zyonsdream

I'm still new at it and and I'm still trying to hone my craft. The kits that StewMac makes are killer but the winder can be made with a lot less money than they ask. Mine's a hand craned model that I made myself. It has a counter and it's about all the exercise I get LOL

I'm not sure if this has to be in the online section but since it's directly related to those who make pickups I decided to make the post here. If I'm wrong please move the thread!

I'm building a few custom pickups and I didn’t want to use the standard black cloth tape that is commonly used to wrap the bobbin. So I started to look around for cloth tape with designs on it. I came across this place on Evilbay and thought I’d share it. Obviously the tape is a little wide but that’s easy to take care of with a good razor blade!

Just thought I would share!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...N:IT&ih=013

EMG requires a 25K, Seymour Duncan requires a 125K and some others require a 50K pot. A 250K will work (as in produce audible sound) but your pickups will sound very poor. EMG pickups already sound shrill but a 250 or 500K pot would make them sound broken.

As for the jack, it’s necessary for switching the pickup on. If you leave your jack plugged into the guitar 24/7 your battery will drain quickly. That’s why you have to unplug the guitar when you are finished with it. It connects the pickup to the battery. Last I heard, that means it’s basically used as an on switch!

Sorry to save but most Guitar Center Guitar techs and in a lot of cases, your mom and pop places aren’t really up on active electronics. In fact, I have three places in my area and none of them will install actives.

The pots that come with EMG are great. The ones that come with Seymour Duncan are utter crap in my opinion. However, you can cure a lot of the shrill EMG tone with getting a few Drop Orange caps and chucking the caps that come with the EMG. The drop Orange have a better overall tonal sweep and will help give back a little natural sound to your guitar. They go into every active guitar I do and just about every passive one too.

Issue 1: gap

The guy who did the work didn’t get a 90degree flat edge when he joined it. You could try flipping the middle piece over. If he joined it at an 87degree angle, the flipping one piece could close the gap. If you are painting it or putting a top on it there really isn’t an issue. Just use filler to bridge the gaps. In some cases a small gap will be taken care of when the pieces are clamped and glued.

Issue 2: creep

I use and have always used good ol’ Elmer’s woodworking glue and I’ve never seen a finish crack due to creep. Elmer’s and titebond rarely creep if the joint is done sufficiently. So, putting a top on it might be a better ide to cover up the joint since it isn’t 100% square.

Issue 3: How to position the body on the blank

Again, are you painting it? If so save yourself time and make the body fit what you have. However, if you want the lines to be straight (which I personally would do) you can just cut a piece of excess from the bottom tip (a price that has been joined) and use it.

I built a beast-esque guitar once of entirely mahogany except for the fretboard,which was ebony....it sounds great.I used alot of different mahogany types throughout though.

I think basses need to be heavier than guitars to balance out the longer neck.

and bubinga is HEAVY....I thinned the body to 1 3/8" ,made the body smaller in every direction,and routed all of the cavities deeper than needed in an attempt to lighten it up...it still weighs about 8 pounds.sounds great though.

http://zdguitars.com/Custom_build/DarkStar...urpleheart.html

I built this guitar from purple heart (almost completely)

PH body and fret board. The neck is lacewood with a black walnut center strip and headstock cap.

The body is a smaller than normal body and it’s still a bugger in the weight department. Here’s the only issue. PH has to be treated with a UV protecting product to keep it from going brown over time. So, I had to use a UV treatment in the hard coat which I did on the body and the fretboard.

I personally hate hard coated fretboards but what was I to do!

There are a lot of guitars made from just one species of wood (minus the fretboard) most fret boards are made from dense harder woods than the body. You’ll likely find most completely one species guitar are maple. I’m actually in the process of doing one now

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j287/ZDG...le/100_3027.jpg

Really nice work! Can’t wait to see it completed. I also really like the Telecaster shape (much better than the Stratocaster.)

I never used a jig saw simply due to the damage the base plate could do to the face of the wood. On hard exotic woods it might not be an issue but on softer woods you could really cause a lot of pitting with a jig saw.

I’ve cut a lot of bodies out on a 9” Ryobi table top bandsaw and it only costs $99.99 (or lower.) not much cash for the insurance. All you have to do is relief cut it and use the right blade and you’re home free.

Putting your idea online does not make it public. It's stupid to do but it doesn't negate the fact that you have intellectual rights to the design. In fact, putting it online gives it a time stamp and that's important because in court it comes down to who can prove they came up with the design first. If you have it dated, you can prove you did it first.

However, if you do not have a patent/ copyright then the only thing you can do is serve a C&D order on the offender. You cannot collect damages if they use your design.

Also, BCR is notorious for sending people (even small builders C&D orders and in a lot of cases they were just doing it to be a-holes. So, it would be funny to see a small builder send one to them. However, I'd put money on their lawyers knowing more about it than most of us.

Ask Neal Moser about the BCR lawsuits. He went through it for years with them!

Due to an error that my vendor made, I was able to save a substantial amount on raw materials. So, I'm passing the savings on. The only difference between my standard benders and these ones are the fact that the plate is a little shorter. I use the same bearings and quality parts!

