Thanks Wokka, I was wondering if I had them round the wrong way, bugga!!!! Ill have to de solder then otherwise itll put a nasty twist in the wire, but, they do fit in the cavity as they are
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Thanks Wokka, I was wondering if I had them round the wrong way, bugga!!!! Ill have to de solder then otherwise itll put a nasty twist in the wire, but, they do fit in the cavity as they are
I wouldn't worry de-soldering Soundguy if the pickguard fits in the cavity now. Shouldn't make any difference in sound.
Better check if the 6 pole pieces in the pups are the same for each pup
I did spin them around, theres enough slack to not make twisting an issue, the poles are all adjusted to the same relative heights, the reason I put them on in that orientation was to put the highest poles under the G B E strings.
Ya live n ya loins!
ah ok Soundguy. fair enough sounds good. I'd say the higher pole pieces are for the E A D strings as they are normally set a little higher action than the treble strings
now that I think of it, thats the logical conclusion, guess my brain was in neutral at the time (as usual)
Sure hope so!! I love strats, and that its the easiest build is a good place to start. If it comes out OK, Im going to do an ES next, then tossing up between an LP or JR, then to finish off the collection, a classical, (unless I buy a Dobro)
OK, so we have had some progress.
I put another DT colour coat on the neck, and we had a disaster!! I guess there was some grease or something and it ended up looking like a some sort of demented tigers coat after it had been shat out of a T Rex arse.
Not to be put off, I ordered a 2nd kit and started off on that. So, same shaped headstock, but a maple fretboard.
Sanding sanding sanding etc etc, yadda yadda. I went for some Behlen meadium wheat stain, and some naughty oil (sorry DB)
Attachment 5837
This is after 3 coats of N.O. Im guessing about 5 more to go on the body, probably more.
The 1st kit has had the neck striped back, (and let me tell you how much not fun that is!!!!) and will be re done with some more DT when it arrives.
the body has had 3 DT colour coats and just had 1 intensifying coat (pics to follow shortly)
looking excellent so far SoundGuy.
Love the gold hardware, are the pup covers gold as well ? Bit hard to see in the photo
ahh, the joys of finishes not doing what you want/expected...
looks pretty cool now
wokka yeah they'r gold Ive managed to get gold everything for hardware, eg PUP switch knob, PUP covers, and whammy bar knob.
Im very happy so far, but still have many coats left to go before it has "that" finish.
I got some aerosol naughty oil, which is coming up great on the neck.
Kit #1 body is looking pretty good in outback sunset, but the neck still needs a bit more abrasion. I might get some time next week, so hopefully Ill be able to get both kits finished soon! (then comes fret leveling and set up!)
Thanks Stan! The dingotone finish has great colours, but is very finicky to apply, I live in Sydley so humidity is the issue, the intensifying coat I applied today started to orange peel on the back, but not the front (WTF?) a quick wipe with a rag settled that down, but probably removed most of what I put on.
Orange peel effect will happen when,
1: applied too thick
2: previous layer wasn't cured
3: overworking when applying
Of course humidity can do some funky things but unless it is over 50-60% it shouldn't cause too many dramas.
Hope this helps :)
Thanks DB the previous layer had about 10 days, I was wiping as thin as I could, defiantly wasnt over working, straight wipe on, then after a few mins I was watching it shrink into itself. It was pretty humid today, but, I applied the coat in the dining room with the AC on for the last 4 hours. Its got me stuffed, the front went on beautifully the back peeled like a Mo Fo.
That is weird....
Got me stumped why it would do it on one side but not the other..
The Gavmiester and I had a convo about this and we both came to the conclusion that the aircon may have dried the air out too much..
Thats the theory anyways..... :p
Rather than wiping with alcohol (unless its Wild Turkey), it might be better to give it a light scuff with 400 grit to give it some "tooth".
This should help stop the problem....
OK, then I better have the alcohol and give that a shot.
I cant see it being the AC as it would have peeled on both sides, but who knows, I certainly have no clue.
Thanks heaps for your help!
will be interesting to see how this gets fixed, all the best
Thanks Stan, the body is looking pretty good so far, just needs more coats to get that gloss finish.
