feral_smurf

My next build is going to be a les paul with a piezo pickups in the bridge. I am just asking whether any of the knowledgeable people here will know whether my plan will work. I'm new to the wiring thing and don't have much knowledge of complex schemes but if i want to wire the piezo in to the main circuit and be able to control the volume can i just replace one of the tone pots with a volume pot for the piezo. With this pot replaced can i then have 2 output signals, one from the piezo and another from the humbuckers (with master tone wired), and then switch between the 2 signals using a toggle switch at the output jack (i.e 2 signals to one after the switch). This will hopefully let me select between piezo + mixed + normal les paul. Also if all the pickups have induvidual volume pots then will i be able to blend the pickups together on the mixed option without the need for a preamp? Hopefully you can understand my ramblings Simon Ps Could i also replace the toggle switch with a blend pot and get a more gradual effect

Was that an attempt at a joke. I actually love the design of this guitar and sthell has done well to make it and you just have to try and get the last word. I understand that you feel that it is badly constructed compared to a professional luthier but that does not mean you have to belittle a mans effort and hard work. If you wrote those things about projects i have built i would be severely offended.

Don't worry i'm a bit of a noob myself but i think the first guitar is dyed or tinted lacquer red then the back is sprayed over the top. From what i've heard you need to spray outwards. Thats all i know, hope it is of some help

The general idea of the jig is that you mark out the angle on the work then you clamp it with the line on the edge of the plywood. As the 2 sides of the jig are parallel when you run the thing along the rip fence it cuts a straight cut down the line, better than doing it freehand specially with my bandsaw skills. Yeh i might actually just tidy up some of those edges cheers for the heads up. Simon

My newbie build continues as i have constructed a VERY simple taper jig. I am actually quite proud of it but i doubt i am the first to build such a thing. Its basically just a sled with slots for small g-clamps. The rails underneath are so the head of the clamps clear the table.

that looks so nice. I would be so happy if my build can turn out like that. You are definitely a craftsman blackdog

package from stewmac came today. Pretty impressive as i only ordered it Tuesday evening and they attempted delivery on friday over here in england. Got my rosewood fingerboard then the rest of the electrics. Have cut the rough headstock shape with a coping saw but need to wait till my really simple taper jig (photo coming) has been glued up. Just a quick question, are there multiple shapes for p-bass pickups? I am asking here as it doesn't really deserve its own thread and also as the routing template i ordered from stewmac does not fit the pickups i have. They are only relatively cheap copies but they are thinner and have sharper corners meaning that if i used the template provided there would be around a 2mm gap on each side of the pickup. Does this mean i should make my own template or just leave it.

Well that certainly is funky.

Have belt cut and belt-sanded the scarf joint till it is all flush. I'm still undecided on the headstock design, i was thinking a slightly shortened les paul style affair but does anyone else have any better ideas that go with the body shape above? Not too complicated as i want to keep it simple, first build and all

Hey, well i've actually done something now. Below is a pic of the body glued up and the rough outline cut out. I will sand it down in a bit using a drum sander on a pillar drill. This is a picture of the sapele-walnut laminate neck cut to the rough profile and with the scarf jointed head-stock being glued. The next step is to get the headstock flush with the neck as i haven't cut it yet. After that i will getting the neck and the body to the right outline and shaping in the contours etc.

I'm planning the whole thing in my head and on paper, just so i actually know what i'm doing before i start. Would having a headstock made of two pieces of wood with a glue join in the centre be weak? It doesn't seem that there is any particular stress going through it. The reason i am thinking of this is as i would like a walnut headstock to tie in with the body and i have lots of spare walnut from the neck laminating material. N.B I am planning to scarf joint the headstock on to get the angle

I feel it would as i would have to cut off around 2" from the mahogany when the neck it cut, i suppose it isn't too much so i might laminate it for the strength. I doubt anyone wants there dream handmade guitar to have a snapped neck.

The grain on the mahogany isn't particularly tight but it is 4" wide so spilting it with a band saw and inserting the walnut would waste quite a lot of wood. Personally i would prefer to keep the wood for more projects, get full value from it. This a picture of the end i want to use. Picture isn't great sorry

The neck wood has arrived. Much more than expected. The walnut has a very nice grain, there are a couple of knots as per the photo but i still have alot useable wood. The mahogany is big enough to make a solid mahogany neck without the walnut strip in the middle and i am considering just making a solid neck, still glue in though. That would let me save the wood for another project. Any thoughts, one Piece or laminate?

Yeh i understand that there are some horrendous knots in some of the bits but i believe i have enough good stuff to get enough for what i want. The sapele is actually longer than it looks 100" or so. so i definitely have enough from the good end. The walnut body blanks i are from a bespoke table manufacturer. I am going to laminate the neck so that will hopefully negate most of the warping if it is going to do that. Also a don't see a few knots in the mahogany as a bad thing. To be honest if knots are not that big and don't make working with the wood difficult they can add character. Hopefully as i progress in knowledge and skill i might find a good dealer but around kent in the UK there are few places that i know of that sell hardwood of any sort let alone the likes of mahogany.

Walnut has quite a lot of knots in it naturally, but yeh i don't think i payed too much. £9.99 for all bits + p+p and i payed for them to be planed as well. They are anywhere from 34" to 46" by 1" and anywhere from 3/4" to 2 3/4"

That does sound quite bad. I think I will do it on a pillar drill instead. Seems much safer but I will need to build some sort of table to have a flat surface for the work. Found rough idea on google images I think I might do this jig first then post some pics of it.

It's interesting that you say that since I googled it and have come up with different opinions. Some say it is a great idea some say it will tear up the sand paper others say it could be dangerous. Ideally I would like to do instead of getting a router table and a spindle sander I could just get one.

I get where you are coming from dean. The last thing I want to do is to rush this and screw it up. By the way I am thinking of getting a router table and some drum sanders to create a make shift spindle sander. Is this a good idea?

Just ordered the walnut body pieces. Hopefully glue them together quickly and get working. Pictures will come as i progress Got these from ebay of all places. Will give me blank 1 3/4" by 23 1/2" by 12 1/2". Just big enough for the small bass i want to make.

Have just bought the wood for the laminate neck. Sapele Mahogany for outside Middle strips of walnut. Hopefully there will be enough wood for multiple necks.

I'm thinking of my first proper guitar project. I was perusing about a ash body with a matt black finish. But lately I think i would prefer a walnut body, with clear laqeur and then a mahogany/walnut set-in neck. Any opinions? For the body shape i was thinking something like this tobias but with more rounded horns Any Advice or Warnings?

This is what i have done so far. The routing of the pickup holes is a bit awful but i will cover it up with a pickguard so its ok. I still need to drill holes for bridge etc and do a bit more painting of detail, eyes etc. Will post the finished piece.

yes........ It seems bustin makes me feel good

Yeh i was a bit cheap, its only mdf. I traced out the shape from a picture from the net then just cut around it with a jigsaw. Then i sanded it down and routed the roundover. The contours are just formed with a palm sander.