So if you've been thinking about picking one of these benders up nows the time! Just $24.99

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...E:IT&ih=009

I used beech a while back and sandwiched it in-between a piece of spalted maple and Wenge. I could feel the weight difference but it wasn’t too bad. The guitar was a Tele and had a beech neck..

Ugh, I hate how beech likes to tear out! It wasn’t fun to work with at all.

I think it all comes down to this... It can be done several ways but it is all going to cost $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

That was a really cool video! Explains alot about that paint style.

that's just sick.... I just put my guitars down forever!

I think it’s important to realize that some times you need the right tools for the right job. You wouldn’t try to bore out an engine block with a robosander. When you cut corners your project reflects it in the end. Integrity in your work reflects only by the attention to detail you give to it. If you are going to build a guitar you need certain tools.

Which set of tools you need depends on which way you want to build your guitar and how nice you want it to look.

I still say the router with drill bit is pretty cool in the seriously odd ball application when a standard drill press won’t work.

I suppose as log as the cullet can firmly grasp the drill bit you’d be okay if your router has variable speed control. My drill press has spindle speeds as high as 4200 which is pretty fast. Heck, I have a cross vice on my press and use it as a mill so I guess anything is possible!

The cord on my router got stuck on a clamp one day when I was routing a neck pocket on a telecaster. I ended up taking a nice chunk out of the side of the pocket. Luckily it was black walnut and I was able to make a piece and glue it in. The buyer couldn’t see the mistake! All was good.

Do you have any saw dust left from the headstock? If I have a chip out (like tuner holes) and I really want to match the wood I’ll mix the sawdust with super glue so it makes a paste. Then you just fill in the chips and sand it. It won’t ever be an exact color match but once it’s finished you really won’t notice. This is really only necessary if your color will be translucent. If you are painting it, any old non shrinking epoxy will work.

Like everyone above me said, if the tuners cover it then forget about it.

I did this same thing to a Warlock about a year ago. I filled the kahler route, the neck pickup and all but one control hole.

Here is how I did the hole.

Step one: I drilled the hole out to 0.475

Step two: I took a 0.500 dowel pin cut it to 0.500 length and coated it with Elmer’s woodworking glue and pounded it into the hole. I pushed the pin into the hole until it was slightly below the surface of the body.

Step Three: After giving the glue ample time to cure I mixed up a batch of bondo (wood filler or sealer would work too) and I used that to fill in the rest of the hole.

A year later and you still can’t tell that the holes were there.

Here is how I did the cavity plugs.

Step one: I made a cardboard template of the hole size and then cut a piece of scrap wood to match the outside diameter of the cavity. I went a little big so it would be press fitted into the hole. Measure the depth of the cavity and make your plug a little shallow.

Step two: I gave the inside of the cavity a nice coat of glue and then used my drill press as a press to push the plug into the cavity. I used the drill press instead of pounding it in to prevent the body from splitting accidentally. A slow press is always better than a quick blow.

Step three: yup you guessed it. I put on a layer of bondo and then smoothed everything out. Again, a year later and you still can’t tell the holes were there.

One hint though. If your bondo layer is thick you should put on several applications making sure you give extra time for drying. Bondo shrinks as it cures and if you don’t let it cure all the way before you sand it flat, it will sink. If the top hardens and it leaves an uncured center you could finish it and it will sink a few weeks later.

I was going to put up a tutorial of this when I did it but I forgot my camera and was to lazy to go get it. If you have any questions I’d be happy to help more.

The bondo eliminates the concerns about using an end grain plug.

Thanks for buying. It's been cut for you and will go out tomorrow!

http://www.vintageprojects.com/power-tools...press-auto.html

You could use the PDF on making a drill press out of pipe and convert most of it to wood but by the time you do it you will likely have sent more than what it would cost to buy a ryobi or a harbor freight press.

Yah, I've been a fan of his for a long time. When I make a build I plan on keeping for myself I go with his actives. His PAF aren’t bad either. I haven’t tried his invader style pickups yet. I'm sure they are good too. I put his QDD2 boosters in a guitar and I was very impressed with the circuit. They are much better than the afterburner or the Pa2.

Are those Guitarheads active pickups? I have those in a Warlock. They kill EMG pickups 10 times over!!!!!!!!

I also had to go with the LP copy. I love blue quilt, I love limba and I love flamed maple. I would scrap the rings though. For some reason they pull the eye away from the top. I'm not a big fan of wooden rings to begin with though.

I also loved the bass too. Totally awesome idea and would be a killer bass for Les Claypool

All in all it was a great month again!!!!!!

I often think that listening to music inspires a build. Dark moody music might inspire a darker guitar. Just a thought.

I once built a guitar while listening to nothing but Nirvana. Damn thing never stayed in tune either. LOL

I would agree with you. A standard/baritone or a tremolo/non tremolo would make sense like a 6/12 or a guitar/bass set up would but from what I could see this guitar is set up with the exact same scale and bridge set up so it’s basically a double neck passive/active.

Had you said; this is my work in progress which will be a 6/12 when it gets done I would have possibly worded myself differently.

Again, I still like the idea and the body shape is good!

Hmmmm, good old fashioned Elmer’s wood worker’s glue as ALWAYS worked for me. I experience very little (if any) creep. I know a lot of people use titebond but I’ve never even fathomed using GG. I tried to fix a broken chair with that stuff. It worked but the “puff up" was ridiculous