FBM-1 Build, Name TBD, First PB Build!

[stewartm]

Hi all,

Thanks for being here - when I get a chance I'll peruse the forum a bit and get to know what's been going on.

I was inspired by Pete Stroud's Firebird 1 with a black dogear p90, and things have taken a turn. The kit is a bolt on, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on a Gibson. I thought of modding an Epiphone, but after all that I could assemble and finish my own, so here I am. Originally I was going to keep to a single pickup and dowell the holes, do a steath stacked P90, but my custom pickup guy is sending me a pair of mini-humbuckers for a good price...

First Pit bull build, FBM-1 is currently on its way to western Canada. I've been tinkering and customizing guitars and electronics for many years, put together a parts tele which went to Europe with me this past autumn. I'd say the thing I've worked on the most would be pickups and special wiring.

The latest...
- Kit ordered, took the bone nut and Grover tuners option. (Cleared Aus Post, waiting for delivery)
- Finish ordered from Oxford Guitar Supply in Eastern Canada (Expected Nov 28) arctic white and satin clear laquer.
- FB pickguard logo ordered from eBay.
- Ordered a Vari-Tone assembly from Etsy via the Netherlands (this was originally going to end up on a Gibson ES-235, but I might drop it in to this build - still on the fence).
- Ordered a surprise gadget from a local tool company - it's an automotive part I hope to incorporate - more about this once I see if I can get it to work.
- Ordered custom pickups from Vintage Vibe Guitars - currently based in Florida, U.S.A. He's done a set of 'Charlie Christian' blade P90s for me in the past. He usually ships two sets of magnets which are swappable, but the mini humbuckers can only do one permanent set. For this set I went with ceramic magnets. They should vary between high output and tap into P90 territory. So, they'll keep up with my Explorer, but can get funky like my NightHawk and BluesHawk.

That's it for the moment. Looking forward to my winter project.

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I take it the mini-humbuckers are true Firebird-style ones with two blade magnets and no adjustable pole-pieces (as in your Firebird 1 picture)?

I have a Gibson Firebird that I fitted Creamery alnico V "Winterizer" pickups (now renamed Classic Firebird) in for a more authentic vintage Firebird tone. It came with Ceramic mini-humbuckers. The ceramics certainly sounded quite clear and powerful but still in the same general ball-park as a standard humbucker if that bit thinner, whist the Alnico V ones sound very different and quite unique.

Good luck with your build!

[stewartm]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I take it the mini-humbuckers are true Firebird-style ones with two blade magnets and no adjustable pole-pieces (as in your Firebird 1 picture)?

I have a Gibson Firebird that I fitted Creamery alnico V "Winterizer" pickups (now renamed Classic Firebird) in for a more authentic vintage Firebird tone. It came with Ceramic mini-humbuckers. The ceramics certainly sounded quite clear and powerful but still in the same general ball-park as a standard humbucker if that bit thinner, whist the Alnico V ones sound very different and quite unique.

Good luck with your build!

Thanks Simon,

The Creamery stuff looks fantastic...

As much as I like vintage spec pickups, I was quite taken with Vintage Vibe's SP-90 - a P-90 sound in a strat form factor. That started the ball rolling for custom work. The pickups on this build will be mini humbuckers, but with six exposed screws in a nickel cover. (Like a mini PAF). I definitely waffled between magnet types for a bit. They'll have ceramic magnets, so fairly high output, and into P-90 territory when tapped to one coil. I'll see how they sound - I think the vari-tone might end up in my Gibson semi-hollow - I'll see if these pickups have enough variety on their own. All this when initially I was looking to do a single dogear. <facepalm>

[Simon Barden]

I got it wrong. My Firebird pickups came from Oil City pickups, not The Creamery My P90s on my ES-1 came from The Creamery. That's why The Creamery fFrebird pickups aren't called The Winterizer. D'oh! I was going to get them from The creamery, but Jaime is a one-man band and was far too busy. Then Covid came along and slowed things down more. Then he said he's get the parts again in a few months and would email me, but that never happened and the pickups were still on the 'not currently available' list so in the end I looked elsewhere.

Lets hope your mini-humbuckers sound great.

[stewartm]

Arrived Dec 1! Finally made it to the post office. Very distracted with some studio work, and a $300 CAD scoop of an Epiphone - I'll put some notes in a non-Pitbull thread. Everything intact.

Some quick observations:
- I'll likely tweak the fret ends a bit. Absolutely playable as is, but could be smoothed - this is the tradeoff - a very affordable kit relies on the builder to pay attention to the finishing. This may work itself out a bit if I decide to 'roll' the fingerboard edge.
- I've been torn with anything mahogany to go to a natural finish - the kicker would have been that if I had seen any change figuring in the wood, I'd switch to a translucent finish.
- My custom pickups have left Florida and are in Chicago en route. I've been thinking I should at least try the stock ones for fun.
- I plan to use minimal finish - lately I've been enjoying distessed guitars. (Ones I've simply played a lot since the 80s, a couple I've done for looks myself...) My fear was that I'd enjoy the sound of the bare guitar better. My challenge is also to outdo myself on any finish I've done in the past - grabbe a hardware store spray can a couple times on some 'beater' guitars. I plan to have some patience and sandpaper on hand. :-) I decided I'm ok if the grain shows through teh opaque finish, and I've chosen a satin clear clat so it doesn't necessarily look new.
- Since I like Gibson style set necks (but I play a bunch of Fenders too) I thought about modifying the heel, maybe even modifying the plate to rought the heel a little more - up in the air on that one. I may file the cutaway a little deeper on the front side. I may also carve away a 'tummy cut' on the backside.
- I may bevel the headstock, but still on the fence with a black face or guitar color face.
- Leaning toward not painting the neck, just 'satinizing' it. The clear I have is an 'aged' laquer, so it might be nice to have a rich mahogany color, like the 76 Explorer ...

I'm sure when I read all this weeks from now I'll laugh at the blind ambition.

Build on, and more soon!

[stewartm]

They made it! 5600 Km later, my custom pickups. Now I have to clear the calendar and get on this build...

Specs:

Vintage Vibe Guitars Custom 4 wire mini humbuckers
Nickel covers
Ceramic magnets (not swapple in this design, usually Pete ships two sets of magnets)
Neck pickup:
DC resistance: 8.93k
Inductance: 2.552H
Q-Factor 1.282
Field strength 0.26 k Gauss

Bridge Pickup:
DC resistance: 9.86k
Inductance: 3.111H
Q-Factor 1.376
Field strength 0.26 k Gauss

[Simon Barden]

Nice! Now get building!

[stewartm]

[stewartm]

Okay... the ball is rolling. Project codename: Fire-Emu. ;-)

Did some rough shaping on the backside of the body, and roughed in the headstock. Not standard dimensions for the head, but on the plus side, the guitar should fit in one of my millions of existing cases lying around. :-)

Might yet get to some more serious sandig for the remainder of the weekend. I've set myself a goal to play this guitar New Year's eve. We'll see how dilligent I get on finishing...

[Simon Barden]

Standard case? Bass case maybe! My Gibson Firebird case is as long as my bass cases and there's not a lot of room to spare at the ends once it's in.