Muzz

Don't fear the router, learn to love it. Yep 4 mm is too much that's why you got tear out. Follow these tips and you will be in router nirvana, Get rid of as much wood as you can with hand tools like a rasp, this reduces the strain on the router bit. Route down 1-2 mm at a time on hard woods, go slow. Practice on scrap first, if you get tear out on 2 mm go to 1 mm. Use a dust extractor, safety goggles and ear muffs. I have heard different theories on which direction is the safest to prevent tear out, I go anti clockwise around the outside, the bit is spinning clockwise as you look down on it so the bit is scooping out the cut and not able to jam down on the uncut edge. The exception is pointy bits, route towards the point from either side and move past it.

Hi Manny, That is too nice a guitar to leave that black paint burst on, I would strip it off and use a brown tinted and transparent finish for the burst, or stain it a deep red with no burst. Good luck with it.

Yep that neck pocket treble side sliver (hey we made a new term) will add a ton of stability especially with that length of the pocket.

I'm still thinking about cutting off the dingus. Yes I can understand how leaving it on could be painfull for you Better lop it off Hope you keep the thin sliver on the body under the neck lower side, that will look cool.

You didn't chop off his dingus this time, and it's slightly larger than average

What a difference once you got that horrible orange colour off, that grain pattern looks great, so don't stuff up the finish Hang in there, it would be fantastic to see this turn into a rock solid metal workhorse.

Wow Paulie you made someone's special day extra special, happy days

Yep, I am a die hard valve lover, but I agree there are lots of pros to modelling amps, the first one Fun My modelling amp cost $240 and it was worth it just to see my friends face when I hit the footswitch and broke out into the harmonized lead from Detroit Rock City all by myself Lots of other good reasons to have one, if you play gigs long enough with a valve amp at some time you will hear a horrible whining sound and you will look around to see smoke coming out of your amp, you have about 5 seconds of sound left. Unless you have your moddeling amp close by, then you simply plug that into your speaker or the PA and keep going. I wish someone had told that to Steve Stevens before his amp blew as Billy Idol was tearing towards the stage in a hovercraft at a football grand final some years back, biggest Wah, Wah, Waaaah I have ever seen. I love my Marshall valve amp so much I am married to it, but I know it's a prehistoric relic made for an age where bands played huge halls with only a vocal PA. 100 watt valve stacks are ridiculously over powered for most uses these days (perhaps that's what I love about it). And I agree with you Guitar2005 that a smaller head like the Blackstar 20 is a great option. The Vox Tone lab does sound good, you know its a modelling preamp with a single 12AX7 in the preamp stage, exactly as the Marshall JMD has a modelling preamp with a 12AX7 in that stage. I agree with Tim also, valve amp versus modelling amp doesn't have to be an either or situiation, you only live once, spoil yourself, get one of each

I checked out the Marshall modelling amp with valve power stage and one 12Ax7 in the preamp stage, last week, it sounds great, very versatile take a look at this vid The convenience of not having to lug around a big sports bag filled with cables, effects racks, seperate pre amp etc makes it a tempting option. I posted a vid of me playing my practice Behringer 45 watt modeling amp in the electronics section but I'll chuck it up here as well Those things are so good for dropping round to your friends house for a practice/jam

Tried the guitar out loud through a Marshall in the rehearsal studio, great sound, heaps of sustain, fatter than a single coil, but with a little tinge of strat tone. Nice articulation, individual notes still clear. Stuck a microphone in front of my practice modelling amp to shoot this vid so you can hear it.

That is awesome, love the turnbuckles, I am guessing they were not a Harmony fixture

Is your friend married to Mrs. Slocombe? She has left something in the photo

I had to widen up the screw holes, I used a spare pickup cover inverted as a drill guide. Connected it up, no coil splitting. Scratchplate reattached.

oh really! lets have another unusual john birch I wonder what that guitar is called, The Wangcaster ???

No worries, your English is a lot better than mine was about 11 o'clock last Friday night I'll post a video soon of the guitar with the new pick up so you can hear what it sounds like No I dont get why either, unless someone really shredded the wires that are attached You are so right, it did transform this guitar into a metal machine, raawwkkkkk baby. Burnt my finger on the soldering iron, you think I would have learnt by now the plastic handle is OK, the metal bit is hot, no touchies. Internet is slowed for me till the end of the month, will post pics and vid then. TTFN.

Score and I like Tim's plan, are you going to completely split it along those cracks to get the best bond?

This guitar had a stacked single space in the bridge posi, it sounded good, but not enough bite and sustain for me. The circuit doesn't have many earth wires, even the in jack has only the positive connected, the earth runs through the copper shielding. I thought I would try one of these, I have never seen this arrangement on a pick up before, it looks as if you can attach your own wires to the back of the pup

Yep they are great and so convenient to have everything in one box.

Silly, It's not my old lady, it's the lady that lives across the road from you, what can I say, she likes posing with guitars, I like photography. She said she was thinking about asking you, but she liked my guitars better

Would I just be scoring up the surface enough so that the glue sticks nicley or? Also do you think the crack will be subtle enough that I can go for a natural or stain? Many combinations would do it, you could stain first, perhaps scrape the crack after stain to even the colour if it darkens more than the area around, syringe in the finish and then do the top coats. You would only have to score the crack if you filled it with waterproof glue before staining. If I was doing it, I would like the scar on the guitar so I wouldn't care about subtelty, but the fault line is so thin that it shouldn't be very noticable.

Please elaborate. I think go the way you mentioned and shave a bit off the top and reduce the convexity of the carve, bring it towards the kind of subtle carve you see on an old Iceman like this one Woops wrong pic I meant to post this one

Michelobs it is, and then vodka and lime cordial gimlets that body will be fine, just flatten down the curves of the carve a bit, and think about using cream and black 7 ply binding instead of the caramel pearly stuff

If you are staining, the old high school technique of sawdust mixed with PVA as a surface fill after a scalpel score should do it.

What sort of glue would be best to use with that method? Ooops typo "mm" is what i was goin for..... I'm not touching the crack, but I think I am going to enjoy watching this project , %#@$ it. just made a lier out of myself wouldn't be the first time Because the crack is so thin, you could use just about anything, if it was me I would use a two pack finish, inject it in and use the same finish to coat the guitar, that would really lock that crack in and render it solid, but unless you plan on throwing that bass across the stage to a fumble fiingered friend it shouldn't make much difference, superglue, PVA, model aeroplane glue (which I have used for fretting) would all be fine.

Looking fantastic, it was a good call to put the single coil in there, as well as looking cool you can get some beautiful bluesy sounds with an sc in that posi.