Robbo's MB-1 build

Yeah Kick, black headstock :) It looks pretty cool in real life too.

I am after some decal advice from those in the know.

I have ordered a waterslide decal sheet (5 actually so I can mess 4 up) which I plan to print my avatar on.

If you look carefully, there is a fine white glow type of thing going on around the edge of the writing. I have two versions of the logo, one with black background and one with a transparent background.

The decal sheet is clear and you can't print white, so should I paint a block of white on the headstock where I intend to place the decal or will it not really make too much difference? If I do I'll use the black background but my concern is if the colours don't match particularly well it may be noticeable.

Should I not worry about it and just go with the transparent background straight onto the black headstock?

Will a white block of colour help the logo pop a bit more or will it not make much of a difference? If it takes a few goes to get it right I'm really not too worried but someone with experience may be able to save me some mucking around.

It's all a bit hard to explain so hopefully you get the gist of it all.

Thanks, Robbo

Hey Robbo - just a hint with waterslide: if you have printed them yourself, spray some clear over before placing into the water - it help prevent some inks from running when it goes into the water...

As for the white bits - if you paint the headstock to enhance the white effect - you will get white in the centre of your letters unless they are blacked out or you are very careful with the white outline.
Also you will need it to be perfectly flat or it will show as a bump under the decal

Your logo is cool and i don't think you will miss the white drop shadow, but it's your axe, you have to get it how you want it

Thanks Stan.

I'll give the white a miss and give the clear coat a go.

Robbo

Anyone taken the cover off a stock humbucker?

I have a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom I plan to use in the bridge, but it has no cover and is black, which obviously won't match a standard HB in the neck position.

Way I see it is i have four options

1. One black and one chrome pickup (last option)

2. Remove the cover from the stock HB if they look OK

3. Get a chrome cover for the Seymour Duncan (covers are relatively dear for a genuine one)

4. Paint the chrome cover black

Hopefully someone has removed a cover from a stock HB and has a pic.

Thanks, Robbo

edit: found a tutorial from WierdBits on a 4 conductor mod that showed me the answer, so hopefully not too much has changed in 3 years :)

Option 5 - I could send you an uncovered stock humbucker. I have a few of them lying around. PM me your address.

^^^ legend, thanks mate, PM sent.

Robbo

You can't just solder a cover on or you'll get bad microphonics. You'll need to get some wax in there as well so that it at least fills the space between the top of the pickup and the underside of the cover. Now you can dip the whole of the pickup in wax once the cover's on, or you can melt as much wax as you can in the upside-down cover (a hair-dryer on a hot setting should do this) and press the pickup into the cover and continue heating for a while to allow the wax to re-melt (some of it will have solidified when the cold pickup hit it), then let it cool before soldering the cover on (after scraping off any wax that may have got in the joints. You only need a small blob on either side of the pickup to ensure electrical ground conductivity with the cover and to help hold it on.

If you screw the adjustable pole pieces right down to start with, then sticking some tape on the outside of the cover first stops the wax running out without the tape being pushed off by the screws.

I'd use a fine wax like beeswax (I got some from eBay from a candle-making supplier) rather than melt a normal candle. Never apply more than just enough heat to melt the wax to avoid damaging the rest of the pickup. It's tricky to know how much is enough and if you have a powerful hairdryer, then you may not need the hottest setting.

Thanks Simon. I'll prob put in another pickup with the cover removed.

Check this out. Best decal ever (if you can even see it, is is there)

Attachment 19685

Disappointing as I emailed the decal seller and asked for their recommendation on decal stock for a guitar headstock.

I'm presuming they assumed it was a timber coloured headstock, not black.

Robbo.

Hi Robbo, if you want to do it again I suggest you sand that off and then use MS Excel to drop your logo into an enlarged 'black' cell so that when you print the sheet it will have the black background and be big enough to cover the whole headstock. Once dry just trim the decal off at edge of the headstock. If you use satin clear to seal the transfer and then a couple more coats on top it should remain satin and not turn out glossy.