Ill hit it with the 400 soon, then try another coat when the weather isnt totally disgusting (hard call in Sydley coming into summer)
Kit 2 is getting VERY close to done, pics soon
Its been ages since Ive posted progress, but we do have some!!!
The neck is finished in terms of finish, and correctly labled as well
The bone nut will be installed shortly
Attachment 6452
It has a really cool tiger eye effect going on, and depending on the angle, the finish can look inches thick
Attachment 6453
Looks like I have a few more guitars to build!!
Attachment 6454
I have run a straight edge and the neck has about 4mm back bow, Ill ignore it until its got strings on and been under tension for a while.
I do have a question about truss rod adjustment though!
Which way do you turn the allen key to remove back bow? (as in high in the middle)
That neck looks freaking awesome!
With the truss rod, righty tighty, lefty loosey :)
thanks DB!! Im pretty happy with it!
So, to remove back bow I want to tighten, correct?
I had today off, so, some progress!!!!
Shielding put into the cavity, no nasty RF for this little black duck!!!
Attachment 6576
Paua fret dots instead of the standard black plastic
I should have done this before the final finish, but, I didnt
Attachment 6577
And the end result!! (until I pull it apart again)
Attachment 6578
wow that looks very nice Soundguy, how does it sound and play ?
Thanks Wok!! it sounds VERY quiet, seems I stuffed the wiring, so it needs disassembly, and buzzing out with the meter.
It plays like rubbish, so far, the necks sorta straight, but the frets are a LONG way from flat, and the bone nut needs at least .25mm removed. I wanted to get it in one piece to get the strings on and let it settle in for a while.
no worries Soundguy sounds like you got a bit more setup to do and fix the wiring
I went with a IP/OP wiring as below, after I wired it up I held the bashplate over the strings of my (real) Strat and it seemed to work, so between then and now something has changed, not a big deal, just annoying.
Attachment 6584
Im more concerned about the setup, but I have the time to sort it.
Where I am really happy, is right now its sitting in the corner and when I look at it I can say , thats a VERY pretty guitar!! I just need to make it feel and sound even more pretty than it looks (to me that is)
It's all in the setup...
This final step will be the most rewarding when you have it sorted.
Hang in there and if you have any dramas we are here to help :)
At the first fret you should set the action so that you have about .018 inch clearance from the top of the fret to the underside of both E-Strings as per Fender specs, the action at the 12th fret should be about 2.5 mm for each string or about 5/64ths inch, for the forward-bow of the neck, put a capo on the 1st fret after tuning the guitar up to pitch, next use a .010 inch feeler from a set of Automotive feeler gauges, fret the low E-string at the fret closest to the body and then use the .010 inch feeler to check the clearance at the 8th fret, if there's too little clearance loosen the truss rod about 1/4 turn, if there's too much clearance tighten the truss rod 1/4 turn, keep checking till the feeler gauge just fits between the 8th fret and the bottom of the string, you might need to let the neck settle for a while, recheck it again.....hope that helps.
Wot Doc sed :)
One of my tricks is to use a US quarter at the 12th. The coin should just slide under the strings (on the fretboard, not the fret)
This gives me a good indication of the neck relief...
Hey, I noticed that you shielded the jack cavity on your pic from today.
I read before on the forum that you should leave it un-shielded as you risk grounding the tip of the jack if the plate is a bit too far in.
Guys, could it be a cause of his issue?
Thanks Doc, umm, just a suggestion, can we stick to either metric or Imperial measures, bouncing between . and / is something my poor addled brain cant cope with, I did spent $4.95 on Ebay for a string height ruler, so that will get put to use.
I just did a rough intonate and its sounding sorta not too horrible, the main thing is to let the neck settle.
I did think of that, and it could be an issue, what I will do is heat shrink around the + lead and that would sort that. If there was no contact between the shield and the jack plate then there could be no short. so, trim the shielding back from the top edge of the body by a fraction of a poofteenth and no problems
Fair enough! Im 5 foot 7 and an arf, but I weight (to many) kilos
and here is something I have used for many years and is fanfarkingTastic, simple, to the point and gets used often!
http://wscope.com/convert.htm