I get very nervous when its something I've never done before which has excellent potential for cockup and is difficult to resolve if you do stuff things up!
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I get very nervous when its something I've never done before which has excellent potential for cockup and is difficult to resolve if you do stuff things up!
Yes this is one of those places where the old carpenter's rule "measure twice cut once" is really appropriate.
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Whilst waiting for the opportunity to go and do some pickup routing have been adding more coats of tru-oil and sealer filler where that seems indicated. My headstock decor seems to be acceptable. A recessed combination of abalone, veneer and transfer covered by more layers of sealer filler than you'd believe to bring it up level.
Tip if doing that sort of thing, if you put the sealer filler on too thick it will wrinkle while drying. Don't worry about it. Let it cure thoroughly, and add more. The wrinkles don't seem to show once you've got it high enough to sand flat.
Attachment 32587
That is very cool. Love the tree-of-life-J-C logo.
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Attachment 32632
Routing anxiety - the feeling of trepidation when first attacking a pristine piece of wood with a potentially destructive power tool...
I believe there’s a Kübler-Ross model for pickup routing:
1. Anxiety (Measure, measure, measure, practice, practice, I can do this...)
2. Anger (Something’s gone wrong...)
3. Bargaining (I can still fix it...)
4. Depression (The kit’s ruined...)
5. Acceptance (Pickguard...)
Good luck!
Very good, Weirdy!
Crossing fingers...
Attachment 32633
Next on the fear and loathing in southern england list is gluing the neck in place. Or shall I splash on a lot more Tru oil before I get to that?
Do folk want to see photos of my pickup routing setup?
That's priceless!Quote:
Originally Posted by WeirdBits
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Absotively!Quote:
Originally Posted by JimC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JimC
Yes please.
Well,you asked...
The challenge of the 335 type of course is that there are no flat surfaces.
In this series we are looking at the jig up side down: face of the guitar is downwards.
The jig really revolves around the solid unpadded block on the right. This is shaped to fit snugly in the neck pocket, which also means its tapered like the neck so the body must be dropped vertically down on it.
Attachment 32634
Here's the guitar body in place. THe 4 padded blocks probably don't need to touch the body, but I figured a bit of lateral support wil do no harm.
Attachment 32635
This is what actually locks it in place the screw is threaded through the wood block, but it just rests in the pilot hole for the strap button, because its a pretty big screw it doesn't really go into the body. Thus the instrument is held solid. Without the padded blocks this jig is pretty good for applying tru oil to the back and sides of the body - there's enough space to be able to get the oily rag right round the boy.
Attachment 32636
Here's my actual routing jig. I don't have one of those nice router bits that follows a template directly with a ball bearing, so I need to restrain the router itself. So a bit of 3mm ply as a base - just one of these for both pickups - and more 3mm ply carefully measured from the router plate.
First I routed through the 3mm ply backing. Then relocated some of the ply strips to resolve the errors I made locating them in spite of my careful measurements.
Attachment 32637
Next its time to turn the jig over. Need to draw on the back the centre line of the instrument, and and 90 degrees the centreline of each pickup. Drill a small hole through the top exactly in the centre of the pickup route. I put the guitar body in the jig and checked the pickup centres on the body exactly matched those above. Now I took the body out again, located the pickup jig in position for the first pickup, stapled it down and routed through the top of the jig. I didn't take a photo showing it clearly, but here you can see that there's a bottom plate for the jig, which screws onto the 4 padded verticals. The body just rested on thick padding on this bottom piece lightly pushed down by the plate screws, I din't see a need to lock it in place vertically more firmly than that.
Attachment 32639
Having done that the body goes back in the jig and check again that the route through the top is exactly placed. Then I could start routing the actual body.
Attachment 32638
And here we are...
Attachment 32640
(The reason for the pale bikini/tan line between the three post positions is that the maple veneer has been scraped flat in that area so the hipshot bridge will sit flat, and in the centre is scraped right through the veneer.)
The centreblock wood is amazingly soft: I had to deepen the pocket for the pickup ears of one, and I could do it easily and quickly just scraping it with a chisel...Not as soft as typical modelling balsa, but much softer than say cedar.
Does that all make sense,or does anything need clarifying?
