Sure does look butterscotchy, Paul. Very classy looking with the grain showing through like that.
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Sure does look butterscotchy, Paul. Very classy looking with the grain showing through like that.
Careful with the highlights - had a nice black guitar that I thought would look neat with some silver highlights. As soon as they went on I wanted to take them off again.... Couple of hours of careful sanding and you can't really notice them...
Hi Brendan
I don't really think the highlights had any affect at all there was very few areas where they could properly take as I had given the body a rub over with a slurry of timbermate and then sanded it back.
If it has had any effect it has been to make the body look a bit more golden.
But then I am getting much the same impression from the Clear coat which is more the colour of treacle.
Cheers PK
I've started setting up the wiring loom for this little Honey. I am toying with the idea of setting up the Neck and Mid pick ups on push pulls so they can be run as series or parallel. Has any one done this... or has any one even done strat/tele rails.. these things look awesome. just hope they sound as good as they look.
So far I have set the bottom tone control to only run the big Humbucker. I've soldered in the cap as a .023uf. It's a pitty I don't hace a Black four wire Bucker otherwise I'd do a split on it as well as the tiny rails. I've used a full sized CTS B500 pot for the humbucker tone, but picked one that was actually only 424K Ohm. I've got about 150 Full Sized CTS B500K pots but they are only 30%. I've graduated them into sets of four. When I bought them I was only supposed to get 20 pots all up. So if any one wants some drop me a line and we can work something our. Beers are my favourite form of Currency, but if your not in Melb money will do. LOL
Cheers PK
I've dabbled a bit with running rail coils in series/parallel, as well as in series/parallel pickup combos and out of phase. I like the sound of the GFS Lil' Puncher rails out of phase in my TL-1A (coils in series, pickups in parallel out of phase), it's a bit like position 2 on a Strat. I usually run the pickups with their coils in series, but I'm still experimenting with all the sounds and tweaking the pickup heights etc. So far, they sound pretty good to me.
If you are interested, here are some of my wiring diagrams: TL-1A with GFS rails, ST-1 with GFS rails, ST-1 with Toneriders.
Is there a particular style of sounds you want or just general versatiliy? Rail coils in parallel can be too thin, scooped and nasally for some tastes so splitting them may a better option if you want something more like single coil tones. But, I guess it depends on the pickup, the guitar and most importantly, your ear. And, if you are game, you could always try some surgery on your humbucker to give it a coil split option.
150 CTS pots! wow, are they all 'B' linear's?
Hi WB.
My prefered music flavour is Blues.
I like to try and build a guitar that is versatile. so maybe go the series/sngle split coil option. I know the P-Rail on my Eagle 11 doesn't gain much in parallel, It has SD switched pickup rings.
As you can guess I like to fiddle with the wiring. and see what I can get out of it apart from burnt fingers. 8)
of the CTS pots, the whole 150 pots are B500K. Some get as high as 530K and as low as 424K. I have graded them in to groups of four. each group is within a K or two of each other. I have something like 30 packs of four. and one pack with about ten pots that just could not be grouped. they have 9mm of thread and standard sized splines.
Cheers PK
If you want wiring 'options' then Scott is definitely your man. Watch out though, some of his combos require a degree in dimensional sanity. ;-)
Seriously though, check Scott's diagrams. He's put together some very cool combinations.
Paul, if you're going to go with the split rail option remember to split the 'north' rail on one pup and the 'south' rail on the other, so you still get the RWRP hum cancelling when both the split neck and middle are on together. And, depending on the rail pups and how you decide to wire them you may need to swap the series link on one of the pups to make the split easier. It may also pay to check the phase of your humbucker in relation to the rails before you start soldering so you don't have to flip wires later.
@Lawry, hehe I've been working on an 'unusual' bass wiring diagram that I may need you to peruse at some point...
"@Lawry, hehe I've been working on an 'unusual' bass wiring diagram that I may need you to peruse at some point..."
My minds already doing contortions just trying to imagine what you have in your head.
But... I'd love to see it! :D
@Weirdbits. Um so how do you work out which is the north and which is the south coil? is it that you have two choices the right way and the wrong way. If you get it wrong unsolder one of teh pickups and reverse the setup? :D
I can almost guarantee I'll wire it wrong first up.
The rail Pups I have a are Belcats. I probably should put the meter on em and see what the resistance is. In my mind if they are around 6K then it is really pointless plitting the coils as they will be too weak, in wich case the idea of series/parallel would be a better option. even though two 6K coils would result in aweek 3K coil. :D
Yeah I know too much too... lol
Cheers PK
@Weirdbits. Um so how do you work out which is the north and which is the south coil? is it that you have two choices the right way and the wrong way. If you get it wrong unsolder one of teh pickups and reverse the setup? :D
I can almost guarantee I'll wire it wrong first up.
The rail Pups I have a are Belcats. I probably should put the meter on em and see what the resistance is. In my mind if they are around 6K then it is really pointless plitting the coils as they will be too weak, in wich case the idea of series/parallel would be a better option. even though two 6K coils would result in aweek 3K coil. :D
Yeah I know too much too... lol
OK just measured these pups, each coil is around 5.5-5.6 KOhm. so I think they will be too weak to split.
might go with push pulls to apply different caps. :S or maybe not.
Cheers PK
How hot is your humbucker? I think 5-6K per coil for the rails would be fine split, that's about what my vintage wound strat Toneriders are. But, it depends on what your Belcats sound like split rather than just going by reaistance.
