Thanks Buddy, almost a smaller replica of your EX-5 in these shots. In natural daylight it is more of a caramel colour like the gooey bit in the middle of a mars bar but just a slight bit lighter.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneralKaos
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Thanks Buddy, almost a smaller replica of your EX-5 in these shots. In natural daylight it is more of a caramel colour like the gooey bit in the middle of a mars bar but just a slight bit lighter.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneralKaos
I've always been partial to the explorer shape...had a few 4 bangers, but now have to make em myself,
no one has these sexy fivers!
Dead right there.
One of the most well balanced shapes I have ever played. Really comfortable to play either sitting or standing up. Just gotta remember the wings are a bit longer than most and easy to ding & damage and the EX-5 is probably the longest axe I have ever played, even longer than a 4 in line J Bass.
Lovely work Waz, I hope mine turns out somewhere near this standard!
Cheers Frankie, yours looks like it will turn out good. It just takes time and lots of patience before the finish starts to come together. Lost count of how many times I stuffed up on this one and had to sand back plenty before being happy with it.
Yeah, I'm rubbing back some rough spots now, the DT has been really nice to work with, though I've yet to try the finish coat.
That's looking great, Waz, you must be stoked with it now it makes sound!
Cheers Swanny.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swanny
Big relief once you get some sound and no buzz. Took ages to wire up as it only has master volume & master tone but I decided to use push pull pots to coil split and was at one stage thinking about series parallel switching too. Good thing I changed my mind and just went coil split for each PUP as that made it a much simpler task plus there was not a lot of room to work with in that tiny rear cavity.
The individual splits provide some really good Strat like sounds and even allows one PUP spilt with the other doubled when on middle switch position plus both split to get even funkier out of phase sounds. Thankfully it worked out as planned and given me a truly versatile sounding instrument.
Once a final set up has been done will get around to doing at least a sound clip or maybe a video.
EX-1 is now all done.
Today was spent fine tuning the action which required only half a turn tightening of the truss rod to get the fret board level. Next was intonation and had just enough travel one each saddle to get that sorted too. Plugged in again for another blast and really impressed with how this ended up.
Next was to take some super model glama shots so that I can enter this in GOTM. Took heaps of shots trying to get that perfect shot and shall post most here before deciding which ones to use for the entry.
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And finally some more shots......
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Got a work conference over next couple of days then away on holiday until Anzac Day so will have plenty of time to decide which 5 to use. Happy to hear any feedback.
Hi Waz,
Good to see you got the glamour shots in there. Its a shame that some of them are a bit blurry but I know that you got a lot on your plate at the moment. maybe in a few weekends time you'll have the time to take some hi qual ones.
The one in the case taken from halfway down the neck capturing the shine is my fav! looks like it should be a screen saver on my computer.:cool:
I've never been a fan of then pickup rings look, but it definitely suits the stripped back nature of this guitar. It looks like a no-nonsense rock machine. Great job.
Hi Wazza, looks great mate. I love simple, stripped back guitars.
To tell the truth not a big fan of the explorer, but after seeing yours I could be turned.
Looking good, Waz! You need large cases for these babies!
nice work Waz,but i suspect you bought one of the pre made guitars and are trying to pass it off as yours... it's that good mate, nice job
Looks amazing Waz! Would love to hear a sound demo of this baby. That finish is killer!
cheers,
Gav.
Hi Guys, back from about 10 days annual leave break and thank you all for your kind comments.
Bit of a story behind the no PUP surrounds....... you see, when measuring scale length for gluing the set neck I did not even think about leaving a small amount of room for the neck PUP surround as I was so paranoid about getting the scale length exact, that is my OCD side coming to the fore.
Anyways, after neck had set I started to do a mock build and that is when I realised a neck PUP surround would not fit as the heel of the neck was flush with the PUP route. DOH and plenty of other unsavoury words were muttered. At first I was going to cut one to fit and even considered using Rosewood to tie in with the fret board at end of the neck. It was only when discussing my plight with a work colleague who has a EVH Wolfgang that he suggested to go top loaded and no PUP surrounds. Looked into it and checked out the Wolfgang online and kind of liked the stripped back look better than traditional PUP surrounds.
Another mind baffling moment was with the Tone Riders as usually with a matching set the neck PUP's have the screws nearest the neck whilst the bridge ones are nearest to the bridge. Not this set, first giveaway was that if flipped to what seemed normal way around the wires were too short and upon closer inspection, and also cross referenced to at least 2 other humbucker equipped guitars, I noticed that on the high E side of the bobbins there is a small hole that shows some of the copper wire, and this seemed to indicate my neck PUP had to be loaded as shown with screws at rear and slugs at the neck.
As I was coil splitting neck to slugs and bridge to screws it has worked out well and sounds great with all the combinations available and will have to upload a sound clip at some stage.
All up the kit arrived on 12 November 2015 and whilst technically finished on 15 April 2016 I have only just decided on which photos to use for GOTM. So mine has taken about the same time as Andy40's Spalted LP and we now go head to head in this month's GOTM.
Plenty of stiff competition every month so no point holding it back. Thanks to all the encouragement and kind comments along the way.
