't bring myself to do it! The neck turned out so nice, and I really do have my heart set on a figured top with mahogany body, so I'm holding out. I guess we'll see what comes my way!

STV.

Here is tonight's progress:

- Headstock carved and sanded.

- Truss rod cover laminated and cut to shape (still need to route the edge).

Here is the headstock rough carved:

and here it is sanded with the truss rod cover in place:

I am wondering if anyone has experience using poplar for the body? It's not my first choice but I have a whack of it laying around so if I can put it to use why not?!

Cheers!

STV.

Maiden69 - thanks for the tip, I will check out that link.

I put the headstock veneer on tonight. I decided not to use the walnut, it clashed too much with the fingerboard. So instead I used some flame maple veneer that I had:

The headstock will ultimately have a carve around the edge (similar to an Ovation) I hope to get that done after the weekend.

Cheers!

STV.

If you do the angle on the neck on a bolt on either bolt on or set neck the bottom or the heel will not sit tight against the body. the pocket will have a 90 degree angle while your neck heel will have an 87 if you go with a 3 degree neck angle, the heel will touch but the bottom of the neck pocket instead of a nice tight seam. on a set, well you can do what Gibson doea and just fill the void with GLUE

I am still on my first build (and by no means an expert) so forgive me if I've got it wrong.

I am cutting the angle in the heel of my current build and I realized that this would be an issue. To get around it, I simply cut the 90 degree angle relative to the angle of the heel, not the neck (did I explain that clearly?). This way when I cut the neck pocket, I should get a good tight fit.

Thanks!

STV.