Logical Frank

I ended up going w/ the U101DF. Worked great! It turns out that although my jigsaw came w/ a couple U-shank blades I can use the T-shank too so that gives me some more options. Looking forward to trying the U101A for when I cut out my template.

I was actually planning on using masonite since that's what those fellows at the Guitar Building Templates used. (I was, of course, exaggerating the inconvenience. You'd be surprised how relative the size of a piece of wood--well, material--is walking down a windy street w/ it vs. carrying it in your car. ) I figure I will cut it out w/ a scroll blade and finish the edges w/ sandpaper. That much I know I can handle.

Well--it sounds like I will be making a template then. Bear in mind that I don't have a car so getting a big piece of plywood or MDF to my house is a gigantical hassle that's going to involve both bribery and witchcraft so that is more why I wanted to get down to it and just start building than anything.

Well--it sounds like I will be using the jigsaw to do the rough cut and then finishing it off w/ the router then. Am I gonna die if I don't use a template for the body or can I just carefully free hand it? I'm not gonna be sure on how much I like this body shape until I make it and kind of don't want to go through the trouble if I don't have to.

Thanks for the help, everyone. If the jigsaws don't necessarily cut straight, what does everyone use to cut out their bodies, band saws? I wish I had the space for a band saw... Probably gonna have a go at mine this weekend if the weather clears up.

The three options on '53 are bridge pickup, neck pickup and then a third setting that's the neck pickup w/ a capacitor to bleed off high end to the ground so you'll get a sound something like turning your tone knob all the way down. The only differences between the 66 and the standard three-way are wire colors and the standard shows the wire to ground to the bridge. (Either of these would work how you normally expect a tele to work.) Never tried that blend circuit but it looks like you can blend in the neck pickup when you have it in the bridge position but sacrifice your tone knob to do so. It also has the neck and neck+capacitor settings like on the '53. This is all at a glance so I might have missed something. Personally, I just go w/ the standard. There's not many time that I want the sound of the neck pickup w/ the tone rolled all the way down. The blend knob seems kind of cool though.

So I figure I'm going to use a jigsaw to cut out my bodies and then a router to do the cavities. I have a Skil Scrolling/Orbital jigsaw which takes U-type blades. What kind of blades is going to be best for cutting out bodies? I understand that this is the very last place you want to skimp. And what kind of router will I be using for this sort of thing? Do I want plunge or fixed base. Also, some suggestions on bits would be appreciated here as well. There's some reconed Hitachi kits on eBay right now that come w/ a template set that looks like it might suit my needs. What do you all think of those? Here. Is it more than I need, too little or not enough? I'm trying to keep my toolset pretty minimal here since space and money are both issues (space, especially). I only figure on building maybe one guitar a year so I'm not too worried about saving time or getting stuff that will stand up to daily abuse. Sorry for the n00b questions. Tanks in advance!

I went w/ pukko too but only because it suits my tastes the best. They're all fine instruments indeed. Looking through them, I really thought that skelf was gonna run away w/ it.

I dig it. It's bit.... quirky... but original and it all works pretty well. I could see myself playing one. I think a black six-in-line would work well like on that Hofner 177.

I like it. The humbucker/p90 combo is getting really popular so I say stick w/ that even if you are selling it. I think if anything it would be selling point rather than a detraction.

Looks really nice. Are those GFS Lipstick Humbuckers?

Replace 'em all. If you're gonna be going through the trouble of opening her up anyway, might as well try out all the new pickups. If you don't like the Squires, no big loss, just put the originals back in.

If you're looking for a step-up from the VJ w/ some tonal controls, there's a lot of options that can be had for pretty cheap. I got a silverface Fender Champ for two-hundred bucks not long ago and it's really a much nicer amp--and w/ bass and treble controls to boot. I had to build myself a little RCA to quarter inch adapter to plug it into a seperate cab but it sounds great through 12-inch speakers. There's also about eighty-five million Champ clones that were build from the fifties through the seventies that sound just about as good.

Why would that only cause problems when the volume is turned down though? I would suggest taking the volume pot out of the circuit and seeing if that was the problem but that's pretty much like having the volume up all the way (well--more than all the way, actually). Still--I suppose it could shed some light on what's going on.

Fair enough! This thread actually inspired me to bust mine out again. It's a fun little amp for sure.

You know, I hate to be a naysayer, but I think if you want on-board reverb and an effects loop, you don't really want a Valve Jr. To me, the whole appeal of that amp is it's simplicity. I have a Valve Jr. and I could recommend it to anyone as a decent-sounding small tube amp at the price but they're definitely a bit chintzy and, in my opinion, not worth paying someone to mod.

Edit: Posted this on the wrong thread. Sounds like it is the volume pot from what you're saying.

It seems like you'd be better off using a plexi-glass mirror rather than a glass one.

I always consider myself a rhythm player. I can play leads (you gotta know a bit of everything) but rhythm is where it's at for me. It's the foundation of the music and the part of the song that always sticks w/ you.

Looks really nice. I like it.

Wow--Looks awesome. The zebra wood cavity cover is a great touch.

Sounds kinda like a short to me. A lot of time you can loosen the strings until they're slack, and carfully wedge a block under them at the base of the neck and that will give you enough room to get the pickguard out and do some work on it.

That's pretty much my method... A lot of pickups have a sound sort of odd and muddy to my ears when they are up too high so I pretty much just back them off until they lose that sound and maybe a little more depending. I adjust my pickups all the time though. The proper height is where they sound best to me at that particular moment.

I would say the main disadvantage is that if you build it into the guitar, you can't use it w/ any of your other guitars. Personally, rather than buying a pedal and taking it apart, I would get something from buildyourownclone.com.

Hooglebug put a Fuzz Factory into his guitar: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=24811 In addition to what robert the damned mentioned, you will have to replace the output jack on your guitar w/ a stereo jack so you can make it so the battery doesn't drain when it's not plugged in. At some point, I'm gonna be building either a Big Muff or a Rat into this old guitar I have around and maybe squeeze a phase or delay in there as well. It will be nice to have the controls to my effects at my fingertips when I'm practicing on my couch.