7even X²

Just found this little nugget and thought I would pass it on.John Birch Pickup Its only around for another 2 hours. Hope you get this soon.

I like the design. A thought for the jack. Angled recessed in the lower section of the heel. Seems fitting for the shape you have going. Also it would exit the jack near the strap pin for ease of cable management while playing it. Mike

Awesome! The paint choice was perfect for it. It has me now thinking outside the box for my next build. Mike

Seams everyone feels oil is the way to go. Since I have never done the Seafin/paraffin finish, what is the major difference between that and say Tung? Also to answer the questions Yes, its a boat anchor. It weighs enough to convincingly drive fence post for sure. I built it for recording and thankfully not for gigging, so the weight isn't too large a factor. The sound is insane. Very defined. The notes really ring out with precision and clarity. The pickups that are in there now, are the weak link. They were popped in because I'm impatient. They wont be staying, I'm winding my own pups for this one in hopes of better complimenting the wood. Mike

About 2 years ago I started building this "Strat" copy. I am most of the way there but I blew my back out and just never got around to finishing it. When I started this, I had a clear cut Idea on how it would be finished. I was planing to do a dutch oil treatment. I hate to say it but that is a lot of sanding and I am not sure my back is up to it. I was talking with someone that turned me onto the idea of doing a Seafin Teak Oil finish. If anyone has any other finish options to throw into the hat, I'm open to suggestion. I guess I should get on with the stats. The Body: East Indian Rosewood. Its back cut for the VS100 The Neck: Neck wood: East Indian Rosewood Fretboard: Brazilian Rosewood with MOP inlay. Fret wire: 6230 stainless steel Nut: graphite Machine Heads: Gold Schaller Mini Locking Tuners. The Bridge: Gold Gotoh/Wilkinson VS100 The Pickups: Fender aged-white Samarium Cobalt Noiseless The Pickguard: Hand cut smoked acrylic Lexan Here is some not-so great photos. I wet the neck down to give you an idea of the wood. Again, and ideas are welcome on the finish. I am avoiding things like NCL because I don't have the equipment or time to learn to shoot NCL. I am moving in a few months and want to finish it before I leave. Thanks for looking Mike

Ok, I was really hoping to learn more about the UV method but I am not ruling out bleach just yet. I did have a few questions though if anyone can fill in the blanks. What is the method for bleaching wood like this? Do I cut the solution? How is it applied? How long do I leave it on? Etc… And I am still really interested in learning more about this UV method and what it entails. I want to pick what I feel I am going to be best at and safest with. So if anyone can help out explaining either and/or both methods, I would really appreciate it. Or if there are some good links to resources. Thanks again for all the help so far

Anyone?

I could really use an answer to that question if anyone has it. I need to finish this guitar soon. thanks

Again, I still have the same question, how to lighten it. Without a scrap to test on, I am a bit scared to try bleaching it. Is there any other methods out there other then the bleach and the UV sugestion? On the UV bleaching technique, how good would a commercial style metal halide do for that UV idea? I have a 1000w one outside the garage I could bring into the shop and hook up. How controlable is it. Will I be able to see it as it changes it or is it something that takes days? Thanks again for all your help and praises!! Mike

Wow, then thanks for the GOTM comment. I take that as very high praise, however in this situation I don’t feel I qualify for or deserve any such thing as I purchased this body and neck instead of cutting this one out myself. I hate to say it though, cutting Rosewood isn’t my idea of fun, I made a rosewood body some 15 years ago and I think it wasted (seriously dulled) ever saw blade in my shop before it was finished. so I have to admit that I would have most likely never made that combo myself. It is damn pretty though. Thanks again for the complement. I only hope the end of the project brings as much praise. Mike

