This is the usual method.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatboy
cheers, Mark.
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This is the usual method.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatboy
cheers, Mark.
Thanks for that, I now know that I am thinking along the right lines but might look
for a more 'elegant' solution.
Cheers, FB.
I now solder a ground wire to a washer and trap that beneath a pickup mounting spring against the plate on a pickup height adjustment screw.
I'd still run the copper tape underneath the bridge, as the cavity tape needs to be grounded to work properly.
Simon, thank you, the washer sounds a good idea and I was mulling over about grounding the cavity tape.
My thoughts are to earth them all to one point to avoid earth loops.
The pillar drill at work did not have a big enough throat to accommodate the body so could not use that.
I spent an age measuring either side so that I could drill in from each side to hopefully meet in the middle.
The string ferrules I bought are an 'all in one' type so I carved a trough in the back rather than six individual holes.
Don't think I would fancy drilling six individual holes without very sharp bits and a pillar drill but
others more skilled than me may well have done it successfully.
Having done the ferrule thingy it is back to glossing the body.
Onwards and upwards !
As you've found, you need a pillar drill with a very deep throat to do it easily. I've done it using a drill stand and adjusting it to drill through the hole in the base of it. Start from the top and use the bridge to mark the string hole positions. Then drill the two outer ones all the way through, and the 4 inner ones 3/4 of the way. Then flip the body over, use the two outer holes to position the bridge, mark the inner hole locations, drill about 1/2 way. Hopefully the holes line up (you may need to run a drill through a couple of times in reverse if there's a slight mismatch) and you've got a nice straight line of holes front and back.
EDIT: Doofus...wrong thread hehe.
cheers, Mark.
Been busy in the last week but have managed to spend some time on the geetar.
Firstly, thanks Simon for your through hole technique with a drill stand, wish that
had occurred to me before I started ! Hey ho, the trough is done now.
Almost finished the gloss coats but found that despite using the finishing oil as per
Crimson's videos it is taking an age to finally go off.
Most likely due to the ambient temperature, the tackiness is slowly going.
Took the opportunity to get the copper tape out and do the pup cavities.
Looks ready for a space launch now !
I have run some tape where the bridge sits and laid a few layers to hopefully
earth the bridge. Now need to solder and run some earth leads to a central point.
Question please - does anyone shield the back of the scratch plate and similarly
the large cavity where the controls go ?
That could be a bugger as the tape has a mind of its own.
Will be doing the neck next and hopefully final assembly/setup.
Another question - fiddling with the scratchplate today for these 'mockup' pics
- if I am not sure what I am going to do next I screw it all together haha -
I realised that it might be a bit tight when soldering everything.
I have some two pin connectors from my Quadcopter/Drone days and wondered if
using a few of these would help in the final assembly and possible disassembly.
The only two problems I could think of are loose connections and added noise.
Does anyone have any views on this ?
Pics below show the finish - not sure if I wanted a brown guitar when I started
the journey but I have grown to like it and the Journey even more so.
Cheers, FB.
More Pics of progress
Moving along nicely Fatboy!
Yes and yes. For the back of the pickguard, I would suggest running the tape from the area over the control cavity right up to the the area over the neck pickup cavity. This will complete the Faraday Cage concept you're try to achieve. (think of it as 3 copper boxes that are connected)Quote:
Question please - does anyone shield the back of the scratch plate and similarly
the large cavity where the controls go ?
That could be a bugger as the tape has a mind of its own.
Just like with the pickup cavities, you want to extend a bit of tape from the side of the control cavity route to the body top so there is continuity from the cavities to the pickguard.
Doing the back of a pickguard is easier than fiddling inside pickup routes because it's all flat. Don't peel all the backing off at once. peel back enough so you can stick it to your starting point, then peel it off as you lay it down in one fluid operation. It helps using a credit card or similar as a "squeegee" to flatten the tape out as you go, IYKWIM.
As for the 2 pin connectors, I've never used them, but if they're small enough and insulated, they should be fine.
They shouldn't introduce any noise. Some pickup manufacturers are now selling "solderless" pickups that use a mechanical connection in lieu of soldered.
Well it is certainly busy around here with builds at the moment !
Lord knows when I will find time to read through them, perhaps when I have finished the Peelycaster.
Another week has gone by, have been doing more lacquer, must say I am impressed with the gloss
lacquer from a can after a couple of coats and rubdown between them.
The biggest pain is dust now...grrrr !
Have been wiring the pups and scratchplate. Put two pin connectors here and there to ease assembly
and disassembly. Checking everything has earth paths.
Rigged it all up temporarily and plugged in tapping the pups with a screwdriver.
All worked, not much noise but the pups were round the wrong way.
'Bugger' were my first thoughts then remembered the connectors - all sorted in seconds.
My biggest problem was the headstock transfer.
I made one up (well, loads actually) which I printed onto transparent inkjet decal paper.
The yellow/gold in the lettering just vanished.
Second attempt on white decal paper was a lot better.
I cut around the decal leaving a white border - not the look I wanted.
Then cut all round the black border of the decal, not very accurate, needed something better than a craft
knife to get clean curved edges.
