Kick's first build LP-1MQ Red Widow

[Sonic Mountain]

I have the Da Vinci Jr. 1 and it is a budget printer. But printing knobs is also a nice idea

Yeah, those aren't bad for a consumer level machine, should be enough resolution to make a decent nut. Shame the string grooves are so large in the model you found. Are you printing from an STL file? Have you tried modding it?

Guitar body looks great BTW.

[wazkelly]

Have to agree the body is looking very, very shiny indeed.

Not so convinced on the 3d printed nut as to how hard and durable the plastic used might be over time? There is a reason why we all switch to stronger, denser materials for upgrades as that is what brings the tone and sustain, hence why bone is so popular. I have also used brass nuts and have one in build # 3 the flame top Tele and that gives it a really bright tone which suits that style of guitar but maybe not what you want on a LP.

[Kick]

@Sonic Mountain: yes, I print from an STL file and to be honest, I only adjusted the dimensions of the nut itself. Not the slots.

And I agree with you Waz. I also do think that the material isn't good enough for it's purpose. I guess it all was a nice tought and exercise but I'll stick with the Graphtech nut. Hopefully the slots for the E-strings will work and if not I have to look for another nut.

[Simon Barden]

I can't help but notice that the printed nut has the same nut spacings as the Graphtech one, so both the slot spacing and slot width needs to be adjusted. I'd still give printing one a go, but I'd see how well the plastic polishes up on the first red nut. If you can't get the top of it smooth, then you'll never get the slots smooth enough to stop the strings catching in the slots.

[Sonic Mountain]

It should polish up OK, a lot of people use acetone to remove the printing bands, automotive cut and polish no.2 would work well on it. I think the plastic would be durable enough (assuming its PLA?) But just like commercial plastic nuts, it'll never be as nice as a bone/brass or graphite one. If you can direct me to where you got the STL I can have a go at modelling one with smaller string recesses.

In regards to the nut file set - I can see them for around $160, which in the scheme of things isn't much for a tool you will use more than once (as this hobby appears pretty addictive). Might be more economically sound in the long run than buying various nuts and seeing if they work or not. In my experience its never a bad idea to spring for the right tool for the job, even if its economically painful to begin with - I've never regretted a good tool purchase.

[Kick]

@Sonic Mountain: Yes, it is PLA I use for the printing. I found the STL file here: https://www.stlfinder.com/model/guitar-top-nut/4788305. As said before, I only changed the dimensions of the nut itself, not the slots. I would appreciate the effort in adjusting the STL to smaller slots string recesses. You rock man!!

@Simon: I'll use the current printed nut to see how smooth I can get it. TBC

[Kick]

Back again with some nice updates!

The past weeks I did not have time to work on the Red Widow and only last week I could continue. So, what have I done: I took care of the fretboard. I noticed that there were some frets that needed to be levelled out. After I did this I polished the frets.



Then I used the copper shieldingtape to cover all the cavities. Bit of a hassle because that tape will stick to anything But I managed it and it looked like this:



Next on the list was installing the PU's and firing up my laptop to go to the website of PBG and used the videotutorial for the soldering of the PU's, pots, threeway switch and jack.



As you can see I used that cardboard trick to keep the pots in place. It worked perfect!



After this I installed the pots into the cavity and hooked the guitar on to my little test amp to see if everything was connected properly. And it worked perfectly! No hum or noise and the tap test on the PU's were succesful.

So next thing is the nut that I have to work on...

[chrissyinbkk]

Looking tidy Kick, fret levelling is not one of the jobs I have ventured to try yet, but I know I must one day,

[Simon Barden]

Looking great, Kick. Glad it's trouble free. I'm assuming that you also put the copper tape on the back of the control cavity covers (just mentioning this for others reading the page).

Looking tidy Kick, fret levelling is not one of the jobs I have ventured to try yet, but I know I must one day,

It always sounds scary but it's actually a lot easier to do than you'd think. You just need a couple of the right tools and a bit of common sense and it almost does itself.

[Dedman]

looking fantastic Kick!