If your stuck with having to go with the 6 hole vintage, a good option is to Start with a Fender standard vintage trem and add a set of Graphtech saddles. That and when you install the 6 screws, something that helps is to hold the tremolo flat to the body without springs. tighen the outside two screws down until they just touch the surface of the tremolo. The inner screws, tighten until they are about a 16th of an inch above the surface. It makes the Vintage tremolo preform more like a 2 point sytstem. now when you string it up and add your springs installed. having the back of the tremolo set 1/2 inch off the surface of the body in the back when fully tuned. In either case you know you can get the cover for either of the two styles. If you go with that and a set of locking tuners, you should never have tuning issues at all once your strings are stretched. If you can go with the newer 2 point Fender tremolo. then same information applies, a set of Graphtech saddles and a chrome cover. (or gold if its your scheme) and a set of locking tuners. You should never have a problem. I know you say your looking for a non fender tremolo, but if you make the changes I talked about, it will not have tuning issues. I have a half dozen strats sitting here now. They all stay in tune. Hope that helps some Mike

Nope, you hit the nail on the head. You had one dead set of strings. I have bought boomers before and had the same issue you seen. As for anything to double check on the guitar? If you changed the strings gauge at all, you'll need to look at the nut grooves as well as the tension on the neck. If you had heavier strings on it to start with, then the nut has larger grooves and the neck is set to compensate for the string tension difference. Hope that helps some

You also get your choice for the nut. I haven't built a bass with one of their necks but they should also offer stainless steel fret wire. Its well worth the price difference. Just my .02

Here is the difference between the body when it was purchased and now.(2nd picture) For the neck, look at my original picture of it in my first post and you can see all of the detail in the fretboard. Its all lost now as can be seen by the 3rd picture.. Man I really see what your talking about. My camera really sux. It does make the pickups and knobs look white and not aged white. Oops, my bad on that one. I guess if you want this to look closer to correct, you will have to adjust the colors until that looks like proper aged white. Then the photo will be in the corect colors. Here is one last shot of the whole thing.

Sure. I will do my best Parentheses are used to show the switch grouping theme. + = Parallel * = Series - = Out-of-Phase MsB = Middle Series Bridge MpB = Middle Parallel Bridge MsB= Down MpB= Down 1. B 2. B + (N) 3. B * (N) 4. (- B ) * (N) 5. (N) MsB = Up MpB = Down 1. B 2. B + (N*M) 3. B * (N*M) 4. (- B ) * (N*M) 5. (N*M) MsB = Down MpB = Up 1. B 2. B + (N+M) 3. B * (N+M) 4. (- B ) * (N+M) 5. (N+M) MsB = Up MpB = Up 1. B 2. B + (M) 3. B * (M) 4. (- B ) * (M) 5. (M) No, I have made a few in the past but these I can't take credit for. These are Warmoth In fact a good bit of it just come from them. Body Neck Frets Nut Tremolo Jack plate Machine heads Straplocks All the hardware In fact the only thing I didn't order from them was the pickguard , pickups and wiring. The pickguard I cut just for this guitar. I made a template out of a tracing of a Stratocaster pickguard and then made a raise mold by cutting a piece of masonite to the Stratocaster template and then mounting that onto a piece of 1/2in ply. The I just let my dremel plunge router do the rest. The pickups are only temporary, I plan to put my own hand wound pickups in it (when I get off my lazy arse to building the set for this guitar) they will be noiseless as well. I want to wind a set with the acoustics of the guitar in mind. So it may take a few rewinds to get what I want, but I will do my best to do the wood justice. I hate to be an "I told you so" but if you look at my original post, you will note that you overlooked the part where I said that I used aged white pickups. The knobs are as well. The photo I thought showed that well enough but I am used to looking at the actual guitar. I am sure that clouds how I perceive the picture to some degree. I bought the Pickups and the S-1 switching system complete on ebay it was the SCN pickups, S-1 switch and the rest of the fender components mounted in a white Perloid pickguard. As far as the wiring Schematic is concerned, I don't give out my wiring designs until I am happy with them. I am close with this one, but I still have a considerable bit of work, yet on it. Sorry, I don't mean to be a smartass but what does GOTM mean? Im new to this forum and not sure of the termanolgy being used. Thanks for the tip Ill try it. Also in my next post I will show you the difference between what it looked like when I got it vs. now. I think everyone will see what I mean about wanting to lighten it. Really the only part I want to lighten is the fretboard. You can no longer see the really killer figuring that was in the first post. that is what I wish to lighten more than anything. I will let the pictures tell the story. I have to wait for a non rainy day here in the Seattle area to take a picture of it so that you have a good comparison. might take a few days