Brodies IB-1 "V-Bay at Noon"

So, mock-up time arrived. For these first images, I used the old neck, because I wanted to see a more realistic representation of the final product. I defretted it, sanded to 800, stained a really watery black, then waxed. That will be the process for the real neck too.

http://i.imgur.com/bOncoCB.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tfGhWCO.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/mcvxtSg.jpg?2

With some careful lovin', the inlay really, really pops. Majorly dig it.
http://i.imgur.com/RfWWeUS.jpg?1

Then, I went ahead and screwed it up (in a good way) and strung it:

http://i.imgur.com/5Q2RAeX.jpg?1

Please note that I have not yet gotten around to finishing the board on this neck. A bit more tedious with frets in the way. Also, I am aware I wound the strings on the wrong way. :P

http://i.imgur.com/cFmjBoy.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/cuZ7DrK.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2itxaii.jpg

So, a couple of minor fixes/further efforts needed:
1) A new bridge. The high e string will not stay in its block at all; the longest I got was 15 minutes out of it. I'm thinking a Fastloader from GFS (naughty room, I know) is the way to go cause then I don't need to worry about blocks!

2) The middle pickup won't mount. The pup magnet bottoms out in the middle part of the rout, and the screw routs are too deep for the screws to get purchase. All I succeeded in doing was ripping some chunks out as the bolts came free under the spring pressure. At this point it appears I will have to glue some mounting blocks in there so the screws actually have something to enter and hang on to.

3) The fretboard. This is not a particularly hard job, but it is a time consuming one. I just need to find a spare several hours to sit down and crank it out.

BUT after all that is done, I think I will have a great player! Nickosaurus and I had a mess around last night just acoustically, and it has a nice amount of resonance on its own. Also, when strumming a chord, you can feel the vibration all the way into the headstock, which is a good sign. The neck has settled nicely, and is almost perfectly straight. Intonation will need minor tweaking, but there are already harmonics evident.

Overall, this is shaping up to be a fine axe!

http://cdn.meme.am/instances/40803924.jpg

A "fine axe" alright bro. You've done a real pro job with this one man, love it!

That is a good looking bad boy dude, love the fret board on these.

Ah, the stupid bloody bridge. I really like the fastloader even though it essentially is no longer a double lock, seems really stable and is a notable step up in quality. Plus it will drop right in with no mods. But unless you're getting a bunch of stuff from gfs and want to do it all in one order, get it on eBay and save yourself some money. Guitar fetish will sting you on the postage.

Here's where I got mine; http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/181467564398?nav=SEARCH

Glad to see this one back on track.

Looking amazing Brodie. These kits really do look great assembled. Can't wait for the sound test :).

Cheers,
Gav.

Thanks, gents. :)

I'm still in two minds about the bridge, TBH. I know it will be a good player, so it might pay to invest in a really good quality bridge, but that said I don't want to pay more for that than I did for the guitar! :P

Decisions, decisions.

The moment of truth is upon us! I spent an hour or so getting the bloody wiring done, and it doesn't F#%$ing work.

What is wrong here?

Used this diagram:
http://i.imgur.com/AVY11R1.jpg

Thought I had it exactly the same:
http://i.imgur.com/Q0NUBWX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/W56aDdn.jpg

Please offer any and all advice. Also, bear in mind that all instructions should be directed at a man who has never held a solder iron before today, let alone messed with guitar innards.

Not much of a guitar wiring guru and this may be dumb, but is a three prong stereo jack. Could the grey be connected to the wrong pin? If you bridge the grey wire terminal and your bare terminal with a screwdriver or anything else does it make noise?

Hey Brodie, best use different colour wires causes less confusion I see you used grey wires for hot and earth from the output jack.
I'd say Tony is right I guess, the stereo jack you may have to swap the wires around.
The wiring diagram is a bit confusing but looks like the blue wire to the switch goes to the outside volume lug, which looks like you have done.
I just helped Dennis wire his IB5 bass and that's got a stereo jack and I just held the hot and earth wires against different jack lugs till it worked

Brodie not sure if this helps but if you have aligator clips just experiment with the hot and earth wires and tap the pups with a screwdriver while the axe is plugged into the amp

Are you getting any sound at all in any position?