Cheers, Waz

Edit: I reckon this method will also bring out more of your logo colours too. Laser printers work better but inkjet is passable.

I think the problem is the decal itself is clear, not white.

The logo has a black background but with the decal being clear, the black from the headstock was showing through.

I removed the decal whilst still wet and with order some more film.

It's just a pain because I asked the the supplier for the best option, paid extra for express delivery and printed it at work on our laser, all so I could get it done over the weekend.

I've emailed them in the hope the will give me a good price on the next lot because they gave me dodgy advice.

Shall see how we go, I was hoping to have it all finished this week.

Robbo

Interesting response from the supplier, considering I asked them for their recommendation on which product to use.

"Anthony,

I guess it is the first time for you to apply a clear decal on the dark coloured headstock. You need opaque white background to make decals for black surfaces items. It can not be done with normal printer but you need a white toner printer such as OKI711WT or commercial solvent white ink printer.

Regards,"

I still don't even understand if I use a white decal if it will work?

Robbo

The white decal stock will only work if you are either super particular about trimming around the outside or you are ok with having a white blob around the outside of your logo. I would consider simplifying your logo somewhat and maybe consider cutting a stencil and painting it on to the black. transparent decals will not show up on a black background unless you find someone will a high quality (super expensive) laser printer that is capable of printing white.

The logo itself has a black background which is actually pretty close in colour to the headstock, so that's not a huge issue. I might spray a white rectangle on the headstock and have one more go.

If that doesn't work I will go without the decal.

It seemed pretty straightforward at the time :) now it's more trouble than it's worth.

Robbo

Spraying a white background will totally work. Just a matter of whether you'll be happy with the look.

Came home from work hoping to get a bit more done, so in between changing nappies, feeding the kids, playing referee to three different fights as well as putting the kids to bed, I got more done than I thought I would... considering I walked in the door less than 4 hours ago :)

Before...

Attachment 19710

After...

Attachment 19711

I also painted my white block for the decal and banged it on as well...

Attachment 19712

I'll give it the clear coat treatment tomorrow and see how it all goes.

Robbo

Coming along nicely Rockfactor, nice flat black finish, looks silky!

Thanks mate. The finish isn't perfect but it's better than I expected.

I sanded too much off the bottom of the nut trying to get a better fit and now open strings rattle on the first few frets. I'll knock the nut off and shim it up a bit, should be ok. No noise from the electronics either but I was in a super hurry so no real surprise there. Won't take long to sort out.

The misses said I should build more guitars to hang around the house. I played it cool and said "we will have to see". Woo bloody hoo.

Anyway a quick photo and thanks for all your help so far.

Attachment 19738

Robbo.

Quote:

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The misses said I should build more guitars to hang around the house. I played it cool and said "we will have to see". Woo bloody hoo.

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WINNING!! I hope you had that officially recorded ad the certified by a JP!

I'm a JP if you need it certified!!! Just need you both in front of me up here in Sunny Qld to do the certifying and witnessing stuff.

Looks great, nice clean lines.

So the high E string touches the first fret to the point it just goes thunk and the low E and A string rattle on the first fret a bit which I think I can fix enough by raising the action a little bit.

I reshaped the bottom of the nut to make it fit closer up the the fretboard, as there was a bit of a gap, as in the nut was leaning back a bit, touching at the bottom but not at the top. In doing so I've obviously lowered where the strings sit.

I was originally going to shim or replace the nut, but i'm thinking of trying the super glue and baking soda trick.

Has anyone tried this or an I wasting my time?

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Robbo

Super glue and baking soda (or bone filings) works. Fill the string slot, let it set, and then re-cut it. But, it sounds a bit like the whole nut may have been taken down too far. How are the other strings/slots and is it in tune over the first few frets? Pics would be good too to show how the nut is actually sitting.