Centre block is probably basswood. It does seem soft, but I have a couple of guitars with that as the body and they are fine. It like balsa are technically hardwood - the distinction being (and I'm sure I'll be corrected here if wrong) Hardwood comes from deciduous trees.
It's all looking good man, keep at it.
It seemed a lot softer than basswood. Almost like balsa, but slightly firmer. Probably some local Chinese wood.
It had a fairly strong smell when routed, which didn't seem much like anything else I have come across, but I don't pretend to have very wide experience of different timbers. Nearly as strong a smell as cedar but utterly unlike it is probably the best I can manage. Yes, I'd say it was a hardwood, but in no way a hard wood[grin].
Likely Empress wood, or Pawlonia.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
That does seem feasible/likely, looking at some wood reference sites. I did notice a strongish smell though.
So, neck angle. With the bridge saddles on lowest possible, and the neck as it is, the string height at the top fret on the D is marginally less than it is on my beloved jazz bass. So do I leave well alone, bearing in mind that it would certainly be possible to recess the bridge slightly into the soundboard if one were desperate for some adjustment, or do I try and put a bit of extra neck angle in?
Having just done this, I would say absolutely on the bad language. You may want to take precautions. No small children present, etc. My swearing got so bad at one point that milk went sour in a nearby fridge.
I have a PDF of the hole pattern. If you want it shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll send it to you. I made mine from a tracing if you'd prefer to do that.
Here's some quick advice:
Use mini pots. Normal 24mm pots either won't fit through the F-hole, or will just barely fit. Either way a pain. You'll also want the long bushing pots since the plywood top is thicker than pickguard material.
Second, use a stiff, single strand copper wire to go between the components. I found some sheilded coax that worked pretty well for this. Something that will hold it's shape a bit will help somewhat.
I have tried using fishing line or thin string to pull the pots/switch into place with very mixed results. I have not tried the tubing approach that I have seen somewhere on the forum. In the end, I gave up on that, but the stiff wire helped keep the components where they needed to be. The pots and switch are close enough to the F-hole that a thin tool or finger can usually get under the component once it's in place. I made a hook out of thin copper wire to stick through the hole to turn the pot. Forceps or thin needle nose pliers to pull the shaft up through the hole.
The jack is another story. It WAY far away from the rest of the components. I also used a switchcraft jack that was just barely long enough to get the bolt on the threads. The only way have have been able to get it in place is with a string tied to a large nut or washer that I use to pull the jack into place. I can also use that to put upward force on the jack while I get the bolt onto it and tighten it down. Now that I have done it a couple of times, I also put second string on the nut so that I can pull it back out through the F-hole.
You can just tie a big knot in the middle of a piece of string to pull the jack socket into place. As Fender3x said, everything else is positionable with fingers, given a stiff harness.
You may need to do the jack a couple of times to adjust the rear nut and washer to get the right amount of thread poking through to get the top nut and washer on, so do the jack first before poking other bits through in case you need to pull it out again and adjust.
I have the Allparts "bullet guitar jack tightener", which can be quite good for tightening the nut without the socket rotating too far. Not sure if Allparts still do it, but you can still find them on the web and I think StewMac do them.
Simon makes a good point which I did not heed: install the jack first. I did not and had to pull the harness back out, and do the whole thing over. This is about where the milk went bad.
I had better luck with tightening the nut down once I got a few threads through the hole and could put the nut on the jack a little. Simon's tool would have been great, but for better or worse I am just hearing about it now ;-)
I pulled up hard on my string with a nut tied on it, and tightened the jack's nut down with a deep socket (only the socket--not the wrench). I could get it pretty tight this way without the Jack turning as it was tightened.
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If you've got a lock washer on the underside, then it does help keep things in place once it's under some tension. I normally put a bit of glue onto the internal washers to keep them from falling off the threaded shafts.
Thanks folks, going to be a little while - and a lot of coats of tru oil - before I get to that. Its the neck angle that's my current area of concern.
Presumably there's still a reasonable string break angle over the saddles with them at the lowest position? Also, are you happy with the action on the JB? If so, I'd leave the neck angle alone. It doesn't take much for a small change in neck angle to end up as a big change in string height at the bridge.
If you want a small amount of extra string height above the bridge, you could just glue a piece of veneer to the bottom of the heel so you raise the height up by just that amount.