To check the pole direction and polarity etc. you need a magnetic compass, a multimeter and a ferrous mass like a screwdriver/pliers/spanner. This video does a pretty good job of guiding you through the process.
Ideally, your Belcat pickups should have a wiring sheet included that lists the wiring colur-coding and north/south pairs. But, if worst comes to worst, as long as you can work out which pairs of wires connect to each coil (and assuming they're consistent) all you have to do use one colour pair on one pickup and the other colour pair on the other pickup and you'll have a hum cancelling pair of split coils.
the sealed one is 8.74K, the other Black Poled one is 7.88K. I've got a white one that comes in at 15.34K the white one is the only one with 'Pre' split coils. Obviously I can't split the sealed pickup.
In terms of Balance I think either of the Black ones will have around the same output levels as the rails. and hopefully a similar tone range. :D
PK
Great shellac tips and some lovely guitars you've made there too! :-)
Thanks Quiety.
I've done the loom and pickguard. I rehashed the loom off the Black perloid gurd. and rearranged teh set up. ATM I have a push pull on the Humbucker with two caps. .023 and .047 Did that just for fun. The 24mm CTS was too big to easily fit into the body with out taking a risk of scratching something.
I anticipate haveing to re-solder a few wires, as is always the case with re-using looms, the wires tend to break due to the handling.
I've orderd some gold pickup screws and a black metal Humbucker cover so I can fit a four wire pickup where the 8.74 Hummy is right now. Then I can play re-arrange the push pull switch. I may even add two more for the rails, but thats for a bit later.
This weekend could see another coat of clear finish go on. I am up two at the momnet. I can see couple more coats easily.
There will be a few periods over the weekend where no work is allowed as it is a sort of religious weekend..... F1 :D
Cheers PK
OK, another coat of Clear Gloss on this morning, lookin Purdy.
PK
third or fourth clear. lost track
Pic try again
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...314_172935.jpg
Mobile Phone pics are not as good as a real camera.....
Looking sweet Paul!
Another coat of Gloss goes on. Pretty sure this was number four..
Cheers PK
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...-gloss-004.JPG
looking pretty nice Paul
Hi Stan,
Tks M8.
My gold bridge turned up today as well as the gold pickup screws. Just need to find someone with a pair of gold 5pos switch screws.
PK
Well ebay as a source of gold strat switch screws Sucks. can get a pair from US for nearly $20.... BWAHHHH might just buy a can og gold modeling paint.
PK
there is a great nut and bolt shop near me, i can have a look, alternatively the big green hardware may have some that might work
This would have to be one of the warmest (aesthetically) guitars on the forum.
I reckon gold pickups are the right choice to enhance that body. I'd imagine the rest of the hardware is gold too?
Hi Maxaxe
At this point I am looking to put on a black sealed humbucker to go along side the two black rails.
I do have a stack of old gold pickups I could put on her.
I've also wired the bottom tone pot exclusively to the humbucker with a push/pull to select between a .023uf cap and a .047uf cap. The pick up is only around 8k and is only a 2wire job.
Cheers PK
pickguard front
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...cguard-001.JPG
Pickguard wiring
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...cguard-003.JPG
Ok Just noticed a new feature on that humbucker pickup , basically it's scratched so it's out of there.
Ok Another take on the pickups. this is one of my very precious Toaster four wire pickups.
Cheers PK
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...cguard-004.JPG
nice!
I think I'll go with this set upas teh Black pickups give it a contrast to the buterscotch and gold.
PK
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...cguard-005.JPG
It's gunna be alright :D
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...319_105155.jpg
Not putting it together like that, it ain't. ;)Quote:
Quote from kells80aus on March 19, 2014, 08:32
It's gunna be alright :D
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...319_105155.jpg
rofl WHAT, I screwd it to gether like that, You mean that's not how it's supposed to be...... I thought it looked real good that way...ha ha ha
PK
love the decal Paul - she's really turning into a killer build!
cheers,
Gav.
If you are able to sort out your dilemma, maybe you can help out this crowd....
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...hm1n-image.jpg
Hi Gav,
looks like a nice 5 string Bass. Two piece body. I always like as few pieces in the body as possible. and it's nothing to do with strat cracks. I think that it is a matter of symetry. That Bass would look nice in Cherry Red base coat with a clear coat on the neck. I think that often when you colour the neck the same colour as the body it often takes away from drama of the instrument.
Cheers PK
Synopsis of this build;
I think I have reached the sit and wait a week point in this build I've got 5 coats of clear Wudtone Gloss with Age tint, and I don't think it is going to gain anything from adding more coats. The Wudtone Butterscotch base is five coats with a Wudtone Gold highlight on top of a very thin rubbing of Pine Timbermate. After the Timbermate the body was rubbed back with 240 grit.
Additional light rub backs were with fine and superfine steelwool.
The neck has been coated with white shellac in order to mainatain the asthetics of the clean white maple.
The fingerboard is coated with several layers of Brehlen Fingerboard oil. It's basically Lemon oil
The decal is a Laser printed on a slde on water transfer base.
The fittings will be gold bridge, tuners and scratch plate screws. Pickups are two Black Rails, and one open stud Black humbucker sitting on a Cinamon Pearloid scratch plate. Tone and Volume knobs are Golden Amber Gibson style. I still need to source a suitable rear scratch plate. black or Golden Mirror seems to be the only things avaiable. But as I am out of work and out of money, plain black could be the way it has to go, as they are cheap as.
Cheers PK