In desperation I put the supplied Pitbull decal decal on - perfect !
Undeterred I put my decals on the rear of the headstock just to make me feel better.
The film from the inkjet decal paper seems thicker than the supplied Pitbull one.
That was printed on a laser printer (says so on the back) so is waterproof and did not have
lacquer on it which may be why I found it difficult to cut around the inkjet transfers.
Who knows, it's done now.....
Next jobs are to attach the neck and finalise the bridge position.
Then fit the scratchplate and setup the nut/neck etc.
Bought a set of Hosco electric geetar nut files which are the most expensive purchase so far.
£71 delivered from gluedtomusic.com in the UK.
I suppose I could get most of the cash back by selling them on ebay if I don't
think I will use them again.
I had thought of making a bass next which they won't be used on.
You would need pencils with sandpaper around them for that haha.
Going to lemon oil the fingerboard.
Pics of progress so far below.
Thanks for looking and a big THANK YOU to those who have helped me get this far.
Cheers, FB.
Decals which never got on the headstock front - they are round the back ! :(
Nice! I like the red gloss headstock!
Looks great!!!
Nice cavity shielding mate
Thanks for the kind words especially the cavity shield compliment Andy40 haha.
Had the weekend off work unusually and it is pissing down here so was able
to get the screwdrivers and drill out and stumble a bit further, almost there now.
Finally fitted the machine heads and the supplied strings to see how it all looks.
The neck is very good, frets were pretty even and did not require much work.
This weeks problems have been :
1) Cavity shield - I relied on the overlapping tape to provide continuity - wrong !
Saw a post on here about smearing solder across the joints, why did I not think of that ? Doh...
This improved the situation especially as I am relying on the tape to earth the bridge.
2) Volume control not working properly - thought this might be my additional wiring but unsure how.
Tracked it down to duff soldering at the factory. One of the volume lugs had a blob of solder to the
body of the pot (the lug was pushed back near to the body) but cleaning joints before soldering
takes too long in the factory so the connection to ground was very poor hence the problem.
Out with the soldering iron and take the neck off (again) and used some wire to make the connection
rather than hope that luck and fresh air would make it.
3) String trees - My kit had no trees supplied but that's no problem, there are thousands a click away on the 'bay.
Trouble is I forgot to get any so when I fitted the strings and thought about filing the nut I realised
my schoolboy error - back of the class, Fatboy !
Not having them is not the issue, I looked at the headstock decal and it is right where the trees should be !
Doh ! six of the best for me...…and in detention, take that neck off again, Fatboy !
Anyway, I have ordered some and I may be able to just avoid the decal as the man on the Yootube
Fender University video said it is not too important where they are sited (we'll see about that).
I don't have a second gold decal as the first was obliterated after I had to rub down and re-stain the headstock
after the home made decal fiasco. Grrrr
I will see what I can do, as I would have to rub down and stain the headstock again.
If it is a major issue I'll have to buy another kit haha.
Suitably enthused I have now screwed the scratchplate in position am awaiting the string trees and need to do
a final nut and neck setup, Apologies for the pics, taken on rubbish mobile phone.
Ought to get a new one but that's another geetar :)
Then it is done and hopefully a GOTM contender (I'll have a look at the competition first, might wait until March).
I am already looking at the next one, this is great fun.
By the way, anyone from Oz tell us how the wildfires are going ?
We have all got the Corona virus over here and Brexit so there has been no coverage of that for some weeks.
Cheers, Fatboy.
That's looking great! Pain about the decal/string tree problem, looking forward to seeing what you work out :)
I've found the copper tape to sometimes not provide good continuity if simply overlapped slightly, so I always check it with a multimeter and if there are issues, then I run another bit of tape across them at right angles which normally sorts things out.
I'd try and run with just a single string tree for the top B and E strings. The D/G tree is normally superfluous. The B/E tree would normally go where the P of PitBull is, but you can move it further towards the nut if you can use a taller spacer (so there's not too much downwards pull over the nut), or move it back to level with the G tuner (roughly where it went on the first Teles) and use a very low spacer or no spacer at all in order to get enough downward pull.
Well it is finished at last so a big thank you to all the members on here who have helped me.
One of the reasons I chose Pitbull was because of this resource so well done chaps, I owe you a pint.
The string tree business I have left for now as having set it up for my style of playing I feel that it does
not need it.
A cop out maybe, there just may be enough break angle on the E and B strings.
Played it a lot and really pleased how it looks, feels and sounds.
Entered in March GOTM.
My next is a precision bass but I purchased that in the UK (sorry) but hope to be back soon with
another build if we are all still alive then.
Again, thank you all, FB.
And a few more....
Looks great! Easy enough to add a string tree further up the headstock e.g.
Attachment 34080
Why not carry on with the P-bass build in the non-Pitbull section? It's what it's there for.
Simon, thanks for the tree tip, looks like you have done it for me haha
I forgot about the non Pitbull section - thanks again....camera at the ready …...FB
The further towards the end of the headstock, the lower the tree needs to sit, so use the shortest post you have with it (or even fix direct to the face of the headstock if necessary). But it won't need to pull the strings down lower than D/G strings (though obviously it can) but level is fine.