The D-G-B strings aren't too bad, tuning is fine, intonation is fine, so I'll have a tinker tonight and grab some pics and maybe a video tonight to help explain a bit.

Thanks, Robbo

I have taken a photo and made a few short videos to show the rattles in the strings, mostly the high E.

I have raised the saddle on the low E side a bit but could maybe go a little more if necessary.

The photo doesn't show too much

Attachment 19826

I can take more if necessary.

Hopefully these clips help (sorry about the face I plulled, playing doesn't come naturally to me )

https://youtu.be/kByspADoGMw

https://youtu.be/Vh2r-1R7trk

https://youtu.be/9d9-TOvRw6A

Do I need to replace the nut or should I try the baking soda trick?

Thanks all.

Nice work. Just a shame about the nut but I'm always taking nut slots too low and having to repair or replace.

It's a new guitar, so I'd replace the nut rather than try and fix it. Superglue and baking soda can work well, but I find it a bit hit-or-miss as to whether it goes hard all the way through, even when using the thin glue, and when filing down again you can hit a patch of unglued baking powder. It's also not as easy to polish the slots and keep the strings from sticking. These days I've ordered a lot of cheap Chinese bone nuts from eBay and have them waiting in case I need to replace a nut. It's almost as quick to do so than it is to repair a slot.

Hey mate, you can hear that high E hitting one of the frets. It only needs to be a horses hair above the first fret when depressed at the 3rd and you would be right.

If that is a plastic nut, it has no business being on your awesome build anyway. I'd knock that out and replace it with a bone nut

Thanks lads, been away a while getting some skin cancers removed.

I will replace the nut because the guitar has turned out better than expected.

I won't use bone though (I'm one of those vegan weirdos) so I might track done a Graphtec one and start from scratch.

Thanks again... :)

Suggest buying pre cut ones otherwise you may need to buy a few whilst you practice getting the right string slot depth.

Wise words Waz, but they had no preslotted ones in stock and I assume you still need to massage them anyway, as each fretboard would be different thicknesses etc.

At around $30 delivered (I did get the one impregnated with PTFE) I'll sneak up on it real slow like :)

It's all good practice for when I fully handmade a guitar.

I am going to order a new kit some time this week. I've had it picked for a while but now I'm second guessing myself.

Cheers, Robbo

Hi Robbo, know what you mean. I stalked the PBG site for months before placing my first order and the choices have only increased since then. Are you thinking another funky shape or something more conventional?

TL-1TB was my first choice and will probably be what I end up getting. I think it would look sweet with a black stain and maybe something like this with a sweet old school hotrod print

https://digital-photography-school.c...y-diy-project/

I'm second guessing because I have a Telecaster already, though it is a MIM one I use as my backup for gigs.

We shall see.

Once I fix up the nut on the MB-1 build and touch up a couple of things I'll post some pics, then, I'll swap out the pups for the two black ones without covers I have, see how that looks. Pablopepper was kind enough to donate a neck one to go with the Seymour Duncan Custom Custom I already have :)

Robbo

I've printed onto grease proof paper with a laser printer then ironed the image onto timer with good effect as well.

Just ordered the TL-1TB, now we wait...

Robbo

Taking this little birdy out to two gigs this weekend so shouted her a nest.

Attachment 20287

Attachment 20288

It doesn't fit so well so I will either grab some foam to pad the spare space out a bit or, if I'm feeling adventurous, remove the cover and felt stuff and trim it to size.

We shall see.

edit: need to reinstall the TRC. Took it off to replace the nut...

Robbo

After using for two gigs a few things I noticed. I really like playing this guitar. I hope to post video in a week or so.

The edges of the frets are sharp. Not noticeable until a couple of hours into a gig. I will dress the ends during the week.

The guitar defaults to a headstock down position with the guitar straps where they are. I need to move the strap to a more neutral position.

All in all, well happy...

Robbo.