Good to see you put it for GTOM Waz. upping the game for me a bit ;)
GOTM only gets harder given the quantity and quality of entries submitted as each month passes. Just happy to be amongst such fine entrants.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy40
I have to agree Waz. The level of build quality I see here by "amateurs" is higher than I see on some Youtube "pro" builders.
Cheers Dedman.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dedman
It was only August last year that I was a newbie to guitar building and not having done any woodworking stuff for more than 30 years.
The forum members have been such a great help with plenty of advice, humour, general banter and through sharing our experiences both good and bad we have all grown plenty of new skills together.
Looking forward to finishing off my remaining couple of projects so that I can use that spare time to play with my new toys.
In winter I always have some sort of hands on thing under way, this winter I have 2 kits and a semi-scratch built to get stuck into. Last year I customised a couple of rifles, then decided I wasn't going to shoot those matches and sold them, doh!
So this winter is building and learning to play properly.
Sounds like a good plan.
Mine is to get back into playing guitar and bass more frequently even if it is just for my own enjoyment and maybe the odd gig here and there once I have got the rust out.
Wow Waz that looks awesome. Such a shiny finish it's like glass.
Wait a minute!.....I just noticed this....is that "shag" carpet Waz in your first photos?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy40
Nah mate, just one of those shaggy rugs that were all the rage a few years ago. One of the types that shows the 'shading' when the pile is swept back in different directions.
Not as good as the Persian magic carpet in the background of your avatar. Must be a Queenslander though given the Maroon background base colour.
Thanks Alkay......took many hours and a big lesson in patience.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alkay
Split Coil wiring gremlin
Has anyone had a coil stop working on a Tonerider humbucker?
Wired this baby up with 2 Bourns mini 500k A push/pulls and it was working like a charm. Sadly it had been left in its case for over a year and when dragged out one day around xmas I found that bridge PUP was only operating on one coil and the push/pull no longer working?
Initially I thought it may be a faulty switch but when running a multi meter over the wires I get 4.22k reading across red & black which is for the north slug coil but nothing but "1" across green & white for the south screw coil? Bridge PUP is rated at 8.3k so 4.22k for one coil is about right.
Checked this out on a spare 4 wire humbucker and there should be same reading on opposing coils.
Looking forward to some expert replies before I rip out the PUP and send back under their 5 year warranty for a replacement.
Not good, sorry to hear that Waz. Sounds like a wire has broken somewhere, or a poor solder joint has fallen apart. Can you get to the pickup bobbins to check that the windings are still intact on that coil? You might have to unscrew the back plate to get to it, at which point it may all become obvious.
Thanks Simon. All screwed down and looks like it will have to come out for a closer inspection before considering any warranty claims.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Now a job for another day.
Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
Might be easier then for warranty if you just ship it back as-is, as any attempt to dismantle the pup might invalidate the warranty.
It might be as something as stupid as the tape wrapping around the coils shrinking over time and pulling on one of the coil winding output wires and snapping it, which would mean a full re-wind to repair it. Which for a ToneRider, would cost as much as a new pickup if you couldn't do it yourself.
I think you might be right Simon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
Awaiting replacement Tonerider Bridge PUP
As mentioned previously under this wiring pickups thread http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...273#post160273 Adam has been awesome in arranging a replacement for the faulty one under warranty.
While I am at it may as well replace all that cheap & nasty thin wire with some classic cloth push back stuff and generally tidy things up.
Attachment 24767
Replacement PUP arrived on Friday and got on with removal and re-installing earlier today....
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Originally drilled a couple more holes for top-load mounting just in case I chose to swap the PUP out down the track and therefore kept original screw mounting intact. Originally I shaped up some timber to fill the deeper "holes" underneath the mounting lugs and first attempt was way too low. Second attempt required a false floor to be shaped which sits on top of the existing "PUP Cavity Floor" and once mounting lug screws are wound down they are long enough to grab the wood glued underneath from 1st attempt. For anyone contemplating this I would skip filling the 'Holes' and simply glue and screw down a false floor (6 or 7 mm ply from memory). Also cut some high density foam to exact size of distance between PUP base plate and bottom of mounting lugs to assist with keeping it level and also reduce any strange vibration noises being transmitted.
Attachment 24885
On this occasion couldn't be bothered doing the extra mounting screw holes and simply drilled out the existing solo ones as really happy with how these sound and therefore no chance of being swapped out.
Well done, Waz.
Geez, the fretboard looked and felt a bit dry...
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Better apply some more of the good old Dingo Wax...
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Wax looks and feels great, not as slippery as lemon oil which also tends to make the timber look darker too.
Thanks Simon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Just gotta find some spare time when not feeling so tired to wire it back up.
Was working on lots of fiddly hands-on build related jobs today and saving all the wiring up for a bright and early start later in the week.
I like lemon oil, it's not slippery once it's soaked in and I find even a simple wipe with some paper towel removes any excess left and leaves the board feeling clean. Each to their own.
Yeah, I use lemon oil too but as this one was waxed originally not sure how oil would have soaked in?
My recently purchased Yammy 5 string Bass was so thirty that it required about 3 lemon oil applications, and with such a long and wide fretboard didn't have enough wax to spare plus it is a pretty time consuming job too.