Thanks Waz,
May have to quickly mock build it again to have a look.
A lesson learned for a newbie of the different things I need to check for in a mock build.
Printable View
Thanks Waz,
May have to quickly mock build it again to have a look.
A lesson learned for a newbie of the different things I need to check for in a mock build.
While waiting for neck to cure, I revisited the body mock up:
As I wanted to fill the void underneath the 22nd fret, I considered making a custom pickguard.
The kit pickguard is of a weird shape for the TL-1TB kit.
Attachment 27470
Looking at other people who have built this, none of them seem to have used a pickguard at all, maybe that shows that most have mixed feelings for the custom pickguard.
I used Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator to make a new pickguard which takes into consideration of the 72 thinline tele, the stock PitBull One, and a standard tele to frankestein a new one.
Attachment 27471
I printed a few copies and cut them out to make sure the holes are at the right spots.
Attachment 27472
Won't be able to achieve a 3-Ply effect with a custom one, but I should still be able to chamfer the corners
Next step, apply top coat to neck (it's cold, so I'm giving a few more days), wait for the colours to settle and go to the spray paint shop and see if they can match the colour for the middle part of the 2 tone burst body.
Huh? I bought a blank rectangle sheet of 3-ply red pearloid off e-bay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tooth Hopkins
Turned out too red for my taste but managed to carve one out for my daughter's Bronco bass.
Attachment 29018
cheers, Mark.
This was just standard acrylic sheet. I am not so fussed about the 3 ply effect personally.
This was the most complicated and nerve wrecking part!
1. Stain with jarrah colour.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c56fb796ae.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...44ee347145.jpg
2. Sanded back (actually quite like this look!)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b5dd227db2.jpg
3. Stain honey oak. (The jarrah was to pop the grain)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6fe08e56d9.jpg
Light sand, re stain. Did this a couple of times.
Gloss - mirotone gloss
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...379a2bac98.jpg
Sanded back and do it again.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4f36b86b39.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b5dd227db2.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9de793f1c0.jpg
Another gloss has been put on but photos to come. Very happy with the results as a first time builder. Feedback appreciated.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's a damn fine burst you've done there.
Very nice!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Nice Burst...I see you like sanding
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9979c2bf59.jpg
Glossy finish as of this morning
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Very nice burst! Even your progress photos look good. I like the sanded-back Jarrah as much as the end-result.
You’re done a great job with the burst. Well done.
That is a nice first up burst OTH. Good work!
Stuff ups happen!
Buffed it a bit too far and it’s a see through!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...bb87d04bed.jpg
Need to to paint the side or leave it as relic.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Wow! so many expletives and not enough time!. you could sand back a bit and spot re-stain then refinish? I've done that before.
Build Diary:
-Applied cut and polish onto the guitar body and rubbed hard. Lesson learned: Should have wait until the clear cure more before starting as the cut and polish ate into the side a little bit.
The choice was, do I re-spray or keep going? I had about 2 weeks left before the baby comes, and if I don’t finish the guitar I probably never will. I decided to keep going to finish it off and maybe, one day, I can come back and re spray and polish.
The rest of the body comes up quite well – I could almost see my own reflection! There was still a bit more orange peel, which I can address when I come back in an indefinite time in the future.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...06b46bde9e.jpg
-The rest of the body came together reasonably easily, just time consuming. Had a minor scare with the neck fitting but it was all good in the end.
-Electronics:
I set my goal very early on to have coil splitting so this guitar is as versatile as possible. The original goal was to have:
oPosition 1: Neck single
oPosition 2: Neck humbucker
oPosition 3: Neck & bridge humbucker
oPosition 4: Bridge humbucker
oPosition 5: Bridge single
I was much more confident with electronics than body and finishing, but the coil splitting took me a lot longer than I thought. DingoBass’s tutorial was great, but there were still come ambiguities about which wire and which. WeirdBits’ was also good, but by then I already followed DingoBass’. I managed to stuff up one of the stock pickups, glad I ordered spare humbuckers that had a higher resistance but the wiring within was too complicated to coil split. So I ended up not coil splitting it (neck). Position 1 is for the time being, a master kill switch which is not a bad arrangement.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2786d266b4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1e36a51cfb.jpg
Lesson learned: During the wiring, use alligator clips before soldering. I also learned that if I used a metallic material to knock the housing of the pickup there is a response, much easier than wiring all the strings on to test, then re-strung it each time. String changes and bigsbys aren’t complete best friends.
During the installation I realized the white pickguard that I custom made inversely affected the sunburst look. I decided to leave it off completely.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d831b6d9c3.jpg
Current status:
It plays but the neck, string and bigsby are still adjusting to the tension so it doesn’t stay in tune well yet. I will also need to set it up properly. This is where I will leave it for the time being.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6b3f593119.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fde1bc690f.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...87715731c1.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7753404101.jpg
Future plans:
-Light sand and refinish with clear to clean up the corners.
-The current pickups levels are not completely balanced. I want to review this at a greater detail, it is probably due to the higher output neck pickup. I may request/buy another stock pickup from PitBull and install into the bridge.
-Rearrange the wiring in the cavities: I had to push and shove a little bit to avoid accidentally shorting out in the cavity. I want to arrange and re-organise the length of the wires to make sure it is as neat as possible.
-Re-configure the position 1 kill switch to another piezo pick up installed within the thinline F hole. If I am a little bit more adventurous I would see if the piezo can be connected to the tune-O-matic bridge ala some of the more high-end acoustic simulator pickup on electric guitars.
I admit this was a little bit of a rush job towards the end but happy with the overall outcome so far.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nice work Old Tooth Hopkins, but more importantly congratulations on growing your family by one more.