Oh it will get done. I'd just been sanding and scraping and particularly fed up when I posted that comment. I'm thinking, though, that the approach I've tended with other instruments, of putting the minimum amount of finish on consistent with environmental protection is the right one for me. Two or three coats of tru oil just to protect for any future things I suspect. I'll leave beauteous veneers, intricate dye schemes and mirror finishes to those with the talent...Quote:
Originally Posted by fender3xHang in there! You did a great job with the routing. This deserves to be a bass!Quote:
Originally Posted by JimC
Attachment 32711
Now to my eyes, now I see them in place, those tuners are aesthetically too large. Better, I think, if the kit had the Y tuners of some of the other bass guitar kits.
Well, EB-2s certainly had elephant ear tuners, but ones with much shorter shafts, which help to balance the look more. They certainly are available, only just not with this kit.
Paint them black?
I took a look at what I have... I don't have any of the little closed tuners. All mine are 1/2" and have elephant ears. But there are some differences. My Gotoh Res-o-lites that say they are "drop in replacement" for Fenders, are the same as Fenders at about 71mm from the center of the shaft to the end of the ear. This is also the same as my stock ESB-4. The shortest ones I have are on my G&L at 54mm. These are stamped "G&L" but I think they were actually made by Schaller. The Hipshot ultralites clock in at 60mm.
The headstock also looks small because it is. There's about 5mm less wood between the peg and the edge of the headstock on the ESB-4 and a standard Fender headstock. They combine to make the elephant ears look like they stick way out...
...all that said, it does not look vastly different than the current crop of Gibson basses with this style headstock.
Attachment 32713...
Compare that to this ESB-4
Attachment 32714
Guilty as (implied) charge... It didn't even occur to me to compare the aesthetics with Gibson basses of any era, so far are they off my consideration!
Attachment 32717
Here's a comparison between the ESB and my Ibanez acoustic. I maintain the small tuners look far better, but although its not a high priority personally, I need to recognise that its likely the majority of kit builders will wish to maintain the general style of the instruments that inspired each kit design. The same, I guess, applies to the 3 point bridge against a trapeze tailpiece or string through setup, now I think about it.
I think Simon may have spaced the A and D tuners a little closer to the E and G than they are on the kit too, which maybe increases the feeling of width. One thing for sure though, my enthusiasm for splashing out for a nice set of say Schaller M4s lights is minimal!
This morning I think I need to get up my courage to glue the neck in...
The Hipshot Lites I procured for it are overall smaller and have shorter ears than the kit tuners (about 3mm shorter overall), so would have looked a bit more balanced. I drilled the holes in positions primarily to get the best straight string pull over the nut, without much other consideration apart from the body of the tuner fitting on the headstock without showing and also having enough room to fit the E string Xtender tuner on and it's operating lever be clear of the headstock. I think I also moved the A and D tuners a bit closer to the nut to both reduce the headstock diving moment and to make room for my logo idea. Probably only 5mm or so though, otherwise the tuner heads would have been difficult to turn without catching the adjoining tuner with your hand.
Its amusing to think of the number of different custom options I would specify for a ESB4 kit now, were I ordering one for my rather different requirements, and then reflect that if I hadn't built this one then I wouldn't have known what custom options I would have wanted...
But you can't guarantee that custom options are actually incorporated with these kits. Don't expect a different type of binding. No binding is fine, as are no holes - as long as you specifically say which holes you don't want. Otherwise you can ask, but don't expect to receive.
Attachment 32718
Making progress, although the phone is taking lousy images tonight.
Setback today was finding a problem with my antique secondhand humbucker as I checked out the electrics. Looks as if its managed to get a damaged winding. Irritation beat my normal enthusiasm for reuse and repurposing and I ordered up a pair of Artec pickups...
That's too bad. Happened to me when I rewired my G&L. One coil in one pup failed. I am not sure how this happens, but it does...
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Jim did take it apart. It probably happened then.
Attachment 32724
It must have been putting it back together with a replacement cover, it tested OK when apart. The wrapping round the windings wasn't in the best of condition. It had to come apart to add a coil tap and because the cover was horribly dented.
Well that's frustrating...but familiar from the one and only time I tried to install a coil tap on a pickup with just two leads...
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