IB-1Q Screamin Demon Dragon - build #8

[Marcel]

As I have 2 guitars missing high E and B and 2nd G strings (on the 12 string build) I went and did the Fleabay thing and ordered bulk packs of 0.0085, 0.010 and 0.013 sized strings. No more breaking up sets...

And in a moment of idleness waiting for the replacement high E to show up to my nil neighbour acreage I plugged this build bare-foot into my Blues Junior IV..... Eq flat, Fat switch on, gain @ 11, Vol @ 7...

Oh my !

Ohhh my !

Ohhhhh my !!!

Yeah, I know... A BJ IV is not a metal shred amp... but the IBZ PU's certainly "sinks the boot in" into the BJ's front end... So yeah, Happy days... And I still haven't intonated this beast...

[Marcel]

A Saturday morning with the Mother-in-law means I need to work on a build to unwind....

My replacement strings arrived and it was none too soon... After loosing the high E the other day the B string decided it no longer wanted to be part of this build, so it too was replaced.

Intonating was fun, however previous experience on other guitars made the estimate of the adjustments much easier to grapple with. To intonate one string required a check of the intonation, then completely loosen the string, adjust the saddle using the Allen key that locks it in place, the re-tension and check the intonation again... Repeat until correct, then move on to the next sting... An arduous process if you're hopeless at guessing where you need to move the saddle to.

Had a play for a couple of hours just to be sure... A NUX 'High gain' pedal with a delay and a reverb pedal into the AC18W tube amp build and Celestion loaded 2x12 cab soothed out the dramas from the morning...

Took some more photos and entered into GOTM...

[phrozin]

not to shabby their Marcel, no 8 your as addicted as i am 😉

[Marcel]

8th PBG build.... 15th guitar build...

All I need now is to win Lotto and I'll be set ....lol

[Dedman]

sheesh Marcel, you are level with me, I feel so much better about it all with you and Phroz around

[Marcel]

Lol Dedman... Its not like it's a race or anything....

Yeah, some builds are IMHO better than others, yet with every build I have in my mind the perfection of it and in my hands the reality... Visual vs sonic, each build runs at its own pace. I have one early strat build (in Emerald Green) that truly looks some crap that a primary school kid could have done better yet when I play it I just want to crank the amp and rock it,... This IB-1Q is for me up there in the list with the best looking/playing guitars I have built & own...

[doubleedge]

Wow Marcel Job well done
Your way in front of me!

[Marcel]

I recently watched a video on YT that was a tour of the Marshall factory in the UK. In the video there was comments on how long they took to assemble an amp like a JVM or a JTM, and for the most part where automation was included there is no way anyone could be faster, but on the hand wired stuff I had repeated thoughts of "really, that long?"...

I look back on my "builds", the things I build and rebuild and repair (and there is more than just guitars) ... some take forever .... then in a day they are suddenly finished.... other 'builds' just sit there in the Axe rack, stalled, gathering dust while waiting for inspiration, that moment when all it should be and guided by my hands the parts simply land in the correct place so the it can arrive at what I consider 'completion'.... Okay, I romanticized a little...

As a hobby there is nil 'in front', just the day 'It's ready'....

[Marcel]

And now, the truth comes out...

Its been 5 months since I last picked up and played this build. It has sat on a stand in my shed beside most of my other builds. Not a bad location by any stretch as it's a big shed and the conditions inside are no worse than any non air conditioned room in any house in this area. And this afternoon, on a spur of the moment thing I grabbed this build and brought it into my air conditioned 'main play area' in the house to see how it compared to my PRS and Gibson and Fender.

Well, it all fell apart didn't it. Strings had stretched so was all out of tune, and a intonation check indicated that was out too... better fix that !!...

Yes. I gave it time to acclimatise. Well over 4 hours before I started adjusting in the 25C air conditioning. But despite getting it close it's still way too far out to sound right, for that matter it sounds rather horrid. Unplayable horrid.

Let me explain...
Strings tuned to pitch, and 12th fret is within 1 cent. Play twos note from any barred E or A and it's passable, play 3 notes and you can hear something is wrong. Check any individual fretted note and it's within 1 or 2 cents. Finger any chord and pick individual strings sounds pretty damn near right, but strumming the entire chord just sounds terribly wrong. Any chord, D, A, E, G or C, or any barr chord, clean, crunch od OD'd, they all sound wrong and don't "Sing" together.. The intonation as per my Polytune is better overall than on my LP, yet the LP sings like the Tabernacle Choir compared to this build of untrained primary school kids.

The neck doesn't look warped and there is nil fret buzz, and the action is still fine... though I'm having suspicions over the nut which I fear may have moved/tilted as everything else settled. It's either that or the Floyd bridge... Hmmm... Maybe it's the frets... hmmmm ... Buggar !!

[FrankenWashie]

Hey Marcel, I had experienced similar issues with the FR on my SV-1. No amount of fiddling with the Floyd or nut adjustment helped, until I bought a string bar and fitted it across the middle of the TRC. It pulled the strings down across the nut and all of a sudden the tuning stability issues and dud notes went away. Not saying it will be a guarenteed fix but it might help?