If I take out a body blank from near the edge...I can claim it’s a hole to install a sewing machine lift to give her more working room for her dress making....that way she can’t be mad right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
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If I take out a body blank from near the edge...I can claim it’s a hole to install a sewing machine lift to give her more working room for her dress making....that way she can’t be mad right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
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That's looking really nice sonic love everything about this.
That could end up being a very, very expensive scratch built body.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
Hah- from the divorce you mean? To be fair the table has seen better days, its copped a lot of use in the ~40 years its been in the family.
Apparently oak isn't that great for guitar building anyway....
You could probably get another 7 blanks out of that table..lolQuote:
Originally Posted by WeirdBits
Been away a few days and still trying to catch up on all the new posts here. So good seeing how active this community is.
Came home all excited to fit my bridge pickup and wire up the Sonicaster.. unfortunately I put everything away for 'safe keeping' in the event of a break in and I cannot for the life of me find the pickup :rolleyes:
It's here somewhere. I left in such a rush the place is a disaster area so a big clean up is in order this afternoon after work. Hopefully it turns up then.
In the meantime enjoy this photo of it (and a few other goodies for the tool kit)
https://i.imgur.com/EXmHkJjl.jpg
It lives. Kinda.
A lightbulb finally went on and I remembered where I hid the pickup.
It's all wired up now and everything works. I've run out of time so apart from popping the e strings on and doing a quick 'Peter Gun' riff I haven't given it a work out. Looking and sounding good tho, I'll need to play with the pickup heights a bit to even out the output. I'll need to run over my earthing as I have a very slight buzz, I'm sure its the contact on the back of the volume pot. I'm always scared about putting too much heat in the casing and frying the pot. So I'll touch that up tomorrow and get onto some setup.
https://i.imgur.com/Jfyqe6Nl.jpg
Looks awesome Sonic! Love the colour!!
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Coming along great Sonic. This makes me want to add a TL to the to do list.
Thanks guys. Grubsta I highly recommend the TL kits. They are simple but so satisfying. I never really got the appeal until I played the Major Mitchell for a while.
So this is properly together now. I think the higher string tree needs to come back a bit (annoying, I wasn't paying attention properly) but it seems OK for now. I've just done the first 'ballpark' setup and had a wail on it. It has the typical telecaster jangle about it for sure. My favourite setting by far is both pickups selected. The twang and chimey g sounds from the bridge and warm mellowness from the hum bucker is soooooo good. It's just a leftover PGB neck pickup, but I really like it.
Setup wise the nut needs to be lower. It was actually too low and I shimmed it so I need to split the difference there I think. The neck overall is great. It's really straight and I love how it looks. The headstocks certainly feels at home on the tele body. It is different, its ended up quite long really. If you look at the shoe gazer the low e string tuner is a lot closer to the nut. Apart from changing the positioning of the string trees it doesn't seem to be a problem so far.
The wilkinson bridge I'm a little less enthused with. I mean there is nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't seem to be much of a step up from the kit bridge. Eventually (once I have a drill press) I'm going to make it string through as the bridge has the holes for that - so that is a vote in it's favour. And it does look nicer. But functionally I don't see a massive improvement.
Anyway, I'll do some glamour pics a bit later. I've got some stickers to go on this one as well... just because I like stickers and this is the last one I'm building for myself for a bit.
Time to get the Steampunker done now.
https://i.imgur.com/0yRbO3nl.jpg
That looks wonderful!
You can drill the through holes without a press... I marked them up both sides as then drilled from both sides until the holes met, enlarging the ones for the ferrules. Mind you, I did it before painting it..... I don't think I would be brave enough to do that to the lovely finish you have here!
Well done, fantastic job.
I considered it, but glad I didn't as messed up the bridge holes first time around.
Good point! Great looking guitarQuote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
Ok some offical 'finished' pics.
Did a fret level and a better setup on it last night. 12th fret bass E string is at 1.75mm, high E is 1.5mm. Very happy with the action. I just need to file a bit of the end of the nut as its sticking out on the bass e side atm. I really like the belly cut (even though its pretty subtle) and the reworked heel. That was worth the effort. I kind of wish I'd done a forearm one now but oh well.
It sounds great. The pick ups are very different so there is a wide pallet of sound available clean, cannot wait to put it through some distortion.
https://i.imgur.com/oxvmCPdl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sE4CfMSl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/v3as5lvl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/p1vXv1Dl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PK9dSUvl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SW4tizAl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/92u66HZl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nYKBwvbl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oM9aJywl.jpg
Looks great Sonic, well done!
That looks great Sonic! I like the machine heads with the black tops. The stickers are cool too! Where did the black nut come from?
The mix of black and chrome bits works really well.
I have cut the forearm bevel on mine, but not the belly one... opposites!
Btw, I have replaced the string trees on my guitars with roller trees, super cheap from eBay, and they stop the string breakages there as well as, I'd imagine, assist with the tuning stability.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2pcs-Rol...4AAOSwevdaHUl4
Cheers Vonscott and Andyxlh.
The machine head mod is really easy. I've done it before with black grovers and then swapping chrome parts from the kit tuners onto them. These were the leftovers from that. The black nut came off my Washburn. Stickers are a nod to my car fuelled past. Finish is Feast Watson golden teak stain with cabots exterior poly. The neck is rustoleum clear, cut back but not buffed as I like the satin against the gloss body. First time I've painted the fret board, its worked well, frets cleaned up really easily with a level and dress.