The jack was my first thought too. A Switchcraft jack of that type has one lug slightly short to identify the hot/tip, but it's not so easy to tell on the stock jack. If you don't have a multimeter to test it with just try connecting the output to the other lug on the jack instead.

The other thing is the switch. The diagram is for an 8 lug 5-way with the two middle lugs being the 'commons' for each side (or pole) of the switch, hence the loop of wire linking them. Your switch appears to be a 7 lug 5-way, which is what the factory seems to use now, and this just has a single 'common' lug in the middle with 3 three lugs each side of it. This means you just have to connect the output to the middle lug and you don't need the wire loop at all.

(Edit: I should add that the extra wire loop wouldn't be stopping the sound in this case)

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have our winners!
Swapped over to the second lug, works like a charm. All positions make noise, the correct pups are active when they're supposed to be, and I have a stupid grin cause I've finally got one of these axes working.

Thanks, gentlemen. :-D

Here it is, in it's 90% done glory!

http://i.imgur.com/nk03zPK.jpg

I also scored a new bridge for $25, which works perfectly as well. Props to Nickosaurus for the find on that one. After many minutes of configuration, I got it set perfectly as well (bloody annoying process if you ask me).

http://i.imgur.com/xY9KtgW.jpg

Action is really quite good, but I could stand to lower the nut a little more. I have some frets 'bottoming out', where I'm getting the same note at two different spots on the same string, so clearly in need of a good fret job too. No luthiers on KI though, so that will have to wait.

Last but not least, I need to sand, stain and wax the fret board to bring out all the shiny goodness! Almost.There. :D

That's coming up so good man. Massive amounts of envy.

Hey Brodie, seems like you had a similar problem I'm having with the binding. What exactly did you use to stain it black and is it still holding up alright now? Was it just the Feast Watson prooftint black stain and how did you apply it? It seems like all of the photos you uploaded have disappeared, would you mind reuploading a few of the binding?
Thanks in advance for the help, this is a life saver!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lukemichael

Hey Brodie, seems like you had a similar problem I'm having with the binding. What exactly did you use to stain it black and is it still holding up alright now? Was it just the Feast Watson prooftint black stain and how did you apply it? It seems like all of the photos you uploaded have disappeared, would you mind reuploading a few of the binding?Thanks in advance for the help, this is a life saver!

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Hey mate, yeah, the binding was a massive let down on this build for me. It had a few cracks that weren't perceptible to the naked eye, but when I stained it bled through and I couldn't get it off. The way I stained it was a base layer of Feast Watson Black (which looked really oily and shiny, with different colours at different angles - a bit like petrol in water) followed by a coat of Wudtone Dark Onyx, which leveled the colour out perfectly. Pablo's comment on your build is right though, the stain doesn't adhere correctly to ABS plastics, so it will rub off if not sealed in (I know, because I experimented). The way I sealed it was by applying my Wudtone clear coats (I think I did 5 or 6, can't really remember). Since then I haven't had any issue with it rubbing off through use, and even if I try and rub it nothing happens, so it seems to have worked.Good luck with it, and if you have any more questions, feel free to post them up. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lukemichael

It seems like all of the photos you uploaded have disappeared, would you mind reuploading a few of the binding? Thanks in advance for the help, this is a life saver!

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As for the photos, they still appear fine in my browser when logged in, and also fine on my GF's computer when she is viewing it as a guest, so maybe try viewing the page using a different browser? I use Chrome. Let me know if you still can't see them and I'll try and PM you some.

I hadn't really kept abreast of this thread in it's entirety, but I just had a decent skim through now. Talk about one thing after another.
I know I'm chiming in a a few months too late but re-binding this would have really saved you A LOT of heartache and it's a job that you could have quite easily handled. Better yet, get an instrument that isn't full of errors to begin with would be a much better start, seems to be a recurring theme with these kits:-(
Mad props for the save though man, you've managed to pull one out the bag bro.