whalehazard

My first build is mostly complete, and I'm keeping it simple. Two humbuckers, 3-way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone. I just wired it up and put strings on. Everything works great, and the Duncan '59 in the bridge sounds amazing. The neck humbucker is another issue. I picked it up cheap at a local store a while ago. It's got a Duncan Custom Shop label on it, and "SH5 w/AL V" is written on the box. It is supposedly brand new. The DC resistance is 6.97k. So, my thought was that this was an underwound version of the SH-5, and because it appears to not be as hot as the '59, I thought it would fit nicely in the neck spot. However, I'm getting way less volume out of it than the '59, even after triple checking my wiring. It also sounds really tinny and thin, especially on a clean channel, and with the tone knob all the way down, drops even more significantly in volume. Is there any chance the color coding of the wires is weird because it's custom wound, and if so, how do I figure that out? Am I doing something wrong? Any help or ideas would be appreciated. I'm new to pickups, but I know how to solder, I've built amps and pedals before. Should I just buy another '59 for the neck and use this for something else? Help!

I'm nearing completion of my first build, an original design. It's got a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. I miscalculated when thicknessing the headstock, and it is about 1/16" too thin for the tuners I have. I'm not worried about the strength of it, just wondering the best way to fix it. Has anybody had this happen? My initial thought was try to find thicker washers for the tuners, or double them up, but I also might try gluing a 1/16" slice of maple onto the back of the headstock, and then drilling through the existing holes. Any suggestions? Thank you!

I have a drill press...I'm assuming you're inferring I should get the Safe-T-Planer? I've seen it, but haven't heard anybody review it or anything. Anybody have thoughts about it?

Thanks for the feedback...the body is 1 3/4" which as far as I can tell is pretty standard for most Fenders, correct? I think once I finish the body contours and transfer them to the back, it'll help with that. I was given several glued up 1 3/4" blanks as a gift, and I still don't have a good way to thickness lumber. A router thickness jig is in the works. I think it will be a little on the heavy side, being northern ash instead of swamp ash, but that doesn't bother me a lot.

I've been working on this off and on since January. Thought I should finally post it here and get some feedback. I am pleased so far...no major mishaps, but lots of things to do differently next time! If you hate it, please tell me why. Thanks. http://whalehazard.blogspot.com/ EDIT: Here's what it looks like now! The blog's been updated as well with progress pictures.