A lot of the bits and pieces on this guitar come from the spare parts box as it wasn't actually a kit per se. I'm very keen to put some roller string tress on my guitars, particularly the shoe gazer as I've started using the trem on it more lately.
I think every guitar I own has a couple of things I want to change on it :), I will get there eventually.
Absolutely wonderful work mate, and it reminds me that i must get around to finishing my TLA-TH. It really could use a Mopar sticker though...;)
Yes true :) I'll get around to making some up eventually.
For some reason the TL's I've built have been amongst the most fun to play. Great weight and balance and they've required very little fiddling to setup nicely. Which is surprising to me given the bridge - you'd think intonation would be difficult, but its more than acceptable- Moving it forward a few mm is defiantly a wise move IMO
Love that color Sonic, looks like honeycomb,sweet.
Nice.
The D&G string tree normally gets installed level with the A tuner. But if it's pulling the strings down too much in that position, you could try adding a spacer so it sits a bit higher, rather than add another hole in the headstock. If you've got nothing suitable to hand, you can drill out a ball end from an old string so that the screw will fit through, and use that as a spacer.
Yep you're right. It was really just a brain fart, I have no idea what I was thinking. It seems ok, but I willl fix it up eventually.
Great tip right thereQuote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Cool old last century stickers Sonic. Haven't seen any like those since about 1970's.
Both companies are still going although these are reproductions of older logos (not the greatest rego if you look).
I picked these ones up at a VW show recently. I also have a stack of this kind of artwork on file. One day I'll get around to having a big batch done up...I like stickers.
i quite like the no pick guard Sonic
Back from the grave with this one. I quite liked this build, it sounded great and was reasonable to play with one exception.
Early on in the build I noted this:
https://i.imgur.com/5zzu4Nz.jpg
In trimming the fret ends the factory took way too much of the edge of the fretboard. This resulted in the high E sliding off the fret board constantly, which was super annoying. I tried compensating with nut postion, but was never really satisfied. I also finished it in Rustoleum, which I don't really like, especially since discovering the joy of satin poly on necks.
Anyway, this guitar has been cannibalised for parts on the Deluxester and a few other jobs so it was kind of sad and hanging on the shed wall. Given I'm mostly watching paint dry at the moment I decided to embark on a resurrection. Helped along quite a bit by Woltz offering up some tele bits on the forum earlier.
I have nearly everything to put it back together, I just ordered a prewired plate and tuners from Wish..I think $13 and $12 respectively, so it's going to be a cheap and cheerful rebuild.
So neck off
https://i.imgur.com/Jl32M2S.jpg
Frets out
https://i.imgur.com/rylHe4b.jpg
This was gross as well, I figured If I gave it a re-radius it might clean up a bit and also clean up the un-needed chamfer at the top of the board.
https://i.imgur.com/C7ArXCG.jpg
It's a little hard to see, but you can make out just how sketchy the original radius on the board was by where the finish has remained while sanding. Lots of low points and wobbles.
https://i.imgur.com/DeyjS7M.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Qf72TE7.jpg
Didn't seem to affect playability, but I'm sure it'll be nicer now its properly straight.
Unfortunately this bit of bird poo seems pretty deep. Considering doing an inlay or something there to get rid of it... not sure how enthusiastic I feel...
https://i.imgur.com/9vU1enF.jpg
Also has this bit of untidiness where part of the fret board has been eaten when they've tidied up the heel.. then I've made it worse sanding.
I'm considering radiusing off the corners to tidy it up.
https://i.imgur.com/ywWmyWB.jpg
Probably need to order some more fret wire I suppose.
https://i.imgur.com/hA3ijbJ.jpg
Having done a few radii now, it did occur to me to think why it played so much better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
The process levels the fretboard and evens out the radius.
cheers, Mark.
I even briefly considered doing a 7.5, but I know I have a preference for flatter boards so elected to leave it at 12.
Certainly was interesting to see what the factory gets away with!
Yes it's all down to personal preference.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
I had never played a 7.25 radius before, so it was partly curiosity.
...and kicked off an obsession to address all the other guitars.
cheers, Mark.
So, is it the radius or the freshly leveled board that makes the most difference?Quote:
Originally Posted by king casey
For myself, I also prefer 12. I have a flat board on my classical, 7.5 radius on my Suzuki acoustic, and 12 on my G&L. 12 feels perfect. I also like a wider nut, as that makes it easier to fingerpick and to fit my clumsy left hand into chords.
It's definitely the radius.Quote:
Originally Posted by jugglindan
Spent a lot of time doing A and B once I had done the one guitar.
Took a bit of adjusting to get it right.
Since I did the same to my Squier Tele, it was immediately 'aha that's much better'.
I never use the pick either, much prefer to use all fingers.
Probably from many years on the saxophone...why limit yourself.
I know Justin Guitar seems to favour leaving the pinkie out but...
Justin mate....there's a bloke out there that plays the guitar with his feet.....
cheers, Mark.
You could always lose the 22nd fret and overhang.
Never that keen on the 22nd Fret on a Tele, even though two of mine have 22 fret boards. Always a PITA if you want to remove the scratchplate as its always a neck removal job.