Prostheta

Wow. That's some pretty blocked up pores!

I'd bear in mind that you may raise the grain slightly when steaming.

Agreed. Either gain the experience of trying to repair it at the expense of time and maybe not succeeding, or sand it off quick sharp and chalk it up to experience.

On that note (so Rob isn't left wondering in fear of it re-occurring) has anybody got any tips on how to avoid this and why it happened?

Steaming perhaps? That's not a suggestion Tom, that's more of a gut idea which I'm more than willing for more experienced members to shoot down. If I'm right then perhaps my gut lives to guess another day.

You're correct - the red indeed does go to the battery. The braid is your earth, and the wire inside the braid is your hot signal. Pop the hot signal to the centre tab on your pot, one side tag to earth and also the back of your pot, and the other straight to your output hot signal.

Interesting. Drak got me boned for maple sanded up to a zillion grit to bring out the chatoyance of the figuring!

I suppose it sounds good in terms of lamination stiffness, but have you got any idea of the individual "planks" grain orientation and looked for grain runout? Also, what type of maple is it, and how low is the moisture content?

Wow - very nice touches in this project, and a great cohesive instrument all round. Just goes to show that thought has been put into this one from beginning to end. I kind of baulked when I heard changes had been made mid-project, but they seem to have been the right ones :-D I particularly love the quality of your mitres on the fretboard binding. I have a hard time doing that. Any secret you could divulge on that one? Since the maple is undyed, what grit did you take it back to, or has it been burnished?

Sorry to grill you mate. I'm considering a natural maple finish at some point myself and it's good to see other people's decision making processes and the results firsthand as it happens.

Keep it up man.

It's surprising what life a good rewire and reconfig does to a guitar. For electrics it can have as much - if not more - importance than the actual build of the instrument in my opinion. Tele's are a great example of a basic straightforward no-frills guitar which come to life when done well.

Any possibility of soundbites, Southpa?

At least you're developing your practical fault-finding skills :-D

I hope you get a positive "oh-it-was-that" answer than plain replacing top to bottom. We need satisfaction dude!

Put the tip of the iron onto the soaked tissue. This will develop steam which will heat and expand the wood fibres underneath. Putting the iron on the wood will scorch it - the water is merely a buffer for heat transfer so as not to scorch the wood.

I do pretty much the same, but with a small ball of water-soaked toilet tissue and a soldering iron. Much more accurate :-D

Ohhh...iron...thought you meant CLOTHES IRON!!

It would be an interesting one for sure. I'm building two identical basses sometime this Spring but with a different base config between them both. One will have wenge neck laminations in a mahogany through-tenon and the other an ebony central lamination with some (insert wood here) laminations.

The perfect A/B test!

Awesome work there Speal - I only wish I had pushed my physics study to the point of being able to apply it myself although I can follow the track you're working on. Am I right in thinking however, that the harmonic overtones will be affected to a greater degree than 1.5% through their shorter wavelengths?

I love my 5150 mk1. Shame the clean sucks! Did they sort that out with the 6505?

A real myth or perhaps scientific theory that I would love to be broached:

THE SPEED OF SOUND

Basically, sound energy propagating through elastic materials varies with the material density. This will obviously affect the tone of our instruments as resonances, internal reflections and phase cancellations will all come into play here. I understand that acoustic instruments are much better designed in terms of wave propagation for obvious reasons. Electric instruments however, seem to have a degree of faith in how the instrument will sound. A Les Paul is what I perceive to be a "slow" instrument in terms of propagation whereas a Tele is "faster".

Interesting variations which will undoubtedly affect this aspect of solidbody design are:

- dense neck laminations on neck-through instruments allowing vibrations to be unmolested by changes in material density between nut and bridge

- heavy top caps "tightening" the body sound slightly

- necks with differing fingerboard woods

- differing nut materials

As mentioned, a lot of this is taken for granted in lutherie and general instrument lore - how does it translate in the really real world however?

Okay, my little myth sarcasm *has* to be injected somewhere of course. You called a fire buddies!

"Tone is in the fingers"

Where? Do cleaner fingers mean clearer tone, like strings? Do denser, heavier fingers sustain longer? Does Ed Roman stock some US-made fingers I can buy, and why are Japanese fingers supposedly inferior? Does the fingerprint grain on fingers contribute to better note stability and purity? Do old slow-grown fingers sound better than fast ones? What's a better design - tendons through wrist or bolt-ons like Tony Iommi? Can I Tru-Oil my fingers? How far should I sand back my fingers before dyeing them?

All in good humour guys :-D

Just use a set based from 9s through to whatever gauge you prefer for your lower strings. Ernie Ball Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom seem popular for a lot of people who like a bendy top and a solid lower register. 10s aren't THAT heavy really though. I prefer standard 10 sets on my Explorers but standard 9 sets on my Ibanez. YMMV.

So anyway. Where were we again?

Continuity testing is your best friend here :-D

Test between jack earth and the pot leg or casing, and also at points like your tailpiece stud etc.

TBH, I've always considered Alembic to be pretty much perfectionists, so why does something like THIS slip through the net? Admittedly, it's a PITC to do matched grain backplates but surely router bite and non-linear lines should be factored out of "perfect" top-of-the-line custom work? Check the pics on the backplate and control cavity. What's with the crappy hardware store bargain basement trampy cardboard box and zinfandel grape style screws?

Go right ahead and build a better one if you think you're up to it.

I was wondering when that one would come out. That's a total non-issue man.

Is Buckeye a really chunky punky material to work with then? That's a pain because I was considering acquiring a bookmatch set for a build. Ah well.

I would have routed the lip out a lil further to hide it myself!

TBH, I've always considered Alembic to be pretty much perfectionists, so why does something like THIS slip through the net? Admittedly, it's a PITC to do matched grain backplates but surely router bite and non-linear lines should be factored out of "perfect" top-of-the-line custom work? Check the pics on the backplate and control cavity. What's with the crappy hardware store bargain basement trampy cardboard box and zinfandel grape style screws?

I would CA it, but take extra care when feathering in the edges to the surrounding finish. In that respect, it IS a hell of a job to attempt as opposed to living with it.

Have you got any disposable varnished furniture you can practice on? :-D

It's a good deal compared to the equivalent tools from Stewmac, yes.

All I see is a dinosaur on wheels man.